Disqus - Latest Comments for moosedung

Re: Deja Vu all over again

moosedung — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:44:44 -0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. housing prices may still fall more than 10 percent, killing an incipient recovery, as demand from first-time home buyers fades, leading economist Nouriel Roubini said on Thursday.

http://finance.yahoo.com/ne...

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:12:26 -0000

It's dead, because the person that ran it doesn't anymore

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:01:08 -0000

If you want to see a pinhead, take a look in the mirror. Only an idiot would spend $2,500 to $3,000 a month to carry a depreciating asset.

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:20:58 -0000

Thu Aug 27, 4:55 PM

Canada home prices seen rising, sales stabilizing... except Alberta

http://ca.news.finance.yaho...

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:06:55 -0000

and you swallow the local real estate pump?

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:21:59 -0000

What did you win Stormy?

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:19:43 -0000

What did you win Stormy?

Re: The Pitch From Toronto...

moosedung — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:18:57 -0000

What did you win Stormy?

Re: View from Bangalore

moosedung — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:26:09 -0000

Got this off another bubble blog.....

First, houses in this country are seriously overvalued.

The average house at its peak (which is now) costs $319,200, or 7 times the gross national per capita income. This compares to the peak US house price (2006) of $230,000, which was 5 times income. It’s obvious that we have allowed this asset to become inflated, and that the housing market is a bubble.

Second, our banking and mortgage insurance system (as described here) has allowed this bubble to continue bloating while market forces in other countries have forced a correction. The reason: CMHC.

Canada’s housing insurance agency, run by Ottawa and accountable to the Minister of Finance, is in the business of froth. It provides endless amounts of cheap insurance for high-ratio loans (with minimal down payments), so banks can simply shovel off the risk to the feds.

At the present time, it guarantees about $630 billion in mortgages. This is an astonishing amount of money, equal in size to half the Canadian economy. And what assets stand behind this? Securities worth $8 billion. This means 98% of its liabilities are not covered. This is a worse situation than that which faced US mortgage giants Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac, which lost 90% of their market value.

The danger? As real estate values inevitably correct, since the average home price can only be supported at artificially-low interest rates, our banks will be backstopped by a federal government now running its worst-ever deficit. Over $600 billion in mortgage risk belongs to the taxpayers – and Ottawa is already tapped out. How can this end well?

Third: Purposefully or not, government has blown huge amounts of air into this bubble. As the Americans allowed the bar for house financing to be lowered with subprime mortgages, we did the same with 40-year amortizations and zero down payments. Those developments, which came into effect in late 2006 just as the US bubble was bursting, goosed Canadian house prices to unheard-of levels.

And now, after amortizations have been shortened by just five years, our central bank has ushered in subprime-style teaser loans. By dropping its key lending rate to the lowest point ever, it’s allowed 3% mortgages to further inflate house values, in the absolute knowledge those rates will be doubled or tripled in the years ahead. The impact on housing affordability may be devastating.

The conclusion should be obvious: The housing crisis has not been avoided in Canada. We’re not different or special or smarter than the rest of the world. It’s coming.

Re: View from Bangalore

moosedung — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:39:36 -0000

I would guesstimate the cost of big ticket items up here is 3 fold what it is in the U.S. The average tradesman in the U.S. is making $50K to $60K a year, so you would have to be making 150K to 180K a year to live the same quality of lifestyle and still cover food, transportation, entertainment, etc

Re: View from Bangalore

moosedung — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:44:29 -0000

Are you people all making a quarter mil a year? You pretty much have to living in this hyper inflated place. The cost of your food is in the stratosphere too. The cost of everything here is off the charts, $75 bucks to fill up your tank? Give me a break! I thought this was oil country, where locals would get cheaper fuel? No wonder people don't want to come up here, your broke before you leave.

Re: View from Bangalore

moosedung — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:31:51 -0000

$12 bucks for a pack of smokes? $5.50 for a bottle of beer?
$400,000 for a box? Give your heads a shake.

Re: View from Bangalore

moosedung — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:17:08 -0000

Only in Canada do you have to pay $150 a night for an extended stay hotel on the outskirts of a city. Why? What's so special about this friggen place. It just blows me away how expensive everything is up here. You people are getting ripped off bad.