The federal government wants the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to come up with ways to keep housing prices affordable in the country's hottest markets — and do it by the end of the year.
The first hints of what those measures could be will be in the government's hands by the end of the summer, with a working plan due by Sept. 1 as the government signals it wants to find ways to quickly cool housing prices.
The assignment to the CMHC was made official Monday in a letter sent to the Crown corporation's president from the minister in charge of the government's push to create a national housing strategy.
Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told the CMHC he wants the organization to investigate the "rapid and recurring" rise in property prices since 2010 in some of Canada's largest cities.
While the review will mostly look at housing prices in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, Duclos' letter leaves the door open for other cities to be added to the study.
"The rise in property prices in these large urban centres is a concern shared by many of our fellow citizens, and particularly by the middle class," Duclos wrote in the letter dated June 27.
"We also share this concern and wish to intervene quickly in order to fulfil the mandate given to us by the prime minister and to ensure that Canadians are able to access properties that meet their needs and respect their capacity to pay."
The Bank of Canada has warned that housing prices in Vancouver and Toronto are rising at an unsustainable pace that is beyond local economic fundamentals.
The federal government only has so many tools at its fingertips to cool housing prices in hot markets, especially where there is concern that buyers are purchasing beyond their means or pricing too many people out of the market.
The Liberals this year increased the minimum down payment for homes over $500,000 as a direct response to concerns in Vancouver and Toronto over skyrocketing housing costs.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced plans to create a working group that would advise him on ways to affect demand, affordability and stability in Canada's housing market.
The working group, combined with Duclos' assignment to CMHC, is part of the government's push for a national housing strategy.
Duclos has said the strategy, when finalized some time next year, will look at everything from shelters, to transitional housing, to affordable housing, rental units and market housing and where governments can get involved to provide homes to those who need them.
Broad details of the strategy were made public by Duclos during a meeting Tuesday of national and provincial housing providers and advocates in Victoria.