Canadian Real Estate - A Crack in the Tree

by Tom Bradley, Steadyhand Investment Funds

The Full Article

“It’s like if the tree in the backyard has a crack in it, you worry it’s vulnerable to a storm. But if no storm happens, it goes on and on, and maybe eventually strengthens through growth. If the right storm comes along and knocks it onto your neighbour’s house you’ve got a problem.”

This analogy for the Canadian residential real estate market is from our Bank Governor, Stephen Poloz. It prompted me to pull together a number of observations that were building up in my real estate file. In the attached piece (it’s too long for a blog), I point out that:

• Being too early is tantamount to being wrong.
• Real estate is a cyclical asset, cycles have a symmetry to them and therefore, extremely good cycles don’t end with a little pause or modest slowdown.
• There’s a strong consensus that interest rates will stay low and house prices will stay high.
• Fundamental measures are on balance negative. The most important ones are extremely negative.
• Foreign buying, inter-generational transfer and the loonie are wild cards in the analysis.
• Canadians are focused on the ‘Income Statement’ impact of buying a home (i.e. carrying cost), but are overlooking the ‘balance sheet’ impact.
• We’ve been in an ideal environment for rising real estate prices. It’s been a ‘virtuous circle’. If a few of the variables turn, a downward spiral is equally possible.
• A few other items that will make real estate bulls mad.

In true Steadyhand fashion, I’m not suggesting you make a big asset shift by selling your home and moving the family into a rental. But I am suggesting that it’s time for added caution. If possible, you should to be subtracting from this asset class, not adding.

Copyright © Steadyhand Investment Funds

Some Thoughts on Bank of Canada and House Prices

Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada John Murray gave a speech to a crowd in New York on global rebalancing. I'm certainly not learned enough to comment meaningfully on his arguments and rationale but he did mention something in subsequent commentary about Canadian housing:

Canada's heated housing market appears to be cooling as desired, a senior Bank of Canada official said on Tuesday, although he noted that housing starts remain unusually high.

Housing prices and construction in Canada roared higher in 2011 amid low interest rates, sparking fears of a U.S.-style bubble. The market started to slow after the government tightened rules on mortgage lending in July, and policy makers hope to see a gradual softening rather than a crash.

"It's still early days. But we're certainly seeing evidence of movement and acceleration in the right direction," Murray told a business audience after giving a speech in New York.

"Some sort of smooth transition, at least on the housing side, is what we're looking for," he said.

An interesting comment for a "housing analysis" blogger! Murray is commenting that transitioning housing to a more sustainable level is something the Bank is looking for, and on which is likely advising the government to form fiscal policy. So we can play some guessing games as to what the Bank of Canada would like to see for a "smooth transition" and what that means.

What are the risks of high house prices and debts? Currently there is some risk of external economic shock to incomes, but absent that, with real rates depressed, debt-service ratios are currently for the most part manageable. If rates increase, however, this poses a significant headwind for the Canadian economy and worse could be almost impossible for policymakers to contain the fallout. Luckily, based on the yield curve, it looks as if rates have a good chance of staying low for a prolonged period, perhaps for the rest of the decade. The question then is what does Canada need to do in the coming years to ensure that when interest rates do rise she will not be caught out with excessive debt levels and overinflated asset prices.

Based on Murray's comments we have a smidgen of a clue what the Bank's and government's strategy is on the front of asset price reversion. It looks as if they are trying to pull of a "smooth transition" of prices back to levels that are able to be carried with historical interest rates. If prices continue at current levels (or increase) they will not have reverted quickly enough to stave off a big shock when rates rise. If prices fall too quickly this will lead to situations where a large swathe of owners are in negative equity situations, something that has knock-on effects to the broader economy. Given the assumption the Bank wants to control the band in which prices revert, we can do a quick calculation what that would mean for prices.

Say prices as a ratio to incomes are 40% above their long-term average. To revert prices to this range will require a 30% drop. To do this in seven years requires a -5% annual drop in the price-income ratio. Assuming incomes rise by 2% per year that means national prices need to drop at -3% per year for seven years to revert. If markets like Vancouver are, say, 50% overvalued, that will require prices dropping at -5% per year with 2% annual income gains to revert.

