Ron Butler Profile picture
Sep 13, 2020 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Canadian RE Bears: Just Wrong?

To paraphrase Kermit: its not easy being a RE Bear

Particularly in some big Canadian cities

Prediction is a crap business at the best of times

Economists build careers on being wrong alot or at least not right alot

The RE Bear thesis:

2/
Residential property prices in key cities: Vancouver, Toronto and their surrounding areas are over inflated and will fall dramatically

Its not hard to find general agreement home prices are too high, most folks outside the RE industry and quite a few insiders will say it

3/
"Prices are crazy!" "Who would pay that?" "Wow, that little dump got that much!"

That's common

People inside the RE industry will say: "World Class!" "No Supply!" "Immigration blah, blah"

And there are elements of truth in those comments

Canada is a great country

4/
Immigration paused but not stopped, there are some Supply issues

But prices are ridiculous

History is useful: after a hard RE crash in 1990 home prices started going up in 1996 and with a couple of blips have gone up for 24 years

If you were 24 in 1996 you are 48 now

5/
For that 48 year old's entire adult life "real estate only goes up" is factual

The 2008 Crisis did drop RE values but for less than 12 months then back up

In March 2017 RE values peaked after a run up and dropped but 18 months later had largely recovered

6/
If you HAD to sell during the dips it hurt but that was a very limited number of people

Which brings us to a worldwide pandemic and economic disaster

And RE prices in the GTA are up about 20% from 2019

So....... its tough to be an RE Bear

You're wrong almost always

7/
Ridiculously wrong

And some of us wrong for very LONG, I have been wrong about sustained RE price reversal for 12 years, that's a crap record even for an economist

I got out of the prediction business

Still believe prices are ridiculous

Still worried about RE values

8/
Because a bunch of people may get hurt

Because the next generation is in a debt trap

Because life in general would be better for so many people if RE prices were lower

And the next 12 months will be very interesting

But no predictions

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More from @ronmortgageguy

Dec 4
Another Day Another Bank Consolidation: Canada With Few Banks Wants To Have Fewer

Just a couple of days after the Fairstone purchase of Laurentian Bank, Equitable Bank aquires PC Financial from Loblaws

It's a smaller transaction but meaningful

It shows a pattern

2/
PC Financial was a good idea 25 years ago

Loblaws had millions of people moving through it's stores every month: why not sell them Financial Services & roll those services into a Loyalty Plan using a brand Loblaws had already spent millions to establish

No Brainer?

3/
At the time it did seem like a great idea

And it sorta worked for awhile

Then it started to whither

Because banking went all digital

Those kiosks in Loblaws weren't convenient anymore

Your phone is convenient

Other problems of being a small bank plagued PC

4/
Read 6 tweets
Nov 28
Brampton House Prices Down 31% From Peak: Will It Go Lower? Why Did It Happen?

The TRREB system says Brampton house prices have fallen 31% from Feb 2022 to October 2025

$1.346M to $934K

That's a shit ton of losses, likely another 10% to 15% more to go

WTF Happened?

2/
Power Of Sales Happened

Lenders are taking alot of homes from Borrowers who cannot make mortgage payments & those homes need to be sold FAST

Why so fast?

Because lenders, half of them Private or Alternative Lenders (not banks) need the money back

And don't have a choice

3/
Once you are in the process of Court Ordered Power of Sale proceedings, the rule is you sell it, no changing your mind & rent for a year: the lender must sell

And most Lenders also realize the prices will NOT recover in 2026: so just SELL

Brampton = Lots of Power of Sales

4/
Read 6 tweets
Nov 26
New Home Construction Collapses In GTA: Very Simple Reason

If every New Construction Home on offer is substantially more expensive than similar Resale Homes so who the hell is buying the New Construction Home

Not just a bit more expensive: 10%, 15% or 20% more expensive

2/
And not just the GTA, all across Ontario

Who is going to pay $1075 a sqft for a Pre-construction Condo if there is massive supply of almost new Resale Condos at $900 a sqft & if you just want until 2026 it's $850 a sqft

And that's just 416

Let's check out other cities

3/
In Kitchener some folks paid $1000 a sqft Pre-construction for Condos by a local Developer

Currently lots of similar resale Condos at $550 a sqft

Can you spell SCREWED?

There are just no new housing projects starting in Ontario (Thunder Bay excepted but who cares)

4/
Read 6 tweets
Nov 21
Ontario Real Estate Market Gets Better Next Year? NOPE Time For A History Lesson

I was around for the last Ontario RE Bubble

History doesn't really repeat itself & nothing is ever a perfect duplicate

But... Similarities are startling

1990 the raging Ontario Market STOPPED

2/
House prices fell & kept falling for years 1996 is generally agreed as the year prices stopped falling

The Ontario Real Estate Market peaked in February 2022

Apply the same calculations: recovery begins 2028

NOT 2026

Let's consider the key factors that continue to drag RE

3/
- The absence of Real Estate Investors: Mom & Pop amateur landlord Rental Buyers are an extinct species in Ontario (please don't talk about Tri-plex opportunities in Russell ON)

- Move Up Buyers are very limited: the value of the existing home is way off peak

4/
Read 6 tweets
Nov 17
We Will See More Aboriginal Land Claims: An Ontario Claim For A Massive River Valley Is Reaching Court Soon

And it's totally insane

Main thing to understand: First Nations don't want the land, they want MONEY

Same in Richmond BC: it's about the money

But it creates havoc

2/
I have posted previously that these Court decisions which create any question regarding the clean Title of any property are damaging to the value of a person's home, impairing lending options & generally disrupting something that should be rock solid: who owns what

3/
But in the end all of these claims are a money grab: the First Nations & their lawyers all understand that they will never be see the land in question turned over to them

They want monetary compensation

And that makes us a stupid country governed by fools

We must stop

4/
Read 6 tweets
Oct 20
Is The Certainty Of Property Ownership In Danger In British Columbia? MAYBE

The recent BC Cowitchan Band Court Settlement may have turned over ownership of part of Richmond BC to the Aboriginal Band

Is it a done deal? Will people lose their homes? Because it's possible

2/
I am not digging into the Politics on this one although there a lot Politics.

Not going to go on a rant about judges although its obviously a problem

But last week City Of Richmond said that Homeowners may have a problem with Title

And that's HUGE

Land title is Gravity

3/
I am serious, there are Laws of Physics that govern the Universe

But the Law of Land Titles governs everything about Property

Without the certainty of Land Titles EVERYTHING about Real Estate breaks down completely

It's really the biggest thing there is in Real Estate

4/
Read 6 tweets

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