cabbagetowner
Active Member
flat until end of 2009
Then what happens at end of 2009?
In yesterday's Financial Post, there was a pull-out section about the luxury condo boom in Toronto. One of the articles was outlining the types of people who purchases these units and the first paragraph was about a 25 year old who had recently purchased a 1400 sq.ft condo for $1.5 million.
I know this is the wrong forum to ask this (since most people here are very pro-real estate investment) but I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would spend that much for a condo in a market that is clearly past it's peak, in a province that is in all likelihood entering a recessionary period. It really reminds me of the stories you would hear coming out of the US (Casey Serin anyone?) of people overextending themselves.
Anyways, I'm personally all for a drop in prices. In fact, I wouldn't mind purchasing a couple of units if prices drop... but oh man... imagine being downsized and having to make payments on a 1.5 million dollar condo. Bad times.
WOW, I didn't read the article but where does a 25 y.o. have $1.5 MM?
If he was mortgaging it with 20% down, he'd need an annual income of $350M.
This board has a good balance of opinions regarding buying or not in today's market. Personally I agree that he's paid top dollar at the peak.
WOW, I didn't read the article but where does a 25 y.o. have $1.5 MM?
If he was mortgaging it with 20% down, he'd need an annual income of $350M.
This board has a good balance of opinions regarding buying or not in today's market. Personally I agree that he's paid top dollar at the peak.
interestingly enough, I only know of people looking to buy real estate... i can think of a dozen off the top of my head. i can't think of a single person interested in selling.
of course, that might just be because of the age i'm at. but regardless, if there is a downturn it won't go very far... there are too many people "waiting to pounce" on this supposed drop in prices.
Cdr...where do you think that 25 year old came from? Probably not from around here....it's more and more foreign investors scooping up Toronto properties because of the perceived upswing in our real estate market. Personally I don't think we've even come anywhere close to reaching our peak...
The bad news is everywhere, I am afraid. More and more, we are discovering that what we thought were wealthy investors has turns out to be, in fact, people who were leveraged to the teeth - and using our money to buy trinkets for themselves!
Case in point, Russia's richest billionaire and his bank pulling the plug on his investment in Magna. You don't think bad news like that (and tons more in the works) isn't going to spook our real estate market?
There are people who bought in '88 who only just recently dug themselves out of a hole.
The TSX sub-10,000? Toronto's economy is in far worse shape than the media knows (or is letting on).
Consumer spending was about the only thing keeping our tattered economy from collapsing. If that dries up (and I believe it has), then we are in for a very bumpy ride.
According to the statistics about 10% of all condo purchases in Toronto come from abroad. Not only to invest in I'm afraid, but also to live in when they are here. Why are all of the other markets crashing and our's is still in tact? The U.S. economy has been in bad shape for a long time, why don't we have tent cities anywhere around here? I'm not saying it couldn't happen here, but it hasn't...not yet anyways. The main thing is to stay positive, and not panic - don't overspend but don't underspend either. Keep the economy going, we'll get through it I'm sure.