Did you know auto insurance premiums rose by 7% last year, far above the usual 3 to 4%. When drivers don’t shop around for better insurance quotes, or mortgage rates, or a home, companies take advantage.
Even with no claims, they draw funds form your account for years and decades on end. Any you never ask them for anything. You’ll be happier if you get online quotes. It’s so easy and hassle free.
It’s all about lower rates and getting lower auto insurance quotes. Yet insurance companies won’t just offer them. You have to search for a better car insurance quote. Now that you’re hear, it’s time to begin your search.
“Shop Around for a Lower Car Insurance Quote“
Compare Car Insurance Rates
If you’re not comparing auto insurance rates, you’re giving away money. In fact, car insurance shopping is the only way to can substantially lower your premiums and get better converage. This post will convince you and give you some new options.
You get lower auto insurance by comparing quotes from different vehicle insurance companies. There are a lot of them out there. There’s big and small insurance companies and independent brokers looking for your business.
Rising auto insurance isn’t a local issue. Car insurance rates are rising everywhere but it appears consumers are apathetic about it. If you look at the price charts below you’ll see how much people expend for auto insurance.
Self-driving cars could raise auto insurance rates for you and I, since those autonomous car companies would negotiate their own low rate coverage. They’ll save plenty, but you will have to negotiate your own insurance rate.
The insurance companies are awash in cash now however they’re facing tough times as their own pool of revenue erodes and claim payouts rise. Switching insurance companies might be a wise move. Consider this stat:
The average auto insurance premium in Ontario, Canada is $1,458, which is almost 55% higher than the average of all other Canadian jurisdictions — from a Globe & Mail report.
It’s 2017 and time to take massive action to save money. Have you investigated UBI or usage based auto insurance? Check out the auto insurance rate quotes for your city or state below.
Get the best auto insurance quotes in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Phoenix, Denver, Boston, New York and other cities where consumers are fed up. We’re all paying too much to insure our cars, SUVs and trucks. It’s hard earned dollars ($10,000) that you’re giving away but now that can change. Has your loyalty to one insurance company done much for you?
Look back at the last 20 years of auto insurance coverage you purchased (e.g., 20 x 12 x $150 = $36,150). Could you use that money right now?
It’s a Great Time to Switch Auto Insurance Companies
Yes, switching insurance companies is a wise financial choice. There are videos, charts, infographics and quote comparisons below that will open your eyes. When it comes to finding the lowest insurance rates, and a better policy, this might be a good starting point. It’s best to do lots of searching and get a wide variety of quotes from insurers. Just through persistence alone, you’ll get the best rates. You could save $10,000 over 6 years or as much as $1800 in one year.
Do you Need Collector or Luxury Car Insurance?
Here’s an auto insurance niche where you can get more price and appropriate quotes for your Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari, Lamborhghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce, or Maserati.
I’m sure you’ll find the auto insurance quote comparisons below an eye opener.
According to one source, the average price of auto insurance across the US is $1100 to $1200 per year — that leaves lots of room for you to start saving!
Virginia has become the 19th state to ban consumer price gouging – Consumeraffairs.com – fair warning that you are probably getting taken.
Not all of the big name companies such as Allstate, Progressive, Geico, Nationwide, State Farm, Mercury, StateFarm, and others offer great rates or the coverage you actually need. I know from my own searches that I tend not to be thorough enough. I get restless and frustrated and settle for a higher auto insurance quote than I should. I want to help you optimize your quest for the lowest auto policy.
Sharing Really is Caring
Share this post on Facebook with younger drivers who need some relief from $4000 to $8000 policies.
My Car Insurance Quote
I conducted a search directly on the insurer’s websites of Geico, Progressive, Statefarm, Liberty Mutual, Mercury, Allstate, AAA and Farmers. In the chart below, you can see the quote for a 40 year old male living in Santa Ana, California, driving a 2010 Hyudai Santa Fe 4 dr sedan to work 30 miles away daily, and having one non bodily injury accident (hit a car). We need an example to analyze an auto insurance quote, so let’s take a quick look at this one.
Statefarm’s auto quote was about $1300 less per year than Liberty Mutual’s. Over 6 years, that translates to $7800 in savings if I chose Statefarm. Further below, I sought quotes via insurance hotline and the variation was bigger. With your own search, you may find one local insurance company who may be willing to insure you at much less.
Is a 40 year old driver with one accident statistically that risky? Obviously Liberty Mutual, Statefarm, and AAA believe there is huge risk. Each company processes the statistics differently, and they’re entitled to. However, are they being reasonable about it. Is the auto quote abnormally high?
Some of these companies make you fill out endless questions, some of which you have to wonder are even legal. I liked Progressive’s online auto insurance quote process the best. It was quick and the least painful. They seem to respect your time the most. Their quote was a little higher than Allstate and Statefarm, but I suspect Progressive has a better corporate culture — a signal of how they’ll treat you after becoming their customer.
Auto Insurance Tips from Everquote.com
Auto Insurance Tips on how to Get Cheaper Car and Truck Insurance
Canadian Auto Insurance Buyers are Getting Ripped Off
Car Insurance Quote In Canada
Here’s another example auto insurance quote for a 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, 4 door, for a 48 year old male with one ticket. See the huge difference in quotes from individual brokerages? That’s right, in this case there are two Aviva brokerages competing. The lowest quote was from Travelers insurance. It equates to $1700 savings per year and more than $10,000 over 6 years. That’s a significant amount.
Car Insurance Quote for 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe
Auto Insurance Rates by US State
Just in case you’re curious, here is Insure.com’s rankings of States for car insurance policies for one year.
3. Dodge Grand Caravan – annual car insurance premium $1,174.
4. Jeep Wrangler Sport – annual car insurance premium $1,181.
5. Jeep Compass Sport 2WD – annual car insurance premium $1,190
6. Ford Escape S 2WD – annual car insurance premium $1,194.
7. Buick Encore Sport Tour 2WD – annual car insurance premium $1,200.
8. Jeep Cherokee Base 2WD – annual car insurance premium $1,203.
9. Nissan Frontier S King Cab – annual car insurance premium $1,204
Here’s something to think about to motivate you: a savings of almost $1000. How long does it take you to earn $1000 x the next 4 years = $4000. Because, insurance buyers tend to be loyal (or just lazy) and stick with the insurance company that’s sticking it to them. If that’s you, then, spend a whole afternoon or evening searching for a lower auto insurance quote. Save your money.
Sharing is Good for Your Social Health, and good for others bank accounts. Help them save by sharing this post! Who couldn’t use all that money?
A survey by carinsurance.com (they do these studies for PR and for wider exposure in social media and Google) so take it with a grain of salt. Carinsurance.com stated that in California, the average annual premium across the six top carriers was $1,428 (significantly higher than national average of $1,277). The cheapest car insurance averaged an amazing 33% less, at $960.
The Type of Car you Drive is a Key Factor
You may not realize that the insurance companies offer cheaper insurance for a certain type or brand of vehicle. Jeeps for instance have very cheap rates. Why? Who knows? They’re not divulging anything that will cause them to lose profit. Obviously, your age, sex, and recent driving record will determine if you can get those best rates. Are new electric cars like the Tesla Model 3, Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf the way to go?
I welcome all inquiries from businesses inLos Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, New York, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, St Louis, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Charlotte, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Oshawa, Hamilton, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Calgary, Kelowna, Mississauga, Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Malibu, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Mountainview, Palo Alto, Portland, Washington, Atlanta, Irvine, Nashville, Sunnyvale, Salt Lake City, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Costa Mesa, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Raleigh, Albuquerque, Glendale, Oceanside, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Carlsbad, Santa Clarita, Henderson, Mesa, Temecula, Kirkland, Redmond, Kansas City, St Louis, Stockton, Scottsdale, Palm Springs, Indianapolis, Columbus, Colorado Springs, Fort Worth, Chula Vista, Escondido, Santa Monica, Miami Beach, and Honolulu.
Toronto Real Estate Market Forecast/Predictions to 2020
May 19, 2018. TREB reports another flat month in sales in the Toronto housing market. Sales shrank 1.2% and average home prices dropped only .2% during April.
If not for the Toronto Condo market, the Toronto housing market would be wheeled into the critical care unit. What some are called a balanced market are twisting words about as far as they can be contorted.
You’ve seen the same discouraging stats for many months now. Nothing new. Perhaps it’s time to look at what’s wrong with this market and why Toronto housing crash is being uttered more and more.
Election 2018 – No Help for Housing?
The latest TREB report however was overshadowed by the bomb dropped by Doug Ford, leader of the PC party. Ford suddenly recanted his promise to increase housing development and construction to help with the housing crisis. Voters were praying for relief and now it’s uncertain who will win this coming election. Political leadership in Ontario is a big negative for buyers and investors.
Since Toronto is slated to be a global supercity with a big increase in population, any land restrictions and red tape are serious issues. Right now buyers aren’t buying (house sales down 5%) and sellers aren’t selling (nowhere to go) so it’s a Mexican standoff during what should be a hot sales period.
It’s another indication that housing in Toronto is solely a political issue. Ontario’s election day is June 7th and this will put the Toronto housing conflict to rest either way. Yesterday’s news should be a boost for the Toronto condo market.
Toronto’s Insatiable Appetite for Money
Recent reports have it that the City of Toronto could face a $1.4 billion deficit, due to the loss of the lucrative land transfer taxes. Toronto’s starry eyed spending may have to be reeled in thus adding to a cascading recession threat.
A lot of Toronto home buyers are likely cheering the price falls and this spring might be the lowest price point as we head into provincial elections in 2 months and the settling of the NAFTA trade disagreement. Homeowners may decide to hold onto their homes and wait for prices to return after the upcoming provincial election.
For the march report, TREB focused solely on the YoY losses and it is ramping up its election time rhetoric regarding the responsibility of government to foster a healthy housing market. They also believe sales will pick up this summer (post election) but didn’t offer a spring forecast.
Other than stats which you’ll see below, what are the real issues for the GTA market? TREB suggest interest rates and mortgage rules are disouraging home sales. Yet, condo and apartment sales are still strong.
When will prices bottom out? May, June, or next October?
A Change is Coming for Ontario
The real matter for Toronto prices and sales is psychological because the economy is uncertain. Home prices are trending downward strongly, NAFTA is troubled, world leaders are threatening trade tariffs, and the provincial election is coming.
Ontario’s provincial taxes have become crushing and the Liberals have shown no mercy. You have to be genius if you want to be a successful business person here. Yes we’re aging here in Ontario but there’s incredible intellectual capital that’s being wasted. We’ll see more people leave the province even with a new government.
The death throes of the Wynne government show that the people and the business sector can’t tolerate this behaviour and that a new, fresh attitude toward open markets and small business success must happen. If small business is represented in the NAFTA agreement, it could give Ontario a boost it has never seen before.
As Kathllen Wynne’s MPs give up, the wave for the PCs and Doug Ford grows. Screen cap courtesy of Vice.com and CBC
No one can predict what incoming Premier Doug Ford is going to do. Will he toss the market a parachute, open up development and then delete the repressive taxes? We sure hope so. The results for the economy will make news across the and we’ll go from laughing stock to free market leaders.
After the Storm
During uncertain times, buyers will not stick their neck out to purchase a high priced home in a market rated as the most likely to crash. And theTSX? It’s been the worst performing stock market in the world for some time now. But that could change.
Home prices in Toronto actually rose, yet prices in Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, and Bradford declined strongly again.
TREB Outlook
TREB reiterated its belief in the role of housing and real estate sales in its yearly report . TREB suggests the GTA market is a key to economic health in Ontario.
On average, each residential transaction reported through TREB’s MLS® System in the GTA generates $68,275 in spin-off expenditures, … The real estate industry is a key contributor to our economy, with total annual spin-off expenditures close to $7 billion.
They went further to hint that without real estate sales and the taxes it generates, the government will have to get their tax money elsewhere! Voters may not want to hear that and it’s probably something Doug Ford will jump on to put the finishing nails in Kathleen Wynne’s guilded coffin. I’m sure HGTV will want to support the pro-development initiatives??
Wynne has killed the Toronto housing market, tax base, young people’s dreams, and as an election promise, is offering free day care, which the government will have to borrow to pay for. Wynne’s passing will generate a wave of relief which Doug Ford will surf on for many years. With a few legislative changes, he could relaunch Ontario’s economy and the Toronto real estate sector.
