Talk about lousy timing for depressing news. Just as consumers are flocking to the stores to do their Christmas shopping, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney came out with a stern warning that Canadians are too far in debt. He says that household debt is so high that if there was an interest rate hike, consumers would buckle under the load.
Personally, I don’t see any reason to be an alarmist. Yes, people have been spending, but they have also been saving over the past two years. The economic meltdown in the U.S. gave us all a scare and practically halted our own economy to a standstill.
It was refreshing, therefore, to see the recent remarks by Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, who said that while household debt has been “rising relentlessly,” so too have household assets. Porter calls for calm. “This singular focus on the debt side of the balance sheet really overlooks the very clear improvement under way that we’ve seen on the asset side of the ledger for the past year or so. When you take this into account, Canadian household finances are not nearly as stretched as commonly perceived.”
He said Canadians have invested rather than just spend, and most of that investment has been in real estate, thereby increasing assets. In fact, Canadians are worth more than they used to be, he says. He rightly cautions that to scare consumers into closing their wallets would be dangerous. Such action would put a serious drag on our fragile economy, which is gradually improving.
Of course, Ontarians were hit with a double whammy this year. In addition to the recession and a shrinking manufacturing base, we also had to contend with the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which was introduced in July. Here in Oakville, the impact on our property values were further exacerbated by the controversial power plant proposal which scared off potential buyers.
But we are recovering. Consumers are getting used to the HST and the province wiped the power plant proposal off the drawing board. I’m confident that with all this turmoil behind us, the housing market in Oakville will be booming this coming spring.
It’s a good time to start looking at properties for your next move and remember to work with a broker who knows the community and has established successful selling strategies to ensure you sell your home for top dollar – fast. In the meantime, all of us on the Dan Cooper Team wish you a happy holiday and the very best for 2011.
Dan Cooper is an award winning Broker with Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage – the Number 1 Royal LePage Team for Canada in 2009. He can be reached at 905.338.3737, direct line at 905.849.3303 or through his innovative and interactive website at DanCooper.com. Be sure to catch the Dan Cooper Real Estate Series on DailyWebTV.com. For his free booklet How To Sell Your House For Top Dollar – Fast! or his Guide to Oakville Real Estate, please call the Dan Cooper Team.
