I have set up Google Alerts where I get emails sent to me every time a new article comes out concerning housing, real estate, housing bubble etc. Plus I read Blogs, Real Estate Board Stats, MLS, and look around my neighbourhood.
Here are some of my observations:
- Canadian Real Estate is definitely slowing down. Which is leading to some minor price reductions. Those that are being stubborn and are asking too much aren't selling. It is a Buyers Market out there. Still far from a crash and prices are still quite high. Will this change next year?
- The US Market is definitely in serious trouble. There are so many News Articles pointing towards this that it is hard to miss. Prices in some areas are down almost 40%.
- Housing does go down!!! If another person tries to tell me it doesn't I'm going to lose it! Just look at a Graph that shows the History of Housing Prices, it goes up and down like a Stock. Of course it goes up in the long run, so does everything else you buy, it's called inflation. There are definite ups and downs, and sometimes they are extreme.
- The Real Estate Industry is not working in your best interest. They are interested in keeping the Market going. They are always optimistic during any state of the market. The US NAR has gone from, "Prices will never drop." to, "Now that prices have dropped, it's a great time to buy." I don't blame them because it is their job to sell Real Estate. Negativity does not sell. People just need to be more aware of their tactics.
- In Canada the RE Industry is still claiming that next year will be a strong one for RE. While there are a lot of Economists that are cautioning against that.
- Canada seems to be following the US market, they usually say that we trail about 6 months behind.
I would say this is not a good time to buy a house. The market is likely to start showing more signs of deterioration when more supply is added to the market in the Spring. The market has lost its momentum, this is giving buyers more time to think clearly about their purchase. As I am.
3 comments:
Thanks for the excellent posts Uncertain!
This one offers a concise and reasonable summary of the current situation.
Yes the US is already into the biggest RE bust since the Great Depression.
But the happy talkers will tell you that BC is different. They will tell you about all the rich Albertans (oil prices always go up, you know). And BC has a recession-proof economy (who needs to sell stuff like lumber and copper anyway?).
I'm buying in 2010.
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