Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
I don't think the housing market is saturated; not by a longshot. I just think condos in Halifax have in recent years been overpriced (which the frequent reversion to rentals seems to bear out).
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I was responding more to Colin May who has been posting stuff about how condos aren't selling for years now.
I think the fact that older people trade in houses for condos and the fact that the condo market is small tends to inflate prices in cities like Halifax. A lot of people like to buy into shiny new buildings and there are only a couple of these at any given time. The developers know that the buyers are downsizing and have a lot of cash to spend.
Here in Vancouver there is almost no rental construction. Developers can get more money selling off condos then selling or operating apartment buildings. I think this is mostly because there is a lot of speculation and all real estate is treated as an investment. Arguably, these investors are subsidizing their tenants in many cases. Most amateur real estate investors in Canada lose money every month on their purchases but make up for it with rising property values. If the increases stop it's going to get interesting. Halifax housing hasn't gone up much in value so the temptation to engage in this kind of speculation is much lower.
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