Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome.
I don't think there's anything more important for Canadians than their home. I was invited to attend a pre-budget consultation in the city of Toronto with the member from York Centre. I would say half the comments and questions we received from the residents were with regard to our housing market, in terms of affordability, accessibility, and ensuring that, for one voter, her kids would be able to buy a home and live in the neighbourhood they grew up in. It's very topical, as you can imagine. Two days ago, we had a house in Toronto listed for $1.5 million and sell for $2.6 million, I think it was, so it was a million dollars over. There's obviously something going on. Canadians are concerned and they want to know that things aren't going to go astray.
Mr. Siddall, you've commented quite prudently on our housing market for the last several months in terms of identifying the risks and vulnerabilities. I've read your speeches and gone over the results. It behooves us to make sure we deliver the message that CMHC, since 1954 or whatever the year was, is there to assist Canadians in entering the housing market. We must ensure they do so in a prudent manner. As the Bank of Canada comments, we must ensure that the quality of indebtedness that Canadians take on going forward is a good quality. We don't want individuals overstretching themselves, especially if there's an exogenous shocker or anything of that manner.
A number of countries have undertaken actions for their housing market, be it Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, or Britain. I would like you to answer, because I think what we've done is prudent. We needed to ensure financial stability. I believe we have a home ownership rate of 69%. However, Canada is made up of regional markets, not one national market.
When we're looking at the Canadian housing market, what other pieces of information do we need to improve our decision-making? If you look at Australia, they seem to have more data than we are able to have. What more can we get to allow you folks to do an even better job than you're doing?