So it has come down to this.

It was only a year ago that no one believed this would happen. There were a few, but the majority was in denial.


I have to admit I am starting to get really worried about the future of our Economy. It is pretty obvious that housing is taking a hit and it will continue for some time. Interests rates are up, investmensts are down, and people are holding on to their money. How long will this last??


Next year will be the tell. If things start to improve then we will be moving back up in a year, if things don't improve, in 2009, then it will continue for some time. How will all these bailouts effect the future? Are we in for massive inflation to pay for all this?

Housing market slowing down

Bank report says Saskatchewan to follow Alberta's lead in long-awaited cooling off

Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News ServicePublished: Friday, May 23, 2008

OTTAWA -- Canada's long-running housing boom has ended, with the formerly bubbling markets of Calgary and Edmonton already having gone from hot to not, and with the current hot spots of Saskatoon and Regina to follow, a major Canadian bank says. LINK

Homes market flooded by sellers

LORI MCLEOD

Globe and Mail Update

May 14, 2008 at 4:23 PM EDT

Home sellers flooded the markets in Toronto and Saskatoon last month, causing listings to surge to a record level in Canada.

The number of resale home listings rose by 17.7 per cent in April from the year before to 67,554 units on an unadjusted basis, according to data released Tuesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Unit sales dropped by 6.1 per cent from the year before, but edged up by 0.8 per cent compared with March, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Listings rose by a whopping 121 per cent in Saskatoon from the year before, the biggest increase of any city.

Sales fell the most in Calgary and Edmonton in April with drops of 31.2 per cent and 25.4 per cent respectively. LINK

March Real Estate STATS are out for the Fraser Valley

For Immediate Release: April 2, 2008
SPRING BODES WELL FOR FRASER VALLEY BUYERS

(Surrey, BC) – In March, selection reached a 10-year high on the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS®), with the number of active listings reaching 9,361, an increase of 27 per cent compared to the 7,351 listings available during the same month last year. The previous March that offered as much or greater inventory was in 1998, when Fraser Valley had 10,148 active listings. The total number of sales processed through Fraser Valley’s MLS® in March was 1,315, a decrease of 25 percent compared to March 2007 when 1,743 sales were processed.

The number of new listings in March also decreased slightly with the Board receiving 3,277 compared to 3,369 new listings received during the same month last year, a decrease of 3 per cent. In March, average Fraser Valley home prices continued to increase in the strong single digits for detached and townhomes and remained in the double digits for condominiums.
Kelvin Neufeld, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board explains, “With a significant increase in product and properties taking longer to sell, we have a more competitive market for sellers in the Fraser Valley right now, yet enough demand to keep prices trending upwards.

BC home sales drop for second straight month

"VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Continued erosion in housing affordability is taking a toll on the ability to pay for some buyers. The British Columbia Real Estate Association is reporting home sales have fallen for the second month in a row, and we've seen the slowest start to a year since 2003." LINK

JPMorgan to buy ailing Bear Stearns for $2 a share

• "a stunning collapse for one of the world's largest and most venerable investment banks."
• "JPMorgan's acquisition of Bear Stearns represents roughly 1 per cent of what the investment bank was worth just 16 days ago."

LINK

Now I am starting to get scared, this is starting to get really ugly!! Is tomorrow going to be another "Black Monday"!!!??? Are we in for another Great Depression??

I will go as far to say that there will be some very sad looking bank stocks after tomorrow.

Great White North’s Housing Boom Is Grinding To A Finish

Here is a collection of "Bearish" Canadian Housing Market News Articles, brought to you by the "The Housing Bubble" Blog.

Canadian Real Estate is starting to show signs of weakening and the Media is taking notice. If you have been following the US Housing Blogs you know that the MSMedia is usually a little behind when comes to reports on RE.

If Calgary is any indication of what is in store for the rest of the Canadian Housing Markets, there are going to be some unhappy people who bought at the top. Not to mention all the people that are counting on their new found wealth to retire, source of credit, etc.

Here's the Link to the Canadain Housing News Articles.

OUCH!! DOW below 12,000 others dropping.

