2697 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

...While the government's goal of a cooling off period is increased transparency, it's worth considering the potential impact the policy could have on BC's housing affordability crisis ...

It certainly wouldn't be the first time government policy made things worse.

[Mike K.]

Except these buyers won't be bidding like crazy, when they have to pay 0.1% (or more) of the home's value to the seller if they back out.

[Victoria Watcher]

Except these buyers won't be bidding like crazy, when they have to pay 0.1% (or more) of the home's value to the seller if they back out.

 

In a hot market you might bid on three or five properties at once, even though you have some chance of losing money on one or two of them.

 

Lock up two properties, then spend the next 3 days inspecting them and then choose the one you want most.  $1000 bought you 3 days of peace and decision-making ease.  And the seller of the house you didn't buy only gets $1000 for the stain of everyone knowing his last offer was walked on - for some reason.  What's wrong with that house?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 May 2022 - 11:50 AM.

[Mike K.]

Yes, that’s good.

But the BCREA says the cooling off period will increase bidding. I don’t think it will.

[Victoria Watcher]

Bank of Canada all but certain to raise lending rates this week — with more hikes to come

Central bank rate expected to hit 1.5% on Wednesday — soon it could be twice that

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-hike-1.6467922

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 May 2022 - 12:11 AM.

[Barrrister]

By the end of the year the bank rate is likely to top 3. 

[Nparker]

Glad to be getting rid of my mortgage in a few weeks.

[Barrrister]

Always a nice feeling to get rid of the bank.

[Nparker]

Agreed. Also with my monthly income about to drop, it's kind of a necessary, especially with rising mortgage rates and falling investments!

[Mike K.]

They’ll raise them enough for the quarterly inflation report to show a drop, we’ll see lots of press and media attention, then they’ll start dropping them as banks signal mortgage uptake needs to rise.

Expect a lot of variable rates to be dolled out in the meantime and competitive packages from b-lenders.

[spanky123]

^ Not sure about that. Most of the b-lenders are well north of 4% now on GICs so they won't be lending money out south of 5%. Those rates will likely increase again on Wednesday.

 

The backdrop is a G&M story over the weekend that showed that household debt hit another record high this past month despite low unemployment and increasing asset prices. 

 

The BoC is going to have to walk a fine line between trying to tamp inflation while not impacting asset prices which could then trigger a debt collapse.

[dasmo]

Glad to be getting rid of my mortgage in a few weeks.

Congrats! Must feel good. I was there briefly once... 

[Nparker]

Congrats! Must feel good. I was there briefly once...

Let's just hope I don't have to refinance 6 months from now in order to buy groceries.

[Victoria Watcher]

Maybe get a part time or casual job. Cool Aid and Our Place often hiring.

[MarkoJ]

[Victoria Watcher]

Let's just hope I don't have to refinance 6 months from now in order to buy groceries.

Defer those taxes. And get a reverse mortgage designed to time out the moment you check out.

[Nparker]

Maybe get a part time or casual job. Cool Aid and Our Place often hiring.

They should be paying me for all the years I've been a victim of their collateral damage.

[MarkoJ]

[Nparker]

That's a BIG drop in sales from May 2021 - almost 30%.

With active listings up quite a bit, is there any downward pressure on prices yet?

[Mike K.]

Sales have been below their prior year's counterpart since July of '21, so I wouldn't read too much into the drop. There's still hardly any inventory out there, and a lot of junk that's accumulating over several months that nobody wants to buy (at least not at these prices).