Canada is weird. Land is abundant but housing cost is sky high. With high housing cost, they also decide to let in millions of immigrants to further compete with locals. This is similarly happening in the US as well.
Not only that but the country is rich in natural resources used to make the homes. Yet homes are limited and too costly..
A large chunk of residential properties, particularly in the major cities, are also sitting empty because they are investment properties owned by entities (both foreign and local) that do not intend on living in them. Some of them are used as hotels via AirBnB.
I see lot of people in Canada complain about the insane real estate prices, but many of them themselves are involved in investing in properties in which they don't intend to live. The ones who cannot afford such investments think the same way, i.e. "when I have money, I will invest in real estate".
It's one thing I've seen develop in Canada in the past 10-15 years: both individuals and corporations investing in real estate as the sole platform to increase their financial portfolios. I mean, you'd expect Roger's (the largest telecommunications company in the country) to be developing new systems and tech, but instead they are investing in residential condos.