The March 2018 TREB update reveals the damage to what should have been a strong and vital Toronto real estate market.
Screen capture courtesy of TREBhome.com
Toronto Forecast for 2018
What as the Toronto Real Estate forecast for 2018? A gloomy winter/spring followed by lots of sunshine in June. All we need is the June sunshine and we got it 100% right.
Why so optimistic against all the negative reports coming out? None of them are accounting for the upcoming election in Ontario. It’s to soon to celebrate but only 2 short months away, and we may see the boom I sort of suggested might happen:)
This chart from TREB shows the market 2 months ago in January. Numbers of house sales rose last month yet cond sales fell. Notice condo prices are up $43,000 in March vs January. Keep an eye on the Toronto condo market.
The market in the GTA seems very quiet right now, and as Benjamin Tal, CIBC’s chief economist said, “This is the most significant test the market has seen in recent years.”
Is this the best time to buy a house in Toronto? The answer to that may be yes. Prices keep rising despite governments attempt to throttle it. On June 7th, Ontarians will get their chance to speak.
Selling your home in 2018? Should you sell your home and upgrade to a roomier one? Or perhaps you’ll be downsizing to a condo? Condo sales boomed in 2017 and you’ll be competing hard for anything under $600k. Your Realtor will likely have to work a sophisticated marketing strategy to help you get your house sold and get you moved into a better one.
Is it a good time to buy a condo apartment in Toronto? Which are the best neighborhoods to buy one? Check the Toronto condo market page for insight.
If you’re looking solely for home prices, then see the detailed running home price stats for each town and district. This post has a collection of videos, opinion, stats, charts, of historic sales/prices and current stats to help you with the decision of whether to buy or sell.
The most meaningful Toronto housing market prediction: After a short depressed period this spring, there will be a fast growing increase lead by optimism with the new incoming Ontario government in July. The prediction is that the optimism of the new government will keep buyers and sellers optimistic until July.
With immigration high (300k new Canadians each year), migrants from other parts of Canada increasing, birth rates up, and Ontarian’s expectations optimistic, 2018, 2019 and 2020 will see strong demand for most properties. As you can see in the Toronto market stats below, some towns and districts in the GTA have seen very strong price growth.
Share the Toronto Real Estate Market forecast on FB or Linkedin.
Anyone buying or selling should have the best overview of factors.
Teranet Home Prices
Teranet released its market report on home prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and other Canadian cities and predictably we saw the final burst of buying before the stress test rules came into play.
Toronto Real Estate December Report
What happened in December 2017: listings up 50% but sales down despite the last minute stress test frenzy. New housing starts dropped by 33,000 overall in Ontario in December, after a record amount built in November. Condo apartments and townhouses are all the rage, due to the almost affordable prices.
This recent chart from TREB shown below, reveals prices are still up year over year.
Check the running Toronto home prices chart down below. Leave a comment below.
In December, the MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 7.2% over last year, and the overall average selling price was up by 0.7% year over year. — from TREB report.
Check out the Vancouver and Calgary forecasts too as it reflects on Toronto (And Share on Facebook!).
You Can’t be Serious! a Housing Boom in Toronto in 2018/2019? Royal Lepage predicts prices will rise 6.8% or $57,000. Only Las Vegas Nevada is forecast to be higher. With new homes sold and new development halted, supply won’t be sufficient in late 2018 or 2019. Speculators will love that scenario.
Royal Lepage predicts continued price rises even as domestic investors shift to apartments and condos.
Condo Prices Rose 23%
And the danger in the condo market might be the depressing effect of rental controls on new condo builds. As supply dwindles, prices and rents will rise which is positive for condo investors. The average rental price for a 3 bedroom condo in Toronto is now $3461 per month.
Condo prices were up 21% year over year in December.
Detached Home Prices in many Treb districts has plummeted from 18 months. In some cases, prices are down almost 50% as you can see in the charts below.
1 Million New Immigrants Will Affect Toronto’s Housing Market Demand
Demand is never ending, in fact PM Justin Trudeau just announced a program to being in 1 million new immigrants over the next 3 years along with a new national housing program to help with the housing availability crisis which will heat up demand and prices for Toronto apartment rentals.
So while the Ontario and Federal governments play a dangerous game of economic Russian roulette and await their political fate, homebuyers may be finding their homownership dream more distant than ever. It’s certainly not a good time for the homeless in Toront and area with the wicked cold snap coming through.
Will it be crash and burn in Toronto this year? Even the slightest economic slide in Canada could send nasty shockwaves through the housing market. Crashes normally happen after the euphoria period. Despite the government’s negativity toward home development and supply, the market should be good for 2018.
You can view the prices for each city and MLS district below.
TD Bank senior economist Michael Dolega is quoted last month as saying the market looks good “after some near-term weakness, likely to last into mid-2018, activity should begin to rebound thereafter given the fundamentally supported demand related to strong job growth and strengthening wage dynamics.”
The upcoming mortgage changes in January means buyers are putting rush orders in now. Condos below $500k are selling well and will continue to do in 2018. The key for Realtors is helping buyers find an affordable condo, or a house with rental income potential.
Rental Income Investment Property
Some smart buyers are looking at financing solutions that give them a shot at rental income. Real estate investors in Toronto, Vancouver and even Calgary are focused on rental income investment properties. You should be too.
What is the most notable change? It would have to be Toronto condos. Sales dropped by 15% yet condo prices rose by 23% across the GTA. When the selection of lower priced condos are gone, we’ll see a renewed surge in prices as buyers hunt the luxury market to see what they can get.
Rental prices are skyrocketing as rental apartments dry up because of the rental price controls. Rents were up 12% more in the 3rd quarter. How much further will Toronto condos climb in price and how long will voters, many of whom are home buyering milennials with nowhere to go, tolerate Wynne and Trudeau?
Are you considering using a HELOC to do a house renovation? With listings up, you’ll have to have to add some value to get your house sold. An educated Realtor might be a wise hire too.
Bookmark this page as it is updated very frequently.
Normally Toronto house prices slide back during the winter. That could help solve the afforable housing issue. Yet the market is 2 tiered – young buyers with limited financing and a rising group of detached houses that are well out of their reach. 2018 should be the year of the condo. Contrast the Toronto market with the Calgary Housing Forecast for greater investment insight.
November 2017 TREB Market Update with Jason Mercer
Some recent reports from Toronto realtors have it that buyers are back in the market this fall, yet there aren’t enough listings. They feel Toronto House prices will rise again. However, buyers are probably gleeful at the drop in house prices over the last 5 months. If it continues, they might be able to find a great buy. The Toronto economy could boom for sometime if NAFTA is unaffected, yet CMHC beleives there are dangers lurking for this market.
New sales data from TREB’s Marketwatch report paints a telling story of what happened in Toronto Real Estate in the summer of 2017 and how 2018/2019 might look. Buyers and sellers are wondering if the Toronto housing picture will mirror the Vancouver real estate forecast where Vancouver condos are king. Vancouver seems to have held its own which means the Toronto market might be safe too. Let’s not kid ourselves. A crash or a housing slide in Toronto remains a possibility (government).
Consider this your most up to date report on the Toronto Real Estate Market – lots of food for thought below. Enjoy the monthly price charts below which may help you decide whether it’s time to sell your house. Also see the Mississauga real estate forecast if you’re out in Mississauga, Milton, Oakville or Brampton.
Do you know anyone who may be buying or selling?
Share this Post with them!
New Fed mortgage rules and a higher mortgage rate means buyers will need more money down and be forced to pay higher mortgage payments. The OECD and the World Bank are constantly nattering about Canada’s housing issues. What are they seeing that we don’t?
Most experts are calling for flat prices right through 2018, however there is still a lot of unsold new home inventory and governments are clear in their intent to suppress the housing market. Those considering putting up their houses for sale might be acting much sooner.
When Will You Put up your House for Sale?
Before it was all about finding a house for sale, and now there’s lots of houses for sale. It’s almost certain you’re going to get a much lower price for your GTA house in the next 4 months. As mentioned, the PCs will reconsider how the Liberal’s botched the housing crisis and how they might fix it.
That will change the market psychology. As soon as you and other buyers have somehwere to go, you’ll be putting your home up for sale. If you get prepared this winter and spring, you might hit it right before your neighbors sell theirs.
The Toronto situation seems to mirror the US housing forecast only with troublesome government meddling in TO. Experts suggest it is government action that causes the markets to suddenly slide out of control.
Toronto Housing Market Predictions from the Experts
New MLS stats from TREB show sales in August dropped 34.8% year over year and the number of new listings on TREB’s MLS® System, at 11,523 which is 6.7 % lower than last year at his time. This is the fewest listings since 2010. Prices did decline yet are still higher than August of 2016, and did not decrease evenly in all TREB districts.
While some areas such as the 905 have seen big drops, (houses are sitting and have to be rented now) areas in Toronto have maintained prices. These neighbourhoods offer a more reliable bet for sustainable property investment value. Many property investors have discovered the hard way, what the word sustainable means in bottom line dollar terms. Because of demand, two hot areas right now are rental property investment and student housing investment.
Adding to the story this month is a higher loonie, higher mortgage rates, foreign buyer withdrawal, new tax on vacant homes, and homebuyers losing interest. And in response, homeowners make a desperate attempt to sell at lower home prices.
Condos were the Hot Story in Summer 2017
condo average price up over half a million dollars
condo prices have risen 28% from second quarter of 2016
average condo price in Toronto rose to $566,000
condo sales volume dropped 8%
number of new listings grew only 1%
condos in C09 district rose to an average selling price of $1.345 million
Condos in C08 and C01 have the highest volume of unit sales and an average price of $603,000 and $627,000 respectively — high volume translates to more availability and lower prices
The Best Toronto Neighbouhoods are Sound for Investment
TREB stats show specific districts or neighbourhoods in Toronto have not seen a price decline and these ones below have seen price increases:
w10 – Rexdale Kipling, West Humber Claireville, Kingsview Village, Vaughan Grove
w09 – Willowridge Martingrove Richview, Humber Heights
w02 – High Park North, Junction Area, Kingsway South
c02 – Annex, University, Yonge St Clair
c04 – Bedford Park, Nortown, Lawrence Park North, Forest Hill North, Lawrence Park South
c12 – Lawrence Park North, St. Andrew Windfields
c13 – Banbury Don Mills, Parkwoods Donalda, Victoria Village
c15 – Bayview Village, Hillcrest Village, Bayview Woods Steeles, Pleasant View
e01 – South Riverdale, North Riverdale, Danforth, Woodbine Corridor
e06 – Oakride, Clarilea Birchmount, Birchcliffe, Cliffside
Many of these Toronto neighbourhoods are in such strategic locations for employment, that given the housing shortage, urban intensification, poor transit and roadways, that the condos and homes in them will never see a significant price drop. The events of the last 3 months with the Liberal’s fair housing act was an acid test. These Toronto neighbourhoods look to be the best neighbourhoods for safe real estate investment.
US investors should continue to follow the Toronto real estate market as the low Canadian dollar continues to create better real estate investment value.
The Toronto Condo market in July on the other hand is active likely due to affordability. Condos are selling well at 2% to 6% over asking price and comprised 91% of all sales. New apartment and stacked townhouse sales grew 89% year over year, compared to a 72% drop in house sales.
I suspect 2018 will bring moderation given the rhetoric around the NAFTA deal, tighter lending rules, higher loonie, and very high home prices.
Share the December 2017 Stats and Toronto Forecast with your family and friends on Facebook
Almost everyone is interested in the direction of the housing market. It affects the GTA economy, jobs and business oulook. This page is updated frequently.
A Look Back at 6 Months ago: TREB June 2017 Real Estate Report
Highlights from the June TREB market report at the end of the bubble:
Sales dropped 37% year over year, on top of May’s whopping 50% dive
residential listings were up 16%
Prices rose 6.3%
The MLS® HPI composite benchmark price up by 25.3% on a year-over-year basis in June
Home prices are down 1.1% month to month
apartment prices rose 1% month to month (higher rents)
What’s Compelling about the Toronto Housing Market?
Toronto is a high value housing market similar to New York City or the Bay Area of California, and TO is a city destined to be a super city. It’s unlikely that a property purchase in Toronto will be a disappointment over the long run. If you see the Toronto home price charts, you’ll notice that prices have climbed in the last 18 months. So buyers have not lost their equity.
