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Housing BC

Our Unsuspecting Neighbours

Steve Saretsky -

Housing Epidemic Spreads Across BC

This is hardly news, but yes the housing crisis indeed spread across the entire province. The epidemic that started in Vancouver went airborne and spread like a deadly virus into unsuspecting neighbourhoods. Including areas such as Chilliwack, Kamloops, The Okanagan, The Kootenays, and Vancouver Island just to name a few.

Much like Vancouver, these areas appeared to be suffering similar symptoms as Metro Vancouver, a so called unprecedented “housing shortage”. But like I mentioned in a previous post, trying to remedy the epidemic with supply was treating the symptoms not the disease.

Take a look at just how quickly inventory dried up in these unsuspecting areas.

Chilliwack housing inventory
Chilliwack inventory levels plunge. Source: BCREA
Kamloops inventory levels
Kamloops inventory plunges. Source: BCREA
Okanagan inventory levels
Okanagan inventory levels plunge. Source: BCREA
Kootenay housing inventory
Kootenay inventory levels plummet. Source: BCREA
Vancouver Island housing inventory
Vancouver Island housing inventory plunges. Source: BCREA

So are all these areas really facing a housing shortage?

Unlike Vancouver these areas have always remained relatively stable and reflective of local incomes. Conventional wisdom suggests these homes should rise in line with inflation which hovered around 2% this year in British Columbia. That was not the case last year.

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Makes you question whether the supply myth was used to seduce unsuspecting buyers into the market…

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The Canadian Economy

Steve Saretsky -

Happy Monday Morning! We got a string of new data this past week confirming inflation in consumer goods, and housing are proving to be more than transitory. Canada’s consumer price index continued to drift higher with prices hitting an 18 year high, up 4.7% from last October. The recent floods in BC...

Steve Saretsky -

The calls for impending interest rate hikes continues. CIBC’s chief economist, Benjamin Tal, was out recently suggesting the Bank of Canada could hike its benchmark interest rate at least six times beginning in early 2022. “I think there is a risk of getting into the market at today’s rates,” noted Tal....

Steve Saretsky -

The BC Government announced it is looking at several cooling measures for the housing market in 2022. They have highlighted two measures. The first is an end to the blind bidding process, and the other is a mandatory “cooling off period” which will allow any buyer a 7 day recession...

Steve Saretsky -

The Bank of Canada continues to slowly drain liquidity after flooding the system with a firehose of cash during the pandemic. Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem announced the end of Canada’s QE program (also known as money printing). Furthermore, in Macklems words, “We expect to begin increasing our policy...

Steve Saretsky -

Consumer price inflation ripped higher in September, surging 4.4% year-over-year, the fastest pace of price increases in 18 years. Let’s discuss this further. We have an inflation problem and the Bank of Canada remains of the view that inflation will be transitory. Although they really can’t say otherwise, for if...

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The Saretsky Report. December 2022