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'The great boom is winding down'

LORI MCLEOD

Globe an Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 7:07 AM EST 19/02/08

Housing resales in January were down 8 per cent from the same month last year, a further sign of things slowing down in real estate ...Read the full article

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  1. Winston Smith from Canada writes: Can't the government, increase mortgage amortization to 50 years to keep this "boom" going. While they're at it they can reduce the downpayment required to negative with the use of taxpayer funded rebates to new home buyers. Fueling asset bubbles is certainly a positive public policy.
  2. mighty conan from Calgary, Canada writes: It's about time the news got out... When prices were on their way up there was a front page story at least once a week. As soon as the market cooled off so did the news articles. Nobody wants to talk about market rationalization. In Calgary the slide continues & there's no end in sight for the near term. Affordability is increasing, finally. My bet is it will continue here since the word has gotten out across the country that Calgary streets aren't paved with gold.
  3. Vic Hotte from Canada writes: Good. This means the uglification and destruction of the natural environment will slow down. Surely, we've seen enough urban sprawl, traffic congestion, environmental degradation and water shortages to convince us that the 'great boom' was just a ridiculous political pipedream: forced growth too fast. It's time to consolidate and right-size the economy. Politicians should stop pushing forced growth, much of which has been funded by tax subsidies, outright grants and watered-down environmental legislation. If we can't afford the healthcare, education costs and social programs with forced growth, then surely, it is time to end forced growth. Politicians will have to return some of the donations from developers that they have grown far too reliant on. Time to serve the public ... for a change.
  4. Cosmo Spacely from Canada writes: Not too mention all that infrastructure that must be maintained with tax dollars
  5. Nucking Futs from Canada writes: Housing prices in BC are crazy. No working family can afford to buy-in now. However, ask a real-estate agent and they'll tell you that "prices are low in comparison to other hot-spots in the world like London or Manhattan". Guess what? London and Manhattan are the centres of the universe -- BC is not! Saskatchewan??? Are people insane? I would pay any amount of money to leave that hidious province. One thing that I'll bet on is that the depreciation in prices in the States is just starting and it is going to happen here too in a big way. You want to pay $400,000 for a condo go ahead --- it'll be worth half that in a few years. So buY, bUY, BUY!!
  6. Two Sense from Saskatoon, Canada writes: The boom is winding down yet the article states that sales volume and prices have increased in Newfoundland and Labrador? Prices cool across the country yet average price is up 8.6%? Gee, I wonder if sales activity dropped in January because it was friggin cold in every part of the country compared to last January? Start reading what the article says and stop reading into the article what you want it to say! Prices and sales volume will continue to be strong as Spring and warm weather return and people seriously consider moving when school gets out. Think about it.
  7. Kim Morton from Qualicum Beach, Canada writes: Finally buyers are realizing that it is they who control the market, not the dirt pimps. When prices adjust to what the average working joe can aford sales will pick up again.
  8. john doe from Canada writes: b.c will have to wait until post 2010 before we see a slow down. I suspect there will be a quiet sell of in 09 as people decide to cash out and maybe downgrade to keep some of the equity built up in there homes. How ever i do believe the b.c notably the south coast (lower mainland and south of comox on the island) will stay fairly strong as many boomers come out to b.c for retirement or recreational housing.
  9. Sam Jacobs from Manhattan, United States writes: Hello, As a vistor to Canada it is very clear why BC is so expensive, the people who are paying for the high priced are from HK or Asia. They compare the prices to HK, which is booming and find Vancouver to be a bargain. This is not the case for someone in Vancouver which has no real high paying jobs, company headquarters, or vibrant areas to really make dough. The whole place seems to be driven by very smart business people who trade and amazing tourism. This makes it an intl city which will reflect intl prices. In addition, when speaking to asian people in Vancouver, it was very clear the culture is pushed into owning as renting brings shame. Other parts of Canada, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, are riding the commodity boom in Canada. This industry is making so much money that people can start to pay higher prices. Oil and Gas get killed, so will the boom towns. Note - think about port forestry towns in upper BC, samething happened. Ontario is the epicenter of finance, however the over building and strong link to the US are surely setting up for a real meltdown in prices. Wait till BCE and CIBC start to fire people.... Quebec - who cares, they will always use the tax dollars to help the bce, caisse, alcan, montreal exchange umemployed coming up in a couple of years. It has its own character, charm and hot spots. The east is not that important, but I am sure PEI and areas in NS will enjoy growth from the great landscaps. Ontario will get hit first with the US, Commodity prices will take down the boom town and lowering intl city premiums will take down Vancouver....Manhattan is starting to see a downturn..think about that if you are buyer. Be patient and you will be rewarded. This is Nortel at 100$
  10. Marv M from Canada writes: Only a fool and his/her soon to be departed money would buy a house anywhere in Western Canada at the current prices. They are at least 50% overpriced. We have seen the last few years of "Irrational exuberance" in the Canadian housing sector. No, despite what Realtors will tell you, a house IN NOT AN INVESTMENT, it is a depreciating asset. Especially when you take into account the property taxes, cost of maintenance and utilities, insurance, etc. etc. Your' lucky if your house stays ahead of inflation. Only an idiot who listens to the Realtor BS would buy a house as an investment. That's why so many people in Western Canada have over payed by such ridiculous amounts. They are now the proud owners of a LIFETIME of mortgage debt. Enjoy your kraft dinner meals, that's all you will be able to afford for the next 50 or so years.
  11. Gold Standard from Canada writes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IwtAQzrfiw