And detached house prices will rise much further due to a severe housing shortage, improving economy, and rising population.
While many buyers would like to live in Central Toronto, Oakville and Milton the prices in these cities is prohibitive. Instead, buyers are looking north to Vaughan, Newmarket, Aurora, Bradford, Barrie, Innisfil, and East Gwillimbury.
Please do share this report with anyone you know who might be buying or selling
Toronto MLS Real Estate Board Sales Stats for March 2018
Average Toronto Home Price – Detached Homes TREB – March 2018
City
March 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
April 2016
Price Change Last 23 months
Price Change Last 8 Months
Burlington
$993,500
$959,071
$871,879
$895,457
$974,446
$944,564
$961,502
3.3%
5.2%
Halton Hills
$852,500
$820,904
$790,683
$787,517
$706,500
$984,812
$828,719
2.9%
-13.4%
Milton
$868,300
$843,688
$841,998
$884,144
$853,790
$866,650
$765,973
13.4%
0.2%
Oakville
$1,298,000
$1,356,888
$1,438,656
$1,482,620
$1,393,860
$1,314,363
$1,191,503
8.9%
-1.2%
Brampton
$796,600
$763,814
$776,280
$775,170
$766,132
$766,831
$660,015
20.7%
3.9%
Caledon
$1,002,000
$1,185,182
$1,001,753
$952,466
$918,712
$1,028,591
$755,494
32.6%
-2.6%
Mississauga
$1,760,000
$1,140,965
$1,060,211
$1,034,338
$1,023,207
$1,066,015
$966,467
82.1%
65.1%
Toronto West
$1,099,000
$1,039,022
$1,016,076
$1,102,379
$1,015,711
$919,916
$944,422
16.4%
19.5%
Toronto Central
$2,100,000
$2,070,131
$2,109,070
$2,051,481
$2,302,146
$2,113,130
$1,983,187
5.9%
-0.6%
Toronto East
$969,000
$894,290
$889,002
$931,239
$961,805
$887,620
$860,814
12.6%
9.2%
Aurora
$1,118,500
$1,033,353
$1,249,613
$1,280,888
$1,458,481
$1,144,094
$1,155,487
-3.2%
-2.2%
E Gwillimbury
$865,000
$769,624
$763,071
$1,013,350
$895,119
$966,047
$764,055
13.2%
-10.5%
Georgina
$526,700
$619,105
$542,792
$524,735
$600,791
$604,838
$548,886
-4.0%
-12.9%
King
$1,727,600
$2,129,286
$1,889,738
$1,887,696
$2,252,933
$1,768,333
$1,283,432
34.6%
-2.3%
Markham
$1,272,600
$1,497,330
$1,342,508
$1,468,221
$1,358,328
$1,319,860
$1,363,887
-6.7%
-3.6%
Newmarket
$854,600
$879,151
$946,465
$916,350
$895,191
$901,055
$841,593
1.5%
-5.2%
Richmond Hill
$1,400,000
$1,365,373
$1,526,836
$1,345,898
$1,401,922
$1,466,884
$1,412,443
-0.9%
-4.6%
Vaughan
$1,238,800
$1,245,480
$1,236,250
$1,280,906
$1,392,781
$1,348,649
$1,191,632
4.0%
-8.1%
Whitchurch Stouffville
$1,289,000
$970,236
$1,058,486
$928,551
$1,159,545
$1,024,941
$1,048,658
22.9%
25.8%
Ajax
$700,000
$690,333
$710,440
$684,011
$696,604
$708,185
$646,370
8.3%
-1.2%
Brock
$570,800
$408,757
$445,829
$432,318
$513,579
$508,615
$419,758
36.0%
12.2%
Oshawa
$559,900
$532,813
$524,422
$516,459
$516,904
$550,677
$467,981
19.6%
1.7%
Pickering
$846,000
$812,035
$840,592
$790,733
$869,546
$812,643
$772,399
9.5%
4.1%
Scugog
$697,000
$689,250
$726,898
$614,678
$594,062
$719,375
$545,804
27.7%
-3.1%
Uxbridge
$858,500
$720,557
$771,521
$1,031,295
$957,221
$792,233
$798,749
7.5%
8.4%
Whitby
$718,300
$698,110
$669,922
$695,352
$745,222
$733,811
$618,032
16.2%
-2.1%
Orangeville
$585,500
$562,020
$575,349
$538,518
$594,636
$612,974
$490,825
19.3%
-4.5%
Innisfil
$644,600
$561,716
$599,443
$525,685
$541,274
$549,492
$476,756
35.2%
17.3%
Stats above courtesy of TREB Market Watch Report
A Look at Detached House Prices in Toronto’s MLS Districts
Toronto House Prices — MLS City Districts Home Price Comparison
TREB District City of Toronto
Avg Price December 2017
Avg Price November 2017
Avg Price October 2017
Avg Price Sept
Avg Price August
Average Price April 2016
Avg Price April 2017
Avg Price Mar 2017
Price Change Since March 2017
Toronto W01
$1,639,475
$1,269,500
$1,709,593
$1,652,600
$1,146,500
$1,405,442
$1,506,333
$1,543,961
6.2%
Toronto W02
$1,403,750
$1,256,500
$1,273,391
$1,280,867
$1,172,250
$1,331,780
$1,538,546
$1,381,945
1.6%
Toronto W03
$701,000
$774,021
$741,391
$771,142
$692,125
$666,904
$854,316
$829,396
-15.5%
Toronto W04
$799,973
$819,469
$840,110
$850,621
$846,775
$786,951
$1,024,908
$1,073,531
-25.5%
Toronto W05
$826,750
$800,063
$874,660
$805,031
$823,767
$749,333
$930,876
$1,073,531
-23.0%
Toronto W06
$1,010,600
$914,017
$922,286
$992,023
$797,392
$795,840
$974,420
$1,128,584
-10.5%
Toronto W07
$1,200,571
$1,086,386
$1,474,725
$1,277,336
$973,250
$1,112,233
$1,484,406
$1,352,042
-11.2%
Toronto W08
$1,317,240
$1,378,995
$1,356,671
$1,247,374
$1,161,882
$1,204,013
$1,544,869
$1,610,163
-18.2%
Toronto W09
$1,005,500
$886,872
$975,778
$922,000
$1,139,211
$839,479
$1,197,627
$1,115,970
-9.9%
Toronto W10
$717,539
$691,261
$688,011
$661,357
$665,268
$613,488
$831,579
$802,909
-10.6%
Toronto C01
$1,412,000
$1,597,750
$1,393,875
$1,430,667
$1,005,000
$1,528,085
$1,646,240
$1,694,333
-16.7%
Toronto C02
$3,730,000
$2,109,010
$2,313,611
$2,242,400
$2,242,750
$1,580,181
$2,710,038
$2,170,853
71.8%
Toronto C03
$1,374,437
$2,327,333
$1,880,584
$1,742,200
$1,317,111
$1,761,787
$2,246,734
$2,473,608
-44.4%
Toronto C04
$2,237,414
$2,204,173
$2,220,546
$2,212,838
$2,200,398
$2,033,140
$2,583,667
$2,245,813
-0.4%
Toronto C06
$1,147,545
$1,293,688
$1,243,727
$1,327,467
$1,445,556
$1,318,750
$1,625,779
$1,811,183
-36.6%
Toronto C07
$1,693,958
$1,609,066
$1,741,987
$1,903,632
$1,776,771
$1,657,822
$2,004,585
$2,155,365
-21.4%
Toronto C09
$2,410,000
$3,538,371
$3,414,450
$2,916,750
$3,500,000
$2,998,401
$3,246,445
$4,481,000
-46.2%
Toronto C10
$2,375,000
$1,856,406
$1,807,154
$1,747,079
$1,473,125
$1,864,333
$1,945,104
$1,786,091
33.0%
Toronto C11
$1,807,500
$2,344,375
$1,895,636
$2,137,000
$1,547,000
$1,542,867
$2,275,117
$2,201,462
-17.9%
Toronto C12
$4,213,580
$3,729,125
$3,775,636
$5,160,518
$3,910,000
$3,141,244
$3,969,281
$4,420,370
-4.7%
Toronto C13
$2,002,400
$1,342,464
$1,520,151
$2,110,709
$1,788,465
$1,926,266
$2,606,111
$2,108,137
-5.0%
Toronto C14
$1,802,222
$2,235,856
$2,001,750
$2,249,879
$3,055,823
$1,996,137
$2,554,047
$2,673,112
-32.6%
Toronto C15
$1,915,292
$1,587,250
$1,944,667
$1,832,921
$1,602,033
$1,766,219
$2,144,120
$2,108,137
-9.1%
Toronto E01
$1,319,250
$1,102,667
$1,135,156
$1,196,542
$1,224,440
$1,164,343
$1,747,894
$1,206,359
9.4%
Toronto E02
$1,188,324
$1,457,515
$1,494,639
$1,625,074
$1,414,357
$1,333,475
$1,458,167
$1,507,090
-21.2%
Toronto E03
$1,008,987
$913,430
$1,023,487
$1,038,377
$956,448
$947,611
$1,099,537
$1,121,847
-10.1%
Toronto E04
$765,124
$777,377
$768,002
$794,523
$772,883
$717,890
$897,304
$889,018
-13.9%
Toronto E05
$929,943
$899,419
$1,019,362
$979,800
$995,190
$991,136
$1,249,824
$1,303,892
-28.7%
Toronto E06
$855,347
$822,917
$766,159
$926,615
$841,995
$766,782
$1,051,918
$1,102,286
-22.4%
Toronto E07
$888,969
$911,018
$897,653
$1,025,444
$922,600
$874,280
$1,164,819
$1,142,611
-22.2%
Toronto E08
$969,634
$930,974
$1,014,526
$852,070
$872,641
$810,560
$1,066,868
$1,092,667
-11.3%
Toronto E09
$752,919
$714,451
$739,871
$690,382
$699,646
$664,378
$855,363
$895,417
-15.9%
Toronto E10
$882,733
$821,381
$897,856
$944,666
$883,852
$821,126
$1,067,925
$1,069,906
-17.5%
Toronto E11
$666,136
794,238
$758,288
$778,100
$780,618
$720,672
$842,414
$851,750
-21.8%
Huge new housing developments in Bradford, Newmarket, Aurora, and Vaughan are still selling well, but the market in the 905 area code has cooled. That means bargains are waiting.
TREB forecasted another strong year for home sales via the MLS®. Their outlook for the Toronto region was 100,000+ home sales for the third consecutive year. Between 104,500 and 115,500 home sales are expected in 2017, with a point forecast of 110,000. TREB’s districts include Mississauga, Oakville, Vaughan, Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Markham Bradford, Scarborough, Brampton, Oshawa and Milton.
But what drives the Toronto housing market? Will it succumb to the same fate as Vancouver or worse? If you’re a buyer, you’re wondering which neighbourhoods and towns to focus on and whether this market will tank. If you’re a seller, you’re wondering if you’re going to miss the biggest payday of your life by not selling. If you’re close to retirement, you may want to carefully review your choice not to sell. 2017 is a grand time for you to sell and move onto a better life.
The 16 Key Factors Driving The 2017 Toronto Housing Market:
severe shortage of housing stock in the GTA region
rising demand from buyers who have been renting
restrictions on development land for housing
Trump and NAFTA free trade deal and implications for Toronto’s automakers
will the low dollar continue?
will oil prices stay at current levels?
rising numbers of millennials hunting for a home or condo
bank of mom and dad continues funding kids home dream
rising interest/mortgage rates
Toronto and Ontario land transfer taxes
rates of employment and income
asian and persian home buyers and investors rush over?
will China curtail its outflow of investment money?
business investment in Ontario continues falling
consumer debt loads and credit ratings
further federal restrictions on first time buyers/downpayments
commuting distances and new construction in York region and Vaughan
The Toronto real estate market is in a precarious state. Help your friends and contacts who may be wondering if now is the right time to sell, before the housing crash. You can get your price in 2018.
And from this telling graphic above, the shocking rise and fall of detached home prices tells us something is wrong with the Toronto real estate market. Could a Toronto housing crash occur? The renegotiation of the NAFTA deal may be the factor that starts the slide. President Trump’s goal is US jobs and economic health and he’s already stated he wants a better deal with Canada. It makes sense that he would want auto makers and parts manufacturing to be done in the US. The Canadian dairy and lumber industries are just a distraction.
