Also lol at citing 40% annual real estate inflation across Canada unqualified which just links to some other opinion piece which states the exact same case as this guy's.
Yet still:
- houses are being sold as soon as they go up
- foreign investors are buying sight-unseen (I even know the direct story of a Caribbean buyer who purchased a run-down house sight-unseen only to have it immediately shuttered by the town. They had given up on getting money out of the previous owner, but it was not livable even at the time of purchase)
- people from other parts of the country and other parts of the world are flying in then taking taxis to go see empty properties
- people are successfully flipping houses they buy for >500k
I can’t imagine that the story is any better in places where “the market is hot”.
Source: Conversations with taxi drivers who don’t talk to each other, constant exploration on foot and in vehicles, conversations with neighbours of new owners, conversations with municipal employees, and watching town council meetings
But yeah there's places like Barrie Ontario that are like +70% in 5 years, Hamilton 70%, Oakville 68%. All those three are around +30% in the last year. Then there's some places that were previously cheaper areas like Niagara falls that's +93% in the last 5 years.
Toronto for comparison is around 70% over the last 5 years but 15% in the last year which shows that the Covid situation has meant that inflation of property prices in the major cities has slowed compared to areas surrounding. Given that wages haven't gone up much these numbers in the real estate markets are just nuts. I can't imagine this is good for the stability of the broader banking system over there.