CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal was recently interviewed by Larysa Harapyn of the Financial Post about the state of the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area. The message he delivers is pretty clear: “If you think that Toronto is unaffordable now, you wait.”… Read More
In the US you can reduce your taxable income by deducting the mortgage interest you pay toward your principal residence. You can’t do this in Canada, at least not on the property where you live. However, there are limitations. It is capped at loans up… Read More
The big news today in Toronto real estate is that the province of Ontario introduced 16 new measures intended to rein in the housing market. Some of the most notable measures, which many of you will have seen in the headlines, include a 15% tax… Read More
You can’t have an Easter dinner in Toronto right now without somebody bringing up the topic of our “crazy” real estate market. Below is a chart from Bloomberg showing the year-over-year change in home prices in the Greater Toronto Area since 1990. It also shows the… Read More
I just discovered Steve Randy Waldman’s blog called Interfluidity and, more specifically, a post he wrote called: “Home is where the cartel is.” I am now following him. He starts off by saying that housing is a bitch, which is just him saying that urban housing… Read More
We talk a lot about the greenbelt here in Toronto. Some argue that it’s squeezing the housing market and driving up prices. But what about the yellowbelt? (Credit to Gil Meslin for the term.) Here is a land use map of Toronto: The yellow areas… Read More
A new “transparent offer platform” called Haus has just launched in California to serve the residential real estate market. The way it works is that all offers are submitted online. And once an offer has been confirmed, it – along with all of its terms –… Read More
When it comes to a real estate market, there are always the typical metrics: sale prices, rents, vacancy and so on. But I’m always interested when somebody looks at the market in a different way and comes up with other kinds of metrics. That’s why… Read More
Just a few days ago, The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco published an interesting research study where they argue that this U.S. housing boom is different than that of the early 2000s. During the last boom, U.S. home prices peaked in 2006 and then… Read More
Whenever you’re starting to feel like real estate prices in your city are getting out of hand, just turn your attention to New York. It’ll make you feel better. The New York Times published an interactive overview of the Manhattan real estate market today. It… Read More
