Archive for the ‘Calgary’ Category

High Energy Prices and Inflationary Pressures

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG Bank Of Canada Jolts Economists With Stand-Pat Rate Decision Amid Inflation Risk"Holt said one possible explanation is that the Bank of Canada and the U.S.Federal Reserve are co-ordinating policy in an effort to bolster the Americandollar and "take the froth" off of commodity prices."Back in March ...

Inflationary Scenario

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Bubble Quite a lot has happened in macro economic world since I wrote the ‘deflationary scenario’. While there are still quite a number of deflationary proponents holding there ground, the mainstream economists and pretty much all the central banks are getting perturbed over rising commodity prices. And for once, their ...

What the ads don’t say

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Here is a builder ad for new condos in Edmonton I got in the mail:Wow! $824/monthThe fine print:4.15% with a $9875 down payment & combined income of $51,364.On the back:*Based on a variable rate of 4.15%, OAC, clients to qualify at a 3 yr posted rate ...

CMHC freedom day

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Notice how when offering as an incentive they disclose how little money you are putting towards principal."Remember 95% of your payments in your first year could be interest"Marketers are creative with numbers! This inspired me to look at the 40 year mortgage more creatively myself.With ...

Comfree Success Rate

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch The new Comfree is here as described in the monthly report:Further assisting sellers with pricing, ComFree launched the “New ComFree” with a bang. Thursday June 5th ComFree played host to a day of fun-filled activities including special appearances from the Edmonton Esks cheerleaders, Edmonton Rush, Joe ...

Millwoods condo follow-up

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Anyone remember these condos? The ridiculous discounts? The 1 bedrooms normally range in price from $179,900 to $190,900. The 2 bedrooms range from $204,900 to $227,900....The developer, for these first 10 units only, is selling them at $150,000 for a 1 bedroom and $160,000 for ...

More on ridiculous discounts

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Some more on the ridiculous discounts offered back in February:The second building is located in Aldergrove, not far from West Edmonton Mall. It’s a terrific location, with walking trails on 2 sides of the building and with easy access to everything. Prices int his building normally ...

Has Calgary real estate inventory peaked?

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

FindCalgary.com Blog For the past 2 weeks in June SFH inventory in Calgary has fluctuated around 7100, and around 3300 since the beginning of May for Condos. Has the influx of new inventory peaked?    (A special thanks to Matthew for compiling all the daily stats and providing us with the graph!) To view the ...

City Vacancy Rates Jump to 4%

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG The once white-hot Calgary real estate market boasted a vacancy rate of 0.5% back in 2006. According to this article, alot has changed in the past 2 years. Inventory has slowly built up to uncontrollable levels and property sales have dissipated. This has resulted in rising ...

More Negative Equity On The Horizon

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG The much anticipated "spring rush" has been a complete disaster in Calgary's real estate market. This is well documented in the MSM these days. It was during this period that sellers were hoping to unload their anvils of debt to unsuspecting greater fools. The hope ...

Offending Economists Around The World

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG The preceding graphic was the housing market in the US where prices eventually crashed. Early symptoms included a decrease in sales and high inventory levels.Notice the very "shocking" similarities to the trend of the Calgary real estate market. In Calgary, home sales are plummeting 30%-40% YOY. ...

False Sense Of Affordability

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG This might be old elementary news, but over the last couple of years during the inflation of the Calgary real estate bubble many home buyers were "tricked" (yes, I dare say it) into affordability.A conventional and financially rational mortgage would follow a 25 year amortization period. ...

Bold Predictions

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG We're almost approaching the midway point of 2008. With the spring rush come and gone, will the following bold predictions hold true till the end of the year?Here is a compilation of predictions for the Calgary real estate market made at the beginning of this ...

Bullish Hopes Sputtering

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG Chicken soup won't help. Not doom and gloom but rather reality.Calgary inventory at all time record highs (7127 SFH + 3373 Condo), sales/new list ratio in the tank, sales down yoy 30%-50%, median price down yoy, average price down yoy, days on market up yoy.As of ...

Here Is What $320k Will Get You

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG Real Estate Type : Single FamilyBuilding Type : HouseBedrooms : 1Bathrooms : 1Interior Floor Space : 925.70 sqftStoreys : BungalowBuilt in : 1926Land Size : W:8.840m D:36.580m Shape:RECTitle : FreeholdLocation : 112 9 Av NECalgary, AB T2E 0V2MLS®: C3322995Aren't post grow-op properties supposed to ...

Small Pool of Buyers Remaining

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

CALGARY REAL ESTATE BUBBLE BLOG According to Statistics Canada's 2006 Census of Population and Housing, 73.1% of Albertans own there "dwellings."What does this mean?It translates into the fact that the pool of remaining buyers in Alberta's real estate market is small. During the boom years of 2006 and on, many Albertans ...

Negative Interprovincial Migration

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble It's official now. Fewer people moved to Alberta than those who left as per the latest release from Stats Can. Alberta had a negative inter provincial migration of around 3300, the first negative reading since 1994. From the release:"On the other hand, the main engine of Alberta's demographic growth—interprovincial ...

Final thoughts for 2007

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble 2007 is coming to an end and before starting the New Year, let’s do a quick assessment of the Alberta Real Estate situation. Let’s start from ground realities. It’s still a lot cheaper to rent than to buy. Our ‘flipper’ friends make it abundantly easy to rent a brand ...

Edmonton numbers for December 2007

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble are out...and as mentioned earlier, don't look too bad.But, when combined with over 20 per cent decline in sales volume (and a change in the product mix), the price increases are not unexpected.Since we don't have the 'representative property' available for Edmonton, we have to rely on the less ...

Where are the buyers?

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble Real Estate buyers in Alberta sure seem to be taking longer than expected vacations. While close to a hundred properties are being listed every day since the beginning of the year, the buyers are simply not showing up. The sales to new listings ratio is sitting at a ...