    Check this out, its short and its worth it.

    People need to be ready, we have to inflation proof our money as much as possible.
  12. Johnny Canuck from Canada writes: The weather in North America has been extremely cold compared to last year. These numbers should be in line with market expectations.
  13. j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes: Gold Standard, that link is well over a year old, and it's a guy talking about oil going "who knows where" by 2008.

    Well, we know where its going in 2008. New oil sources are coming online (even your source here mentions them in the interview!) and demand is about to crater nicely as the US economy grinds down for the year. The only thing thats may make the price of oil look like it's holding going up this year is the continued devaluation of the greenback.

    Its about to get warmer, and we're all coming out of the winter with less manufacturing in NA and Europe, and about to have fewer jobs in general. This puts less pressure on fuel in every way, including Asian manufacturing. Look for oil to go down, not up, in the short term.

    Oh, and look for that gold youre buying to crash. Soon.
  14. john doe from Canada writes: Marv M: over the past ten years my house has more then doubled in value (it's in western canada) roughly adding 500k in home equity in a fairly luiquid asset. Givin that the average inflation rate over that time has been roughly %2 and i pay roughly 200k on average in up keep and utility bills (i recently did minor renovated that is included in that figure) that puts my current cost to 800k. Now it may not be what is said by that is a net %6 percent return on my investment on average over ten years. That is not to bad considering that i need a home for me and my family
  15. Chris C from Canada writes: Its about time for a Real Estate Correction in Canada. This has been the longest cycle because of the "creative mortgages" in Canada (ie. the 40 year amoratization/0 down mortgages)

    Now you have the all the "greater fools" about to run out....and POP!

    Classic Bubble!
  16. Chris C from Canada writes: By the way:

    Enjoy the Book:

    Greater Fool: The troubled future of Real Estate

    http://www.greaterfool.ca/about-book/
  17. Gold Standard from Canada writes: j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes:
    Oh, and look for that gold youre buying to crash. Soon.

    Look for that cash you are carrying and the stocks you own to go down to.
  18. j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes: Heh.

    Yep. Youre not wrong about that one.
  19. John G from Canada writes: "john doe from Canada writes: Marv M: over the past ten years my house has more then doubled in value (it's in western canada) roughly adding 500k in home equity in a fairly luiquid asset."

    Yeah OK john now put on your thinking cap. Does that mean that it's a good idea to buy a house now, or that it was a good idea to buy a house 10 years ago?