Prices do not often move in a straight line, rather we should expect that price drops will be more severe near the middle of the reversion and less severe near the ends. We can approximate this trajectory as a raised-cosine profile, say

P=(Pi-Pf)/2*cos(π*x/L) + (Pi+Pf)/2

where P is the price, Pi is the initial price, Pf is the final price, x is the year from start of correction, and L is the duration of the reversion target. Below are the year-on-year price change results for a 20% and 30% decline in prices:

Assuming the Bank of Canada is serious about price targeting we have some rough estimates of the level of annualized price drops required to pull off this delicate manoeuvre. As a reference, Vancouver looks to be on track for between -4% and -6% annualized price drops in the late winter of 2013.

But here's the thing -- if prices are to revert in a controlled manner, as regular readers of this blog know, this necessarily requires a certain ratio of for-sale inventory to prices. In other words, to ensure prices drop at a defined rate it will likely mean the government will need to control the level of sales. The only ways I can see them accomplishing such a feat are through controlling immigration intake -- not easy since they don't have much control on where immigrants settle -- and through credit availability.

In short, if the Bank of Canada is indeed "price targeting" so as to attempt to revert housing valuations to their long-term averages in the advent of future interest rate hikes, I believe we can expect further adjustments to controls of credit availability, both looser and tighter, over the coming years. It will remain to be seen how much capacity is left to accumulate additional credit, and where it can be stuffed!

Bifurcation of the BC Real Estate Market

No, bifurcation isn't a an intestinal disorder although it could cause some consternation (not constipation) among some observers who expect uniform behaviour across various real estate markets.

Based on market behaviour since the 'flash crash' of 2008/2009, we could draw a clear line between the urban market of Greater Vancouver and the rest of the province. The City of Vancouver and its immediate suburbs have witnessed a frenetic pace of home buying activity and consequent price rises.

This is in a pretty marked contrast to the real estate markets of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, and the rest of BC. While prices have risen substantially in the area covered by the REBGV this past year, they have fallen or remained relatively flat in many markets including the Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, Okanagan, Northern Interior, etc. thus bifurcation.

Why?

Quite simply, I think it just comes down to supply and demand. The Greater Vancouver real estate market has inelastic supply and demand that is relatively stable. When the market is hot, supply becomes even more constrained as holders of real estate hang on for further gains rather than listing. Demand is increased as potential buyers feel like they are 'getting left behind' and the ratios of supply and demand drive prices higher. This, of course, can work in reverse, which is what we witnessed during the 'flash crash' of 2008/2009 and I expect we will witness a rather severe and perhaps more prolonged version again soon.

What do you think? When might this happen?

Note: The Landcor 2010 Report paints the same picture: https://www.landcor.com/market/reports/2010_Residential_Sales_Summary.pdf

Chart Extravaganza!!

Case Shiller and Teranet both released data for May 2009 last week and I have compiled / updated some charts to display this data.

The first chart shows the monthly percent price change in selected cities. What I would note here is the clear seasonal effect on price movement. Prices are more likely to increase in the spring and summer and more likely to decline in the fall and winter.



I recalculated the Teranet and Case Shiller Indices to show the same base date in 2000 so we can view the results of the boom and bust in the US and Canada in a comparable way. It is amazing to me how high prices got and how far they have fallen in some places - almost back to pre-boom levels.



The last chart is the now well known price decline from peak chart. I added Calgary upon request from some regular readers from Calgary. The smoothing (3 month moving average) that takes place in the Case Shiller and Teranet data really makes a big difference in how peaks and price changes are displayed.

Vancouver Real Estate - March 2009 Charts

Active Listings were basically flat from February. Mostly because sales were quite a bit higher.


Sales rose dramatically from February but are still seasonally low compared to the boom years.


Consequently, the Sales to Listings Ratio improved during March but is still dramatically lower than the boom years.

The number of Months of Inventory is obviously low and is undergoing the expected seasonal variation.

The correlation between the months of inventory and the price changes is tremendously strong.

I expect April and May to be fairly similar to March - flat prices and a relatively stable inventory and sales picture. I fully expect sales to fall in the normal seasonal patter after that which will cause inventory to balloon further. This will raise the number of months of inventory and consequently prices will go down further.

We are 15.8% or $121,979 from the peak detached benchmark values and I don't see that changing too much over the next couple months. Things should get interesting during the late spring and during the summer months.

