Finance committee  It's certainly not a healthy state by any means. It comes back to what I said. We have tremendous demand that is well in excess of any underlying demographics or any reasonable fundamentals, partially due to increased speculation from domestic investors and international investors.

Finance committee  That is a big concern of mine, and I'm concerned that when the federal government is setting permanent immigration targets, it's perhaps not considering the impact of non-permanent residents, such as foreign students, who still require rental accommodations in many cases. That tightens the rental market and pushes some people out of the rental market into the ownership market, so there is a net effect of tightening the overall market balance.

Finance committee  I would echo what Mr. Macdonald said with regard to tightening underwriting for investors. I think it's a completely sensible policy. I also think we've absolutely been asleep at the wheel as relates to international money laundering and that we have the most porous border when it comes to all sorts of illicit capital.

Finance committee  To use an analog, if we look at total residential investment as a share of all investment across the economy—investment by businesses and government—it's about 40%. Now, why is that number important? If we look at OECD countries over the last 20 years, really only three ever got to that level.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Certainly. There's no silver bullet, but a thoughtful basket of policies can begin to move the needle on this. I will leave it there. Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, members. Thank you for the invitation to speak here today regarding this study on inflation in Canada, which is a particularly timely topic. I founded North Cove Advisors in 2013 and since then have covered Canadian housing and household credit trends for institutional investors around the world.