If there was ever a time to sell your home, this is it. Some have sold $1 Million over Asking.
Investment Rentals are Big Money — How About Rental Income Property?
What do your realtor and local politicians say is happening in your local market in Toronto, Mississauga, Vaughan, Oakville, and York Region? What’s their forecast? I’d like to know.
As we progress to 2018, emotions are going to run high as the critical factors you can read about below become intense. Could the Toronto economy collapse if home prices fall 20% (loss of taxes for governments among other fallout).
Below is an updated look at the March real estate market in the GTA. Recent trends show home prices are rising faster than any experts predicted. Will this be the excuse the government is looking for to upend the market? Or is demand for single detached homes simply too strong?
Government Values at Odds with the People and their Pocketbooks
Are the all too predictable actions of governments in Vancouver and Toronto foretelling what may happen in US markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco? Is the battle over and treatment of land in all major urban areas simply an artificial means of inflating real estate prices or is there actually a land crisis?
If the Ontario government decreases available land for development, drives prices way up causing public furor thereby requiring draconian measures, will it end in a crash in late 2017? Will someone create a crisis to force a crash? We should be asking these questions if we’re investing or buying.
Scarcity of land is the primary driver of high prices in the Toronto real estate market. The biggest threat is unwise government manipulation.
BMO’s senior economist Benjamin Tal said in a Toronto Star report on October 14th, the Ontario Government’s Places to Grow program was primarily responsible for the fast rising prices in the GTA market. He also suggests other red tape factors worsened the situation. Prices in Newmarket, Markham, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Bradford East Gwillimbury and Aurora have definitly crashed.
If land scarcity is driving prices up, then even a 15% foreign buyers tax and new mortgage rules for millennial buyers may not be enough to cool demand for housing or condos. The real factor may be the next recession, fueled by housing market mismanagement.
Please send this blog post onto your friends and neighbours because they should know as much about the Toronto area forecast factors as possible before they buy or sell. It’s good to be helpful. Mistakes are painful.
March 2017 Price Index from Teranet – Index climbed right into August. October reports coming soon. Screenshot courtesy of housepriceindex.com.
What are the Causes of High Home Prices in Toronto?
The major factors that drive housing demand growth to Toronto: immigrant investors, better economy, low interest rates, increasing numbers of buyers in their home home buying years (millennials), and optimism all look on the upswing. As mentioned in the Los Angeles Real Estate forecast post, here are the key factors that affect home prices:
Housing Demand – High overall demand – “all cash bidding wars” in some cases
Housing Supply – Throttled, supply is far from what’s needed
Developable Land – Throttled by government which is the single biggest factor
Builder Red Tape – Builders can’t build even if they have funding – high exposure to financial loss
Mortgage Rates – Continuing Low, especially in light of global economic slackening and with recent tightened lending rules
Down Payment and mortgage rules – these are being tightened this taking some pressure off of the purchase market and re-routing it to the rental market (people have to live somewhere)
Toronto Region Employment – moderate and remaining moderate despite Federal infrastructure
Taxes – rising quickly due to Ontario government and federal government spending
Buyer Income – moderate and not rising much
Home or Condo Prices – High and rising fast – out of reach for most buyers
Demographics – Millennials coming into family and home buying years and must begin to acquire their own living space
Number of Renters – increasing fast because of tight mortgage lending rules
New Home Construction: limited because of Green Spaces Act, but is a source of supply
Economic-Foreign Trade – Canada struggling and Free Trade agreements now being scrutinized because they don’t see to be working like they used to
Taxes on Sale of Home – huge tax burden for those selling in the city of Toronto
Some point to the Ontario government’s Places to Grow intensification plan as the major culprit in skyrocketing single detached home prices. Toronto condo prices haven’t risen like house prices have, yet condo demand is usually not spoken much about. It does look like a growing population want house to live in. A growing millennial family would certainly find it tough to live in highrise condos designed for adult living.
Share this post with your friends and clients. Everyone should know about the housing crisis factors and the economic spinoff from the Toronto Real Estate Market. It’s good and bad, but they should know the factors and help in the solution.
News posts in the Financial Post, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CTV, CBC etc, is often based on varied expert opinions and a few isolated market factors. Why don’t we look at all the factors that comprise a realistic Toronto housing market outlook for 2017.
What are the Trends in Toronto Real Estate and New Housing?
The only drop in Toronto home prices took place in 2008, in lieu of the great recession. Graphic courtesy of the Financial Post
I’ve heard a number of convincing arguments for both a bubble and an extended period of growth in new housing development and resale housing price growth in Toronto. And I’ve heard before that money from China has no effect on the market, and from others, that today’s real estate market is driven by Chinese money. The banks and CREA just can’t get their stories straight and the media doesn’t report on how badly their forecasts were off the mark in previous years.
Was it All Driven by Chinese Buyers?
Fully 10% of new condominiums being built in central Toronto were going to foreign buyers, according to a survey released in April by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC); veterans of the city’s rough-and-tumble real estate market believe the vast majority are mainland Chinese investors 10% doesn’t seem like a big number and we’re told that Chinese buyers are only interested in luxury priced properties.
TREB’s own survey found that foreign buyers actually had little effect on the market, and it was the chilling effect of the fair housing act that destroyed what was a health Toronto real estate market.
Graphic and data courtesy of CMHC
Strangely, CREA is forecasting a marked slowdown in housing start for 2017 to a flat market for Toronto, Mississauga and Vancouver. But they admit the market is still very intense. In fact, in my town, sold over-asking price stickers are on almost every sold sign. There’s not just a few bids on these homes, sometimes there are a lot. It would take a serious economic recession or government action to get rid of all those buyers. Given how troubled our economy still is, in Ontario, it’s unlikely any government would push it into recession.
If you can sell a new house for $600,000 or a Condo for $300,000, why wouldn’t developers be building as many as they can? With economic factors supporting growth, the problem must be political. A quick look at Ontario’s urban intensification plan might show us where the real core of the housing availability crisis and fueling high rent and housing prices.
A quick look at the US housing forecast and a small market forecast for San Diego tells you that the Americans are enjoying moderate growth now and all the way to 2020. That will help carry us.
In a low oil price world, the Toronto and Vancouver economies have benefited and that has to be the key factor. And we haven’t benefited much because manufacturing jobs didn’t come back. In fact, even with the low loonie, jobs still moved to Mexico and China.
Expert Asks; Can You Believe Anything from Anyone Anymore?
We were told by the experts that the boom is only being experienced in Vancouver and Toronto, but the graph below tells a different story. If the US economy picks up, we could see all Canadian cities heating up.
The Usual Suspects? Government
The upcoming jump in downpayment for mortgages will only hurt first time buyers who will still have to rent a condo or home somewhere, if they can afford it. There’s word the BC government may levy taxes against unoccupied homes and they’ve talked about harassing investors (background checks). Of course, BC just levied the 15% foreign buyer tax and caught many unwary buyers offguard, resulting in extra costs of over $100,000 for some. That’s what happens when government starts meddling in markets – they don’t work anymore.
Ontario’s Urban Intensification Act appears to be colliding head on with the Greenbelt expansion plans by intensifying growth near the greenbelt areas and at the same time shrinking available land. Is this a wise move at a time of fragile yet positive economic growth?
Memories of a Sizzling Hot GTA Market
Housing markets such as Vaughan, York Region, and Central Toronto heated up considerably in 2017 and more people moved to these municipalities. No one looked at Aurora real estate in past years, but new housing developments, great lifestyle, along with a very limited supply of land within the town meant speculators jumped on the bandwagon. Days on market for Aurora homes was down to 10 last spring 2017 — only Oshawa homes sold that fast, and for over asking price.
Homebuyers are still willing to look beyond the green spaces belt, but they’ll look at Aurora, Bradford, Stouffville, and Newmarket first before heading north.
What will the next few months bring for the housing market and economy in Toronto? What are your predictions?
Generating leads for Toronto realtors and realtors in Los Angeles, Toronto, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, New York, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, St Louis, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Charlotte, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Oshawa, Hamilton, Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Calgary, Kelowna, Mississauga, Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Malibu, San Francisco, San Jose, and many more cities acorss North America. I welcome enquiries from the UK too.
The success of online shopping via Amazon tells us consumers enjoy the experience of shopping around. No sore feet, parking hassles, or traffic stress, not gasoline prices, better prices, and infinite selection makes shopping online compelling.
Shopping for a cheaper mortgage should be that way too.
Instead of accepting your own bank’s tired high interest offering, you’ll enjoy saving thousands by shopping online for a lower mortgage rate.
Surprising and proven savings of 5 to 22 points translates to an average savings of $2,914
Mortgage Rates are Rising
Yes, they will grow by the week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t break free of the rising costs, by switching mortgage companies and locking in at a guaranteed rate that will save you thousands.
Rising US Mortgage Rates courtesy of Yahoo Finance
Type of Mortgage
Interest Rate
Weekly Rate of Change
Advantage
30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
3.79 %
0.02 %
Fixed rate for the life of a loan
20-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
3.83 %
0.06 %
Fixed rate for the life of a loan
15-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
3.81 %
0.02 %
Fixed rate for the life of a loan
10-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
3.62 %
0.08 %
Fixed rate for the life of a loan
7/1 ARM Mortgage
3.51 %
0.09 %
Fixed rate for 7 years, then raised thereafter
5/1 ARM Mortgage
3.84 %
0.04 %
Fixed rate for 5 years, then raised thereafter
3/1 ARM Mortgage
3.72 %
0.04 %
Fixed rate for 3 years, then raised thereafter
Better terms, lower monthly payments and lower fixed fees will make this process an even more palatable one for you.
As you’ll find out below, when homeowners search for a better rate, they generally get a lower mortgage rate quote of an astonishing 5 to 22 points! And that translates to an average savings of $2,914 if the borrower receives 5 mortgage rate quotes. On a 30 year 5% mortgage rate on a $500,000 home loan, the savings are even bigger. By Shopping around yu ensure you don’t get sold a product you don’t really need.
Along with lower rates, shopping for mortgages with lower broker or financing fees gives you more than enough justification for shopping around online. You’re on your computer or mobile phone! Fight back against the banks high rates by shopping right now.
You can ask about terms, rates benefits, and anything you don’t understand with those offering up a mortgage quote. Shopping online takes a lot of the friction, uncertainty, and effort out of getting the best mortgage possible.
Fixed Rates, HELOCs, Savings, and Debt Refinance
This summer, everyone’s thinking mortgage quotes because rates are rising. This rise will affect your mortgage approval, home refinancing rates, Heloc application, debt refinancing, and much more.
The banks are becoming more rejecting so it’s time to widen your search using all channels, including mortgage brokers. The Freddie Mac survey shows us the value is there. And you don’t want to wait for nasty surprises that could see you lose your home.
“Won’t my bank give me the lowest rate possible?” Why would they give you a rock bottom rate if you’re going to renew without asking? They’d be cutting their own big profits.
Questions: Does shopping around actually create a significant difference?
In these graphics courtesy of Freddie Mac’s recent mortgage shopping report, buyers saved at least 10 points on average (orange and green dotted lines) and some as much as 22 points. The more questioning and persistent you are, the further the savings you generate.
Screen Captures courtesy of Freddie Mac
Rising Mortgage Rates in the US
In the US, rising mortgage rates are a concern. Mortgage applications dropped for a 4th straight time since March and that’s weighing down the US housing market.
Tighter lending, bank reluctance, and higher rates will mean refinancing your mortgage will cost hundreds to thousands more in 2019 and 2020. How many days does it take you to earn that money?
Cost of living is about to rise. With inflation on the upswing, flat home prices, and gasoline and oil prices being forecast to rocket, the next year could bring pain and stress for many homeowners who need to refinance.
The big banks have owned the mortgage market since 2008, but Freddie Mac is supporting non-banks who are providing mortgage related financing to more consumers. Quicken Loans, Freedom Mortgage, LoanDepot, and Caliber Home Loans are just a few of the other new online mortgage loan providers competing for your business now. There are many more in addition to brokers and banks.