New Home Prices Falling Across Canada

From the Financial Post:

OTTAWA - The selling price of new homes in Canada went down by 0.1% between November and December, the third consecutive monthly decrease, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

Builders in Saskatoon cited reduced labour costs as new housing prices fell by 0.7% in that city, while prices went down by 1.3% in Calgary and 0.3% in Edmonton, the federal agency said. Monthly prices increased slightly by 0.2% in Ottawa–Gatineau in December, but remained unchanged in Toronto and Oshawa, Quebec, Montreal and Vancouver.

On a year-over-year basis, the new housing price index increased by 0.4% in December, a slower pace than the 0.7%t increase recorded in November.

The largest year-over-year increase in new housing prices was registered in St. John's at just over 24%, followed by Regina at 21.7%.

Compared with December 2007, Statistics Canada says contractors' selling prices were 4.5% higher in Ottawa–Gatineau and nearly 2% higher in Toronto and Oshawa.

New housing prices in Saskatoon rose by 0.9% year-over-year, confirming a continuing trend of deceleration in this city.

Vancouver and Victoria also posted year-over-year declines in new housing prices for the third consecutive month.

Canwest News Service

B-b-b-b-baby, You Just Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

The Vancouver real estate market, along with the rest of BC and Canada, has now entered the full blown correction stage. Nobody is denying the reality that prices are falling and that it is very difficult to sell a home right now. Vancouver real estate prices have retreated nearly 15% in the past 7 months and Canadian prices as a whole have retreated 5-6%, depending on the data you use.

Many prognosticators, extrapolators, eternal optimists, and kool-aid drinkers have concluded that the worst is behind us in terms of price drops and I will now tell you why that is far from being the case.

Quite simply, there is TOO MUCH DAMN SUPPLY for the level of demand we had last year nevermind the level of demand we see today in the midst of a full blown credit contraction and recession. Shockingly ;-) people don't really want to commit themselves to a 35 year payment schedule, with payments double their current rent, when their job prospects are weak or at risk.

For those of you who are now planning on waiting until 'the market recovers' to sell your home, you may be waiting many, many years. The real estate market is not like the stock market, where crashes and recoveries can happen over a period of weeks or months. The real estate market takes years to exhibit the same market movement so get honest with yourself and don't let your realtor give you some mumbo-jumbo about a spring market rebound because the facts just don't bear that point of view out.

So the question becomes - When will we see more demand and less supply - ie. a recovery?

The answer of when a recovery will come is not complicated and actually we can make an educated estimate of when supply and demand should come back into balance. When supply and demand come back into balance, the worst of the price drops should be over and we can reasonably expect a 'recovery' of sorts, or at least no more big price drops!  This doesn't necessarily mean a return to the rapid price appreciation of the bubble years nor does it mean that we will attain the lofts heights of 2007 pricing again soon, in fact, it is likely that we will not see spring 2008 peak pricing for at least a decade and if we adjust for inflation, my children may never see that day.

In the current supply / demand situation, with well over 15 months of inventory in every major BC real estate market, we will see price drops in the order of -2% or more per month. This has been true of the past year.

For argument's sake, let's just say that the demand in the current real estate market does not deteriorate further and again let's imagine the looming supply of new homes under construction that will complete in the next 18 months is reasonably around 20,000 units. With current existing home inventories in the Greater Vancouver area and the growth in listings that is typical for the first half of the year we should see approximately 25,000 units for sale by the time May or June rolls around. Sales will likely be in the 1200 to 1500 per month range giving us a months of inventory metric well over 15 months again.

This means that 2009 will not be a positive year for prices in the local real estate market. In fact, assuming the trend shown in the chart above holds true this year, we should see continued price declines of 2% or more per month. If there is a further influx of inventory via new home completions or existing homes coming onto the market, or a further deterioration of demand, things could be much, much worse.

In regards to prices, here are my best case, reasonable case, and worst case scenarios for 2009:

Best Case - average of 2% declines per month, inventory does not exceed 25,000 units, sales hold up at 2008 levels, benchmark price finishes the year above $525,000.

Reasonable Case - average of 3% declines per month, inventory does not exceed 30,000 units, sales fall modestly from 2008, benchmark prices finishes the year above $475,000.

Worst Case - average of 4% declines per month, inventory exceeds 30,000 units, sales fall dramatically from 2008, benchmark prices barely finish the year over $400,000.

