July 9 2017
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News Update
The GDP of real estate
Quantitative finance professor Nuridding Ikromov observed that a real estate crash is linked to a 4% decline in GDP. Whether GDP crashes before real estate, or real estate crashes before GDP is a bit of a mystery. But as long as both are moving in the same direction we can at least conclude both measures support (or don’t support) the market. At the very least, we can compare it to cities with similar output to see how out of whack, or undervalued prices may be.
House price prediction according to RBC
RBC predicts housing prices will rise by 1.2% in 2018, compared to 7.8% in 2017 and 9.6% on average in 2016. The last time home prices changed by less than 2% was in 2009. Ontario homeowners will feel the slowdown more than anyone else. Overall, prices will rise 14% in 2017 but only 1% in 2018.
High but not too high
A recent report on the number of vacant homes in Vancouver set the number at 8.2% of the stock. This number is consistent with estimates made in 2009 and earlier using data from BC Hydro and the census that pegged vacancies at between 5% and 8%. Yet it’s only in the past 18 months that Vancouver deemed the fact problematic and proposed penalizing owners of vacant properties.
Dwelling on the obvious
Q: Who pays the highest condo fees?
A: Those living in high rise condos built before 1980.
Australia’s is bigger
I don’t like to use the word ‘bubble’, but if I did, I would say that Australia has a bigger housing bubble than Canada. Fair dinkum.
Apple disrupts Silicon Valley with its new home
Apple Park, the future headquarters of Apple is under construction in Cupertino, California. The building has earned the nickname “the spaceship” because of its ring-shaped design. Beam me up, Scotty!
Kitchener top dog in annual wiener dog race
Kitchener wiener dog beat defending champ (from Guelph) at the annual wiener dog races in Elora. Thirty wiener dogs participated in the event.
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