The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that steel and aluminum tariffs have doubled, oil prices are at multiyear lows and the auto sector faces an existential threat. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that with so much going wrong, the sector that Canadian policy-makers often turn to for a sugar high, housing, has only the faintest heartbeat, despite falling interest rates. "Nothing's coming through," TD Bank chief economist Beata Caranci told The Globe. "Even with 100 basis points of cuts, sales are going in reverse." For years, houses were treated like investable assets, akin to stocks, but in the midst of a trade war, the sector's systemic role is coming to light. Home sales fell 13.3 per cent in the Greater Toronto Area in May from the same month in 2024, while GTA home prices are down 4.5 per cent. If there is a silver lining in any of this, it is that not having the housing sugar high to juice growth this time might help in the long run. As house prices soared, households became Canada's main borrowers, with household indebtedness nearly doubling over the last 30 years. In other words, Canada shifted more investment into houses and not into the broader economy, which would have created better paying jobs.