Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

[SpongeG]

must be nice

Parents gifting Vancouver homebuyers $340,000 on average for down payment

According to a new report by CIBC Capital Markets, over the first nine months of 2021, first-time homebuyers in Vancouver received an average of $180,000. This figure increases even more for parents supporting their children buying larger homes, with the average for move-uppers at $340,000.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-homebuyer-down-payments-parents-gifting

[SpongeG]

House Sales Are Booming in Rural B.C. — and Renters Are Getting Slammed

As landlords cash out their ‘investment’ properties, many tenants are losing affordable homes

Oct 24, 2021 8:00 AM By: Alex Cosh // TheTyee.ca

Until recently, Rick Dupperon and his family lived in a three-bedroom house in Creston, B.C., paying $900 a month. That ended in early March, when his landlord told Dupperon that he planned to sell the property and gave him two months’ notice to leave. Dupperon and his family moved out on June 1.

Dupperon, still friends with his former landlord, did not anticipate how difficult it would be to find a new place at an affordable rate. “We’ve moved a fair number of times over the years, but what got us in a pickle is there’s just nothing available,” he says.

Dupperon and his family are staying in a camping trailer in a relative’s backyard. Dupperon, who receives disability assistance, has had the $700 shelter portion of his benefit cut because a trailer is not considered a permanent dwelling. It will only be reinstated, he says, if he finds a new place to rent.

The problem is that the few places for rent are mostly significantly more expensive than his family’s previous rent.

“We’re seeing everything from $1,135 up to $2,000 or more a month,” Dupperon says. “We’re looking constantly, everywhere we can. We talk to everybody we can.”

https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/cover-...-and-renters-are-getting-slammed-4535300

[Wigs]

St. Catharines now the 8th most expensive rental market in Canada!

Top 5 Most Expensive Markets

1. Vancouver, BC continued to rank as the most expensive city with one-bedroom rent growing 1.4% to $2,130, while two-bedrooms increased 0.3% to $2,900.

2. Toronto, ON ranked as the second priciest with one-bedroom rent climbing 1.7% to $1,800, while two-bedrooms dropped 0.4% to $2,250. Notably, on a year-over-year basis, two-bedroom rent is down over 15%.

3. Barrie, ON saw one-bedroom rent fall 1.2% to $1,700, while two-bedrooms increased 1.1% to $1,850. One-bedroom rent in this city is up nearly 15% since this time last year.

4. Kelowna, BC moved up a spot to become the 4th most expensive rental market with one-bedroom rent increasing 0.6% to $1,610, while two-bedrooms jumped 4.8% to $2,180.

5. Victoria, BC dropped down to 5th with one-bedroom rent falling 4.2% to $1,600, while two-bedrooms increased 1.4% to $2,150.

Cities with The Largest Monthly Changes

Upward

–Abbotsford, BC & Kingston, ON had the largest monthly increases in the nation for one-bedroom rent, both up 5.3% to $1,400.

–St. Catharines, ON ranked as the 8th most expensive city with one-bedroom rent climbing 4.9% to $1,500.

–Oshawa, ON & Québec, QC both saw one-bedroom rent jump 4.7% last month to settle at medians of $1,560 and $900, respectively.

Downward

–Edmonton, AB & Saskatoon, SK both saw one-bedroom rent decline 1.1% to settle at medians of $930 and $940, respectively.

–Winnipeg, MB was the 18th priciest city with one-bedroom rent falling 1% last month to $1,020.

–Windsor, ON one-bedroom rent dropped 0.9% to $1,130.

In Ontario, there are no rent controls on buildings first occupied as a residential space after November 15, 2018. Thanks Ford government

https://www.zumper.com/blog/rental-price-data-canada/

[rofina]

Originally Posted by giallo

People who rent/don't own an apartment or house are absolutely not ok with this. Millennials are frustrated and getting desperate.

Everyone else that does own a place doesn't want to see their investment (and that's all homes are now) erode by implementing drastic policies to change the status quo. Many home owners are actively against this.

