Five years ago Canadians, particularly those in Toronto and Vancouver, went on a buying spree for homes. Interest rates were dirt cheap at 2% and homes could be bought with a 5% down payment and 25 year amortization. Heck, if your household income was around $80K to $90K, you’d qualify for buying a house. Fast…
When people bought their homes 5 years ago everyone was afraid they were buying overpriced properties. Flash forward 5 years later and all these homeowners are millionaires especially those in the GTA and Vancouver areas. That makes many GTA homeowners ecstatic because they’ve seen the values of their homes grow from a mere $600,000 to…
Just recently I received an article to read written in the Globe and Mail about why I should buy a house rather than rent. Of course I knew this was a ruse because I’ve written many times how, in cities like Toronto or Vancouver, renting is much more affordable and financially responsible than buying. If…
The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the second time this year bringing the US bank rate above 1% for the first time since 2008. During the same week, the Bank of Canada signaled the end to low interest rates is coming and the next interest rate move will most likely be up and…
Donald Trump may be making lives tough for the Canadian government, but their fear doesn’t lie south of the border, it lies in runaway housing prices in the Toronto region. Prompted by the Bank of Canada and big bank CEOs, the three levels of government got together over a weekend to discuss how to solve Toronto’s…
When I talk to most people, they all wonder what’s wrong with me. “What aren’t you buying a house?” “Why are you paying someone else’s mortgage?” Those are all common questions that I have to answer all the time. It’s bad enough that I’m not following what the majority of Canadians are doing, since over…
Recently there have been many press releases coming from big name CEOs at the Canadian banks and the Bank of Canada stating that housing prices in the two hottest cities, Vancouver and Toronto, have become unsustainable. But are their words actually true? If they were too expensive then why are people still able to buy…
