Property prices thread

[Grey Fox]

In 10 years, my house market price went up by 2.3x and they say Montreal still has a long way to go before calming down.

[crazy canuck]

I bought my first property in 1993. It was a condo unit of 600 ft.² and we paid just under $100,000 for it. We sold that in 1996 for 120,000 and bought our first house for 250,000. It wasn't much of a house it was actually all dark brown summer cabin on the North Shore. About 800 ft.² but on a large chunk of land which we thought we would build on eventually. Our first child came along and that space became a bit tight and we didn't have the resources to build so we sold that for 280,000 and bought a larger house for 395,000 in 1998. That was about 1600 ft.². In 2009 we decided to take advantage of the plunge in prices to buy substantially larger place. We sold our house for 700,000 and bought our current house for 1.5 million. I won't tell you what that is worth now.

[Malthus]

I bought my first property in 1993. It was a condo unit of 600 ft.² and we paid just under $100,000 for it. We sold that in 1996 for 120,000 and bought our first house for 250,000. It wasn't much of a house it was actually all dark brown summer cabin on the North Shore. About 800 ft.² but on a large chunk of land which we thought we would build on eventually. Our first child came along and that space became a bit tight and we didn't have the resources to build so we sold that for 280,000 and bought a larger house for 395,000 in 1998. That was about 1600 ft.². In 2009 we decided to take advantage of the plunge in prices to buy substantially larger place. We sold our house for 700,000 and bought our current house for 1.5 million. I won't tell you what that is worth now.

We rented for a decade, longer than we should have, because my wife knew the landlords (it was a duplex; they lived on the ground floor). The landlords were an elderly Ukrainian couple and we were on very good terms with them - so we were very comfortable there. What changed was when we were going to have a kid; we really needed more space.

House hunting was an unpleasant experience - this was in 2007 or so, bidding wars everywhere. We kept loosing them. Finally, we got our present place - a three bedroom mock-Tudor in the Kingsway area. We paid $660k. Not sure how much it is worth now? Quite a bit more, no doubt.

[Sheilbh]

Going to mute and report all Canadians over this.

[Habbaku]

Going to mute and report all Canadians over this.

You'd better go ahead and do the same with all Southerners too. 

[Sheilbh]

I'm just going to do it to everyone who was in a position to get on the property ladder before, say, 2004

[Grey Fox]

Going to mute and report all Canadians over this.

To a Canadian living in Vancouver? 

[Habbaku]

I'm just going to do it to everyone who was in a position to get on the property ladder before, say, 2004

At least around here, the prime time to buy was 2014, not 2004. Many of the houses in the area I used to live in were ~$60-$80,000 for a 3br/2ba-equivalent and now sit in the $250-$300,000 range.

Hell, even just buying last year was a good move in my market.

[Barrister]

I'm just going to do it to everyone who was in a position to get on the property ladder before, say, 2004

I bought my first house in 2002 for $100k with zero money down.   

That being said I bought my current house in 2011 and it really hasn't gone up in value at all.  I think it might have gone up in the last 6-12 months but the market here has been flat for years.

[Tamas]

I wonder if this is going to have any noticable effect soon:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/homebuyers-could-struggle-with-mortgages-as-uk-banks-tighten-affordability-tests

[crazy canuck]

In the short term the buying frenzy will intensify as people try to enter the market before rates increase.

[Tamas]

So in America, mortgage refinance demand drops 62% year-over-year as rates rise.

Can that mean that people whose fix-rate period is ending choose to remain on variable, hoping interest rates would go back down soon? Because that would be foolish.

[Grey Fox]

IIRC, Americans have long fixed-rate period, 15 to 30 years. What does refinancing means in an American mortgage concept?

[Jacob]

IIRC, Americans have long fixed-rate period, 15 to 30 years. What does refinancing means in an American mortgage concept?

I assume it's similar to Canada - "I have a mortgage at X% interest, but the current rate is X-y% so even if I eat the penalties for getting out of my current mortgage early it is advantageous for me to get a new mortgage." We've done it a few times, even if our mortgage terms have been shorter.

It makes sense that the demand for this has gone down given increasing interest rates. Folks are just going to stick with their current mortgages because better offers aren't available. I wouldn't read too much into that decline, unless I misunderstood what "refinance" means in the American context.

[Jacob]

So in America, mortgage refinance demand drops 62% year-over-year as rates rise.

Can that mean that people whose fix-rate period is ending choose to remain on variable, hoping interest rates would go back down soon? Because that would be foolish.

So no, I think it means people are not breaking their mortgage terms to get lower rates... probably because lower rates aren't available.