[…] Histats.track_hits();} catch(err){}; A day after the RBC released a report saying there is no condo bubble in Toronto we get a conflicting report from Capital […]

@Navin R. Johnson

Rather than rip lawyers, let’s give them their due. Not just any chump can obtain a law degree.

Don’t put words in my mouth. Most lawyers are pretty smart. I said they are generally not good with numbers. They are trained to address legal issues, not calculate things. I simply am saying they may not be great with finance. Obviously this is not true for all of them.

@Dr. Nick Riviera:

Rather than rip lawyers, let’s give them their due. Not just any chump can obtain a law degree.

Education is WAY overrated awhen it comes to investing. Better to have good “business instincts”, which admittedly is not always easy to define or identify. Laywers, by the way, are great with legal questions but horrible with numbers. Its possible that some of them have calculators but I’m not sure if they know how to use them.

Dr. Nick.
Medical degree from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College.

@jesse: I think that market mentality is going to play a much bigger role and have a far more negative outcome than might be predicted via an otherwise sound extrapolation of recent numbers. There is nothing government or anyone can do now to arrest a precipitous fall as they did post 2008. In fact, they have recognized the error of their ways back then with free money, no downs and ridiculous amortization periods. They know now that these policies led to a bubble in some key markets in Canada, Vancouver being ground zero. They deny the term because they can in a national context – the national context, however, is meaningless as far as markets like Vancouver are concerned and they know this too. Buyer sentiment fed on itself on the way up on irrational exuberance which resulted in a… Read more »

@ Jesse Good thought process. Personally, I have a feeling that H2 2012 will not be too far ahead of 2008 for sales .. and maybe even behind. I recognize there were a couple of months around Sept/Oct 2008 where things came to a standstill. However, if you back-out the pre-July 9 numbers from the current stats we are almost at that level now. This fall selling season looks like a huge set-up for a made-in-Vancouver crash, no need to look for an external catalyst. If we do get an external catalyst on the upside, it might just back-up rates enough to act as a brake on housing activity. An external downside catalyst and we will be back in a post-Lehman environment. Best the realturds can hope for is some kind of kick-the-can environment where C$ interest rates continue to… Read more »

New Listings 263
Back On Market Listings 14
Price Changes 160
Sold Listings 163

All lower mainland

1 Mil + = 19
900k – 999k – 5
800k – 899k = 11
700k – 799k = 12
600k – 699k = 16
500k – 599k = 19
400k – 499k = 18
300k – 399k = 26
200k – 299k = 22
100k – 199k = 11
99k – = 2

@Anonymous: How does one prove one’s self an “expert”? All that matters in these here parts is data, critical thought, and a bit of populism for fun. Leave credentials at the door, they don’t change the arguments unless you want to proxy thinking for yourself.

@Anonymous: “For the record the undergraduate degree of Michael Burry is in economics. ”

Thanks, I did not know that.

It’s pointless to say you’re an expert on a blog unless you’re going to back it up with proof. I can’t wait to see where Anonymous Lawyer got his degree.

We could all be dogs, but the facts will still be facts.

Just went through my Facebook news feed and I have two friends who updated their status to say they just bought real estate in Canada. One is a condo in the lower mainland. Ouch. These are both people in their early 20s fresh out of university. They’ve never even lived on their own. University paid for by boomer parents. They go straight from their childhood bedroom in their parents house to homeownership. I don’t have the guts to point out their folly. I suspect they have probably suppressed my Facebook posts from showing up in their news feed so they haven’t seen what I have been posting about the real estate bubble over the past few months. I guess they’ll learn the hard way.

@Anonymous: “But, maybe I’m just an “elitist” to care about formal education. Full disclosure: I am a lawyer and a owner of a home and a rental property.” It is kind of funny we have a lawyer questioning opposing opinions to the bank economists. Every time I see a lawyer they are not telling us what they truly believe, they are defending their client. Bank economists are just like lawyers but they are working for the banks not criminal defendants. They are paid to defend their clients financial interests and will say the most preposterous things just like a lawyer will. What an economist says publicly may not be what he/she actually believes. They are just making a case on behalf of their client/employer. The same as lawyers. Do you think Willy Picton’s lawyers thought he was innocent? Well that… Read more »

Economists….lol. How many of these high profile, so-called experts completely missed the boat when it came to predicting the 2008 economic downturn?

@Anonymous: Book learning is the same as paper training.

Thank you very much, PaulB.

I have you in mind as my realtor while I buy my house. Hopefully in less than 2 years.

@Anonymous:

One of the brightest minds in the economics blogoshphere is Mish. Engineering undergrad, and no formal economics education. Yet he can run circles around almost any econ PhD when it comes to the big picture.

@unagiDon: For the record the undergraduate degree of Michael Burry is in economics. So maybe he is not the best name to drop before a “no formal training in finance or economics” statement.

He was one of the speakers at this year’s UCLA school of economics commencement ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLhqjOzoyE