JayBee
Senior Member
I guess it was you. I remembered the post but not the poster.
My concern is that when I read CN Towers "true stats from the data" vs. the Remax selected stats that the young people you were referring to might not have the benefit of "the whole picture" and are making decisions based on advertorials.
It is difficult to sort out even for those of us with alot of interest and who study this what the exact interpretation of the data should be.
My concern is that the papers to sell copy and to appease their advertising base; the real estate industry to continue their commissions, etc. end up being the "experts" quoted all the time and unfortunately whether intentional or not, the information is often biased in the positive until it becomes undeniable and even then the 1 stat in 10 that is positive will be the one that is brought forth as indicative of the state of affairs.
Young people who saddle themselves with a lot of debt now if there is a major correction will spend alot of time recovering and this is sad. People who bought in the past 5 years (save the last 2 years) have made alot of money on paper and I am sure are telling their younger colleagues to buy since they don't know downturns. It is hard for people who are under 40 to imagine just what 1989 to 1994-6 was like or the recovery. Sure real estate recovered in Toronto but it took abou 13 years to get back to 1989 price. If you were unfortunate enough to have bought in 1988(end) or 1989 and had to sell within the 13 years, you lost money on the value of your home, let alone on all those interest payments on the mortgage you would have been carrying.
They know that the prices will drop. Some either don't care or figure they can weather through the storm. I mean, I understand that a correction's coming, but how long are people willing to wait? Some aren't willing to wait at all. Some are willing to wait a year and others maybe 5 years. Life goes on...as long as people aren't over-extending themselves, I don't see a problem.
I'm 30... I'm not sure if I fit within the young demographic but I still have a number of friends who aren't looking to buy and are fine with renting for the time being.
My only concern is the amount of projects that continue to launch. Builders can't possibly be this short sighted. There are just way too many new projects popping up.