Mortgage Rate Quote Tips:
⦁ research rates and know what is actually a good mortgage rate before you accept
⦁ get quotes from at least 5 different mortgage brokers or online providers
⦁ ask about special quotes for certain occupations
⦁ do maximize your down payment amount
⦁ lock in at fixed rates for at least 10 years
⦁ ask how much in interest you’ll be paying for the life of the home loan
⦁ ask for special benefits such as payment holidays
⦁ renegotiate in spring when more lenders are cutting rates to win business
Canadians are Facing Record Mortgage Refinancing Levels
In Canada, around 47% of all existing mortgages will need to be refinanced this year, according to CIBC estimates. And that’s up from the 25 to 35% range in a normal year. Canadians will be in a rush to capture better financing and they’ll likely be switching mortgage lenders to get it. Dominion Lending for instance is seeing big growth but they’re also rejecting more mortgage applications.
Rising interest rates and tighter lending regulations in Canada combine with very high consumer debt levels, making it tougher for Canadians to qualify for and get mortgage refinancing they can afford.
This could make for more volatility in the Toronto housing market and Vancouver housing markets. For the first time in a long while, borrowers are nervous and concerned about refinancing rates they need for home loans, HELOCs, and to repay off debts. These higher financing rates are expected to set off a cascade of housing and financial issues across Canada.
The Fed is expecting to raise interest rates slightly and the housing market isn’t expected to cool much.
Any rise in rates right now however creates a significantly higher monthly payment. Check the mortgage rate calculator to see how much your monthly payments will rise when rates go up a further 1%.
Mortgage Rate History – St Louis Fed
If we look at this graphic below, we can see how far up mortgage rates could rise again. The small increases in mortgage rates right now seem cheap in comparison with the early 1980’s. However today’s home prices are significantly higher and wages are lower in comparison.
Since early January, mortgage rates have been rising fast. With inflation creeping upward, wages rising and housing construction growing stronger, more American will be buying real estate.
The Secondary Mortgage Market and Brokers
You shouldn’t be accepting your banks offer without looking at what the secondary financing market can offer. A savings of a couple of points on a 5 year fixed term or a 30 year fixed rate loan is nothing to sneeze at.
Checking a mortgage broker in your city is just plain wise and there are many advertising online. You’ll have access to better mortgage benefits and find a lower mortgage rate.
It’s All About Finding a Lowest Mortgage Rate
If money is a commodity and there’s plenty of mortgage lenders, then it’s all about finding the lowest mortgage rate quote. Of course, those rates won’t just jump out at you. You’re going to have to do some searching for a better quote online.
According to Freddie Mac, borrowers received rate quotes ranging from 4.2% to 4.8%. That’s way a patient search process is vital for you to get the best deal.
Good Luck with Your low rate mortgage search. Bookmark this page because it will be updated with more news on mortgage rate savings!
While housing markets in US cities waffle back and forth between market crash and price peaks, homebuyers, property investors and Realtors are wondering what real estate will look like in 5 to 10 years time.
Courtesy of Pinterest — kevin-miller-0125.blogspot.com
In this post, we look at the future of real estate technology (Fintech and Proptech). If you’re a homebuyer considering buying a house, these changes affect how fast you can buy and sell, and how your gain could be thousands of dollars.
When is All This Happening?
Changes are here now. Realtors and Brokerages will have to alter their roles and value proposition to add new value rather than being transaction facilitators, and find new opportunities that are appearing. New tech brokers have already arrived but they don’t have it all figured out yet.
When usage hits whats called critical mass, that’s when real estatebusinesses will adopt it completely as the new standard. It’s about more than blockchain in real estate alone.
Of course there’s resistance to new tech such as blockchain and bitcoin in real estate. Blockchain is tranformative. Yet when someone like rexmls lost $1.3 million mistakenly sending cryptocurrency to the wrong address, we know there is risk all round.
Realtors, investors, lawyers, mortgage agents, title/escrow people, and homebuyers are about to see the real estate exchange and financing business streamlined.
For instance, it’s estimated that 50% of major corporations will switch to blockchain business technology this year. Blockchain by itself is rocking every industry including real estate.
I’ll introduce blockchain and bitcoin below in more detail. In a nutshell, blockchain is the software platform that’s underneath Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While Bitcoin is well known, it’s actually blockchain that has the best potential for all industries. For some of us, this change is exciting. Change means opportunity.
I know you’re curious about Bitcoin cryptocurrrencies and blockchain, but understanding them technically is really tough. You don’t need to be an expert, but you may want to know what is driving this coming change.
Instead of being threatened by the progress to digital real estate via blockchain and other technology, Realtors, lawyers, investors, builders, property managers and mortgage agents should welcome the opportunity of this new era.
And the key opportunity might be in first mover advantage. Realtors might redesign their brokerage to utilize RETS IDX listings, AI driven marketing, and blockchain-based transactions. It’s early, but the right time to learn.
What’s coming is an era of weakening monopolies, greater efficiencies and perhaps lower home prices.
You can imagine how the establishment would like to maintain the old paper-based, complicated transaction process that allows the banks and big real estate brokerages to guarantee their cut of this $116 Trillion dollar global real estate market.
New tech entrepreneurs relish usurping the dominant role in an entire, lucrative industry. They’re motivated. The high rising price of bitcoin should tell you that something big is brewing. They’re already at it in real estate.
“Real estate sales using Bitcoin or Ethereum are adding legitimacy to the use of cryptocurrencies in the real world” — Manuel Perez of the Coral Gables, Fla.-based Elizabeth Perez Team. Screen Capture courtesy of Housing Wire
What’s Driving the Push to Blockchain and AI?
The real cause of this future is the high cost of real estate, monopolies, and the over-complicated/regulated process that real estate professionals must follow to buy and sell homes. It raises prices and slows transactions. And younger consumers don’t like the ring of “million dollar homes.” They like this new technology because they think it will save them money.
From smart contracts to Bitcoin currency to fractional ownership, and artificial intelligence driven buying and selling, the entire real estate industry is about to be streamlined. From finance to construction, blockchain technology in particular is about overwrite the sector. Real Estate will be hard to recognize.
But can the big companies control blockchain to keep the market to themselves? That’s very unlikely since blockchain opens everything up to innovation, transparency, ease of purchase, and lower costs. Buyers will find that very hard to ignore, as will real estate professionals. The smart Realtors will be on this now, to give themselves an advantage in branding and expertise.
Realtors may not have to be blockchain experts, they can use the myriad of blockchain applications and services that will be available. It could be a period of entrepreneurship and creativity for Realtors, and for home buyers and sellers as well.
Who Guards the Status Quo?
Brokers, marketing, banking, retail agents and others facing sudden disruption may enjoy their monopoly and legal power to keep the old system intact.
This new wave of well funded cryptocurrency, blockchain and Realtech startups change the game and playing field. The new blockchain based system is a completely new approach to transferring ownership of property from one party to another. With Cryptocurrency, the banks, mls associations, forex companies, and others could be completely bypassed.
Even the mortgage industry is seeing new startups that offer reduced costs, fees and fraud, and improved efficiency, speed, and transparency.
Sharing is Good for your Social Life — Make Sure others get an introduction to the new technology on FB or Linkedin
Change from Many Directions and It’s Just Starting
The future of real estate will see disruption from many sources, technological, cultural, financial, and political.
The $36 Trillion US real estate industry is pressured by issues of complexity, affordability, frustrated demand, housing development restriction, rising interest rates, competition, big data, blockchain, and more. They’ll all play a role in a complicated forecast amidst an uncertain economic outlook beyond 2020.
Will you be buying your next home via an app using Bitcoin? Should you even buy a home, or rent? It’s not only about techno changes in 2018. The future of real estate involves lifestyle, economic, and investment factors.
Will Realtors and Financier’s Roles Change?
While removing the middleman might be the uber utopia for tech-obsessed 20-Somethings hoping for a price break on a million dollar house, it will not be easy to push big banks, MLS’s, state govnernments, and real estate companies out of the future of real estate. Politics, law, habit, and need for expertise will ensure Realtors don’t fade away too quick.
Propy is a new blockchain based online brokerage serving the world
Realtors, MLS associations, and big brokers control the mls data and in this day age data monopoly is how you eliminate competition or gain monopolies.
A number of tech driven competitors are disrupting and trying to weaken the current megalopoly in real estate markets. Thus far they haven’t been able to land a decisive blow. Big Data may be the weapon to topple the traditional system unless the big brokerages learn to utilize it somehow.
Technology driven companies such as Zoocasa, Zillow, and Compass are growing fast and making inroads on various MLS and Realtor competitors. The fact that the majority of Realtors have few listings or sales and aren’t well supported by the big brand brokerages means these tech companies have opportunity with their own hungry masses of agents. The fact the big brokerages don’t share information with agents now, tells you that Realtors would jump ship quick.
And for consumers, a reduction of commissions and expansion of marketing capabilities means consumers might gain from new tech entrants. And in terms of streamlining, it’s estimated that closings could be reduced to 10% of their current duration.
Yet the MLS associations and brokers hold a lot of data and can keep it out of the hands of real estate startups. Legal battles are raging, but the MLS’s aren’t winning the wars.
Propify, an Australian startup, hopes to leverage the technology into a one-stop shop for home buyers. Drawing from various listing sites, governmental databases and social media, the software company aggregates all available information about available properties into a single space, sourced from a blockchain – from Real Estate Weekly.
Who Owns Big Data?
Big Data is owned by big tech, finance and retail companies right now and the battle over who gets access is being waged. The data is so important, it stands to reason that a few companies would not be permitted by government to own it or leverage it for massive monopolistic wealth. However, that conceivably could happen in the Amazon era.
If everything from finance, real estate to AI driven robots, having it locked and controlled by any money hungry company could bring the system and economy to halt. Big data and open source access will have to be made a basic freedom.
For that reason, how could the NAR or MLS or anyone hope to monopolize their data and market access? It’s a losing battle.
The Coming Blockchain Revolution in Real Estate
According to Forbes, real estate venture investors deployed over $5 billion in real estate technology in 2017. That’s 150 times the $33 million invested in 2010. Blockchain is just one part of that investment.
Blockchain technology is important to the commercial real estate market since it streamlines processes, reduces fraud and cuts costs
What is Blockchain?
A blockchain is a secure network of computers that creates as a living ledger for transactions. When the record is updated with new information — the signing of a contract, the movement of funds, the transfer of ownership — it is updated and time stamped in every computer simultaneously, whether there are two dozen or 2,000. The records are the blocks, the network is the chain — from Real Estate Weekly.
Coinify states that blockchain will speed up real estate transaction, decrease fraud, and increase transparency. For those who worry about international money laundering and organized crime, Blockchain could cut police and investigation costs. Blockchain offers a real digital paper trail.
Blockchain leverages mls type housing data and makes it usable on a larger scale. So the potential power of blockchain systems will threaten the data monopolies that exist in some states and mls districts.
Direct Transaction between Buyers and Sellers
The rewards of listing on a blockchain accessible system will be too much for homeowners and real estate agents to resist. With blockchain technology property and transaction information is published to a public ledger giving all parties access to the home-buying or leasing process. Owners, tenants, operators, and service providers will have access to this stream of incorruptible data. The buyer and seller deal with each other directly.
According the IBREA, “Blockchain offers an open source, universal protocol for property buying, conveyancing, recording, escrow, crowdfunding, and more. It can reduce costs, stamp out fraud, speed up transactions, increase financial privacy, internationalize markets, and make real estate a liquid asset.”
How To Buy Real Estate Using Bitcoin
Yes, a lot of people want to know. I’d advise reading this post on HGTV to get started. Will you still need a real estate agent? Yes, and a real estate lawyer to review all the documents. And these people are insured just in case something does go wrong.
However, make sure you trust the second party if you’re thinking of buying into real estate. “If you want to reverse the transaction due to any litigation, then you need both parties to be compliant,” says Jake. “Bitcoin transactions are not reversible.” — HGTV
Bitcoin and Real Estate
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are highly volatile right now, however once they stabilize, homeowners will not balk at selling in Bitcoin. The bitcoin cryptocurrency is set to rock the banking and retail industries, so why not real estate?
Real estate can be a lucrative business yet the drive for cost savings and high prices makes players investigate and try out different solutions. Real estate agents, landlords, mortgage agents, and others have been reluctant to adopt software solutions for fear they would lose competitiveness. The future of real estate is technology in almost every area.
However, that intense competition is yet another driver of the kind of change that could see agents and brokerages disappear. I hope that’s not you, but let’s say the flock is culled. What kind of new real estate sales environment is being created and how will you adapt? There’s opportunity in everything.
