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Meanwhile in Toronto a house is $1m+ while salaries are 100k-150k.

inglor_cz 5y ago
A house in Prague will cost you about 600k USD, but the average salary after tax is something like 21k USD. Welcome to Europe :)
- neon_me 5y ago
  Yes, Prague is the extreme place to live.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    Interestingly, Warsaw is much more affordable. They also build a lot more condos there. AFAIK around 100 000 new housing units were built in Warsaw in span of just 5 years. That pushes the prices down.
    - ptsneves 5y ago
      In Poland there is anew term called pato-developer, from patological developer. Patologia is a common derrogative for something not good. The pato-developer thing comes from the fact that many of these new apartment complexes often make huge compromises on quality or amenities. A common complaint is very thin walls or apartments with windows facing a few meters from neighbors. Search in youtube for pato developer and you will see some really comical videos. It is very not ideal, but even so it provides a huge pressure relief on housing demand and kind of allows young people the ability to afford something to start a family. Real estate is even so often used as an investment but I think with the current interest rate hikes the crazy valuations on the main cities will come down.
- klohto 5y ago
  Lol exactly. I don’t wanna tout who has the most expensive houses but Prague and Brno win with the average wage / price ratio. I’m already remote for US company and still cannot a flat here due to abysmal central bank rules.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    "Weeee are the champions, my friend!" At least in something.
nemo44x 5y ago
It’s because interest rates are so low. A combined income of $225 can easily afford a $1m home at todays rates.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- shell0x 5y ago
  I also heard the downpayment required is only 5%.
  - humanlion87 5y ago
    That is true for properties that are valued at less than 1mil. And you have to pay mortgage insurance. For properties that are >= 1mil, you have to put 20% down.
    - antoniuschan99 5y ago
      and also for first time home buyers
- onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
  Canada doesn't have a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, though. So anyone making that trade better be betting that interest rates never go up...
  - nemo44x 5y ago
    Aren’t the rates fixed? If not then it’s a fairly ridiculous trade to take on. If no one has a fixed rate then without massive inflation any kind of interest surge will decimate the country.
    - thefringthing 5y ago
      The standard mortgage in Canada has a five-year term, amortized over 25 years. You generally cannot lock in a low rate for 30 years the way you can in the United States.
randomdata 5y ago
That's driven by the farmland bubble. Southern Ontario farmland prices are up 700% since the mid-2000s, which has priced urban sprawl out of the market. With Toronto (i.e. the cities around the City of Toronto) unable to expand like they once were able able to, that has increased buying pressure on the land that is already within the city limits, thereby also driving up the cost of housing in those cities. While Canada as a whole has recently seen some small increases to the cost of housing on the back of increasing lumber and labour costs, the country has a whole has remained largely stagnant, even falling in some cases. The gigantic gains seen, which bring up the country average, are limited to the prime agricultural areas, namely Toronto and Vancouver, where farmers are now willing to pay more than developers for undeveloped land. Something that is historically unusual.
- poutine 5y ago
  This isn't true. Costs of housing have spiralled out of control outside of Toronto and Vancouver -- here on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo the house I built in 2018 for $950k is now worth near $1.5M. Up 20% in the past year. It's nuts.
- oblio 5y ago
  Are you building higher density stuff? If not, the injury is self inflicted.
- jonwithoutanh 5y ago
  >While Canada as a whole has recently seen some small increases to the cost of housing on the back of increasing lumber and labour costs, the country has a whole has remained largely stagnant, even falling in some cases Kelowna? Calgary? Halifax? Are those places being driven up by farmland demand?
- gruez 5y ago
  >That's driven by the farmland bubble. [...] >The gigantic gains seen, which bring up the country average, are limited to the prime agricultural areas, namely Toronto and Vancouver, where farmers are now willing to pay more than developers for undeveloped land. Something that is historically unusual. Why is farmland in those areas so sought after? Were canadian farmland historically underpriced? Is the land just really good farmland? Are speculators buying it because of global warming?
etimberg 5y ago
I've been looking to buy in the Toronto are. Prices are up 15% since November. Houses that had comparable sales of $850k in November are now going at around the $1M mark. I don't know how that rise is sustainable.

