Tagrental property

Rental properties as a secure long-term investment

Posted January 23, 2020 Real Estate news

Real estate may not be sexy, but…

Rental properties are a secure long-term investment. Note the emphasis on “long-term”.

Check out any seven-year period over the past 50 years (anyone who has read this news site knows that I always recommend buying and holding for at least seven years). Property values have almost always risen.

Sure, the last five or 10 years have seen fantastic appreciation in almost every part of Canada. But, let’s leave capital appreciation out of the equation for now.

Why aren’t we talking about rental income? Or, how about the equity growth through your mortgage being paid down each year?

RENTAL INCOME IS UP, UP, UP!

Part of what makes rental properties attractive is that rent rises with inflation (or even higher, in many cases, as we have seen in urban markets like Toronto and Vancouver). This is how you create your own pension or retirement income! Continue reading “Real estate may not be sexy, but…”

Posted November 28, 20183 Comments Mortgage News

The End of Rent Control? Bring it on!

Ontario’s controversial rent control is about to come to an end – and that’s a positive change!

When I was attending a speaking session with one of my favourite economists – Benjamin Tal – a few weeks back, he had a great quote: “There’s a Swedish economist who said, ‘Rent control is the best way to destroy a city, maybe besides bombing it.’”

Isn’t that the truth?!

In the GTA, rental units are scarce. And, says Tal, rent control would only further diminish the already depleted supply of available units.

Continue reading “The End of Rent Control? Bring it on!”

Posted May 3, 2018 Bank News

TD & RBC raised the POSTED rate… but not their REAL rates

Much has been written about last week’s Posted rate hikes by TD and RBC. Don’t panic! This is just their posted rate – it’s not the actual rate they give to clients.

I do, however, think we’ll see a minimal rate hike in the coming weeks due to five-year Government of Canada bond yields increasing slightly. Fixed rates are priced closely to bond yields.

Continue reading “TD & RBC raised the POSTED rate… but not their REAL rates”

Posted April 24, 20181 Comment Mortgage News

REAL facts on Housing Prices… they’re not dropping like you may think!

In recent months, we’ve seen the mainstream media publish several stats and articles about Canada’s declining real estate market.

The popular stories go something like this: Home sales fall by 22%; or Home prices drop by 10%. Does that sound familiar? Bad news grabs our attention. It’s human nature.

Now, for a dose of reality…

It’s true, there are fewer home sales when compared to last year’s crazy red-hot housing market. In 2017, home sales and home prices were up 20% and 25% in the first four months of the year. That pace is unsustainable. We don’t ever want to match that pace. Continue reading “REAL facts on Housing Prices… they’re not dropping like you may think!”

Posted April 3, 2018 Mortgage News

Ontario Housing Market: Increased Opportunity for Investors!

Rental vacancies are ridiculously low and demand for rental units is high… and growing!

That’s just a sampling of the opportunistic real estate investment news Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC’s Regional Economist for Ontario, shared recently at the Canadian Mortgage Brokers’ Association (CMBA) of Ontario annual conference.

Here are other main takeaways:

Strong 2017 economy helped ease imbalances
Sales and new home starts expected to slow
Prices to grow moderately
Eastern & Western Ontario will outperform Southern Ontario
Mortgage delinquencies remain at record lows – much lower than credit card or car loan debt

Continue reading “Ontario Housing Market: Increased Opportunity for Investors!”