Average new house price in Calgary went up 1K per day in June. http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/06/14/1632711.html While this is not sustainable over the long term. It's still pretty cool.
Same thing that has happened to the US market. "manipulation by media, big institutions, builders" ... I see this all the time in the stock market too. They keep pushing pushing, until everyone jumps in the push even further, then it turns before evrybody could act (or decide to act) .
Just my opinion here - if you are required to pay property taxes on your home (everyone...LOL!) then you never really do own it. You just own the "rights" to pay the tax for that section of property....LOL! Vhat A Contry! Thomas Jefferson warned us about that one.
Probably the best way to own property is to buy at the lows of an economic cycle, in a desirable area that has a lower than average property tax rate (buy higher end foreclosures if possible). So load up on the cash and get ready for the next downturn - my eyes are on Las Vegas and Tahoe.
Alberta has fundamental reasons for price appreciation as I have posted before. Large inflow of people and capital from all over the world because of the oil sands. There are only 15 days of supply on the market right now and therefore the spike. In the US places like Florida, Arizona,Nevada are playgrounds for aging baby boomers with lots of money from selling their houses up north. States around California also benefit from people leaving California because of high prices and high taxes.
Why are houses in Calgary so outrageously high? I can understand a 500 sq ft loft in NYC going for 500K, after all there is no more land available in and around NYC. But in Calgary? wtf. The jobs around here don't even pay well, no wonder everyone has three room mates in tiny one bedroom hole in the walls.
I am surprised tenants in the USA pay property tax plus a "mark up". In Australia the landlord pays the property tax, water rates and any maintanance costs associated with keeping the property in good condition. The Real Estate Agents here used to run a highly dubious racket where there was a central database for, so-called 'bad tenants'. This was basically if you had p****d of a 'landlord' or real estate agent in any way, (even if it was unrelated to renting!) it was very difficult, if not impossible, to rent again because all applications by people who wanted to rent properties were vetted against a private database. This 'database' listed real and fictional bad debts, leaving the property in a 'bad condition'. It turned out that at one stage 1.2 million people were put on the tenant blacklist!(Australia has less than 20 million people!) Even people who had long died! Needless to say the "blacklist" is soon to be legislated out of existence. I was put on this "blacklist" because I went out with a Real Estate Agents ex-girlfriend. I was not even renting at that time! I was living in my own house, the girlfriend was NOT paying me rent.
what are the websites that you guys use to discover the comparative rental cost of the home? it is not too hard to find a similar house for sale but not as easy for rent. thx