If these predictions seem alarming, then you haven't had a good look at the facts yet. There will be no recovery until 2011 at the earliest. For those of you looking to sell a home this year, get real, and drop your price to be the lowest in your neighbourhood, otherwise it isn't going to sell. For those of you looking to purchase, wait, or drive a very hard bargain, and be prepared for further price drops. If you are a developer, cut prices hard, 30% or more, and finish up your projects fast. If you are a city that happens to have a huge development full of unsold units on your hands, get rid of them, FAST.

Real estate prices will be 20-40% lower than now only 12 months from now so move fast if you're selling and move slow if you're buying.

Good luck because You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.

Big Developer Blinks and Offers Sizeable Discounts

From CBC News:

A Vancouver real estate developer is making an unprecedented move to offer a liquidation sale of $350 million worth of its condominiums throughout the Lower Mainland.

The marketing strategy by Onni Group of Companies is aimed at selling off hundreds of condos in its inventory.

About 375 unsold condominiums in cities such as Richmond and New Westminster will be offered at 20 to 40 per cent off, a real estate insider told CBC News.

It is not known whether the big discounts are based on prices when the condos were completed or current market values. Onni was to hold a media event Thursday to announce details.

Onni's marketing tool might nudge some reluctant homebuyers off the fence, said Tim Silk, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia's business school.

"If you see the units being priced below comparable units, then you might see people jump in," Silk said Wednesday. "But there's still that hesitation of, 'Have we reached bottom?' "

Home prices in the Vancouver real estate market dropped almost 11 per cent between December 2007 and the end of 2008, according to a special price index updated earlier this month by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

And the number of homes sold in 2008 fell more than 35 per cent from 2007 sales of more than 38,000 homes.

Good luck Onni. Onni blinks first in the 2009 showdown. This is likely the right move as they get the most free press and don't have to hang on to as much inventory through the year.

Wake up to the rest of the developers - drop your prices now and you may get to survive this cycle and live another day.

New Home Prices Falling

From the Financial Post:

New home prices fell in November for the second consecutive month-to-month decrease, Statistics Canada said Monday.

The average price on a new house declined 0.3%, the federal agency said, as demand continued to cool across the national real estate market in the fall.

The dip continues the first reverse in home prices in more than a decade, following the 0.4% decline experienced in October.

Yet the results varied from region to region, with some markets still witnessing considerable price increases.

St. John's recorded the largest annualized gain, with the value of a new home up more than 25% from 2007, a clip that narrowly outpaced Regina. The monthly increase in St. John's was 3.4%.
In a sign that Saskatchewan is beginning to feel the bite of a recession it has largely avoided so far, home prices were flat in Regina in November while in Saskatoon prices continued to come down.

New home prices were down 0.5% in Saskatoon "confirming a trend of deceleration in this city," Statscan said. "Builders continued to report difficult market conditions."

The drops continued further west. New home prices in Edmonton recorded a 12-month plunge of 7.9% - largest monthly decline since May 1985. Prices dipped 2.5% in Calgary. On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.3% in Edmonton and 1.1% in Calgary between October and November.

On the West Coast, builders cut new home prices in Vancouver by 1.7% in November, a trend continued in Victoria, Statscan said.

Markets in Eastern Canada, which have shown more stable supply-demand conditions, continued to rise, Statscan said. Compared with November 2007, contractors' selling prices were 4.3% higher in Ottawa and 2.0% higher in Toronto. In Québec, the 12-month growth rate was 5.4%, while in Montréal, prices increased 4.6%, the agency said.

No market east of Saskatchewan experienced a month-to-month decline in new home prices.

Greater Vancouver Prices Decline Dramatically for 7 Months in a Row

Data from REBGV Press Release.

2008 certainly was an interesting year for real estate market observers in Vancouver. For nearly 2 years the local market bucked the declining price trends seen in the US and elsewhere. Pundits had proclaimed that the local market was immune or insulated from the turmoil elsewhere. Oh how wrong they were. Benchmark detached home prices in the Greater Vancouver area are now at the same level as they were in June 2006.

This story is really all about supply and demand. There is lots of supply with even more coming and very little demand. Active listings are significantly above previous year's levels so the supply side is not helping those who want higher prices.


One may look to the demand side of the equation for some hope for some price appreciation but monthly sales are at half the level they were during the boom years with no quick fixes in sight.