    Was it a good idea to buy Nortel in 2000 or to sell it?

    Get it?
  20. Will Hoaccio from Canada writes: I have been hearing about the "coming bust" since the boom started. Armchair economists need to learn that it isn't "forecasting" to say that the bubble is bursting every day, every month for the past 4 years. Even if it does eventually burst, a chronological inevitability (like death), you are still wrong.

    I have a friend who has been telling me gold prices will skyrocket. Of course he has been saying this since 1993, and eventually 10 years later they did start to rise. This is like Nostradamus. I could make a claim like "there will be another large scale flood in Asia". Notice how I didn't give a time frame? Of course there will be another flood. It doesn't make me a psychic. And predicting this "bust" certainly doesn't make any of you good forecasters.

    BTW, housing is still going up in Toronto.
  21. ALASTAIR JAMES BERRY from Nanaimo B.C Canada, Canada writes:
    The housing market cycles through boom and bust ..... the boom is past and the question now is: "HOW LONG WILL THE BUST LAST?"

    The potential is for a longer than usual bottom this time around as various other crises are here simultaneously....Run-a-way food inflation is on us as wheat prices skyrocket to astronomic heights..........fuel prices are on the upswing too as China cashes in it's trade surplus dollars to secure the worlds oil fields and other energy sources for it's future needs. Canada's wealth is being squandered needlessly in the rocks and sands of Afghanistan....never to return!

    ADD INTO THIS MIX A RAPID WORLD WIDE DROP IN 'CONSUMER CONFIDENCE' AND IN MY OPINION THE HOUSING CYCLE BOTTOM WILL BE PROLONGED.....this time around.

    "Be Prepared " is the Boy Scout's Motto and it applies equally here.
  22. Geoff Wilson from Calgary, Canada writes: Good. Who can afford to pay $700,000 for a 60's bungalow? Canada isn't THAT nice of a place.
  23. Sue W from Canada writes: There's always a time delay between the actual reality of the real estate market and when it finally gets reported in the media.

    The great boom isn't winding down, it's over.
  24. doctor business from vancouver, Canada writes: I don't want to settle for a slowdown: VISUALIZE INDUSTRIAL COLLAPSE! Seriously I think homes should be 1/10 of their price now. I'm thinking BC had a 'recession' in 1989 ... so then 89-86=3 and 2010 3=2013. I guess the way you start a crash is everybody sells at the same time so the value is little. I think we should hold on a little while longer to get that price nice and high and unstable, so the price can get reasonable eventually. BC isn't seeing any slowdown. Because we are going into debt for a 2 week advertisment for sports, coke and mastercard. We are bankrolling a false boom with BILLIONS and all for that. Supposedly 3 Billion people will watch us on TV. Whoop dee doo. Who even watches TV anymore anyway?
  25. Gold Standard from Canada writes: j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes: Heh.

    Yep. Youre not wrong about that one.
    _______________

    I don't know if you haven't noticed lately but the dollar is losing value...constantly. I notice it at the stores, especially the grocery store just since the summer even. You hold on to your paper, I will hold on to the metal and see who keeps the most value. I would not be surprised if the value dropped in a crash but the paper will be worthless in a crash...metal is still metal and it will keep much more value....its not just paper like your money.
  26. Duffman from Beamerville from Canada writes: Good. I don't care how much my house is worth if my kids won't be able to afford one.
  27. j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes: There will be a crash in gold prices. When the price goes back down to 500 dollars, which will happen fairly soon, and those dollars are actually devaluing from recession at the same time, the loss of buying power for the regular guy who tried to hide his wealth in buillion will be staggering. Its been 27 years since the backruptcy trustees have seen long lines of amateur gold speculators. Try not to be in it this time.

    Inflation is still low. However, food is escalating due to climate change and the foolish rush toward ethanol as a fuel source. And the sheer number of people who can afford more of it. You want to invest in something that will help you on the other side of this economic downturn? Try farmland and fresh water.

