Finance Minister Charles Sousa says the Liberal government will unveil measures to help people break into Ontario's hot housing market in his fall economic update being released next Monday.

Sousa will table the 2016 Fall Economic Statement on Nov. 14, when the legislature returns from this week's constituency break. He also said there would be policies included in the statement that would tackle the provincial housing market. That does not include a foreign-buyer's tax, as British Columbia has done, as Sousa claims not enough data has been collected yet to make that call.

"The Ontario market faces unique challenges, different than B.C.," Sousa said, in a speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto. "So our government will be taking different measures to address housing affordability."

Premier Kathleen Wynne's government looks like it is leaning toward subsidies for first-time homebuyers, helping them to afford real estate prices. Sousa noted that "the price point ... has also made it harder for someone starting out to own a home."

Sousa was asked by reporters what he was getting at, but said the “mechanics” of the plan will be outlined in the economic update.

Tim Hudak, the former PC leader and incoming CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association, said his group is pushing the government to expand the province’s first-time homebuyers’ tax credit. Under that program, new homeowners can be refunded up to $2,000 of the land transfer tax they pay.

“The biggest concern out there is first-time homebuyers,” Hudak told reporters following Sousa’s speech. “[The tax credit expansion] basically would eliminate the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers. That would help a lot.”

The 2016 budget showed that the province collected $311 million in land transfer tax in 2015-16, and Hudak posited that about $250 million of that annually is from first-time buyers.

The statement will update the government's deficit projections as well. Sousa said the province's books will be balanced next year, although the Financial Accountability Office recently cast doubt on those claims.

Sousa also used his speech to announce a new financial services watchdog that will go to bat for pensioners and other consumers. The new agency will be created in the wake of a review of three existing organizations, the Financial Services Commissioner of Ontario, the Financial Services Tribunal and Deposit Insurance Corp. of Ontario.

Sousa said the review found those agencies needed "significant reforms." The finance minister added that the government will soon introduce legislation to prepare the way for a new "Financial Services Regulatory Agency." Details will be included in the fall the economic update.

"It will modernize and strengthen the regulation of financial services and pensions," Sousa said. "It will be more consumer-focused."

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Fall Economic Statement coming Monday, housing market measures included

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