Will Tony Wong crash the real estate market in Toronto?

As argued by ROBERT SHILLER and GEORGE AKERLOF in Animal Spirts, articles like the Tony Wong's article in the Toronto Star (see below post) have a huge impact on the on the economy. Human interest stories with little facts can spread like viruses to infect the masses.


Check out Shiller's article in the Globe



Time for some responsible journalism perhaps?

Big spike in number of homes lost in GTA

Response to Tony Wong's article in thestar

Big spike in number of homes lost in GTA
Tony Wong

umm, ok. According to the Canadian Bankers Association there are 6,608 mortgages that are more than 3 months in arrears in Ontario as of January 2009.There are a total 1,711,488 mortgages Ontario...this is 0.39%. The Big Spike that Mr Wong quotes is actually a 0.08% from last year. Thanks for the "information." To show my appreciation I'll do you a favour, i'm going to promote you and your article on my blog....smile






"I have not seen the level of desperation I am seeing out there now...
Jim Common, a realtor who has a monthly power-of-sale newsletter

Hey Jim, how many people read this article and have now signed up for your newsletter? It's your job to market power of sale properties and you are doing it well it appears. I just wish you would do it with hard evidence.

To show my admiration for your "information," I'll do you a favour, i'm going to promote you and your newsletter on my blog. Click here for Jim's super power power of sale newsletter.

there were 472 such listings in the Toronto area on the Multiple Listing Service in March, up 44 per cent from March of last year

I'm sorry you did quote a number...a number that hasn't been corroborated by any other non-biased industry group like StatCan, Canadian Banker's association or CMHC.
This number, a 44% increase may sound high it actually is equal to 145 more homes being listed as a power of sale according to Jim. TREB currently has 20,533 properties currently listed.

Ok I read on..the article is full of conjecture and anecdotal evidence.

This why I love doing research to find opportunities while other people get scared. One of my favourite saying, by best selling Real Estate Author Don Campbell, is always Look at "WHAT'S BEHIND THE CURTAIN"...do your own due dilligence and research for yourself. Don't take any article like this at face value.


According to the Canadian Bankers Association, mortgages in arrears (in default for three or more months) were up to 14,676 in February of this year from 10,376 a year earlier. The number is still small, representing just 0.38 per cent of all outstanding mortgages in Canada, but it is up from 0.27 per cent in 2008, a number that had remained relatively flat until it started creeping up in November of last year.

Some facts...AweSOME..i'll graph it for you..see historically, its not that different today as it was years ago.

What was the point of Tony's article again?

More Responses to Globe article

More responses to comments to an article in theglobeandmail

Home prices new and resale will continue to fall in prices until the average wage can afford the average home price which is in some cases 50% and more of a price drop. The housing crash is here and many people are defaulting on their mortgagae in great numbers. Don`t believe the liar RE agents who are starving for sales.
As for defaults, the Canadian Bankers association, the number of mortgages in arrears (i.e more than 3 months behind on their payments) is still at historical normal levels.





I thought switching from renting. Considering latest development on the GTA market I'm not doing it anytime soon.

Anybody with a piece of paper, a pen and 5 minutes of spare time can figure out that buying now is a financial suicide. Unfortunately false affordability numbers caused by artificially low interest rates lure people without pens and paper into lifelong mortgage servitude.

You might want to re-consider this. Mortgage rates are at historic lows, if you have an open mortgage you can pay more principle than interest than you ever could and again…the affordability is at what it is historically.

In addition, as a investment real estate has blown apart other investments if done correctly...simply because of leverage.




DON'T BUY NOW! WAIT TILL THEY DROP BELOW 200 GRAND!

Every measurable fundamental (inflation, average income etc) has pushed real estate well above $200,000. Land prices, construction costs have pegged the cost to build an average condo semi-detached home in Edmonton to be well over $200,000. I'm not sure what the base of this statement is.