Quote:
Originally Posted by timun
Look man, I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's the thought process and the feelings behind people still buying. Rationally, from an inflation-adjusted baseline of 1981 prices (when they peaked before the NEP), people have been nucking futs to buy property in Calgary since 2005 because the rise in prices since has far, faaaaaar outpaced inflation. (Coincidentally if you bought in 1981, your house value didn't "break even" vs. inflation until 2005...)
If homes were still worth what they were in 1981 and just followed inflation, they'd cost $347,779 on average today. The actual average is $552,273. Real-dollar prices haven't averaged ~$348k since 2006... They haven't been below $400k since the little dip in 2009.
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But you don’t buy houses with dollars. You buy houses with debt. The marginal home buyer will be some reflection of max term, interest rates and family income. So as down payment requirements dropped, mortgage insurance improved and the number of two income homebuyers increased the available dollars for home purchasing went up while units/person went down.
It’s much more likely to be that housing was undervalued previously in Calgary as today the median household income supports the purchase of the median home. (Or at least it did 1 year ago when I last looked, the latest interest rate increases may have pushed Calgary into slightly overpriced.