caretaker

On the other hand, you're right on the edge of wine country now, and people work their whole lives to retire there. I'll ask my sister who the Okanagan historian guy is (retired from a Kelowna tv station some years ago); he had a long running tv series that was really entertaining and educational.

JamesM

Adjusted for inflation house prices in the South East are not as high now as they were during the height of the boom that ended in 2007. Sure if you bought post crash you'd have some high life but the sad thing about markets is very few people time them right.

Once you factor in property maintenance, tax etc..you would actually be living a much higher life if you'd invested in the stock market.

The reality is with wages stagnating for most people during this period- they have not been able to take advantage of either house or stock in the last decade and just been keeping the lights on.

scrubbedexpat091

Good news for investors but bad for renters.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...-b1518b0fc6a3/


Housing really is hitting a crises level in more areas of Canada, even Halifax now is having rental issues.

I wonder if this study in the US is similiar in Canada?

" showing that for every $100-a-month increase in median rents across several jurisdictions, homelessness increased between 15 and 39 per cent."

At some point I think we will have to decide if housing is worth it, the cost of housing even in lower priced areas is still high, and honestly sometimes I think living in a van would bring a better quality of life.

Siouxie

A bit chilly in winter though - and most RV parks won't allow 4 season occupancy, so you might have an issue finding somewhere to park for the winter

scrubbedexpat091

Just do it the BC way, park on the street, park in Wal-Mart as long as you keep moving, its not much an issue, most van dwellers don't live in parks as they are too expensive.

scrubbedexpat091

Toronto focused but the issue is playing out across Canada, some areas of course worse then other, but boils down to Canada as a country cannot meet the housing needs of its residents.

"Landlords are operating with a series of assumptions. Tenants are operating with assumptions, too. At the heart of those assumptions is a market-driven system that is insufficient in providing housing needs for everyone,” Keesmaat."


Pandemic exacerbates landlord-tenant power struggle with both sides crying foul

scrubbedexpat091

Average Mississauga home prices soar 25% in a year, crazy.


https://www.mississauga.com/news-sto...-year-to-920k/

scrubbedexpat091

Siouxie

That's crazy - when you consider that Hamilton is a blue collar worker City - there's a few 'enclaves' of wealthy people but the majority are working class with wages that haven't increased in line with inflation. It's a steel town - has been for decades..

Most of those that own homes from 10 years ago might have made a profit but they won't be able to afford to buy anywhere else because they won't be able to get a mortgage big enough!
Most of the increase in prices for Hamilton appear to be from Toronto and the GTA people being priced out of there and coming here, driving the prices up.

Apartment on the left - single house on the right.
CRAZY!!!! 10 years ago you could buy a reasonable 3 bedroom house for under $150,000 and a big house for under $250,000.


If St. John's wasn't so far away - (with freezing winters) I might consider moving there - cheap houses from the looks of it - and a buyers market!
Shocked to see Calgary and Edmonton house prices have dropped as well over 5 years.. worrying for many, I'm sure.

Piff Poff

one reason we decided to stay where we are for the time being is the house prices rising so much in the Niagara region and falling here. We do wish we had bought the $289000 home on the Niagara River Pkwy and rented it out until were are ready to move. We are now facing the reality we may have to look way outside our preferred area.

CanadaJimmy

Problem at its core is intergenerational wealth. Low interest rates are basically a bandaid fix for that.

scrubbedexpat091

Some people certainly benefit from intergenerational wealth, seems to be the only way to buy these days unless your making 6 figures.......or near 6 figures. Everyone we know in BC our age who bought only did so because they had parent/s who had massive wealth in houses, sold and downsized and give their kids large down payments. None actually have jobs where they could buy on their own at current prices, brother in law got his house that way as well.

Stumpylegs

Looking on other forums around immigration, can see the rental market in Vancouver and Toronto may well have a huge bounce back if/when IRCC issues COPR/PPR to those waiting - at least in the short term.

As most newcomers seem to flock to those 2 regions, but when you add up those with COPR already who haven't made it because of COVID, those who are at ready for visa stage currently, and then then anyone else who is currently in processing but will be complete by when/if the borders reopen. You may well be ending up with 2-3 years worth of landings running into what is normally an overpriced rental market.

scrubbedexpat091

Good point. Vancouver has a hard enough time providing enough housing for the people already there, so a big influx of people within a short time might cause even greater housing issues.

In BC it's not even a Vancouver only issues anymore, rentals pretty much anywhere that isn't a dead end town, tend to be high and quality of rentals low.

Stumpylegs

Yep, even dead end towns aren't that cheap really as there is limited choice, sometimes multiple properties owned by the same people -so they almost name their price. But there does seem to be literally thousands of folk waiting for the pandemic to end who are extending COPR, thousands more at ready for visa stage. So will likely possibly cause a job shortage in an already crap job market.

Thing is short of not issuing COPR to folk (which could happen but is unlikely IMO as they are still conducting draws) there is no real way of stopping/controlling it.