[jtuple]

Build 600K houses a year?

The fact they aren't is the supply problem.

Outside of government policies and potential to tank housing prices, is there some reason you can't build 500K+ houses a year?

Canada already seems to have an impressive rate, something like 220-250k housing starts/year. The entire US is only 1300K-1500K/year for comparison.

Is it insurmountable to just 2.5-3x that rate?

I guess the main issue is that housing lags demand. And immigration rate could also 2x on a whim by policymakers.

[pcthrowaway]

How do you build 600,000 houses a year with a population of 40 million? Cancel all other jobs and redirect all labor in Canada to building housing?

I'd be very surprised there are "220-250K housing starts per year" really. A lot of that might be development in the planning stage that is tied up in red tape whether it be in the investment stage, or navigating bureaucracy. I'd be very surprised if there were 100K houses per year actually being built.

edit: Does "housing starts" here refer to bedrooms? E.g. a 3 bedroom house counts as 3 housing starts? If so, the 600K goal (required to keep up with population growth) is much more reasonable, though still far off.