S&P/TSX -192.20

13,168.24


DJIA -214.84

11,825.55


S&P 500 -21.56

1,282.78


Nasdaq -32.33
2,188.17

Canada vs US Housing

Canada:

FRASER VALLEY HOME PRICES REMAIN STRONG
IN FEBRUARY
(Surrey, BC) – With greater choice available, Fraser Valley home buyers continued to snap up properties in February, paying on average seven per cent more for a single family home compared to the same month last year.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board recorded 1,308 sales on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in February, compared with 1,413 during February of last year, a decrease of seven per cent. LINK

US:

Bernanke urges banks to forgive portions of mortgages
By Peter G. Gosselin and Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers March 5, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Saying banks must do more to stem rising foreclosures, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke called on lenders Tuesday to go beyond trimming interest rates on some troubled mortgages by cutting the size of the loans as well. LINK

Recession???

Things are not looking all that hot today.

• Gold, oil rocket to record highs


• Canada's economy stalls


• U.S. auto sales slide in February


• Buffett sees U.S. recession now

I don't know about you, I think we are in for a serious economic slow down. Everyone claims we will be ok because of other countries buying our resources. Unfortunately the US is still our largest customer by a long shot.

Get out of debt, inflation is on the rise and higher interest rates are around the corner.

February Real Estate STATS

Keep an eye out for the new STATS Packages being released for February. It should be interesting to see the changes, as we are getting into Spring.

Keep in mind to look at the whole package and not just the average price. Price can be skewed lower by more lower priced houses selling or higher by more higher priced houses selling. Look at sales volume and listings, this will give you an idea if we are in a buyers or sellers market which can put pressure on price in either direction.

LINKS are to your right for the Housing STAT Packages.

Canada's Housing Boom is Winding Down

'The great boom is winding down'
LORI MCLEOD
Globe an Mail Update
February 15, 2008 at 4:39 PM EST

Resale home activity caught a case of the winter sniffles in January, a further sign Canada's mighty residential real estate market is finally in a slowdown. LINK

UK Housing Bust

Here are some good Videos on the shady side of the UK Housing Market. Thanks to Housing Doom for posting these. LINK

Buffett sitting on his wallet

I couldn't agree with Warren any more. I have sold all my stocks and I am sitting in 5% GIC's, plus I am saving cash like crazy.


"Equity markets are not yet bargain-priced and there's more pain to come on Wall Street because of the debacle in U.S. mortgages, says Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man.
“I was 370 points giddier yesterday at the end of the day than at the start of the day,” he said, referring to Tuesday's 2.9-per-cent decline in the Dow. But, he added, “I'm not giddy yet. Things are not ridiculously cheap.”" LINK

Housing Blog Impressions???

I was just curious of what you think when you stumble accross Blogs like these? What were you looking for? Did you find it in the content, links, etc.??

I stumbled accross Housing Blogs when I was selling and looking for a new Home. I just couldn't beleive the prices that people were asking and I got suspicious and started looking for more info.

While Canadian Blogs are still forecasting a real estate correction, American Blogs have had their predictions realized. It was interesting to read, last year, the debates on those Blogs. Now there isn't really any debate, the Housing Bubble has popped and the media has even started to report what these Blogs had been forecasting 2 years ago.

Fraser Valley, BC Real Estate STATS are out.

The January 2008 Housing STATS for the Fraser Valley are out. LINK.

"(Surrey, BC) – The Fraser Valley Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) January 2008 statistics reveal an increase in selection for buyers and continued price increases for sellers in the Fraser Valley."

Are Housing Blogger's Right about the Housing Crash??

Are Housing Blogger's Right about the Housing Crash?? I would have to say they nailed it with the US Housing Market. It will be the Canadian market next, especially Alberta (which is 6 months into a correction) and BC.

It's been awhile since I posted here, and I thought I had shut this Blog down. Well it's still open and it was interesting to take a read down memory lane.

I started this Blog up to help me collect and organize information on what to do after I sold my house. I ended up buying back in last year, but still feel that the BC Housing Market is going to correct. I am more sure of this now then I was last year.

So am I disappointed that I had bought and didn't wait for this correction to unfold? Not really, making some money would have been nice, but I also enjoy my place. It is my primary residence and not an investment property. If I was flipping, then I would be listing! I have paid off all my credit cards, home equity loans, and will be saving this year. I predict price inflation is next and we will see higher interest rates.

Remember when the TSX was around 14,000 and the Cheerleaders (Economists) were saying that investments will be ever increasing? Listening to the excuses for the recent drops, the reasons why we should buy into it, and the Central Banks cutting rates, is really interesting and scary. It looks like we aren't going to have a soft landing and there are going to be a lot of people hurt by this.

2008 looks like it will be another interesting year for Housing, Stock Markets, and Economy.