Housing market, not stock market
Bill Hubbard - Aug 18, 2017 - Columnists

Image: The Canadian Press

I have a bone to pick with virtually all real estate oriented magazines.

If a car lot under sells the last Mustang on the lot to get rid of it, does that mean the price of all cars is going down? The average sale price on the lot may have dropped slightly, but the value of other Ford models would not be even slightly affected.

Why? Because they are totally different models. This analogy can be applied to the real estate market.

Reporters keep looking at the real estate market like they look at the stock market.

The stock market is a global, or at least a national, entity in each country. Meanwhile, the real estate market is incredibly local.

There are approximately 100,000 real estate boards in Canada, and virtually every one of them has a different market.

Right now reporters are saying that Canadian real estate sales and prices are dropping. That is true and false all at the same time.

Toronto real estate prices and sales are dropping significantly because of political changes in the last few months. Because Toronto is the largest economy in the country it is skewing the stats across the rest of Canada.

Vancouver sales and prices are rising again, the Okanagan-Shuswap is in a boom market, Calgary and Edmonton are starting to recover from their oil price affected market and Saskatoon is seeing a slowdown.

The markets are all different and, in my opinion, it is irresponsible to clump them all together and say “Canadian real estate prices and sales are dropping” because they are dropping in Toronto.

Most consumers see this as a threat to the value of their home no matter what their market is doing.

I am sure my opinion here will get me into some hot water, but I think it is irresponsible for reporters not to vet their information based on the “inaccurate impression” it will give consumers.

Of course, that is just the “world according to Bill.”

Bill Hubbard is a real estate broker and the owner and broker of a four-office real estate firm in the Okanagan-Shuswap. He has been in real estate for 28 years and has been an owner and broker in Vernon for 20 years. At almost 60 years old he is just as passionate about real estate as the day he started.


All Columnists Stories