3 ms·

Some are screwed. I wonder what the percentage is. Someone who paid off their mortgage is not screwed or owes their original 1990 mortgage amount.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Honestly, I'm sitting at only $30k remaining on my mortgage, which we paid off in 19 years (sold first home, and upgraded in the middle of that) and frankly the rates now aren't really any higher than the first mortgage we got in 2005. So I'm sitting in a pretty good state and just hoping for a major downward drop in housing prices so that my kids (now teens) can afford rent and housing as adults. Or we'll all be living here on the farm. I feel privileged for my own personal situation but also just flabbergasted at the debt people have been willing to take on. Zero interest rate policies and poor regulation of the real estate market drove prices so high and it's amazing to watch people suddenly act as if it's higher rates now that are the cause of affordability problems. Absolutely short-termist thinking. Governments (both fed and provincial) let ... no, encouraged ... this to happen. If your workers can't afford to live where they work... you will stop producing anything at all.
- user_named 3y ago
  The combination of high nominal prices and nornal-ish rates is what results in a high monthly outlay, that's what everyone is talking about. Affordability, not rates. At present prices, not 1990 prices.
  - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
    Present prices need to drop. A lot. If rates drop, prices will just continue to climb like crazy. You cannot fix affordability by just making loans more affordable. We need way higher supply, much better regulation, and normal (e.g. not insanely low like they were from 2008-2023) interest rates for this sickness to go away. If that means "destroying" the perceived wealth of homeowners like myself, so be it. Look at a graph of BoC rates for the last 40 years and then see what an anomaly the period after 2008 is. Nobody should be expecting/demanding a return to that.
thsksbd 3y ago
But presumably these people have kids! How are these kids supposed to buy a house? If my kids are in a worse economic situation than me, than I have failed economically in life. I mean, how can I enjoy living in a house with a big back yard if my kid has a choice of moving to the US or renting for life? At the end of my life, Im more screwed if I own a house and my kid rents than if I rent and my kids own their home!

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

Honestly, I'm sitting at only $30k remaining on my mortgage, which we paid off in 19 years (sold first home, and upgraded in the middle of that) and frankly the rates now aren't really any higher than the first mortgage we got in 2005. So I'm sitting in a pretty good state and just hoping for a major downward drop in housing prices so that my kids (now teens) can afford rent and housing as adults. Or we'll all be living here on the farm. I feel privileged for my own personal situation but also just flabbergasted at the debt people have been willing to take on. Zero interest rate policies and poor regulation of the real estate market drove prices so high and it's amazing to watch people suddenly act as if it's higher rates now that are the cause of affordability problems. Absolutely short-termist thinking. Governments (both fed and provincial) let ... no, encouraged ... this to happen. If your workers can't afford to live where they work... you will stop producing anything at all.

user_named 3y ago
The combination of high nominal prices and nornal-ish rates is what results in a high monthly outlay, that's what everyone is talking about. Affordability, not rates. At present prices, not 1990 prices.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  Present prices need to drop. A lot. If rates drop, prices will just continue to climb like crazy. You cannot fix affordability by just making loans more affordable. We need way higher supply, much better regulation, and normal (e.g. not insanely low like they were from 2008-2023) interest rates for this sickness to go away. If that means "destroying" the perceived wealth of homeowners like myself, so be it. Look at a graph of BoC rates for the last 40 years and then see what an anomaly the period after 2008 is. Nobody should be expecting/demanding a return to that.

thsksbd 3y ago

But presumably these people have kids! How are these kids supposed to buy a house? If my kids are in a worse economic situation than me, than I have failed economically in life. I mean, how can I enjoy living in a house with a big back yard if my kid has a choice of moving to the US or renting for life? At the end of my life, Im more screwed if I own a house and my kid rents than if I rent and my kids own their home!