quote:

I’ve been saying this since 2008.

There’s no money to be made in flipping pre-construction condos anymore.

The City of Toronto has DOUBLED development charges for condominium builders. Who do you think is going to pay for that? The developers? Or do you think they’re going to pass it on to the buyers?

Some downtown condo projects are charging over $700/sqft in pre-construction, and yet you can buy a resale condo in a one or two-year-old building for $550/sqft.

Cultural Imperial posted:

Depending on how annoyed I am with work, I'll gently caress with linked in and recruiters and do interviews for fun. I encourage all of you to do it because it's good practice for interviewing for jobs you really want. I went through a series of interviews with Amazon and asked the sperg point blank, why they're setting up shop in Vancouver. The answer I got, and I had to work hard to stifle my laughter, was that they thought there was a lot of untapped talent in Vancouver.

sbaldrick posted:

This is one of my favorite things to do as given the budgets I work with and the material companies would love me if I would leave the government. Sadly interviews grind to a halt when I ask for matching vacation. Sadly some companies learn about this after a while and won't do interviews with us unless we have already left the government.

Baronjutter posted:

Vacations, education, health care, basic human rights, those are all considered luxuries one must earn in our society. Even basic shelter is something reserved for those the market deems worthy.

Lead out in cuffs posted:

Yeah another reason to consider Europe for people with dual nationality. In the EU, four weeks plus statutory is the minimum required by law, and most people get more.

North America has some pretty weird ideas about vacation. You'd really think that it would be to the company's benefit to have employees happier and more productive albeit at work for a week or two less per year.

Lead out in cuffs posted:

Yeah another reason to consider Europe for people with dual nationality. In the EU, four weeks plus statutory is the minimum required by law, and most people get more.

North America has some pretty weird ideas about vacation. You'd really think that it would be to the company's benefit to have employees happier and more productive albeit at work for a week or two less per year.

quote:

The Canadian government should tighten lending rules further to discourage consumers from taking on too much debt in an environment of low interest rates, the outgoing chief executive of Toronto-Dominion Bank said on Tuesday.

quote:

“It’s just not realistic in a competitive marketplace to say, ‘Why doesn’t one bank lead the way and change the rules?’ It won’t happen. This is a responsibility of the government,” he told Reuters.

“I get why they keep worrying about doing it. But I think you have to just keep touching this brake. As long as you run low interest rates, you then should be continuously leaning against asset bubbles.”

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/td-banks-outgoing-ceo-urges-tighter-canada-lending-rules/article20618548/?service=mobile

Wasting posted:

It says a lot about the industry that he waited until he was "outgoing" to say this

peter banana posted:

http://www.chestnutpark.com/properties/listing/20140270

Cultural Imperial posted:

OK, you need to explain to me how you think an interest rate increase is going to be compelled by harper at the convenience of his election strategy. Not saying you're wrong but I admit to be naive about the boc's independence.

ocrumsprug posted:

e: ^^^ Gettin paid almost $1K a day to not buy their farm, good deal if you can get it.


Even in the case where the BOC is a lapdog and set the rate to what the FinMin tells them too, rates will still increase. Unless you have your mortgage on a variable rate, it isn't tied to the BOC rate, but the bond market.

Harper and Co. have no more control over that than Greece, Spain, Portugal or Ireland did.

melon cat posted:

I meant to make reference to tighter lending guidelines, not interest rates specifically. Fixed my original post.

So, to recap. I know that the federal government will eventually tighten lending guidelines further. But they sure as poo poo won't even approach the topic until after the election in 2015.

FrozenVent posted:

There's going to be an interest rate increase... About three months after the next election of a majority government.

Doesn't matter who gets elected. It's gonna happen.

melon cat posted:

something tells me that a rate increase tighter lending guidelines won't happen until the next Canadian federal election (October 2015), since Harper doesn't want to bring any sort of bad news until he has another term locked down for the Conservatives.

Cultural Imperial posted:

That boc speech made by Poloz today explains in great detail how and when interest rates are manipulated. Poloz is clear, short term rates are used to target inflation.

So what are you guys taking about and when in history has a central bank governor ever changed lending rates at the behest of a finance minister without cratering the economy?

peter banana posted:

This farm's down $36,000 in the last 40 days.

ronpaulitshappening.gif

Isentropy posted:

quote:

Another problem that creates unease about the housing market is national media reports about the “overvalued Canadian housing market.” These same stories then talk entirely about Toronto, Vancouver and sometimes Calgary. Why do these articles choose to ignore important markets including Halifax, Fredericton, Quebec City, etc.?

quote:

The real estate market is like a series of falling dominoes. Each time a house or condo is sold, it causes a domino effect because the seller now becomes a buyer of the next house and so on. To help get the market started, it will be important for provincial government efforts be focused on incentives that are fiscally neutral and targeted at helping first-time home buyers purchase affordable homes in a financially responsible manner. One idea: to allow a tax write-off of closing costs (in the same way Ottawa allows the write-off of moving costs).

The second would be to allow first-time home buyers of existing properties to write off a portion of their interest costs of their primary residence against their provincial income taxes (a sliding scale based on the price of home vs. income). The existing properties clause might irritate some builders, but home builders tend to cater to second- and third-time home buyers.

