Wit Ventures: Skyrocketing Housing Prices a Dilemma for Provincial Government.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Skyrocketing Housing Prices a Dilemma for Provincial Government.

From Mike Crawley, CBC News

House prices are skyrocketing in cities across southern Ontario, and it's posing a big dilemma for Premier Kathleen Wynne, her finance minister and her government.

New statistics show the average sales price in the Greater Toronto Area last month exceeded $916,000, a 33 per cent jump from March of 2016.

But house price insanity is no longer just a Toronto thing. Figures compiled by CBC Toronto from local real estate boards show the price of the average home has jumped more than 20 per cent in the past year in seven other urban areas.

These increases are sharp enough and widespread enough that many voters may actually stop talking about how high their hydro bills are. But before the Wynne Liberals breathe a sigh of relief over that prospect, they're struggling to figure out what to do in response.

“Exactly which lever should we be pulling to cool this market down? And can we do it in a responsible way?” Wynne mused at a recent news conference.

“The danger in this policy area is that of unintended consequences, so you make a move in one area and something else pops up,” Wynne added.

Link to the rest here.

Opinion. This might be a problem for the government, facing re-election in 2018. It’s definitely an opportunity for the opposition. It’s certainly a problem for the middle-class home buyer looking at an average price of $916,000.00 for what is essentially a 1200 square-foot home of 1950s to 1970s vintage in any of the cities listed in the story.

The photo is from Google Street-View, showing a short section of Spartan Ave. in the city’s north end here in Sarnia. These are actually a lot nicer than a recent, $2.3 million sale in Toronto, a kind of an ugly, multi-level bungalow with green aluminum siding of the 1960s era. Bear in mind, in that kind of a market, the interiors are often really beautiful—but then the owner knows exactly what they have and what it is worth.

Yet it is also true that the economy is showing plenty of signs of recovery. Voters will probably figure that out soon enough. High housing prices in Windsor, Toronto and Peterborough reflect the desirability of those areas, including the local conditions—this includes employment and business prospects that might not exist somewhere else. At the same time it illustrates how affordable, and desirable, considering our own bustling local economy, Sarnia and its environs really are.

Thank you for reading.

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Shirley D. Neal

Shirley has over 30 years of experience in such diverse businesses as financial planning, manufacturing, and supply. Her education includes a B.A., B.ED., M.ED., C.F.P., N.L.P. and the home inspector’s course as well as having her AZ license for five years. Her family home has given her and her husband the opportunity to do extensive renovation and repairs thereby increasing the value about $100,000 in ten years. She has been able to see firsthand how much a sensible and cost efficient renovations can add to the value of a home. Shirley has chosen joint ventures because she thinks that her experiences an help others achieve their goals and maximize the profits for both parties. In 1979, Shirley became involved in a small group of women who started a metal manufacturing company making small deep drawn metal parts for the automobile companies in Windsor. They took the company from start up to over $400,000 in sales in five years. That was a lot of parts since the parts sold for only five cents per each. In 1985 they sold the company to one of their customers. Whether it was selling mutual funds, teaching foster parents how to recruit foster parents, or working for Tony Robbins, Shirley has put more than 100 percent into every endeavour she was involved in.