    Anyway, we're now way off the subject. The immediate issue is the cost of housing, which is way out of whack for historical norms. It'll re-adjust. Maybe there will be large decline in places like Calgary and Vancouver, but most people will see a good stretch where their houses lose a little and hold for a long time while time itself catches up to the cost of housing.

    It wont be fun, but nothing like the carnage we'll see the next 18 months in the US.
  28. Gold Standard from Canada writes: j wilson from vancouver, Canada writes:

    Inflation is still low.

    ______________

    I don't think so....the money supply in Canada alone is up 12.8 percent.

    Prices are flying up and the pay isn't. Paper never goes up in value, gold was in the 2 hundred and something dollar range and now 900 plus. This will not go down as long as the money keeps losing value. ONLY lack demand can bring this down. Even if the prices drop it will not drop like the dollar will.
  29. Rudy Krueger from High River Alberta, Canada writes: The statistics being used in this article are fully adjusted for season, floating year over year, etc. Much of the criticism being levelled at the article is not valid on the basis of statistical acuracy and adjustments The following may be worth thinking about. From personal experience I can say that validy and reliability studies are done fairly regularly in industries that depend upon forecasting. When I was in the energy marketing world and had access to the results regularly it was obvious that two forecast characteristics nearly always showed up. Forecasts nearly always appeared as extrapolations of whatever was happening on the day the forecast was done. History was always plotted as a simple line that showed the historic wave pattern up and down over time (ie prices went up and down or volumes or whatever, creating a volume-over-time wave pattern). When forecasts from each of the time periods (past) were overlaid on the same time scale (ie the same charts), the almost always showed that forecasters were saying that the future was going to be more of what was happening on that date. So, if the tendency in the variables (like a commodity price) was turning downward, the reality would be a curve that levelled off or dropped depending on the timing of the sample. The forecasts were nearly always straight lines drawn tangent to the curve-of-the-moment. In simple terms this means that so-called forecasts strongly tend to say that tomorrow will be more of the same. The second and equally important point was that it was not forecasTERS but rather forecasTS that had the bias. On any day on any subject, scores of forecasts are available. The ones chosen for release, used for policy and trotted out in the mass media, are the ones that are safest - the ones that say tomorrow can be best understood in terms of today. Just look at foecasts printed about Canada in November and December. Nothing but beer and skittles. Look at today!
  30. Rudy Krueger from High River Alberta, Canada writes: Beware of "Gold Standard." The only reason that precious metals have ever worked as a curency support or a hedge is that there has been a segment of the economy (used to be the entire economy) that actually believed this would be the case. Currency never had any intrinsic worth. It was accepted (the greenback) or not (Confederate bucks or Weimar Marcs) according to the level of confidence that existed in regard to it. I have been listening or 60 years to hear one single logical explanation for commodity-backed currency and none has ever emerged. There are lots of incantations and flutter-talk, what Reagan called, "voo-doo economics" in regard to it. But in the end the only explanation is that when people lose confidence in a currency, they can convert it to a commodity (like gold) that presumably has intrinsic worth and can be converted in turn to another currency or another as and when one needs to cash in to buy something practical, like bread and cheese. Any commodity would do the same trick. Gold and silver have tradition behind them but that is all. In the past 40 years we have seen what occurs with the markets for these relatively plentiful commodities when there is a small "dump" onto the market. Prices fall like a stone. The trick is to avoid the interim medium of value and follow the media that have intrinsic worth. Protein food or starches that are turned into proteins, clean oil, clean gas, production technology and the manufacturing facilities that have this installed, strong equity stock in grossly under-valued industrial sectors... these and other like them are the sure bets. People will do what they want but the fact is, there is only value in any commodity as that commodity can be put to real use. We can't eat it, wear much of it, shelter ourselves with it, do a lot to improve our enjoyment of life with it - so gold is as gold does.
  31. Bill Needle from Canada writes: john doe from Canada is obviously NOT an accountant!
  32. bagoverhead guy from South Delta, B.C., Canada writes: So currency isn't worth anything, anymore.

