This goes to prove that you cannot apply situation in one city/country to another....Toronto is very different from Calgary or Edmonton or USA.
70% of new immigrants end up here and they all need roof over their heads. Sooner or later, they want to own their own roof. And while the home price may not shoot up, interest rates will. End result, your monthly outgo will nearly be the same (except for one upside: Downpayment will be slightly smaller). And remember one thing, prices will never fall lower than the current building cost or new home prices. This said, the flipping game is over...so if your motive is to buy today and sell tomorrow, sorry, you are late! Nevertheless, the prices will continue to go up albeit at slower pace in the future.

Here is the latest HomeWatch......

July: More Records Broken



August 2, 2007 -- TREB Members reported 8,912 total sales in July, 26 percent ahead of the 7,082 sales recorded in July of 2006, and an all time record for the month.

Furthermore, July makes the fourth month in a row that sales have broken monthly records. \\\"The local resale market is as healthy as it has ever been,\\\" said TREB President Donald Bentley. \\\"Not only are we running 13 per cent ahead of last year's January - July total of 52,682, we are running 14 per cent ahead of the seven month total for 2005, which became our best year ever.\\\"

While sales have set a blistering pace, prices eased in July, down two per cent to $366,012 from June's average of $373,719. \\\"This decline is seasonal in nature,\\\" said the President. \\\"Prices tend to ease in July/August as potential homebuyers and sellers go on holiday.\\\" He went on to note that the year-to-date average, at $373,326, was up five per cent over the same time-frame in 2006.


Breaking down the total, 3,424 sales were reported in TREBʼs 28 West districts and averaged $347,978; 1,590 sales were reported in the 14 Central districts and averaged $470,464; 1,797 sales were reported in the 23 North districts and averaged $392,360; and 2,101 sales were reported in TREBʼs 21 East districts and averaged $293,819.

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Rajeev Narula, Broker, REALTOR®
ACE TEAM REALTY INC., Brokerage
10 Kingsbridge Garden Circle, Suite 704
(Opp Square One - HWY10/403)
Mississauga, ON L5R 3K6
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"70% of new immigrants end up here and they all need roof over their heads". I agree with you.
But how many are coming with 100K cash downpayment or can land up a good job to afford mortrages?

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US give more immigration than anyone else in world. All the big cities population is increasing in US still price are going down.

And oh yeah...remember that sub-prime situation south of the border that has no impact here?

http://interestrateroundup.blogspot.com/

The largest bank in France has frozen three huge asset backed funds due to US sub prime related investments.

I wonder how it can be that bad investments in the can US have an impact on banks in other countries? You know the banks that give you that juicy mortgage to buy that over-priced bubble house?




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rbc on a $100,000 a year salary will now only give $258,000 mortgage with 0 down check it yourself 5% down $272,000 its all blowing up now
20% down you can get $313,000 mortgage but you must put $66,610 down
--the crash has begun

We dont know how big the fall is 4 months ago a $100,000 a year salary would qualify for a $470,000 mortgage now all it qualifys for is $258,000 (with a 500 car payment and a 0 balance 10,000 limit visa)

so how big is the fall

I agree with Rahul Singh. How many % of immigrants have family income above 100K. I found around 20% after landing withing 5 years have the income around that they can buy house. Actually, in Canada real estate and large financial institute smartly drive the market. They want to cash the rise in market for last one year by increasing interest rates. They never let to take the benefits to medium and small investors. I have fond lots of families in miserable situation because they buy properties without doing much researches in income of 40-50 K they bought properties of 300 K and above and now in a situation that they want to sell it but not get good price because intrest rate hike by big financial mafias.

FRANKFURT: A small German bank on Monday became the first European victim of gambles in securities issued by the tottering subprime mortgage business in the United States. The news raised the possibility that a contagion may reach further into European markets than had been anticipated.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/30/business/sub.php

Run and hide Oblix - The sky is falling!

Rajeev is right. Immigrants will always need homes. And unlike many here, people do not consider their homes as a vehicle for investment. That said, the arguement was about immigrants with downpayments and income levels. If you think about this for more than a minute, you'll realize that EVENTUALLY they will buy a home. The immigrants buying homes now are the ones who landed a few years ago. It's not like they land today and buy tommorrow - although I have been witness to that as well.

Rahul just gave an example of sub-prime mortgages. A few months ago, you could get a mortgage with very low Debt Coverage Ratios (DCR). These were usually through non-registered lending institutions. They consolidated these loans and sold the paper to mortgage backed funds around the world, including Canada.

So what is the effect on Canada? First, there is fear mongering by folks. Second, it will affect the investment returns. Third it will affect financial institutions' profit and stock valuations (esp those that bought conduit loans). Manulife yesterday was smart and had $0 exposure to sub-prime markets (and most blue-chip did not) - and their value went up!! Fourth, this will have the effect of slowing our economy (cos US consumer spending will drop). Finally Mr. Dodge will reduce prime shortly to maintain the level of growth (so will the Fed next month). And the housing market will take off again!

BV

I am a little amused at all the exchange of words, the fireworks and the name calling. We are a very emotional tribe, as some of these posts show. The One thing that I do not comprehend is the show a section of society in poor light trying hard to prove that they exploit others.

Everything is relative - just the other day, I heard this (and keep hearing this all the time) that \"the real estate market is really hot\" and that the \"seller could get the best price\". Now how well does that augur for a buyer? Does that mean that he has to stretch a bit more to buy his \"dream home\"? I guess so.

What I have tried to illustrate is the fact that everything is relative. If I had a house which I was selling, and the market is \"hot\", that would mean good news to me, because I would get a good price. On the other hand, if I was looking to buy one,it certainly wouldn't be good news!

Let's face it - we can talk about this to end of time........... there is always a profit element in business and what is \"fair\" \"reasonable\" or not is very relative. \"Good\" \"Bad\", \"greed\", \"ambition\" and so forth, are labels that we have created......... who is good enough to be the judge? I guess all of us, have at some time, succumbed to the temptation and lure of money................. Given that, is that fair for us to use these labels........... and if we do, doesn't make us hypocrites?

Let me come across one person (barring ascetics), who can honestly say that he does not succumb to the temptation of wealth. I haven't..................

Quote:

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Originally posted by cir57

What I have tried to illustrate is the fact that everything is relative. If I had a house which I was selling, and the market is \"hot\", that would mean good news to me, because I would get a good price. On the other hand, if I was looking to buy one,it certainly wouldn't be good news!

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