“I don’t think demand for housing has changed at all,” he said. “I think first-time homebuyers, millennials, Gen Z [renters] who don’t own – they still want to.

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“Rental rates are going up quite significantly, so even if your mortgage payment is higher with the higher rate, if the mortgage payment’s going to be the same or lower than what you have to pay to rent the same property, people are still going to make the purchase decision if they can qualify.”

Indeed, Ontario’s provincial government recently announced that its rent increase guideline for 2023 would be 2.5%, its highest in a decade and a significant jump from the 1.2% cap this year.

That trend is set to be accompanied by an immigration surge in the coming years: in February, the federal government increased its target for new permanent residents to 432,000 in 2022, with 447,055 slated to arrive next year and 451,000 in 2024.