I've had conversations with local builders, and it seems that since the early 90s the soft costs (i.e. costs related to regulation, zoning, inspections, etc) related to building new homes in much of Ontario have increased from approximately 20% of total cost, to around 50% of the cost. Meaning that half of the cost of purchasing a new home goes straight to the government. It's true that some of those costs are unavoidable, but if politicians were serious about reducing costs, they would reduce that overhead.