    The last time I purchased a home, my mortgage indicated that they wanted it paid in Canadian funds, not gold, not wheat, not oil, but Canadian currency.

    I agree with the rationale that as the printing presses accelerate, our paper currency loses ground, but the 'profits' that millions of Canadians perceive they have in their homes, are in Canadian currency, and only unlocked once they sell.

    However, don't be careless in assuming you have that hideous profit in your home...surely you remember those years of mortgage payments, taxes, maintenance and so on.

    Real estate prices in our area (45 min. outside Vancouver) are flat, and certainly overheated...buying at these prices is a recipe for disaster, Olympics or not!
  33. Rudy Krueger from High River Alberta, Canada writes: To bag-on-head No, my wordiness missed my point. Currency is as valuable as people believe in it otherwise it is just pretty paper. Actually only a very small part of money supply is in coin and paper - most of it is in electronic impulses denoting credit of various kinds. The last reserve ratio's that existed when there was a gold or silver (metals backed) currency in the developed world, were around 12%. In other the hard stuff constituted about 12% of the real currency. Then the central banks gave up on trying to control money supply that way and for nearly 50 years the world standard is that your currency is based on how much people want it. That in turn is based on how much they want the stuff you have for sale. That in turn is based on how useful it is relative to how much you are charging for it. So if you have wonderful vacation opportunities for half what others are charging for the same, you get tourism and that pushes up demand for your currency. If you promise and deliver on high interest returns for loans (eg. your bonds, mortgages, etc.) people will convert their savings monsy into your currency to buy your credit paper and your currency value goes up. If you sell reliable and attractive cars for 20% less than anyone else, people will convert to your currency to get your cars and your currency value goes up. Productivity is the basis for currencyu value, not how much gold or silver you have sitting in some Fort Knox. That was the point. Yes, paper has no intrinsic worth. If you disagree, I will send you some photocopies of confederate money and you can send me back useful stuff. I expect to hear from you shortly in this regard.
  34. Mike Cold from Saskatoon, Canada writes: I can see the large increases in house prices coming to an end but I don't see how there are any big corrections coming, even in Calgary. Some of the newer suburbs will see downward pressure as those who are over extended or don't like Calgary get flushed out. Then I see prices leveling, but I don't see the older core areas depreciating. Calgary has transformed into a major Canadian urban centre like Toronto or Vancouver where house pricing is higher as you move to the centre of the city. And, the Asian money that has driven Vancouver prices up is showing up in Calgary. As for Saskatoon, there is talk of two 30 floor office buildings going into the downtown very soon. Mining, O&G, agriculture, Synchrotron science, VIDO lab....there are a number of reasons Saskatoon will continue to surprise the rest of the country.

    I think the de-coupling of the US-CAN economies is immenent. And as for gold dropping......seriously? With the US printing Greenbacks faster than Canadian Tire printing CAN-TIRE money I would side with those who are calling for $2000 gold in the next couple of years. A high CAN$ is here to stay. Carbon liability remains the only question for Canada that needs to answer soon so industry can react and move forward.
  35. ALASTAIR JAMES BERRY from Nanaimo B.C Canada, Canada writes: ........"bagoverhead guy from South Delta, B.C., Canada writes: So currency isn't worth anything, anymore." (but his bank demands C $ 1's in payments) I survived the UK's years of LOCKED IN currency where money outside the country was of little or no value and it was criminal to bring Pounds back into the UK!

    Sure paper money appears to have some value in Canada but if you go to a money changer in the Middle East in Tel Aviv or Damascus and try to pass a Canadian note you will find out that it is treated with suspicion as it is losing value so fast.
    Now if you produce a gold coin a sovereign, chevronetz or a 5 dollar gold eagle,,,,,the money changer will smile and you'll have no difficulty!

    I know that my saved Canadian $ 1 from the 1960's is worth less THAN TWO CENTS NOW AND STILL DROPPING!

    .
  36. Chris C from Canada writes: Will Hoaccio,

    You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Read up on the stats and enlighten yourself. Prices in Toronto are coming down.