As much as I'd like to see the bandaid get ripped off, we're past that now. The financial damage on Canadians would be too severe, and lead to a massive recession.
Unfortunately, the housing crisis will have to be attacked methodically over a generation.

Maybe on Twitter.

But there is no motivation in the real world to make drastic changes happen.

I'm personally not one to call for drastic changes, I made my sacrifices to buy and don't regret that, its been transformational to my wealth generation.

But I would be supportive of blowing it all up knowing that it would lead to some massively positive changes.

For an example of what the "impossible" looks like;

Berlin residents to vote in referendum on seizing rentals from corporate landlords
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/ber...ntals-from-corporate-landlords-1.6185423

Housing activists want voters to support their push to expropriate more than 200,000 housing units from the city's largest landlords and transfer them to public ownership. The referendum takes place Sunday, along with Berlin's state elections and Germany's federal election.

That's what bold, "impossible", change looks like.

In this country its some threads on Twitter.

Millennials can be annoyed all they want, but do something about it in the real world.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by rofina

Maybe on Twitter.

But there is no motivation in the real world to make drastic changes happen.

I'm personally not one to call for drastic changes, I made my sacrifices to buy and don't regret that, its been transformational to my wealth generation.

But I would be supportive of blowing it all up knowing that it would lead to some massively positive changes.

For an example of what the "impossible" looks like;

Berlin residents to vote in referendum on seizing rentals from corporate landlords
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/ber...ntals-from-corporate-landlords-1.6185423




That's what bold, "impossible", change looks like.

In this country its some threads on Twitter.

Millennials can be annoyed all they want, but do something about it in the real world.

That bold "impossible" change won't do anything. All it'll do is make market housing all that much more expensive as 200,000 units are removed from the market overnight and make your well-being be subject to a housing lottery as you either get stuck with insane market housing or highly subsidized public housing.

If the plan was to construct 200,000 *new* subsidized housing units, that is real change that would help. But even that isn't going to help people realize the dream of an owned detached dwelling, or even an owned dwelling in general.

The only solution is frigtons of supply, and no politician wants to propose that as we have built 50 years of planning knowledge and institutional requirements for extensive consultation with NIMBYs and people have an idea stuck in their head that they get to say what their neighbours can do with their properties.

[JHikka]

https://torontolife.com/life/leaving-toronto-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/

I lived in downtown Toronto for 35 years and loved every second of it. My Trinity-Bellwoods home was my retirement plan. When the pandemic came along, I cashed in early—just like so many other claustrophobic, Covid-weary Torontonians. Now I’m in the country, far from everything, left wondering if I made a huge mistake

Don't know what else to say about this article other than

• Poor guy, gaining over $1M on a property by doing nothing. Must be tough!; and,
  
• What did he expect lmao

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

That bold "impossible" change won't do anything. All it'll do is make market housing all that much more expensive as 200,000 units are removed from the market overnight and make your well-being be subject to a housing lottery as you either get stuck with insane market housing or highly subsidized public housing.

If the plan was to construct 200,000 *new* subsidized housing units, that is real change that would help. But even that isn't going to help people realize the dream of an owned detached dwelling, or even an owned dwelling in general.

The only solution is frigtons of supply, and no politician wants to propose that as we have built 50 years of planning knowledge and institutional requirements for extensive consultation with NIMBYs and people have an idea stuck in their head that they get to say what their neighbours can do with their properties.

In principle, I agree with your point.

But it actually ignored the original point I was making.

That is; Berlin solution is an "impossible" proposal. But the terms were made, the effort put in, and an "impossible" mission was brought to fruition. I agree, we can definitely debate if it will have the intended consequences, but that's a separate matter.

An apt comparison would be - Millennials declare a strike and demand referendum to suspend all zoning and permitting restrictions until 500,000 new family size housing units are started. (or something like that, I came up with that in 8 seconds)

Sounds ridiculous and impossible? That's the point. So was the Berlin proposal.