Younger Buyers Love Choice and Apps
Millennials are the biggest, most wealthy group of consumers now and they’re proving to be brand agnostic and want open source everything. Throw in millions of wealthy young Chinese immigrants/investors, and you can guess that tradition in real estate is about to be replaced by a new culture — the Uber culture mostly online. On Tech.co, Boris Dzingarov suggested 3 factors will change real estate marketing greatly:
Video
Mobile devices
Online reputation management
Yet, many agents are using video, have already set up mobile friendly sites, and even dressed up their Linkedin and Facebook pages. And they’re not anymore disruptive than anyone else. I think what may mark the new agent is using technology and digital marketing to connect with more prospects. What may be difficult for them though is that homebuyers and sellers may not accept their pitches. If you can’t go to them, then you’ll have to show up online so they can reach you.
If you have no digital marketing strategy to connect with prospects, make an impact, and remain visible online (top realtors are taking it all for themselves) then perhaps the forecast is as stormy as Dzhingarov is predicting.
Why Agents Will Still Be Needed
Currently, 80% of home purchases are conducted using Realtors, and given the various services they handle, it’s hard to conceive they would be made completely redundant by blockchain or other technology.
Here’s where we can’t do without them:
better knowledge of local neighborhoods
assessment and advice on contracts
real human advice on quality of the property instead of property data collected
price negotiation with buyer or sellers
spares you the anxiety of buying and selling real estate online
help you get a higher price through staging, presentation and sales support
arranges inspection and home showings – saving you time
The Outlook for Real Estate Brokers
I’d like to take a moment to discuss what I see happening in this industry. Here’s the top 15 disruptions that may hit the real estate biz in the coming years:
Real Estate Teams – teams loaded with extra services will battle it out with discount brokers to offer better service, particularly in the luxury real estate market where Luxury realtors will go the extra mile.
MLS Data Freely Available to Everyone – no secrets for realtors to use as a trump card. Homeowners will feed home stats to online vendors who will provide increasing marketing power for them.
Social Media Growth – Realtors will expand their circle of contacts via Linkedin and Facebook, and home sellers will look to engage more buyers to get higher bids for their client’s properties. Social media engagement will keep them connected and actively top of mind to prospects, as other realtors impinge on all their clientele.
Content Marketing – more sophisticated and engaging visual content such as interactive infographics and pdfs, and interactive home tours will let buyers drill down quickly to everything they want to know about the home and neighborhood.
Sophisticated Video – slick videos with aerial shots and stunning quality will become templated much like WordPress web sites are now
SEO & SEM– optimizing for whoever is looking for real estate or wants to prepare for sale. This means having a good SEO is critical for inbound marketing, link building and MLS listing optimization. PPC advertising and remarketing ads will play a role too.
Trustworthiness – the insecurity of Uberization will mean parties will be scrutinized for their reputation and professional credibility. Those realtors that have this all laid out strategically will pass the cred test.
Thought Leader/Advisor – generosity of key realty knowledge will influence because real estate is an expensive investment that the average Joe homebuyer doesn’t understand. The realtor’s role will evolve to become a trusted advisor.
Complete Property Transactions Done Online – from bids to closing costs, every aspect of the transaction will be done online, perhaps via a large tablet device connected to a printer. See Realtypoint’s excellent post on this.
Google, NAR and CREA will lose control of the online realty market – homeowners will list with online entities for exposure and pay minimal fees.
Property Management – More brokers and agents will move into the property management and mortgage business to create more relevant clients, retain them, and build visibility.
More Real Estate Agents Will Go Out of Business – deals will disappear, commissions will fall and competition will be intense and only those with huge client bases will make it.
Clients will gravitate to Large, insuring Finance Comapnies – these firms are capable of insuring transactions, because regular consumers are likely to make big mistakes. Right now of course you and your brokerage and (CMHC in Canada) or (FHA/PMI) in US provides it.
Niche, Boutique Brokerages – they’ll have an edge in relevance, usefulness, and attraction to many buyers and sellers – particularly brokers that offer a la carte services, and prove they have specific types of buyers for a property (e.g., Chinese or Middle Eastern buyers).
Intense Hyperlocal Focus – realtors and teams will use outdoor advertising and social media to dominate local markets.
The Uberization of real estate has already happened. I’m wondering which new Zillows and Trulias rise up to serve this new market? No doubt it’s being discussed in boardrooms right now. [Note: I was invited recently for interviews for a senior digital marketing position with a big, new up and coming lead generation business in Toronto].
Where Will You Be in 5 Years?
The point of this post is to ask you where you’ll be in the coming years and whether you will have initiated the steps to build your future realty business. It’s wise to start planning and connect with the people who will help you grow and sustain it.
What are you thoughts? What changes do you foresee? Will 2018 to 2020 look much different for you and your brokerage? What are you doing to help you survive and thrive in the blockchain era?
Whether it’s 2018, 2019, or 2020 that you hope to buy a home or invest in a rental income property, you might be comforted by the knowledge that real estate does well anytime you buy.
If you take great recessions and banking crises out of the timeframe you’re considering to buy, then your long term investment is sound. The historic price charts show rising home prices throughout the decades.
An if you’re a first time buyer, paying a huge chunk of your income to rent, this whole matter of buying at the right time is important to your current and future well being.
Avoid the Peak Times to Buy a House
So you’re wondering what time of year is best to buy a house? Or, are you wondering if there’s a time of the month where more houses suddenly come on the market, where you might get first dibs? Sometimes selling after a major weather problem might be a good time too.
The floods in Houston and Miami, and the fires near Los Angeles and landslides near San Francisco, are events that trigger bargain home purchases. If prices have fallen precipitously as they did in the Toronto housing market and the Vancouver housing market, then this bottoming out period might be a great time too.
Okay, for those without a strategic sense, buying in the fall months traditionally might be best to get lower prices. However, everyone pulls their house off the market during October, November and December. That can’t be good for a home search.
If you have a smart Realtor, and a real good home search strategy, you might be able to find those sitting on the fence and get a low ball offer in. You might get lucky and save tens of thousands of dollars and get a property that everyone else gave up on.
Is Spring the Best Time to Buy a House?
Spring 2018 is a great time to get started your house search. Home owners and buyers are arising from their winter dens and thinking about 2018. In many cities, the demand for homes has already started. Realtors are still talking multiple offers and bidding wars.
If homebuyers are actively listing to sell during January to March, then they are likely eager to sell their listed home.
They might be babyboomers sitting on the fence about selling (they’ve got nowhere to go) or they could be Generation X aged couples thinking about moving up to a larger property. A lot of buyers, perhaps you to want more space.
If you meet with these property owners you may be able to convince them to progress with their life plans. That means anytime time of year might be the best time to buy a home.
A report from Trulia shown below reveals fall prices drop by about 7% yet still remain 5% below for the months of January, March and February. You can find a bargain from January to April 1st. That means you should be looking right now for your next home or condo, before mortgage rates start to climb.
January, February and March might be the best time of year to purchase a property for real estate investors as well.
This might run counter to what people believe and have been told about the market. It might be harder to search for a home and get sellers to sell quickly. But remember, the actually possession date is off in the future.
People who might sell have more time on their hands in the Winter, especially if they live in Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York or Boston. It’ll be easier to get in touch with them and discuss your sincere, heart felt offer.
The best time to buy might be right now. If the economy improves and wages do rise, home prices will rise throughout the 2018 to 2020 period. Unless you’re very pessimistic and believe in catastropic events, demand for housing is unmet across the US and Canada. With more money in the picture, the longer you wait, the more it will cost.
Launching your Research to Negotiation Strategy
So now, you need to discover the best way to reach them. Having a realtor who feels similarly about the winter search timeframe is good. If they don’t like, go with someone else. The compatible Realtor is likely not busy so they can put a better effort into finding homes, approaching the homeowner, and working with you to put out the best offer.
They may even take a lower commission, but don’t push that. The Realtor will likely be worth the 2.5% you pay them. If you wait till April, May or June to buy, you’re getting the highest prices, most competition, and your Realtor is too busy handling multiple clients and micromanaging negotiations. So that’s the worst time to buy — when everyone else is.
Another bad time to buy? During the Super Bowl Game. Take a look at the Super Bowl predictions and put your money down, and then enjoy the game on Feb 4th, 2018.
When is the Absolute Best Time to Buy a House?
The very best, ideal time to buy a house in the winter, may be near or at the winter holidays such as Easter, spring break, or teacher professional developent days. Homeowners may be at home and may be most susceptible to the idea of selling and moving.
Late winter is a restless time for those in the cold, snowbound north, which is why a good number of people fly south for a vacation. Discontent, fatigue, boredom, and desire for something better is what gets them off the fence about letting go of their old house. Why do people sell in the spring? Because they’ve had enough after their winter of discontent. Catch them early.
Don’t worry about which days are best to buy a house. The key is to use your all channel accelerated home search strategy into action, and begin uncovering your dream house amidst winter’s gloom.
Good luck with your house search. You’ve found the best time to buy because it’s the best time for them to sell.
Digital Marketing Forecast: Which Trends will Affect Your Business?
What could be more fun for a digital marketing agency owner, marketing strategist, digital marketing specialist or entrepreneur than understanding their market and where the opportunities for growth are?
There’s a lot of non-sense in expert forecasts, from bitcoin to wearables to virtuality reality and the Internet of Things. These may be the shiny new things that won’t impact SMB marketers much. Yet other trends will quietly invade, leaving no indication they’ve changed the playing field or tell you how you can compete. That part is kind of frightening.
The Drum points out in its forecast that experiences will dominate marketing strategy. That points to audience engagement and the customer journey is somehow being brought alive with something new.
And while the marketing agency is in jeopardy, many agency leaders will recognize the opportunity to lead in specific new marketing technologies and be helpful in aiding clients in utilizing them.
Technology Vs Status Quo
Content marketing, mobile marketing, social media, and marketing automation were the big trends. However, will 2018 to 2023 be business as usual? My guess is likely not. Smart Insights in their forecast for 2017 focused on Big Data.
Screen Capture courtesy of Smartinsights.com
The rankings might depend on your market, industry, budget, and what management or marketing role you’re playing. A digital marketing strategist in an agency would have a different perspective than a small business owner or marketing app developer.
Big data and artificial intelligence aren’t quite yet in the common vocabulary. It takes at least 3 years for the masses to catch up. But, believe me, 3 years is long enough to find yourself out of the race. They’re already in the corporate sphere giving corporations a huge advantage over SMBs. Will SMBs survive?
Will Google and Facebook Continue their Domination?
Will digital marketing be replaced by PPC advertising and optimized landing pages? Will audience engagement be live, ongoing events hosted on Facebook?
Will all websites be hosted on Google’s AMP project? Will AI Marketing software result in massive shifts in staffing and force companies to reassess their marketing strategy? Will AI give give the digital marketing specialist awesome optimization power?
Like forecasting the real estate market, the realm of digital marketing is maybe too complex to forecast accurately. But then, we do need some sort of map to plan our marketing directon. We must choose the right channels and tools so this is time well spent.
Top 8 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch for the Next 5 Years
1. PPC and Digital Advertising
Sure spending on content marketing, PPC, and SEO are climbing. PPC, remarketing, and mobile advertising is a vital no brainer for millions of businesses. But is ppc advertising becoming too expensive? As it increasingly strangles your marketing budget, do you have alternatives ready to go in 2020?
By 2019, marketing leaders will spend more than $103 billion on search marketing, display advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing — more than they will on broadcast and cable television advertising combined – Forrester Research from the US Digital Marketing Forecast, 2014 To 2019
2. Bringing Digital Marketing In-House
In the past, agencies had the expertise in creative and advertising execution, but with AI marketing software, it seems experience is less important. If software can visualize customer personas, predict behavior based on clickpaths, and test content on the fly, wouldn’t it be better to bring it in-house and have one digital marketing specialist manage it? That would allow more funds for creative production and customer engagement events?
3. Cheap Social Media to Continue Reigning Supreme?
A few firms have given up on deep, technical content and instead are focusing on inexpensive social media channels. On the social media pages, Facebook for instance, they attempt to build a familiarity and emotional connection quickly through personal events, photos, and other emotional content.