    Toronto prices have contracted to where they were 9 months ago:

    TREB Average Home Prices in April 2007 was $379,000
    TREB Average Home Prices in January 2008 was $373,000

    Does that seem like going up to you?

    Enjoy the read...

    Toronto's real estate market shows signs of cooling down

    http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/02/05/toronto-s-real-estate-market-shows-signs-of-cooling-down.aspx
  37. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: Chris C from Canada -

    Wow, its almost like a large tax and one of the worst winters in the past decade might affect home sales! Have you gotten you're Nobel prize yet?

    Don't get me wrong, the Toronto market probably will cool/slow down. My main issue was the people that have been "predicting" a bust every time the word "real-estate" is mentioned. You aren't predicting anything, just stating an inevitability without anything resembling a time frame.
  38. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: My earlier comment was before i had read the article. "Ms. O’Neill said sales were still strong across the city last month, although they did not reach the soaring numbers of January, 2007, which set a record with 5,173 sales. Last month, a total of 5,073 properties changed hands, within 2% of the record, she said." "There’s all sorts of indications that the economy in Toronto will remain strong this year,” she said. “All the signs are there.” "The real estate board figures showed strong sales in Toronto’s downtown and east end, led by the Danforth’s 30% increase in transactions over last January and by West Agincourt, with 32% more homes sold, mainly a surge in condominium apartment sales. "Condominiums also led the way in the downtown core and in Willowdale, both of which saw a 19% overall increase." Sounds like 1929!!!
  39. Chris C from Canada writes: Will Hoaccio

    I still don't get your point...I was never one that predicted a Real Estate Correction every year. But since we are most likely in a Recession in Canada it is a pretty resonable conclusion that Canada has just begun a major Real Estate correction.

    My cousin works at a Real Estate office and he told me that all the Real Estate Agents are worried about a major correction in 2008. Of course none of them would tell their clients this since it would affect their commissions and their pocket books.
  40. Total Serenity from Canada writes: Just remember this about gold:

    It takes the power of the sun to destroy it. It only takes the power of a politician to destroy fiat(paper, legal tender) currency

    Secondly, the gold supply is growing less than a few percentage points yearly thus it is VERY stable. That is unlike our fiat money system that grows as fast as politically possible. If you don't want the corrupt and greedy elites in control of how fast your labour is devalued then you will want a gold backed currency
  41. Stephen OConnell from Toronto, Canada writes: Every week I see this same argument going on. One person says the market is too high and will burst, another chimes in and says that all the growth is supported. Both sides have vested interests in prices moving one way or the other... those who don't want to buy in at the top and those who want to get more returns from the real estate market. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. Price rises cannot continue to out pace wages, thats a certainty but will the market crash? I think a lot of that depends upon other forces like the state of the economy (local and national), supply/demand and whether people believe they will drop and decide to stay on the side line. I've watched the market rise and recede in many countries and I'm choosing to stay on the sidelines, I might be wrong (its certainly happened before) but right now the rent vs buy calculators are telling me there really isn't much in it.
  42. CatMan Due from Canada writes: Look South, and see the future, prices will decline in overbuilt markets. This situation will be further exacerbated in areas with declining economic opportunities.
  43. Mitch hourigan from Victoria, Canada writes: Lets see.....prices of real estate, fuel, wheat, all going up. Wages stagnant for 20 yrs. Just who is going to buy all this inflated hype??
  44. cryp- tic from Canada writes: Mitch hourigan from Victoria, wrote: Wages stagnant for 20 yrs. Just who is going to buy all this inflated hype??

    Hmmm - have to think it probably won't be the folks who have been doing their bit on the old property ladder.... If Statscan is right on just how leveraged people are, the interest rate market levels out, and all the well paying jobs going South - literally - they'll likely be hanging on by the finger nails...

