Saturday, December 17, 2016

The (Progressive) World According To Ron Obvious.

OneMan'sProgressivismIsAnotherMan's
CondoKingshipVille


First, there was the announcement as reported by Rob Shaw & Jennifer Saltman of the VSun:

Premier Christy Clark announced Thursday that a new provincially backed loan program would match the amount a first-time buyer has saved for a down payment — up to $37,500, or five per cent of the home’s purchase price...


Next, there was the analysis, as gathered by Mike Hager, Brett Jang and David Parkinson in the Globe (amongst many):

Joshua Gottlieb, an assistant professor at the University of B.C.’s Vancouver School of Economics, said the new loans are asking people to stretch themselves even further to achieve home ownership, a risky proposition if interest rates increase significantly in the future.

He called the policy a counterproductive taxpayer-funded subsidy for homeowners and developers. The roughly 15,000 new buyers a year the government estimates will take advantage of the new loans will hurt affordability further in a market constrained by a lack of supply, he said.

“The easiest way to think about it is with an analogy to a store having a sale,” Prof. Gottlieb said. “If they raise all of their prices by $200 and then give you a $200 discount, are you any better off?

“That’s effectively what’s going on here: It’s a $37,500 discount for first-time buyers so then the sellers can raise prices by however much extra those buyers are able to afford.”...



And, finally, there was the obvious as tweeted by the Ron of all Obviousness:

Gosh.

Is it possible that Mr. Obvious missed 23 characters and actually meant to tweet that it... Will help many 'get in over their heads' immensely?

After all, it's not like that underwaterish/drowning-in-debt thingy hasn't been concerning the Feds considerably for a good couple of years now.

Right?


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Interestingly, the ceiling on the propped up 90% mortgage (i.e. really 95%) is $675,000 for families making less that $150K p/a....Which means that the max price is $750,000....Gosh...In Lotusland, who will be selling stock at that price I wonder.
And how much treasure will this give away to re-inflate the CondoKing bubble cost us?...Well, according to the Shaw/Saltman VSun report, the Clarklandian wizards are estimating that it will cost $700 million dollars of our taxes....errrrr...MSP premiums.
If you need a chuckle or three before the snow flies later tonight, go read the replies to Mr. Mason's twittery. 
Oh, and don't forget that.... There is a fine group of very 'goodly'endorsed predatory lenders that are all set to make book on the back-end of underwater mortgages.


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5 comments:

North Van's Grumps said...

Christy Clark's offer opens the provincial bank to the just paid off category 'Student Loan' - - - - > 'Student HomeOwner'

Hugh said...

Sure thing, entice new buyers into the housing market with govt-backed loans, now that the real estate bubble is at its peak (after years of low interest rates, speculation, money-laundering) and is about to crash.

What could possibly go wrong?

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

Way I see it: developers, having worked the city market for much of its worth (for the time being), have been granted legislative assistance to play out the suburban market for all it is worth. Raising home prices even further in the sticks will prevent city prices from becoming more affordable to people and, in fact, probably send city prices further skyward in the end. i.e. Mission Accomplished.

RossK said...

Beer--

Well...

There could, in the end, be an upside, I suppose.

Because, if you ever get another hockey team to watch out there they could always be named the 'Condo Kings'!



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Anonymous said...

So, let's get this straight....
You enact regulatory controls on the real estate industry to slow a hot real estate market, that Joe citizen is increasingly being locked out of. You then turn around and to "offset" the political fallout from said "real estate industry", which just happens to be a major political donor, introduce a "loan" program to keep the low end of the market moving, while keeping that ridiculously high transfer tax churning out more money for your ever increasing debt. Interesting....
You have been blown out of the water by a federal court ruling on education and "control of its participants", which if "truth" be told was to reduce a major union force in the province and free up valuable lands that your cronies want in major cities for "prime development. While at the same time forcing increasingly impoverished families to pay higher costs for private education. Hmmm.

As an update, your newest absurd political statement about debt..."Don't want more debt? You don't live in the real world..?
The "real' debt in this province is being "created" in order to keep an increasingly out of touch government, in cash from its "benefitting" donors. The pay to play game is real here in BC.
This "real" debt is alarming and the people of this province are being saddled with a huge financial burden that
will take years to pay off.
Your taxes and "fees" are skyrocketing, MSP, ICBC and other services costs going through the roof...

The taxpayer and citizen is being systematically fleeced to pay for a small group of "cronies" who benefit enormously from a warped system of governance.

Still believe that the B.C. Liberals have your best interests in mind?

Your being conned. White collar crime is alive and well in this province, Politics you say?...Hell no, this is organized crime on a grand scale by a so called serving government.