The good news: Mortgage rates have never been lower.
The less good news for some:
“The new rules to qualify for mortgage insurance from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) are expected to cut the maximum purchase price for borrowers of insured mortgages by up to 12 per cent, more than offsetting the drop in mortgage rates for those who can’t come up with a 20-per-cent down payment.”
Happy Friday!
Spam filter seems to be back on track, so that’s good news.
Let’s do our end of the week news round up and open topic discussion, here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:
–Downturn in sales expected to last for years
–Who will buy the new supply?
–Falling rents pose a big risk
–Inflation turns negative
–Ready to go back to school?
–Deferral cliff could see 18% house price drop
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So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!
Vancouvers empty home tax is bringing in some decent coin – almost $40 million in 2018.
If you believe in a vibrant vancouver and want to do your part to support it, you can own a home here and keep it empty – that extra tax income goes to support affordable housing and rent protections.
If you really want to go the extra mile, don’t report your empty home: Audits raises $22.1 million in taxes and fines from empty home owners.
Read more here.
It’s a new milestone! Its. Ot just Canadians that cant get enough of that debt, global debt levels have reached their highest peacetime levels:
We are likely to see central banks continue market interventions that have enabled governments to take on more debt since the crisis, perhaps even financing spending directly with so-called “helicopter money”.
We’re actually not a million miles away from this. By their aggressive actions over the last decade, central banks have effectively trapped themselves into continually intervening in government bond markets. They’re arguably beyond the point of no return.
Full article here.
Southseacompany shared this link to a list of global cities with the most overvalued real estate:
Swiss bank UBS’s Global Real Estate Bubble Index 2019 found a significant overvaluation in half of the 24 housing markets analysed by the research. The bubble risk appears greatest in seven global cities, with Munich the most vulnerable, followed by Toronto, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vancouver and Paris. Major imbalances are also found in locations such as London, San Francisco, Tokyo and Stockholm, while valuations are considered stretched in Los Angeles, Sydney and Geneva.
Read the full article here.