Friday Free-for-all!
It’s that time of the week again! Lets do our regular end of the week news round-up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend. Here are a few recent stories to kick things off:
-Olympic Village still losing money for everyone who touches it
-You can’t get out of debt by going into more debt?
-How long can home prices rise?
-Boomers still dealing with mortgages as retirement looms
-Top ten least expensive cities for house prices
-Is CMHC in worse shape than Fannie May?
-Canada the next domino to fall?
-Canada bubble commentary infographic
-Burt Reynolds facing foreclosure
-Unwanted condos blow up real good
-Realtors in cars
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
$1.6M Teardowns – “Until demand shrivels at the higher end, families at the lower end will be priced out as we can’t compete with the developers. I’ve given up and can’t wait to get my family out of here.” | Vancouver Real Estate A Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 5:32 am
[...] the developers. As I said I’ve given up and can’t wait to get my family out of here.” – chopper at vancouvercondo.info 21 Aug 2011 6:44pm Share:TwitterFacebookRedditStumbleUponDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This [...]
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:54 am
Atnj36 http://wnbUj5n0mXqpcvm27Hms.biz
August 22nd, 2011 at 1:08 pm
http://macronomy.blogspot.com/2011/08/markets-upd…
Nomura to add:
"Access to USD CP funding for international banks continue to deteriorate. Thursday's Fed data on outstanding commercial paper showed a further decline, indicating that some European banks are having difficulty rolling paper."
a very good read if you want to get an idea on the problem overseas. It is looking like 2008. We are not there yet and it can be fixed.
All of this was caused by bad mortgages passed off to foreign buyers and that cannot be cleared off books. Housing bubbles are nightmares.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:43 pm
http://pragcap.com/cds-market-to-euro-banks-this-…
google the bank stocks in the graph and you should understand that if this is not contained it could get ugly. This is not doom but it is ugly.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:25 pm
@CanuckDownUnder:
I own gold producers, not gold.
People who buy gold only make money from each other, but gold producers make money from people who buy gold.
August 21st, 2011 at 11:56 am
@chopper
Has your neighborhood ever been "affordable"? As in, middle class affordable? Even 500k to 600k is a lot of money in normal times, but for the moment, many in this town are borrowing like they're the next Donald Trump. Can't say I blame you though…this town seriously sucks to bring up a family in, and in my opinion is a petri dish of failed policy in so many ways.
August 21st, 2011 at 11:33 am
Ok everyone, all this talk about gold is pissing people off so let's not mention it again until it hits $2000.
The 3 days rest will do us good.
August 21st, 2011 at 11:11 am
@chopper:
Why leave? Are you unhappy with the rent you pay? What's forcing you to buy?
August 21st, 2011 at 11:09 am
Setting aside the question as to the intrinsic value of gold (which is enough of a reason for me to avoid it), it is clear that gold mining is a nasty business. At least most other metals have some useful application.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-real…
August 21st, 2011 at 10:44 am
@Anonymouse: Sorry Anonymouse – #150 was me.
I agree, would people please stop talking about gold.
I don't disagree with your perception of things. Who's to say the market will ever correct? I keep hoping it will but I've finally given up and am in the process of making plans to leave Vancouver once and for all. Fuck this place.
In my neighborhood teardowns, or what developers consider teardowns sell within days for well over $1.6 million. Having said this, developed houses selling in the $3 to $4 million range are taking a lot longer to sell than they used to. Anyways, it seems that the market in this area is driven by the upper end, not the lower end. Developers calculate what they can sell the finished product for and then calculate their max price for a teardown based on the finished product. Until demand shrivels at the higher end, families at the lower end will be priced out as we can't compete with the developers. As I said I've given up and can't wait to get my family the fuck out of here.
August 21st, 2011 at 10:27 am
@patriotz:
We get it. Holding any gold at any time is never a good idea.
August 21st, 2011 at 10:25 am
I remember that…I also remember what happened to house prices too. Alas…but the puppies think this is all a new paradigm and it won't happen again
August 21st, 2011 at 10:24 am
They had the finale of this reality renovation show last night in Australia. I didn't watch any of it but the results were rather embarrassing, 3 out of the 4 houses failed to sell at auction:
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/…
August 21st, 2011 at 9:24 am
The (not pretty) picture
August 21st, 2011 at 9:21 am
@Anonymous:
You want a picture, you've got a picture:
http://www.kitco.com/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_g…
August 21st, 2011 at 8:56 am
@patriotz:
"Um I just showed that it is."
No you made a statement that it is. You didn't "show" anything.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:49 am
@Best place on meth:
"Garth Turner feels the need to rebut Zero Hedge’s piece on Canadian banks while simultaneously dismissing him"
Yes his reasoning is this:
"Through CMHC, the banks are protected against major losses because everyone with less than a 20% down payment (which is just about all buyers these days) is forced to purchase mortgage insurance."
The part Garth misses is those same people who will default on the CMHC insured mortgages will first stop paying unsecured lines of credit, credit card debt and car loans which the bank will eat. I would assume there will be a cost to the banks getting their money back from CMHC as well once the default happens.
What about construction mortgages that will default if housing prices crash as he predicts? Then there will be those who did put down 20% that will default once interest rates increase. How many homes in Miami underwater even after the buyer put 20% down?
The only explanation as to why he doesn't see this coming is he makes a living by investing peoples money in the banks preferred shares and ETFs made up of banks. It won't be pretty for the banks. The prefs will tank along with the stock value if his predictions on housing come true.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:36 am
@Anonymous:
Um I just showed that it is.
What do you think "correlated" means?
August 21st, 2011 at 8:11 am
@Anonymous:
The Euro is going to be around as long as France and Germany want it. As for places like Greece, what money?
August 21st, 2011 at 7:46 am
@Anonymous: What happens in spring 2013?
Nothing in particular, but my gut feeling is we've still got at least 2 strong springs to go. There's certainly nothing remarkable happening right now, evidenced by the fact you're all talking about gold instead of RE
August 21st, 2011 at 7:14 am
@pipewrench:
Bond prices detect your sarcasm.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:05 am
"What happens in spring 2013?"
The US has maintained they'll hold their rates at near-zero until mid-2013. By spring we'll have a good idea as to what their intentions will be for either raising or not – each option will have a host of consequences that go along with them.
The new US president will also have just finished decorating the White House and will be getting down to business. Depending on who is there, it could make for some interesting policy shifts.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:02 am
"What happens in spring 2013?"
The US has maintained they'll hold their rates at near-zero until mid-2013.