Social media may have an advantage in real time immediacy, CRM, and in its ability to engage customers. With AI chat bots active, they may be able to fake real conversation and keep the prospect engaged.
Social influencers continue to grow in force with many companies buying their editorial favor in print on in video.
Without substance and emotion however, such campaigns might fall flat on their face. This video indicates how substance is interpreted by consumers.
4. The Role of Data, Predictive Analytics and Testing
The future of digital marketing will be in data, big data and small data. We’ll use analytics to infer customer profiles, pain points and predict their future behavior. Digital marketers are already doing this.
With such insight, agencies in Toronto will grow their traffic, engagement, impact along with digital sales and revenue growth.
The question of web design and UX design is uncertain as well. Google is vying to host the Internet with its AMP project technology. Google’s pre-processing of everything online for speed is a very real possibility. Google is committed to AMP. Bigger pipes for bandwidth hasn’t really solved the slow web.
5. Digital Advertising Goes Everywhere
Growth in digital advertising is phenomenal. According to Adage.com, digital advertising grew 22% to surpass TV advertising revenue to 72 Billion dollars. Why the change? They say its data and insights that give digital a huge, growing advantage.
Former outdoor billboards are being converted to large digital displays. Digital displays are in use in offices, subways, trains, planes, elevators and bus stops. They will find themselves increasingly on retail shelves and packaging displays, and of course integrated into television ads.
6. Integrated Cross-Channel Marketing
Digital will be integrated online and offline. Print, TV, Radio, social media, web advertising, ppc advertising, apps and more will all enter the funnel. And new digital software will be able to track all customer activity and attribute its contribution to revenue. AI marketing solutions such as Alberta.ai will actually integrate them and properly attribute which multichannel efforts succeed.
7. Fewer Jobs in Digital Marketing
Is it safe to build a career in digital marketing? The future is cloudy. New artificial intelligence marketing software is already performing the work of digital marketing staff, from ppc campaign managers, to content creators, to email specialists.
AI is the biggest forecasted change. It follows on the heels of marketing automation which many Toronto companies have already adopted.
8. Artificial Intelligence Marketing Solutions
The new AI marketing software will increasingly do everything a digital marketing agency asks of it. It will test and modify content, alter ppc ads, modify email content to optimize ROI.
Forecasts are that AI will replace millions of low level digital marketing workers. Although only 40% or so believe it is a valid technology, the truth is that it is already in use and performing well. Within the 5 years, AI will be deeply ingrained in digital marketing departments in Toronto, NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, London, Berlin, Paris, and Beijing.
9. New Marketing Networks
No one could have foreseen that Taboola would become such a powerful force in digital advertising. That tells us that when some companies monopolize a market, new solutions must be found. The cost and limited reach of Facebook and Google make additional ad and marketing networks attractive. We can expect new ones to appear.
10. Mobile Reigns Grows Relentlessly
The rising prevelance of mobile devices along with their improving screen technology and processors means they will surpass desktop computers in usage. More users will view websites, ads, and social pages via these small hi-res screens where presentation of your value proposition takes place.
More local information will be served up to these mobile users and the GPS or geo-targeting will dictate whose web presence gets viewed and what is displayed. We’re already seeing this in the retail and real estate space.
A lot of our budgets are going to mobile app development and that will continue to weigh on digital marketing performance.
11. Personalizaton of Content
Since geo location is known, clickpaths can be quickly assessed, and customers profiles are known, digital marketers are serving up content specially customized for them. Content personalization increases engagement and helps move customers closer to purchase.
12. Youtube and Video – Could it be More Than Video Galleries?
Youtube’s never stops. Google has never tried to evolve the Youtube page and turn it into a form of blog. It is capable of being much more than a video gallery. And corporations neglect Youtube terribly. Could 2018 be the year they finally take it seriously?
13. SEO Never Stops Producing
Google still handles 2 Trillion searches per year because people keep looking for info. More of the traffic will go to the top 3 rankings sites listed, so being very good at search engine optimization will create more visitors, brand visibility and revenue.
Semantics will still play a role in SEO, in fact, it will increase in importance as RankBrain tries to look well beyond the obvious to find the true high qualiity signals.
14. Content Marketing
The rise of content marketing seems to never end. And rightly so, customers love good content and it’s the best way to pave the customer journey and build an impressive brand.
But we’re seeing resistance to the tidal wave of content, just like we resist and ignore email spam. Although content will get better (thanks to AI), less of it will get to its intended target. PPC, email and SEO will be forced to push more of it through to audiences, making it more like push marketing.
Digital Marketing in Toronto
Toronto is a rising star in the digital technology world. A booming GTA and rosy Canadian economic forecast and a great trade deal with the biggest economy in the world makes Toronto look good. Add on a rosy forecast for the CAD USD exchange rate, and it might make sense to hire Toronto Marketing agency. Even digital marketing freelancers might prefer the new Silicon North.
The International Monetary Fund says Canada is the leading G7 Country
How odd is it in 2018, that a country on the verge of trade wars, real estate collapse in its major cities, flat wage growth, mediocre job growth, merciless consumer debt, and a sagging national housing market would be cited as the G7’s darling child?
In a new report just released, the IMF likes Canada’s economic situation and they’ve forecasted some lofty economic growth rates. Quite a rosy prediction for 2018 and beyond
For entrepreneurs, mortgage agents, realtors, manufacturers, retailers, builders, renovators, homebuyers and banks, this is a positive signal about growth ahead. Trump is looking to renegotiate NAFTA which doesn’t mean shutting out Canada. The negative media hype is ridiculous. Even with renegotiation, Canadian small business has a good opportunity. If Trump has an issue, it’s likely with the multinationals who continue to rule everything including politics.
Despite sluggish growth for its major trading partner, the IMF believes Canada is poised for growth of 3.6% this year and 3.7% in 2018. That has to sound good for job hunters, real estate agents, mortgage agents, house buyers, and business development managers alike.
Underpinning all the optimism is the IMF’s belief in a broad-based global economic upswing. Does this mean the world has adjusted to US trade protectionism, or is Trump actaully unable to do anything about the US situation? The IMF points to Trump’s inability to get new tax laws passed and to the level of optimism globally. With Trump’s new tax bill passed, the US stock market could boom for at least one more year, and that’s good news for the Canadian economy.
This might come as quite a surprise to most of us who haven’t heard such a rosy forecast for the world as a whole. However, much of the uncertainty of housing and stock markets was of a global nature and it may be subsiding.
An earlier report from the OECD set Canada’s growth rate at 3.2% for 2018. Strangely, although Canada is believed to be the leader, overall global growth is set for 3.7%, a half percent above Canada’s forecast rate of growth.
The OECD is also calling on Canada to ease foreign investment restrictions and ease the Toronto/Vancouver housing crisis. Given that Canada is mired in the lowest levels of foreign investment ever, it would be healthy for the Vancouver and Toronto housing and condo markets along with the TSX stock market if such investment was allowed to flow.
The OECD also cites Canada’s lack of productivity as a big concern, however it appears the country has been able to make use of its assets to generate growth.
A BNN poll found that most viewers believe tax rates and the NAFTA deal are the key worries about the Canadian economy.
Canada’s Economic Facts
growth in 2nd quarter of 2017 was 5%
household spending was up 4.6% in June (YoY)
job growth was 186,000 over the first half of 2017
exports expanded 9.6%
central bank only expected to raise interest rate slightly
national trade deficit increased to $3.4 billion in August
Many of my US clients have commented that they believe Vancouver is the best city in the World. It might be hard to argue against because not only has Vancouver become more beautiful, it’s also become an economic powerhouse.
Vancouver has the type of issues you find in Boston, New York, San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area. Costs are almost out of control. People and businesses want to move to Vancouver because of the lifestyle and opportunity. Companies in these cities need help. And there are entrepreneurs ready to buy businesses here, such as Speedy Auto Glass tycoon Garry Skidmore.
It’s not just to save money either. They actually can’t find competent service providers due to high costs and unavailability. Vancouver does have good providers, but not many of them. New providers haven’t caught up to demand.
The cost of housing in Vancouver is sky high and those costs can drive away many needed businesses. So Vancouver companies are looking for help.
Vancouver’s Economy is on FIRE
As this report on Business in Vancouver shows, certain industries are propelling growth on Canada’s west coast. Real estate in Vancouver took a little breather but the forecast is for more growth.
Screen Capture courtesy of Biv.com
If you’re in the insurance, finance, or real estate sectors, the promise is pretty clear. But for any company willing to help in BC’s growth in trade, marine farming and manufacturing, forestry products, travel and tourism, hotels, and construction, you’ll get plenty of attention.
“Vancouver saw its strongest job gains in history last year… You had record employment growth last year of 60,000 jobs created. It just blew past the previous record” “Although housing is a major economic driver, Vancouver’s high-tech, tourism and film industries have also seen strong growth, and so has manufacturing, thanks in no small part to the $8 billion shipbuilding program underway at Seaspan” – from a report on Biv.com.
In my experience BC is a unique environment and tougher to crack. You will need to drill down and build a real presence here at some point. The Asian presence is strong in real estate and finance and that can present barriers too.
Bottom line is that Vancouver businesses need help and you business could make a difference and a good deal of profit.
What if you discovered that a move to a new city could really give your life a lift? Would you do it? Could you do it? If you’ve been struggling with this thought before, maybe you need to assess your actual state and figure out if another city or country might be a good choice?
I’ve made some big moves over the years, so I know how moving to a new city can be a thrill and revive your personal and work life. But relocating isn’t easy, and it’s usually driven by a salary change, layoff, or personal event and involves the kind of financial pain you’ve probably imagined.
But you know what, if our lives suck, well, we need to pull away from the video games, Facebook posts, hot yoga classes, reality TV shows, cooking classes, and tedious routines and start planning a change.
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians and Americans make the decision to relocate every year. 2018 might be a record year given how many babyboomers are retiring and how many Millennials are moving to find a good job. 2016/2017 were unusual years where a large number of people sold their homes for outrageous amounts. Off they went to Florida, California, Texas, Costa Rica and other places too weird to comprehend.
I’ve moved about 20 times during my life, and I wouldn’t imagine that’s too far above the national average. Certainly some people don’t move often, particularly baby boomers. Yet more of us are exposed to the insecurity of todays job market and when money pressures hit, we suddenly become open to the idea of relocating.
If you didn’t have the debt, obligations, and had better self-esteem, would you do it?
My friend Adam from Wisconsin has moved to Australia, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana and Canada. He’s got more courage than anyone I’ve ever known and always finding a way to get things done. He’s had some tough moments but he’s avoided staying stuck. That kind of openness to interesting change is inspirational.
And I’m sure that’s been an influence on when you’ve moved, beginning with when you got out of college. That’s when the biggest changes in direction take place.
A good majority of people get comfy with their jobs, which is fine. It’s a good common sense, low stress lifestyle, where you build wealth and a life. Okay you’ve been there, done that. Very smart but it came with a price which is a lack of challenge, growth, exploration, and just novelty. We all need to grow, face new unstructured situations and shed boredom and the burdens of the past. Some people move just to freshen up their lives and feel alive again.
Sir Richard Branson moved to the British Virgin Islands, and for an old guy, he seems to be doing okay and enjoying things.
So if you’ve been stationary for a while, you and your spouse might begin considering a move far from the usual. And it doesn’t mean you won’t ever come back. It just means you can sell your house for a fortune and start something completely fun and interesting elsewhere.
I was just thinking of an old school friend who moved to the San Diego area from Canada. What a great choice. His postings on Facebook show he and his wife are feeling adventurous and having fun again. They had a mini vacation in Mexico. How many people get to do something like that? Could moving be one of the few ways you can relive the joys of childhood? It’s so good that we have a chance to wipe the slate clean and start over — fresh as a dip in the ocean.
When you have completely new, unfamiliar unstructured situations, whole new areas of your brain get activated, from emotional to cognitive. You pick up new interests and skills and meet new people. The fact is, our brain needs something new to feel engaged and enjoy new relationships. And when the brain is activated, the body comes alive too. For those in poor mental and physical health, a change might be good for its own sake, as they say.
10 Sure Signs You Need to Move to a New City
Now that I’ve got you thinking about moving to a new city, and wondering which are the best cities to move to, let’s see if moving is a actually a good idea for you. Here’s 10 good reasons why moving might be good for you. In fact, if you have many of these factors, it may save your life.