Consequently, it would take a very long time, 16.4 months to be exact, for the current level of inventory to be sold off at the current rate of sales. This essentially means that the market is completely saturated with product and the only sales to be seen are the deep discounts.


The correlation between months of inventory and price changes is extremely tight with any MOI level above 7 MOI indicating further price declines. At the current level of more than double that, I do not expect rising prices anytime soon.

As mentioned previously, prices are now back at mid-2006 levels and the retreat has only begun. I fully expect inventory to swell in the new year and sales to continue at a lacklustre pace which will put continued and significant negative price pressure on sellers for the next while.

Good luck to everyone.

Real Estate Prices fall again in December 2008

Here is the press release from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. More analysis to come later.

2008 brought improved housing affordability to Greater Vancouver

VANCOUVER, B.C. – January 5, 2009 – The record-breaking real estate market cycle in Greater Vancouver, longer than normal at seven consecutive years, ended in 2008 amidst global economic challenges. The change brought relief from rising prices that saw benchmark prices escalate from $357,770 for a single family detached home in December 2001 to $648,421 by December 2008.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and apartment properties decreased 35.3 per cent in 2008 to 24,626 sales compared to 38,050 sales in 2007. Property listings for the year increased 13.9 per cent to 62,561 compared to 2007 when 54,945 new properties were listed. “Trends in the latter half of 2008 showed a consistent month-over-month decrease in residential housing prices, a departure from the rising home prices and record-breaking sales that were experienced in Greater Vancouver for much of this decade,” said REBGV president, Dave Watt.

“It’s also important to note that our December statistics show a third consecutive month of a decrease in active property listings in Greater Vancouver. That means supply is coming down,” Watt said. “Last month was also the first time in 27 years that Greater Vancouver homes sales for December were higher than November.”

Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, declined 10.9 per cent between Decembers 2007 and 2008. Since May 2008, the overall residential benchmark price has declined 14.8 per cent in Greater Vancouver to $484,211 from $568,411.
“For buyers, lower prices haven’t been a concern as much as the perception that prices are falling. It’s difficult to identify the ‘bottom’ of the market. The reality is that people tend to buy when prices are going up, not when they’re going down,” Watt said.

In December 2008, sales of detached, attached and apartment properties totalled 924, a decrease of 51.3 per cent compared to the 1,897 sales in December 2007. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined 8.6 per cent to 1,550 in December 2008
compared to December 2007 when 1,695 new units were listed. Total listings in December declined 17.2 per cent to 15,193 from the 18,348 total active listings in Greater Vancouver in November 2008.

Sales of detached properties in December 2008 declined 48.7 per cent to 348 from the 679 units sold during the same period in 2007. The benchmark price for detached properties declined 11.2 per cent from $730,399 in December 2007 to $648,421 in December 2008. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for a detached property in Greater Vancouver has declined 15.9 per cent.
Sales of apartment properties declined 53.7 per cent last month to 417 compared to 901 sales in December 2007.

The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 11.7 per cent from $377,579 in December 2007 to $333,275 in December 2008. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for an apartment property in Greater Vancouver has declined 14.5 per cent. Attached property sales in December 2008 decreased 49.8 per cent to 159, compared with the 317 sales in December 2007.

The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 7.4 per cent from $456,941 in December 2007 to $423,338 in December 2008. Since May 2008, the benchmark price for an attached property in Greater Vancouver has declined 11.6 per cent.

Case Shiller House Price Index - October 2008 Data

The inspiration for the chart above (click to enlarge) comes from the Seattle Bubble Blog.. The chart shows the total decline in value from peak pricing in all of the 20 Case Shiller markets plus I've added Vancouver using the REBGV Benchmark House Price Index. I have started all the markets at 100 at their peak month so all the markets start out at the same spot.

Vancouver's real estate prices are falling faster than any US market 7 months into our correction and it sure seems like that won't be changing anytime soon with nearly 20 months of inventoryin the REBGV area as of December 31st, 2008.

Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Detroit and Las Vegas are the biggest decliners to date with total declines in the range of 35 - 40% off peak pricing 2 years into the correction. I am optimistic that we may see a bottom forming in some markets late in 2009 but more likely early 2010 in the US. Affordability has been restored in many places so it is realistic to suggest that we could see some stabalization.

Toronto Real Estate Market - November 2008

I thought it might be interesting to have a closer look at other real estate markets across the country. Here is the Toronto market synopsis for November.