But there is no will in Canada beyond keyboard rage and working around the far margins of the problem. No ambition to create a societal change. Were unbelievably timid in the face of a decade long housing crisis.

[Peggerino]

Originally Posted by JHikka

https://torontolife.com/life/leaving-toronto-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/

I lived in downtown Toronto for 35 years and loved every second of it. My Trinity-Bellwoods home was my retirement plan. When the pandemic came along, I cashed in early—just like so many other claustrophobic, Covid-weary Torontonians. Now I’m in the country, far from everything, left wondering if I made a huge mistake

Don't know what else to say about this article other than

• Poor guy, gaining over $1M on a property by doing nothing. Must be tough!; and,
  
• What did he expect lmao

Stories like this never get old

[rofina]

Originally Posted by JHikka

https://torontolife.com/life/leaving-toronto-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/

I lived in downtown Toronto for 35 years and loved every second of it. My Trinity-Bellwoods home was my retirement plan. When the pandemic came along, I cashed in early—just like so many other claustrophobic, Covid-weary Torontonians. Now I’m in the country, far from everything, left wondering if I made a huge mistake

Don't know what else to say about this article other than

• Poor guy, gaining over $1M on a property by doing nothing. Must be tough!; and,
  
• What did he expect lmao

This is so insane;

Unable to help ourselves, salivating over all that toothsome equity, we borrowed to pay not only for an endless string of renovations, but also for just about everything else, including vacations, a second-hand car and so forth. Basically, we used our house like a giant, three-storey credit card, to the point where our mortgage stood at just about exactly triple the house’s original price: $900,000.

How do people think this is a good idea?

The only time this is acceptable, and it comes with risks, is if you're leveraging into more property.

But for consumables? Mind-numbing.

[SignalHillHiker]

He’s pretty insufferable. “I have the pictures to prove it. My urban friends think they’re photoshopped.” - just horrible writing. But I loved the part about the house making $100K/year lol insane.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by JHikka

https://torontolife.com/life/leaving-toronto-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/

I lived in downtown Toronto for 35 years and loved every second of it. My Trinity-Bellwoods home was my retirement plan. When the pandemic came along, I cashed in early—just like so many other claustrophobic, Covid-weary Torontonians. Now I’m in the country, far from everything, left wondering if I made a huge mistake

Don't know what else to say about this article other than

• Poor guy, gaining over $1M on a property by doing nothing. Must be tough!; and,
  
• What did he expect lmao

This whole article and journey is so ridiculous. I'm glad he wrote it.

What reasonable person moves from center of Toronto to a rural farm and expects an easy transition?

Would you expect a life long farmer to adjust to living in a 500sq/ft condo overnight?

The person that this makes sense for, a city dweller, who goes camping every weekend or every other weekend, who like fishing and gardening.
That's a person who I can see making the transition and enjoying it - but that should be obvious I feel like?

[rofina]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

He’s pretty insufferable. “I have the pictures to prove it. My urban friends think they’re photoshopped.” - just horrible writing. But I loved the part about the house making $100K/year lol insane.

I didn't want to be a grumpy bear - but I was going to be snide and say no wonder he didn't make much money as a writer.

[Innsertnamehere]

the guy basically failed upwards because of his house. To me it sounds like he had been using his house as a piggy bank for years and the bill finally came due more or less, living off the hog of the HELOC and his wife's income covering the payments. He won't admit it, but I bet they really moved to relieve the financial pressure of having a $900k HELOC.

The crazy thing is that even with that $900k debt, they could still have moved to Brantford and purchased a mansion in the urban part of the City for cash. Hell, even $1.6 million would have bought them a respectable urban home in an excellent part of Hamilton with no mortgage, which means not much financial pressure to make money as you live rent free.

I get it, if I was sitting on $2.5 million in a little urban home in Trinity Bellwoods, I'd be looking to cash out. That kind of money means retire-at-40-in-a-mansion in a low cost of living part of the province. It's an insane amount of money, and the guy seems completely oblivious to it.