This market needs buyers for good properties at amazing prices who believe that the price of housing is not going to crash around them. Halifax is a good, solid city that will always be one of the most awesome places in Canada in which to live and to own a home.

Isentropy posted:

This somewhat-old article in The Chronicle Herald is alleged to have been written by an independent seller, but given they just let the owner of an oil company write editorials criticising the province for banning fracking under her regular column without stating her interests I really doubt it. This has to be a developer. Otherwise we're all hosed.

He basically believes that the Halifax housing market hasn't slowed down due to the simple fact that we have some of the worst wages and taxes in Canada but because of negativity about the housing market. He thinks "free market principles" should be allowed to reign in the housing market... and then calls for a government subsidy for purchasing houses (a writeoff of closing costs). He believes these same free market principles mean that, if there is an oversupply of houses, prices will lower but eventually demand will increase such that all the extra houses will be bought.

quote:

Meena Wong, the mayoral candidate for Vancouver’s leftist Coalition of Progressive Electors, has virtually zero chance of becoming the city’s next mayor and it’s just as well, given her and her party’s naive, discredited and destructive economic views.

Claiming that it will somehow address the city’s infamous housing affordability woes, Wong wishes to impose an extra tax on property owners who do not occupy their homes full-time — a clear shot at foreign investors. “If you enjoy our city so much, do your duty — contribute,” Wong told the Globe and Mail. She fails to note the obvious: people who own property but live elsewhere do contribute by paying property taxes while making few demands on city services. It’s also unclear who would determine if someone lived in their home full-time, a private matter that isn’t city hall’s business.

Wong is not alone in unfairly blaming foreign investors for Vancouver’s high housing prices. The reality is that real estate is a commodity whose price is set in a free market, appropriately, through the forces of supply and demand. No one has a “right” to own a house in a particular city or neighbourhood, and it’s about time that people like Wong and her COPE and NDP pals stopped promoting such notions, especially when it involves taking money from one group and giving it to another. You want a house? Work hard and buy one — or move somewhere cheaper.

quote:

Greenland Holding Group Co., a Shanghai-based developer owned by the Chinese government, said it bought King Blue, a two-tower condominium project in Toronto, its first purchase in Canada.

Greenland Holding bought the planned development, which includes 44 and 48-story towers, from closely held Easton’s Group of Hotels Inc. and The Remington Group Inc. for at least C$100 million ($91 million), according to Easton’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Gupta.

Immigration is a main factor driving demand, Gupta, the India-born founder of Toronto-based Easton’s, said by phone today.

Greenland Holding, which has invested in London’s Canary Wharf and New York’s Pacific Park, said it bought the site as an entry-point to Canada’s housing market where existing home sales reached a four-year high in August. Average Toronto condominium prices rose 5.5 percent to C$367,010 in the second quarter over a year ago and sales advanced 10 percent.

“We believe this city will continue to grow and thrive creating other investment opportunities for Greenland Group (Canada) in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond,” Greenland Holding Chairman Yuliang Zhang said in the statement.

The King Blue project, which includes a former Westinghouse factory built in 1927, is located on King Street West, amid newly-opened bars and the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre which hosts the annual film festival. The 44-storey tower is 85 percent sold, according to Gupta. The second tower, hasn’t been pre-leased yet.

Isentropy posted:

This somewhat-old article in The Chronicle Herald is alleged to have been written by an independent seller, but given they just let the owner of an oil company write editorials criticising the province for banning fracking under her regular column without stating her interests I really doubt it. This has to be a developer. Otherwise we're all hosed.

He basically believes that the Halifax housing market hasn't slowed down due to the simple fact that we have some of the worst wages and taxes in Canada but because of negativity about the housing market. He thinks "free market principles" should be allowed to reign in the housing market... and then calls for a government subsidy for purchasing houses (a writeoff of closing costs). He believes these same free market principles mean that, if there is an oversupply of houses, prices will lower but eventually demand will increase such that all the extra houses will be bought.

quote:

Another problem that creates unease about the housing market is national media reports about the “overvalued Canadian housing market.” These same stories then talk entirely about Toronto, Vancouver and sometimes Calgary. Why do these articles choose to ignore important markets including Halifax, Fredericton, Quebec City, etc.?

Mola Yam posted:

Hi again Canada, something else from Australia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Kbw2HuSLU

Buy now or be locked out forever! Destroy your peers and prove your worth in the bidding war arena! Our mortgage experts can help you bid with confidence leverage up to your eyeballs!

Also I'm trying to find the table that summarises this, but basically all of our big banks are hilariously over-exposed to residential mortgages, and Westpac is the worst of the lot.

Mola Yam posted:

Hi again Canada, something else from Australia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Kbw2HuSLU

Buy now or be locked out forever! Destroy your peers and prove your worth in the bidding war arena! Our mortgage experts can help you bid with confidence leverage up to your eyeballs!

Also I'm trying to find the table that summarises this, but basically all of our big banks are hilariously over-exposed to residential mortgages, and Westpac is the worst of the lot.