The Toronto area had 27,037 active listings at the end of November and had 3640 sales for 7.4 months of inventory. This is far, far less than the Vancouver, Fraser Valley, or BC Interior markets which are well over 20 months of inventory right now.

December 4, 2008 -- TREB Members recorded 3,640 sales in November 2008 from the 7,313 sales recorded during the same period last year in the GTA, TREB President Maureen O’Neill announced today.

The average GTA price in November 2008 was $368,582. During the same period last year, the TorontoMLS system recorded an average of $393,747, and in November of 2006 overall GTA prices averaged $355,727.

The 2008 year-to-date sales for the GTA was recorded at 72,086 from last year’s 88,695. The year-to-date GTA average price was $379,489 from last year’s $375,445

Within the 416 area (City of Toronto) there were 1,523 sales during November 2008. During the same month last year, 3,426 sales were recorded. The average price in the 416 area was $390,225 compared to $433,859 in November 2007 and $381,188 in 2006.

In the City of Toronto, 28,806 sales have been recorded year-to-date for 2008 from last year’s 36,804 during the same time period. The year-to-date 2008 average price in the 416 area is $411,155 from last year’s $411,640.

The 905 Region recorded 2,117 sales last month, compared to the 3,887 sales transacted during November of 2007. The average price in the 905 Region was $353,012 last month from $358,391 in November of 2007 and $335,522 in November 2006.

Year-to-date sales in the 905 Region for 2008 were 43,280 from the 51,891 recorded during the same period in 2007. The year-to-date average price in the 905 Region for 2008 was $359,245 from $349,774 in 2007.

Breaking down the total, 1,453 sales were reported in TREB’s 28 West districts and averaged $350,199; 629 sales were reported in the 14 Central districts and averaged $473,346; 651 sales were reported in the 23 North districts and averaged $410,253; and 907 sales were reported in TREB’s 21 East districts and averaged $295,470.

Median Price
The Median Price for November 2008 was $312,250, compared to $325,000 in November of 2007 and $298,000 in 2006. The YTD Median for the first 11 months of 2008 was $325,000, compared to $318,000 during the same time-frame in 2007, and $300,000 in 2006.

REBGV November 2008

Here it is in a nutshell. See the FVREB post above for more commentary.

Sales are really low - nobody wants to buy a house at current asking prices.

There are lots of people who have their house for sale and their asking price is too high.


Consequently, nobody is buying because buyers and sellers can't come to a broad agreement on what homes are worth.

At the current sales rate it would take nearly two years to sell through all the inventory.


Prices are taking a trip in the waaaay back machine and now they are back to February 2007 levels. Oops for all you recent buyers who paid too much.

It sure looks like more price declines are on the way with such a high level of supply and low low low sales numbers.

REBGV Detached Benchmark House Price Falls 4.2%, FVREB -4.9% in November

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has released their monthly statistics package and it is in stark contrast to the 4 years ending in April 2008. Sales are insanely low, inventory is a record highs for this time of year and prices are collapsing.

Jesse updated his chart comparing Vancouver to other markets - wow!

And Agent Will said this of the November statistics on Real Estate Talks:

". . . what is not said in that report is that we had the lowest November sales (volume wise) in at least 16 years. Not just by a little but by nearly 50% below the previous lowest November. The question then becomes: If no one is buying (OK, 800+ sales is not no one) then who is? And why?

I'll tell you who is: Cherry pickers. The lowest price properties are getting bought at much lower prices. Weekly stats on my site show that sales price to the original list price is anywhere from 10-15% less. The biggest difference I have seen this past week was a 2.888m house selling for, gasp, 1.8m. That's a good 33% below. Now really is a good time to be making offers that make sense to you (I didn't say buying anything... only buying if the offer works in your favour).

A lot of time will be spent to get these offers through and many will be rejected but you potential buyers out there are now shopping in a market that is absolutely panicked and filled with Sellers acting like a deer in headlights, frozen stiff not moving (prices) at all. They want to move (who wants to get hit?) but are completely stunned by the turnaround. Some will be run over... others, with your
encouragement (offers), will move.

I will be back with charts later. Meanwhile, I have work to do.

Value Investing in the Current Environment

From here.

