We’ve all heard the Canadian real estate stories, especially in Greater Toronto. An agent lists a property below market value, and dozens of offers pour in. It eventually sells much higher than the asking price, and sometimes even higher than the comps. Just one issue. How much did everyone below the winning offer bid? Did […]
Bears have been calling a real estate bubble in Canada for 20 years, and we’re totally wrong. That’s a comment I keep receiving, about an alleged call I made 20 years ago. First of all, I don’t think I spoke to you 20 years ago about housing. Second, if you took advice from a high […]
Canadian real estate markets have become such a large bubble, even a crash can’t fix prices. That’s what the Globe’s Rob Carrick argued earlier this week. The personal finance expert says it’s now too late for young adults in Toronto and Vancouver. Policy failures made markets so inefficient over the past few years, ownership is […]
Canada’s largest bank warned the country’s real estate markets are approaching systemic risk. Not credit risk, banks are more than adequately protected. Instead they see it as a risk for the whole darn economy. RBC senior economist Robert Hogue, who isn’t a traditional bear, warned the market is out of control. Canada’s nurturing of the […]
Canadian households devote much more of their paychecks than their American counterparts. Actually, this is more of a global thing. Canada’s household debt service ratio (DSR) is manageable, but far from normal. An addiction to cheap credit and expensive housing has led to an epic borrowing spree. Households in the country now devote more of […]
One of the world’s largest real estate bubbles is getting a new round of affordability measures. Earlier this year, the New Zealand Government said they would put home prices at the top of their agenda. This week they followed up with the first actions they’ll be taking. Property investors will soon see most tax advantages […]
The Bank of Canada (BoC) head recently dismissed the need to cool real estate prices. Governor Tiff Macklem seems like he doesn’t want to say anything controversial… or he’s one of those people that thinks real estate prices only go up. That wasn’t the case back in 2013, when he served in the central bank’s […]
Canada’s household debt grew almost twice as fast as its economy, due largely to its addiction to housing. The country’s household debt to gross domestic product (GDP) made a sharp increase in Q3 2020. A little household debt to drive growth is normal, but the country is embracing it to the extreme. Canada’s ratio of […]
Canada’s national association representing Realtors is forecasting big price gains… but those gains are lower than last month’s average price. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released a forecast with February sales data. The association sees absolutely mind blowing growth for home prices in every province. Just one minor detail most analysts didn’t catch. The […]
Many Canadians are surprisingly comfortable telling strangers they approve of mortgage fraud. Equifax released its latest consumer survey along with upgrades to its ClearPro fraud detection platform. The company confirmed what many have suspected — credit fraud may be rampant. It didn’t take sophisticated software to figure that out either. That was just the result […]
