Richmond Condo News

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently suggested it might be wise to outlaw 40-year mortgages.

"A recent Statistics Canada study showed Canadians are finding themselves with two mortgages and deeper in debt than at any time in their lives. They are increasingly house poor, and with housing values sliding, they often owe more on their properties than they're worth."

"People are incurring large mortgage, line-of-credit and credit-card debt as they spend on renovations and big-screen TVs. Older people are taking on mortgages due to divorce and to finance the home purchases of children unwilling to save for a realistic down payment."

High oil and gas prices together with increasing pressure by the Canadian to combate inflation, interest rates may not stay low for long. A quick spike up in interest rates will dampen the Canadian real estate market that is already heading for a slow down in demand.

The following is a Financial Post article on Candaian interest rates as presented by a panel of economists:

A panel of nearly a dozen non-government economists Thursday urged the Bank of Canada not to go ahead with an expected further interest-rate cut Tuesday, with some members voting for a rate hike instead.

Should the central bank follow that advice, it would rob Canadians with floating rate mortgages and other loans of hope for any interest rate relief until midsummer at least.

The C.D. Howe Institute's Monetary Policy Council voted to recommend the central bank leave its trend-setting target rate for overnight loans at three per cent, with five of the 11 economists voting for no change, three voting for a quarter-point cut, and three, all of them academics, voting for an increase -- one for a quarter-point hike and two for a half-point spike.

The commercial banks have so far matched any cut in the central bank's key rate with cuts in their prime rates, to which floating-rate loans are tied. But they have recently taken nearly a full business day to respond, indicating that the passing on of central bank rate relief to their customers is no longer a given.

The reason given for those delays has been that with the eruption last year of a domestic credit crunch, the commercial banks' borrowing costs in the bond market have not eased.

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Real estate agent raffling off his Spanish apartment to settle debts

"An unemployed Spanish real estate agent is selling raffle tickets in a bid to get rid of his $500,000 apartment in Ciempozuelos, near Madrid, because he is behind on his mortgage payments and cannot sell it."

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This sound like a good idea. In today's market, if the publicity can be generated and the sale can be conducted online and off-line. There are costs involved, legal issues, printing, advertising, etc and there must be enough tickets being sold by the raffle draw date.

Is this legal in the US? Anyone know of anyone doing this successfully selling a home by selling raffle tickets in a down market.

For the month of May 2008, the following real estate articles highlighted the real estate market scenes in Canada:

Economists sees no reason to worry

Immigration main driver behind frenzied activity

Survey: 56 more condos so far in '08

Economic Retreat Sparks Use Of R-Word

Westerners Look To Maritimes For Retirement

Prices slow as home listings hit new high

Better deals ahead expected for Canadian home buyers

Condo numbers hold steady

Super Size Me

Canadian Real Estate Market News Articles

For the month of April 2008, the following real estate articles highlighted the real estate market scenes in  Canada:

Mortgage market enters 'uncharted waters': Scotiabank

Ottawa the place to live in Canada: MoneySense

Look back, look a long way back

Slide ends housing boom