    Maybe (hopefully...) some sanity will prevail sooner rather than later.
  45. Walter K from Victoria, Canada writes: A lot of people have bought into the spin about the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and went into a real estate buying frenzy, most not really understanding what they were doing. The feeling was and still is with many, that they will flip the property to someone else for a huge increase because the west coast is supposed to be the place to be. Last year in Victoria, people were buying everything from mouldy tear downs to luxury houses, town homes and condos. Many of these are back on the market waiting for a buyer at much increased pricing. Many have been sitting for well over a year. Some developers here have cancelled projects or pulled out because high construction costs are making it too much of a gamble to realize a profit at completion. There is speculation that by the time of the Olympics, there will be a mass infusion of properties on the market by those hoping for a huge and quick profit. The real estate industry is faced with the challenge of finding well heeled buyers to maintain this buying momentum and are marketing internationally with the premise that this is an investment with a foreseeable increase in value resulting in profit. There is also the promotion of west coast life style. In one newly completed condo complex in James Bay, Victoria, half of the units are sold to Americans as far as Chicago and Albertans. They were not told about the 153 police calls to the park across the street last year to deal with street people and drug users. Also a liquor store is going in on the ground floor. Most buyers now are beginning to question claims and pricing by property sellers in relation to the so called benefits of investing here. Others are letting themselves be stampeded into the hype. I would suggest that anyone wanting to buy at these hyper inflated prices to do their research, or you will pay for it in ways you have not imagined yet.
  46. Chris E. from Canada writes: The government stands with its hand on the lever controlling immigration. Every year they pull the handle, and another 250,000 foreigners end up in Canada, looking for food, shelter, and warmth. The department of immigration is in cahoots with banks, speculators, and developers. It's a scam to sell Canada to make certain groups rich. Meanwhile, the costs of immigration just keep going up, and the benefits are a negative.
  47. brian smith from Canada writes: Alastair and Gold standard: They really need to stop letting you two out of your straight jackets! Gold is useless. I cant see it sitting at thesekind of levels for long. Buyers are consiracy crazies like yourselves and people foolishly thinking they will be able to protect their investments from a MILD market downturn. It has barely any industrial value and no energy content. Platinum is a different story. It has a sustainable high price because there is huge industrial demand for the metal.. IMO a barrel of sweet crude is worth more then a pile of gold these days. Your cries about a gold standard and inflation conspiracy are hilarious though, I really do enjoy reading your inane and crazy ramblings. Please do continue. I will continue to fill up my 100litre tank of fuel, paid for in PAPER money. Ha ha
  48. garlick toast from Canada writes: i bought land adjacent to my property at $1500 per acre.now i have enough hardwood to heat my house in perpetuity without clearcutting. the exercise i get processing six cords of firewood negates the need for a fitness club or personal trainer.this isn't a brag,it is to point out that there are other places to live in canada aside from the urban cores.perhaps it's time for another"back to the land" movement.
  49. bill k from Canada writes: Those here who believe everything is ok and that home prices will continue to go up are simply delusional or maybe they are people/suckers who bought at the TOP two years ago. Prices have come down everywhere since the top two years ago but you would never know it asking the propanagist RE agents. Many people are on the brink of losing their homes and going bankruped. People are dieing to sell their over valued homes but as of late can not find a suckers to buy. The bubble in the US has blown up and Canada has just popped. POP.........what was that?
  50. The Oracle from Caiman Islands, Canada writes: If you don't like the entrée just wait for the main course.
  51. The Oracle from Caiman Islands, Canada writes: It's okay. Mansions make good rooming houses when needed.
  52. garlick toast from Canada writes: The Oracle from Caiman Islands, Canada writes: If you don't like the entrée just wait for the main course.

    --------------------------------------

    thanks,but we're having just deserts.
  53. Chris C from Canada writes: I don't understand why some people are surprised Canada has begun a Real Estate correction. Anyone that knows basic economics knows that historically Real Estate is cyclical. Has been like that for the last 100 years. Boom and Bust.
  54. Chris E. from Canada writes: Real estate booms along with population growth, which, as we know, is predictable when you can turn immigration flow on and off like a spigot.

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