A house in Prague will cost you about 600k USD, but the average salary after tax is something like 21k USD. Welcome to Europe :)

neon_me 5y ago
Yes, Prague is the extreme place to live.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  Interestingly, Warsaw is much more affordable. They also build a lot more condos there. AFAIK around 100 000 new housing units were built in Warsaw in span of just 5 years. That pushes the prices down.
  - ptsneves 5y ago
    In Poland there is anew term called pato-developer, from patological developer. Patologia is a common derrogative for something not good. The pato-developer thing comes from the fact that many of these new apartment complexes often make huge compromises on quality or amenities. A common complaint is very thin walls or apartments with windows facing a few meters from neighbors. Search in youtube for pato developer and you will see some really comical videos. It is very not ideal, but even so it provides a huge pressure relief on housing demand and kind of allows young people the ability to afford something to start a family. Real estate is even so often used as an investment but I think with the current interest rate hikes the crazy valuations on the main cities will come down.
klohto 5y ago
Lol exactly. I don’t wanna tout who has the most expensive houses but Prague and Brno win with the average wage / price ratio. I’m already remote for US company and still cannot a flat here due to abysmal central bank rules.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  "Weeee are the champions, my friend!" At least in something.

nemo44x 5y ago

It’s because interest rates are so low. A combined income of $225 can easily afford a $1m home at todays rates.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
shell0x 5y ago
I also heard the downpayment required is only 5%.
- humanlion87 5y ago
  That is true for properties that are valued at less than 1mil. And you have to pay mortgage insurance. For properties that are >= 1mil, you have to put 20% down.
  - antoniuschan99 5y ago
    and also for first time home buyers
onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
Canada doesn't have a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, though. So anyone making that trade better be betting that interest rates never go up...
- nemo44x 5y ago
  Aren’t the rates fixed? If not then it’s a fairly ridiculous trade to take on. If no one has a fixed rate then without massive inflation any kind of interest surge will decimate the country.
  - thefringthing 5y ago
    The standard mortgage in Canada has a five-year term, amortized over 25 years. You generally cannot lock in a low rate for 30 years the way you can in the United States.

randomdata 5y ago

That's driven by the farmland bubble. Southern Ontario farmland prices are up 700% since the mid-2000s, which has priced urban sprawl out of the market. With Toronto (i.e. the cities around the City of Toronto) unable to expand like they once were able able to, that has increased buying pressure on the land that is already within the city limits, thereby also driving up the cost of housing in those cities. While Canada as a whole has recently seen some small increases to the cost of housing on the back of increasing lumber and labour costs, the country has a whole has remained largely stagnant, even falling in some cases. The gigantic gains seen, which bring up the country average, are limited to the prime agricultural areas, namely Toronto and Vancouver, where farmers are now willing to pay more than developers for undeveloped land. Something that is historically unusual.

poutine 5y ago
This isn't true. Costs of housing have spiralled out of control outside of Toronto and Vancouver -- here on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo the house I built in 2018 for $950k is now worth near $1.5M. Up 20% in the past year. It's nuts.
oblio 5y ago
Are you building higher density stuff? If not, the injury is self inflicted.
jonwithoutanh 5y ago
>While Canada as a whole has recently seen some small increases to the cost of housing on the back of increasing lumber and labour costs, the country has a whole has remained largely stagnant, even falling in some cases Kelowna? Calgary? Halifax? Are those places being driven up by farmland demand?
gruez 5y ago
>That's driven by the farmland bubble. [...] >The gigantic gains seen, which bring up the country average, are limited to the prime agricultural areas, namely Toronto and Vancouver, where farmers are now willing to pay more than developers for undeveloped land. Something that is historically unusual. Why is farmland in those areas so sought after? Were canadian farmland historically underpriced? Is the land just really good farmland? Are speculators buying it because of global warming?

etimberg 5y ago

I've been looking to buy in the Toronto are. Prices are up 15% since November. Houses that had comparable sales of $850k in November are now going at around the $1M mark. I don't know how that rise is sustainable.