Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

[ssiguy]

Most of Canada is still reasonably affordable except the GGH and all of BC.

Ontario prices have soared in the last 2 years but huge amounts of the province are still within easy reach of most incomes like Eastern, SWO, and especially the North. Outside of that, most of Canada is still affordable.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

mostlyofftopic

part of why I come to this site is to read Molson's replies

[rousseau]

Would be really awesome if there were a polka band from Ompah.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Land costs given the location would basically be next to zero, but even in the middle of nowhere land has greater economic productivity than $250/acre.

False. Bad land in the Canadian Shield far from any sawmills isn’t even worth $250/acre. Let alone Arctic tundra.

[yaletown_fella]

Isn't it much more costly to build a home on the Canadian shield because of the foundation? Im talking a house hooked up to the grid with all the conventional utilities. It probably wont have a basement, or at most, a split level basement if the land is on an incline.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Isn't it much more costly to build a home on the Canadian shield because of the foundation? Im talking a house hooked up to the grid with all the conventional utilities. It probably wont have a basement, or at most, a split level basement if the land is on an incline.

It depends. There's lots of Shield that's forest/swampland interspersed with rocky sections.

I've lived in houses that have partly rock foundation. Putting in utilities (water/sewer/gas) on initial build is a pain. It requires drilling or blasting.

Rock in the basement usually means it will be damp, so the space really can't be used for anything other than furnace/water heater/storage. On the bright side, the house doesn't usually have foundation problems due to the ground moving.

The biggest problem with most of the Shield is that there's no reason to be there. Can't farm it. The occasional mining/forestry town is about the all that really can be justified economically.

There's a reason why Northern Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are so sparsely populated. I don't think it would be good policy to develop it either - putting more people in a cold, high energy demand environment seems to be counter-intuitive to being more energy efficient as a country.

[Nite]

Toronto goes to war with the province to keep housing prices high

Toronto’s city planners appear to be undermining the province, preferring to protect rich homeowners at the expense of new buyers

Canada’s housing affordability crisis, which has turned homeownership into an impossible dream for many, is fundamentally driven by a lack of housing supply. There are too many people bidding on too few homes, which drives up prices. Unfortunately, new supply is often obstructed by municipal politicians and bureaucrats who, subjugated by “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) activism, reflexively oppose new developments.

In 2019, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives moved to overcome this obstacle by putting out a new plan, titled “ A Place to Grow ” (APTG), which was supported by existing legislation, that forces municipalities to densify areas around transit infrastructure, whether they like it or not. However, Toronto’s city planners appear to be undermining the APTG, preferring to protect rich homeowners at the expense of new buyers.......

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/adam-zi...the-province-to-keep-housing-prices-high

[1overcosc]

We need a radical fix.

Landowner rights in the constitution, something along the lines of "Landowners have the right to use their property as they see fit."

It will mean that every single municipal rule that restricts what people can build on their land will have to pass judicial muster. All zoning/planning/bylaw/etc will have to justify itself to a court of law as being worthy of limiting a constitutional right. Hard to have stupid NIMBY rules that just serve to block development without any real reason for them in this scenario.

[Wigs]

991 square foot 1960s bungalow, near heavy industry in Welland sells for $500k! (appliances apparently not included)

"This 991-square-foot house has a classic 1960s design on a 45-by 90-foot lot.

It has a living room and a separate eat-in kitchen with access to a fenced-in yard and a lower level recreation room with a second bathroom."

$168k in 2015
$290k in 2017
SOLD $500k in 2021
Days on market: 13




Welland, a "small town" of 57,000 and growing thanks to GTA/Hamilton housing prices

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-est...town-of-welland-ont-draws-wide-interest/

[esquire]

Half a mill for that, in Welland... yikes.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by esquire

Half a mill for that, in Welland... yikes.

median housing price in Niagara is rapidly approaching $700k!

[Nite]

Toronto home prices hit new record in October amid scarce listings

"The number of new listings fell 13 per cent month-over-month in October. Compared to a year earlier, inventory plunged 34 per cent.
“The only sustainable way to address housing affordability in the GTA is to deal with the persistent mismatch between demand and supply. Demand isn’t going away. And that’s why all three levels of government need to focus on supply,” said TRREB President Kevin Crigger in a release.

High demand and constrained supply helped push home prices even further into record territory as the average selling price of a property ticked up to $1,155,345 in October."

[Nite]

Does Induced Demand Apply to... Housing?
• Video Link

[lio45]

I've noticed one is starting to really overpay for the Ontario "cachet" and name these days*, the same way it has been for BC for a long time.

I noticed that when we discussed Ompah real estate in this thread but then had another confirmation while looking at Northern Clay Belt land. The best deals are on the Quebec side, by far.

(~$1000/acre for good loamy land that's already drained and used for hay and grain, on the east side of the border.)



*Now that I'm thinking about it, a possible other explication is rules/regulations/taxes being friendlier to farmers in Ontario. (It's actually a factor; for example, it's why there's a significant price gap between the east and west sides of the upper Connecticut River, NH being the more desirable of the two as a place to be for taxation purposes.)

[SignalHillHiker]

Two things:

1. Second time I’ve seen this, where someone is selling two adjacent rowhouses with multiple units, with long-term renters who want to stay. Cheap but relatively well-maintained, in 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 neighbourhoods.



Why do people sell those? Isn’t that the end game for property investors, having stable rental units/income? Why do these ever come up on the market?

2. House update. I installed the new kitchen light myself tonight!



So it complements the one in the living room (where I installed smart thermostats!):



We are loving it here haha

[thewave46]

I don't think the cat is nearly as picky about the location or the style of the place as long as it is:

a) warm
b) soft

At least that's been my experience.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Wigs

991 square foot 1960s bungalow, near heavy industry in Welland sells for $500k! (appliances apparently not included)


$168k in 2015
$290k in 2017
SOLD $500k in 2021
Days on market: 13

Vancouver: "Hold my beer".

vancouverhouse by whatnextyvr, on Flickr

On offer at $1,399,000
https://www.rew.ca/properties/3618666/58...361&searchable_type=Geography&sort=price

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Vancouver: "Hold my beer".

vancouverhouse by whatnextyvr, on Flickr

On offer at $1,399,000
https://www.rew.ca/properties/3618666/58...361&searchable_type=Geography&sort=price

I'll take it. Is it a good neighbourhood?

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Vancouver: "Hold my beer".

vancouverhouse by whatnextyvr, on Flickr

On offer at $1,399,000
https://www.rew.ca/properties/3618666/58...361&searchable_type=Geography&sort=price

Yeah, Vancouver has been expensive (relative to ROC) since the late 1970s.

Niagara Region (incl Welland) only in the past 3-4 years
Avg sale price in Niagara for October jumped up to $740k, up 28% from Oct 2020
#ThanksGTA

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I'll take it. Is it a good neighbourhood?

Meh. An OK neighbourhood that would have been solidly post-war working class then "new Canadians" starting in the mid-90s. Nothing to write home about.