What About the Local Market? Yesterday’s post was a bit of a broad overview and I hope at least some people found it interesting, but I know most people are more interested in what’s happening locally. So am I. And in regard to the HRM/Nova Scotia real estate market, I’m feeling quite optimistic. I think that the local market will remain stable as long as interest rates remain low. Sales should be stable with no big increases and prices will probably see the usual modest increases.

By the way, there are things we can all do to have a positive effect on our local economy. Things like thinking about where our money goes before we buy. For example, refuse to buy produce from the U.S and Mexico when there are local options. I buy 80% of my food at the Dartmouth Farmers’ Market. Nothing makes me madder than seeing blueberries from B.C. (probably grown in Mexico and packed in B.C.) in the Superstore in the middle of our blueberry season. Support our local farmers and support our local economy.

Renovating? Well, there are a number of local manufacturers and fabricators of housing components that can be sourced right here in Atlantic Canada; items such as furnaces, windows, doors and lumber to name a few. I prefer shopping at Kent rather than Home Depot because they are a New Brunswick company. A side benefit is that the service just happens to be better – staff are more helpful and knowledgeable. As someone who hates shopping, I get a bit more pleasure out of the experience when I think I’m doing my little bit to help out the local economy. Happy shopping.

Posted August 10, 2011

Looking Like a Rough Ride Ahead? Maybe. Maybe not – at least not as bad as the U.S. anyway. While the Dow Jones took another serious tumble yesterday, the TSX actually went up substantially. So why won’t it be as bad in Canada? Well, there are many possible reasons: First, thanks to our government legislated lending rules, we never had a housing crisis like the one still being experienced in The States. Secondly, with a resource based economy there is still a demand for what we have to sell. As much as I personally hate the whole idea of the Tar Sands, we are shipping oil at an inflated price and, for the first time ever, we shipped more softwood lumber to China than we did to the United States. By the way, one of the reasons the TSX bucked the world wide stock market trend was because of the large number of resource stocks – especially gold and other mining stocks – that are traded on that exchange.

So back to real estate. Interest rates are a key driver of the real estate market and the U.S. Federal Reserve just announced that they will keep rates low well into 2013. That means rates will stay low in Canada and that means more first time buyers will enter the market. I know I have predicting rate increases of some time now, but I didn’t count on the madness that is the U.S. Congress, which is hell bent on destroying the Obama presidency at any cost and in the process is destroying the American economy.

That brings us to the long term outlook and that seems to be heading in the right direction. It is no coincidence that Canada is out there negotiating trade deals with Europe, South America and Asia. Everyone wants to detach themselves from the U.S. economy as much as possible and in the long term that should be very positive for everyone, as long as we keep our borders closed to the greed and avarice of Wall Street. Here’s hoping.