real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
#226
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Of course. But you do know there was a time when loads of people could do so and now can't buy the equivalent in the same location.
Our family of 6 lived in the Bonzo's Keynsham on a council estate. My dad worked in the Sales office at WD and HO Wills. Mum didn't work.
They got a mortgage to buy a 3 bed semi on his earnings only.
I borrowed the (then) maximum 2.5 times my salary to buy my house in 1984. Identical houses in my little block have all been sold in the last three years for amounts needing 16 times the salary of the job I had back then.
Or the same job that was good enough 30+ years ago.
I would have said "or here" but even here houses are going for more than an already inflated asking price. The duplex I sold in 2016 went for 2.5 times last year. If only I'd been able to hang on another couple of years. Only the siding had been changed.
Our family of 6 lived in the Bonzo's Keynsham on a council estate. My dad worked in the Sales office at WD and HO Wills. Mum didn't work.
They got a mortgage to buy a 3 bed semi on his earnings only.
I borrowed the (then) maximum 2.5 times my salary to buy my house in 1984. Identical houses in my little block have all been sold in the last three years for amounts needing 16 times the salary of the job I had back then.
Or the same job that was good enough 30+ years ago.
I would have said "or here" but even here houses are going for more than an already inflated asking price. The duplex I sold in 2016 went for 2.5 times last year. If only I'd been able to hang on another couple of years. Only the siding had been changed.
#227
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Sacrifices might have to be made, particularly in location, but that was always the case, some of us moved to the back of beyond, Hogtown, in order to get a house. There are still people who want a house enough to do that; people live in Mississauga, Windsor, even Winnipeg. People buy half a house with someone else or they buy a house and rent out part of it, they cram multiple generations into a single house. Lots of people commute two hours each way. It can be done by many people, we're talking Canada here, not Camden Town.
I think it's too easy for our generation to dismiss overpriced housing as a failure to work hard enough and/or a failure to sacrafice.
#229
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
#230
Account Closed
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 0
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Crazy how much rent has gone up since we moved in July, same building.
1 bedroom went from 1,325 to 1,650 per month
2 bedroom went from 1,600-1,650 to 1,920 per month
3 bedroom went from 1,800-1,900 to 2,300
For new tenants.
1 bedroom went from 1,325 to 1,650 per month
2 bedroom went from 1,600-1,650 to 1,920 per month
3 bedroom went from 1,800-1,900 to 2,300
For new tenants.
#231
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Your landlord shouldn't be whinging about you breaking your lease then, they'll be in front!
#232
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
This is how rent control constraints the market. Say you're paying $1500 in rent, If you buy a similar property the repayment will be $3500 and you'll have wiped out your contingency fund. You have to really like the condo to do that, otherwise you may as well keep socking away a couple of hundred grand a year and wait to see if the bubble bursts. Take away the rent controls and more people will buy, forcing prices higher. Rent control is a means to constrain house prices, albeit an indirect one.
#233
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
This is how rent control constraints the market. Say you're paying $1500 in rent, If you buy a similar property the repayment will be $3500 and you'll have wiped out your contingency fund. You have to really like the condo to do that, otherwise you may as well keep socking away a couple of hundred grand a year and wait to see if the bubble bursts. Take away the rent controls and more people will buy, forcing prices higher. Rent control is a means to constrain house prices, albeit an indirect one.
#234
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
If you can't do that then I don't think you can buy a house, starting from nothing, or from student debt, in an expensive urban centre. You have to be able to save faster than the price of the target apartment is increasing and you have to accumulate something like $600,000 as a deposit. Otherwise you're off to the 'burbs.
#235
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
If you can't do that then I don't think you can buy a house, starting from nothing, or from student debt, in an expensive urban centre. You have to be able to save faster than the price of the target apartment is increasing and you have to accumulate something like $600,000 as a deposit. Otherwise you're off to the 'burbs.
All well and good saying move elsewhere............ but where?
#236
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 9,979
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Even the burbs have become unattainable for the majority! Take Hamilton, a typical blue collar worker city, where house prices and rents were affordable and buying a house was achievable for many.. go forward to the last 4-5 years and as more and more and more people get priced out of Toronto / Mississauga/ Oakville and GTA generally - they have moved across to Hamilton where prices have gone through the roof and many can't even afford to rent. I'm not talking of big houses or condo's - even the North end - which was a run down area with very very cheap houses / rentals have now got to a point of being out of the price range for locals! Suburbs are all well and good - until the City expands and expands to encompass them.
All well and good saying move elsewhere............ but where?
All well and good saying move elsewhere............ but where?
House sales are hot even out in the sticks. I know of one that sold within a week for $100k over asking.
#238
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
Both. Some people prefer that living arrangement, perhaps for cultural reasons, some do it grudgingly so they can buy in a more expensive location than would otherwise be the case.
I can't parse that sentence. Over priced housing is when many people leave a place as they cannot afford to either buy or rent there. That's quite different than an individual or couple not being able to buy a house where they want to. Most people have the option to move somewhere cheaper, though if you're already in Moncton this may not apply.
I can't parse that sentence. Over priced housing is when many people leave a place as they cannot afford to either buy or rent there. That's quite different than an individual or couple not being able to buy a house where they want to. Most people have the option to move somewhere cheaper, though if you're already in Moncton this may not apply.
There's obviously no easy answers for runaway house prices, but I do have a great deal of sympathy for next generation simply wanting the security of a home. Moving to cheaper locations often comes with the inconvenience of inadequate work/opportunity.
#239
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?
So move to a village in the middle of nowhere, with no transport, no industry.. no jobs... hmm... that may be all well and good if you happen to have a job you can work from home with - telecommute/remote or a pot full of money... or you have a drivers license (are able to have one) / can afford a vehicle etc., to get to a town nearby. However, if you don't - what do you do for an income to pay for that house in the middle of nowhere? Buying out in the sticks without a job isn't feasible or possible for most of us.. unless you happen to have been able to save for years or sold a few houses previously.
My (and many others') reality and your reality are very different... apparently
#240
Re: real estate prices in Canada sustainable?