Jeremy Grantham is the Chairman of the Board of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo, who manages approximately $120-billion in assets, well known among institutional investors but relatively unknown to retail investors. Here are some highlights from both parts of Grantham’s October 2008 newsletter “Reaping the Whirlwind,” and ”Silver Linings and Lessons Learned.”

Part 1, “Reaping the Whirlwind,” published 2 weeks ago:
“At under 1,000 on the S&P 500, US stocks are very reasonable buys for brave value managers willing to be early. The same applies to EAFE and emerging equities at October 10 prices, but even more so. History warns, though, that new lows are more likely than not.
“Fixed income has wide areas of very attractive, aberrant pricing.
“The dollar and the yen look okay for now, but the pound does not.
“Don’t worry at all about inflation. We can all save up our worries there for a couple of years from now and then really worry!
“Commodities may have big rallies, but the fundamentals of the next 18 months should wear them down to new two-year lows.
“As for us in asset allocation, we have made our choice: hesitant and careful buying at these prices and lower. Good luck with your decisions.”
You can read ”Reaping the Whirlwind,” in its entirety by clicking here where Grantham has published his views on the fallout from the financial crisis and the investment opportunities he sees.

Part 2, ”Silver Linings and Lessons Learned”, published early this week:
“When asked by Barron’s on October 13 if we would learn anything from this ongoing crisis, I answered, ‘We will learn an enormous amount in a very short time, quite a bit in the medium term, and absolutely nothing in the long term. That would be the historical precedent.’
“That is unfortunately likely to be the case. But over the next several years at least, there are many silver linings and valuable lessons to be learned.
“Chief among the many benefits of this crisis are unprecedented opportunities for investing in some fixed income areas where some spreads are so wide as to reflect severe market dysfunctionality.
“As of October 18, we also have moderately cheap US and global equities for the first time in 20 years. Probably quite soon, global equities too will offer exceptional opportunities after the additional pain that is likely to occur in the next year.
“We are reconciled to buying too soon, but we recognize that our fair value estimate of 975 on the S&P 500 is, from historical precedent, likely to overrun on the downside by 20% to 40%, giving a range of 585 to 780 on the S&P as a probable low.
“The world faces unavoidable declines in economic activity and profit margins, so this overrun is unlikely to be much less painful than average, although you never know your luck.”
You can read ”Silver Linings and Lessons Learned,” in its entirety by clicking here where Grantham has published his comments on lessons learned from the credit crisis, as well as his proposed strategy.

Source: Jeremy Grantham, GMO, October 2008

Charts

I found this great chart over at Calculated Risk and thought I'd post it here for discussion.

Here is a chart of the TSX as well. As of market close on October 27, the TSX was down 43.3% from its June 18th peak. In terms of speed of the crash, the TSX kicks butt on the S&P500 with a 43% fall in only 20 weeks.

EVERYBODY PANIC!

The TSX was down over 10% this morning for whatever reason fancies the average investor. The Toronto market is down over 30% in the past 4 months and the S&P500 is down over 30% in the past 12 months. I'm sure some new doom is sure to envelope our country, shuttering our businesses and turning us all into stark raving mad lunatics.

Well maybe it isn't quite that bad and to this observer of human behaviour, it seems a little overdone now. I have recognized that timing the market bottom is an impossible feat but there are two things that are common about market bottoms:

1) Despair and hopelessness. Check.

2) Massive redemptions of mutual funds. Check. See story here.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Values Falling

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board area has witnessed a dramatic turnaround from the heyday of 2004 through 2007. Prices are now falling at a rate of 2.5% per quarter and the bottom is far from being in. In fact, I fully expect prices to drop dramatically over the next 6 months.


Sales are very low for this time of year and are at levels normally reserved for the slowest months of the year.


Active Listings rose during September and are at the highest ever recorded levels.

Months of inventory is very high, leading to dramatic downward price pressure. There is always a seller who 'must sell' and buyers never 'must buy' so price drops are inevitable at these inventory levels.

The correlation between supply / demand and price changes continues to be exceptionally strong.


Prices are continuing to fall.


Cheers.

Vancouver Winning Race Down

Updated with September data.

Seattle Bubble Blog has been posting this chart for many months now as the Seattle market has been correcting along with all of the other bubble markets across North America. Vancouver is now no exception. Price declines are the steepest witnessed so far in North America and we shall see if this trend continues.

Thanks to Jesse for putting the chart together.