Finance committee  I can't speak to the grocery prices.

Finance committee  They wouldn't go down immediately, no.

Finance committee  The purpose-built rental rebate is intended to encourage new supply, and new supply takes a while to come onto the market.

Finance committee  We haven't identified the number of units specifically. That's a very difficult number to come up with because it's based on a lot of assumptions.

Finance committee  We can't give you an estimate or a specific number.

Finance committee  No. In general, the rebate is intended to make a meaningful impact on the cost of constructing purpose-built rentals, which, of course, should translate into an impact on the supply. However, because there are so many market forces at play, it's very difficult to come up with a specific estimate on the number of units that it would create.

Finance committee  That's correct. This measure is—

Finance committee  This rebate is intended to remove the GST from purpose-built rental housing. It's a specific type of housing. I know MP Lawrence was talking about.... It's not singles and it's not owner-built. This is not what the measure was designed to do. It was designed for and aimed at purpose-built rental housing to ensure that this type of housing gets on the market.

Finance committee  Exactly.

Finance committee  That is a good summary. Thank you.

Finance committee  This rebate is designed to apply to purpose-built rentals at all values. One of the advantages of this is that it creates units across the full spectrum. There are a lot of people who don't move out of their houses, for example, and into purpose-built rentals because there just isn't the type of unit they might need—for example, families needing larger units, or people who are currently overhoused but have no apartments to move into.

Finance committee  Perhaps. I can't speak about the price, but yes, they would.

Finance committee  Of course we do a lot of analysis and we provide all of that analysis to the minister, but most of that is subject to cabinet confidence. It's not something we'd be in a position to share with the committee. Rest assured that we do look at these matters quite closely.

Finance committee  I can certainly look to see what we can provide, but I can't make any promises.

Finance committee  The rebate is aimed at purpose-built rentals, for which there are certain requirements. They have to have four-plus units or 10-plus private rooms. There's no fair-market value on that. The idea is that you're trying to create as much supply wherever that supply can be had. We're not specialists.