The minister of housing calls estimates suggesting that the province needs 60,000 new housing units by 2030 “highly idealistic.”

John Abbott provided some clarification on what the numbers actually mean at the Home Builders Association’s Housing Forum at the Delta Hotel in St. John’s this morning.

Abbott says CMHC’s 60,000 estimate is not a measure of housing need in the province, but represents the province’s portion of the number of homes that need to be built—Canada-wide—to bring housing prices back to 2004 levels.

Abbott calls that “highly idealistic” and impossible to meet and does not represent the actual housing need in Newfoundland and Labrador.

He says the province has conducted a number of needs assessments in larger centres showing more realistic figures.

In St. John’s, the needs assessment showed a supply gap of approximately 4,000 homes by 2028. In Gander, 700 new homes need to be built over the next decade, while Clarenville needs 830 homes by 2038.

Those numbers, says Abbott, are easier to achieve.