In a word, it’s looking bleak out there. Ron Butler is quick out of the gate with his outlook for the Canadian real estate market in the first five minutes of the interview.
“…it would appear that the December numbers that will roll off in Ontario,…in terms of house sales, will fall to the incredibly low point of the height of Covid….We’re talking about catastrophic levels of volume reduction in terms of house sales.”
He goes on to talk about interest rate trends and the economy in general. He believes that rates won’t go much higher, but they won’t go down for at least a year either. Variable rate holders and HELOC users are in for a world of hurt.
play stupid games …..
win stupid prizes ……
We lived through this in the US from 1977-1983. Car loans at 22% interest and 16% mortgages.
It is not the pricking of a bubble. It is a (hopefully only) half decade economic realignment and shaking out of businesses and entire industries.
We got burned. But our situation was a net positive for us – we sold our place in Ontario (gta) and bought a small acreage in Alberta, cleared off all our debt with the exception of a tiny mortgage that we’ll have paid off in a couple years.
What stings is knowing that, had we listed 6 months earlier, we would have no mortgage and still banked an extra $150k. We had neighbors sell in February, didn’t do a thing to their house, got multiple offers, way over asking within days. By comparison, ours lingered on the market despite being a more attractive house, a victim of rate hikes and timing. We slashed our price multiple times and it was 3 months until we finally sold.
Anyways, we’re much happier now in Alberta. Ontario has been circling the drain for a long time and the last couple of years have hastened its decline. Should have done this years ago, truthfully.