[JHikka]

Imagine being so wealthy off of just real estate that you can move to Burford and spend $2,800/month on a rental because you're not sure you want to move to the country permanently. Must be nice.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by rofina

This is so insane;



How do people think this is a good idea?

The only time this is acceptable, and it comes with risks, is if you're leveraging into more property.

But for consumables? Mind-numbing.

the guy made a long list of terrible financial decisions and the crazy thing is they still got out of it with more money than most people hope to achieve in their lifetimes, enough to move to some other part of the province or even somewhere else in Toronto and live the good life. They've won the literal lottery and are completely oblivious.

[suburbanite]

We were born 6-8 years too late...

I make a good income, but my coworkers who are in their early/mid 30's (and whose career trajectory I am following) will likely always be significantly wealthier than me. Two bought houses when they were aged 26-27 in the same Queen West/Trinity Bellwoods area for ~$600k. Both are easily worth $1.5 million now and they've leveraged that growth into additional property.

My only plan now is to enjoy my new opportunity in NYC, stash away a good portion of my USD income and reevaluate Toronto in a few years. If nothing has changed, and a decent inner city house is going to go for close to $2 million, then I might as well live in the larger of the two unaffordable cities.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by JHikka

https://torontolife.com/life/leaving-toronto-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/

I lived in downtown Toronto for 35 years and loved every second of it. My Trinity-Bellwoods home was my retirement plan. When the pandemic came along, I cashed in early—just like so many other claustrophobic, Covid-weary Torontonians. Now I’m in the country, far from everything, left wondering if I made a huge mistake

Don't know what else to say about this article other than

• Poor guy, gaining over $1M on a property by doing nothing. Must be tough!; and,
  
• What did he expect lmao

He does embody a certain uppity-ness that absolutely grates on the nerves. The embodiment of the stereotypical big-city type, except not as a caricature but the real, living version. Regales us with tales of fancy city life living high on windfall of unearned cash flowing in. Must be nice. Specialty olive oil stores gets a mention. That's gotta be on the bingo card somewhere.

Calls himself a cheapskate, borrows $900k against house. Whines about all the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 that he still has to buy, as if the rest of us schlubs are free of those burdens and that he didn't just fall 🞵🞵🞵-backwards into seven figures worth of cash. Mopes about having to consider being locked out of Toronto's housing market completely unironically.

Also amused by 'west of Brantford' as if it's the end of the world. It's not like Toronto's in another province. Also, maybe not going full rural might be an idea.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Also amused by 'west of Brantford' as if it's the end of the world. It's not like Toronto's in another province. Also, maybe not going full rural might be an idea.

I'm just imagining him explaining to his new neighbours in Burford how hard it is to find artisanal olive oil around here.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

My only plan now is to enjoy my new opportunity in NYC, stash away a good portion of my USD income and reevaluate Toronto in a few years. If nothing has changed, and a decent inner city house is going to go for close to $2 million, then I might as well live in the larger of the two unaffordable cities.

Anyone under 40 was born too late to really take advantage of everything. I'm basically sitting around and waiting to see what happens to the market before buying into anything. Can't really afford much at the moment unless I want to live on an outer ring of the GTA in some miserable suburb.

Originally Posted by thewave46

It's not like Toronto's in another province.

It should be - but that's another topic.

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I'm just imagining him explaining to his new neighbours in Burford how hard it is to find artisanal olive oil around here

What do you mean there isn't a Chinatown for me to peruse in Brantford??

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I'm just imagining him explaining to his new neighbours in Burford how hard it is to find artisanal olive oil around here.

He literally won the 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 lottery and he has the audacity to moan about it.

His neighbours want nothing to do with him if they're not uppity types.

He got the big-city lifestyle, raised a family, did all the things, lived high on a wad of unearned cash and still came out ahead.

The bar for 'not screwing up' was set so low than it was practically buried in the ground.