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Location exclusivity being touted as miraculous reason for why prices are not where they should really be. Complete detachment from reality when it comes to economic and financial fundaments (e.g. price / rent ratios, price to earnings, population income potential, economic diversification etc). To add fuel to the fire which is destined to inevitably engulf all colluded parties involved, purported “chronic housing shortages”,” multi-decade demand outstripping supply” continuously trumpeted analyses and trends,

“land-use restrictions” or “ lack of buildable land” justifications for why housing prices are so high, “net growth in foreign and inter-state (province) migration”, “the presence of a diversified economy “, and so the list went on, were all symptoms of the bubble mania which took hold in California in the early part of the decade. This was all good until there were no more greater fools left to bid up the inflated housing prices, and so the party abruptly stopped. People realized that they were not buying homes. In fact, they were renting them for the price of the mortgage. Those aforementioned fallacies, and many more others, are some of the principal reasons why the bubble burst in the States and why it will follow suit in Canada. British Columbia is no California, heck, Canada’s GDP is less than that of post-bubble California, with the country’s economy NOT as well diversified as one would expect, BUT heavily dependent on a few industries (e.g. oil and gas, energy, forestry and other derivative commodity industries, heavy machinery, construction etc.). Noteworthy is that Vancouver MSA’s per capita income is half of what per capita incomes are in the San Francisco Bay Area, certain portions of Los Angeles and San Diego areas, where prices have plummeted more than 50% from their peak.

It’s only a matter of time until the bubble bursts. The deflation in the U.S. started when the Federal Reserve began increasing interest rates. This could, however, start sooner than that. One should pay a close attention on consumer psychology when it relates to perceived expectations in the future. Often, this is how contagions, financial panics, great depressions are started. The longer the imbalances persist in the greater economy when it comes to housing, the more painful and protracted the adjustment is going to be when it comes. The Canadian government can keep the last fool from wanting to dump his inflated housing mortgage on the market for as long it provides backstop guarantee. However, financial markets are going to severely punish the Canadian government shortly by dumping its dollar, lowering its perceived credit worthiness (thus increasing implicitly and explicitly borrowing costs in the economy). A scenario just like this is currently unfolding in the U.S. Anyone wanna buy BC, Ontario provincial government bond at 9%? You start printing enough money until the federal currency is eventually debased and has little incremental value left.

After having met recently with "respectable mortgage brokers" who have been in the business for over 25+ years, I am now firmly convinced that this market is going to have a crash landing like one never experienced before. Pre-sales "pink paper" flipping (as what was called in the U.S.) where respective condo owners would trade condos like call options by purchasing condos without any intention of taking possession of the unit(s) and thus procuring further the housing bubble, funky appraisals based on comparable sales only with little to no historical economic fundamentals in place, liar loans (i.e. stated income (NIQ loans), stated assets) etc. are all hallmarks of the impeding and most definitely inevitable collapse of housing prices in Canada.

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Nope.

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I think a few well chosen obscentites can shock people, which is why I post the way I do. Your average Vancouver bull is probably the most smug and complacent creature on the planet. Why not try to shock them?

We all made the points we wanted to make years ago. What's the point of trying to change the mind of a guy like supraladyboy? Absent additional debate the only reason for posting is the shock value. Bulls like supra aren't smart enough to engage in rational discourse anyway. They are only really good for target practice.

So far Halifax has been awesome. The restaurant scene is amazingly diverse. There aren't any huge companies locating head offices here but the city benefits from a phenomenon I had not heard of before: nearshoring.

A lot of companies do not want to farm out jobs to places like china or India. It's too hard to keep an eye on the quality of the work and the time difference is prohibitive. They can often realize significant cost savings while keeping quality high by sending work to a closer location.

It's my understanding that the Maritimes have benefitted considerably from this. Several relatives are working in call centers at well paying jobs for large banks and insurance companies. The company I work for has 500 employees and handles IT infrastructure for a surprising variety of national and international companies.

While it's true that taxes here are higher overall prices seem to be quite a bit lower. Some things like bananas are a little mote expensive but others are surprisingly cheap and if you substitute local products for imported ones then things get very cheap indeed. Local artisinal cheeses are way cheaper the say Salt Spring Island cheeses. Same for lamb and haddock (which substiutes brilliantly for halibut). Atlantic salmon isn't as good as pacific but apparently pacific salmons about to go the way of the cod anyway.

Lobster is 5 bucks a pound and my friends were very amused at my reaction.

a friend of mine has a Kenyan husband and 2 kids. Her husband is still trying to get his career started but they were able to buy a small home not far from the place I hope to rent. They paid in the 300k range. Bear in mind this isn't a semi detatched or a condo. It's a sfh on a small lot.

So yeah taxes are a little higher here. Big fucking deal. Overall prices are so much lower that you still end up living a much better lifestyle.

Oh yeah and you don't have to pay bc a monthly fee for health services, which also saves money.

Best of all, because it's smaller it's way easier to network which makes it a lot easier to find work. I've already had 2 companies offer me jobs if I decide to leave my current one.

Life here isn't for everyone. The pace is a lot slower. Supra would absolutely hate it. There aren't a lot of flashy cars on the streets and ostentious displays of wealth are mocked and scorned, and Maritimers have a keen ability to identify and mock the absurd. There's a reason that "united breaks guitars" guy was so successful. Google it if you are unfamiliar. Mary Walsh just got big press for punking Sarah palin too, and let's not forget Rick mercer punking George Bush. We are very good at getting under the skin of self important jackasses. That's probably why I love tormenting supra so much. He's just so irresistable.

anyway that's life here. If any of you have questions just ask

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"expats in Canada have the best quality of life and found it among the easiest places in the world to integrate with the local population,Dubai stinks".-HSBC BANK INTERNATIONAL.

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Who cares if he agrees with you or not? Do you really need the validation of a fearmonger?

Again, I thought you didn't believe in graphs. Strange that you are now trying to predict the future off one.

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