1. You’re Bored, Irritated and Complain a lot – this means there is a mismatch between you and what your current ife/city has to offer. Staying put means putting up with less life than you deserve and trying too hard to make it work.
2. Your Mental or Physical Health is failing – which means you’re eating and drinking too much, lacking energy to exercise, and you’ve stopped participating in social activities.
3. You’re Chronically Unemployed or Unhappy with the Work you Do – your current city doesn’t have the type of work you enjoy doing and you struggle to generate sufficient income.
4. You Can’t Pursue your Passion – if you’re a mountain biker, kite surfer, or snow skier and you live on the dry prairies or in a concrete jungle, you feel trapped and sufocated.
5. You’ve Heard about a Fascinating Place – in the distance is an exciting city of Gold you’ve heard about and you can’t help comparing it to what you have where you are.
6. You’ve Always Lived Where you Do – you’ve lived your whole life in one spot and have never ventured anywhere and time is beginning to run out.
7. You Hate the Climate – you cringe at the mention of snowy blizzards or scorching hot days and you long for the other side.
8. You’ve had a Major Family Change – you’re now divorced or close family or friends have moved or died and thus your current lifestyle has lost its usual anchors leaving your life without purpose.
9. There’s Someone Really Special in Another City – A special person who seems to be all you want can keep you transfixed on that location, waiting for the opportunity to do your Valentine’s thing:)
10. You Can’t Afford to Stay – Those who live in Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Miami, New York City, or the Bay Area are an example of being where you can’t afford to live anymore.
If you can relate to 10 of these move factors, then Wow, you really should be researching the best cities to move to. What a lot of people don’t realize is that time is running out, opportunities and situations dissipate, and our health could suffer if we don’t move to a place that’s more compatible. We don’t realize the high health costs associated with disappointment, friction and disengagement.
Write down all the reasons you can’t or won’t move, just so you can see them.
You’re thinking about whether you and your family will have a better life in the new city. That’s the pros and cons comparison thing you need to do. Do your research and identify one city that makes the most sense.
You probably already think you know which city it’ll be. However, after doing your study, you might find that location really isn’t the right one for you, or that the risks are very high. A quick visit there might bear it out. You could meet a lot of people who can’t wait to get out of that city or state. And the economy might not be sustainable. Look at the oil price collapse and what it did to the people who just bought homes in the oil towns. There is a possibility of disaster.
If you’re bored, restless, and not engaged in the life you want, it’s a no-brainer. You’re going somewhere. If you’re young, this is just the first time in your life you’ll go through this so be more proactive. It’s a life skill. Why not be smart about it?
I’d suggest keeping your mind open about the ideal potential cities for you and your family.
And if the cons outweigh the pros, and it seems you’re already living in your own paradise, then you won’t be moving. Still, it’s important to know you have options.
It’s hard not to forecast San Diego as a good housing market from 2017 through 2020 just as it is in LA, San Francisco and the Bay area. Buy if you can find anyone willing to sell.
The gorgeous climate, wonderful lifestyle, improving California economy, increased immigration of workers here, beefed up military spending, and proximity to Mexico and the Asian block countries means it is perfectly positioned for big housing demand and very high home prices.
There’s no better place to relocate to if you’re established or your business is doing well. San Diego will give you back everything you give it and more. I’ve had amazing clients in San Diego.
San Diego is an exciting place to live and for real estate investment. Similar to South Florida, it’s younger buyers in the US and foreign buyers that are eyeing property here. And while many experts call for only moderate price increases, you’ll see the stats below are suggesting higher San Diego home prices and decreased availability. It’s the right time to sell your San Diego home.
What’s San Diego’s achilles heel? Lack of housing development and urban intensification. Another problem might be politicians trying to suppress growth in this little piece of heaven. But San Diego’s smack dab in the middle of everything. They’ll be under extreme pressure to stop the resistance and net migration into SD County.
Political Resistance to Population Growth
In the face of huge demand, politicians will be under the gun about putting the Kaibosh on SD’s amazing real estate fortune. This factor will ensure prices will rocket out of control. Are local SD County politicians and the California government doing much to grow housing developments inland? Will the exodus of illegal Mexicans ease the issue? Are illegals buying homes?
Demand for homes in San Diego County will never subside. It is one the best places on earth and prices will stay high. For homeowners here, it is on of those infrequent opportunities to cash out and make a killing. You only need a dream and somewhere to go.
Here’s an easy to understand Forecast of San Diego’s real estate future.
San Diego’s Real Estate Forecast for 2017 is Rosy
And that’s despite the negative outlooks of some toward all of SoCal. February 2017 saw significant price increases (e.g., La Jolla up 29% year over year for detached houses and 55% for townhouse condos) and it’s driven by the California housing shortage crisis. Because of that, we’ll see big home prices right through the spring. The same outlook applies to Los Angeles, Orange County, San Jose, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
This graphics below shows housing is in short supply and affordability is plummeting. It’s an emergency situation that forecasts big rent increases and strong home price growth. Since home building takes time especially in a heavily regulated environment, there’s little chance of diminished demand. With incomes increasing and millennials coming into their family building years, the stage is set for rocketing prices.
The Three Tiered Market in SD
This excellent chart below courtesy of First Tuesday, shows how demand for lower priced properties is almost a separate world. It’s this more steep tier that is most likely to see huge price growth. Will this turn into a San Diego housing bubble as part of a US housing crash? The 2007 real estate crash saw big drops in luxury home prices in SD and this time around, we have to wonder if foreign money will vacate fast if the market heads downward. My opinion is that California and San Diego are pretty strong and there’s no other compelling destination for foreign money.
3 Tiered Real Estate Chart Courtesy of first tuesday
It’s an excellent opportunity for rental property investors who want to capitalize on the severe housing and rental property shortage. Property owners near the I5 with waterfront views in La Jolla, Del Mar, Claremont, Solana Beach, and Encinitas may not have much to be concerned with.
As long as the Trump ecconomic surge continues, San Diego’s outlook should be bright.
Should I Sell My San Diego Home?
You could hang onto your home for another 20%, but if enough San Diegans do keep their home off the market due to greed, the repercussions could be serious. This holding onto property is happening all over North America. With nowhere to go, there’s likely not going to be a big selloff anytime soon so price rises could elevate. To ease this crisis, governments could offer incentives for home sellers to let go of their property? For sure, new housing will not ease this crisis. What will make a difference is Realtors convincing people to sell their homes and move on with their lives.
Screen Capture courtesy of SDAR
The housing shortage is a global phenomena, not just in San Diego. All the in demand cities are seeing foreign that’s fleeing other countries boost up prices in New York, Palm Beach, Toronto, and Miami. The new problem we may face is a shortage of construction workers, which could raise construction costs. That will put upward pressure on resale home prices.
Considering Buying or Investing in Real Estate in San Diego?
Here’s 13 factors you should be weighing when buying or selling in San Diego County:
Housing Demand – High overall demand – “all cash bidding wars” in some cases
Housing Supply – Throttled, supply is far from what’s needed
Mortgage Rates – Continuing Low, especially in light of global economic slackening
Down Payment and mortgage rules – Banks are withdrawing FHA loans however some are offering downpayments as low as 3%
Regional Employment – Very low and falling
Buyer Income – low yet rising quickly
Home Prices – High and rising – out of reach for most buyers – many consider San Diego County homes grossly over-priced
Demographics – Millennials coming into family and home buying years and their income is growing fast
Number of Renters – increasing fast
New Home Construction: slow (100k to 140k per year) and illegal workers being chased out
Economic-Foreign Trade – Trump expected to raise US GDP and add fuel to incomes and home prices
President Trump – uncertainty of what Trump will create and how much interference he’ll see
Taxes on Sale of Home – Tax situation is great for sellers
What will the San Diego Real Estate Market Look Like in 2017?
2016 was a great year and there’s no reason to believe the market will falter. In fact, San Diego’s situation is very similar to the Los Angeles real estate forecast. Typically, SD’s housing market doesn’t pick up until after the main markets have grown. Normally, it takes years before demand for high end luxury homes reaches speed here in SD.
The market right now is in waiting mode for US buyers to get richer – particularly Millenials entering their family raising years. Sure there are South American Buyers looking for homes right now, as well as Russians, but that demand could dry up soon.
With the new Trump Era fully engaged, job growth will pick up steam in Southern California. This will drive growth in places like Escondido, Del Mar, Oceanside, Carlsbad, and San Diego.
San Diego Home Prices
Take a look at San Diego’s historic price chart courtesy of SDAR. Detached home prices are up $300,000 in the last 4.5 years. We’ll be looking at similar price growth rates in 2017. Many experts are commenting more on a possible housing crash, which would include San Diego.
If you’re thinking of selling, this might be the best time to contact a San Diego Realtor and begin the process. There is no vertical price rise on the graph, or glut of first time buyers with underwater mortgages, but 29% price rises in La Jolla might be a signal of trouble ahead.
My guess is that we’re in for good times for a while in San Diego. Make sure you review the Los Angeles report and the Toronto Real estate forecast to give you a better understanding the global foreign buyer demand that’s affecting all markets. US home builders should be optimistic about demand and put pressure on legislators to free up land and offer incentives.
Screen Capture courtesy of SDAR StatsScreen capture courtesy of SDAR Stats
According to SDAR, home prices are up 6% to an average of $540,000. The real estate trends reflect the general demand as shown in the Los Angeles Market report. A sharp rise in real income, combined with lower unemployment, rising GDP, and fewer listings available points to higher prices in 2017, 2018 and 2019. But things are heating up as we saw in La Jolla where detached homes rose an astonishing 29% to an average of 2.26 million. These rates are only seen in other cities such as Toronto.
Screen capture courtesy of SDAR StatsScreen capture courtesy of SDAR Stats
About Business: Should San Diego be a Startup Haven?
Forbes published their top cities for startups report and they chose San Diego as the best place to launch a new business. You probably wouldn’t get too much argument that a medical and security software startup would thrive here, but is SD better than silicon valley at anything else? Blair Giesen of Thevoiceofsandiego.com is a little skeptical that investors are here and that San Diego is a tech hub. But don’t tell that to San Diego Startup Week who just had their 5 day convention. And conventions are one big advantage San Diego does have.
San Diego Has All the Charm and a Good Economy – But are You Communicating That Well Enough?
California was just named the 5th largest economy in the world and it’s had a great year in 2016. That’s amazing, but does San Diego’s small business and startup growth compare to that of LA and silicon valley? Some of the data below suggests that despite growth in manufacturing and professional services, talented workers may not want to move to SD county. With the Trump presidency firmly launched, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles may be headed for boom times.
Which industries are best for startup businesses in San Diego?
Team Up with the Right Partners
Should San Diego Chamber of Commerce and San Diego Regional Economic Development be doing more? Although some startups have found success, it isn’t easy to succeed especially in digital marketing against tough competition. Companies would be wise to get connected with companies and investors in other cities, perhaps Canada or the UK to build a wider base of success. By networking and accessing those components that don’t and never will exist in San Diego, SD might be able to compete equally with LA, NY, Boston and Silicon Valley. What shouldn’t be underestimated is the desire of companies in Vancouver or Toronto or London to work with SD companies. Motivation is a key factor in performance.
San Diego’s wonderful leisure climate and opportunities are a powerful draw to bring smart talent, business entrepreneurs, and investors from around the world. All that’s needed are people who believe in San Diego!
Should SD be Leveraging the 4 Pillars instead of Leaning on Them?
San Diego has 4 key industries including maritime/naval, healthcare, tourism, and research.
Although US naval fleets and operations are the biggest engine of business and tax revenue in San Diego, the future of war doesn’t look good. If defense budgets stay at current levels, that’s fine, but San Diego needs to grow and diversify to generate greater opportunity, investment and of course jobs.
According to dot.ca.gov, in 2012, most employment sectors in San Diego enjoyed job growth. And the city’s current 4.2% jobless rate is extraordinary. Most cities can only dream of that. The largest gains occurred in professional services (+5,700 jobs), leisure and hospitality (+5,400 jobs), and retail and wholesale trade (+4,500 jobs), and education and healthcare (+4,300 jobs). The only sector that lost jobs was government (-1,400 jobs).
It’s expected that from 2013 to 2018, growth will average 1.9 % per year and the fastest rates of growth will occur in information and professional and business services with annual rates of 3.8% and 2.9%
Compare SD’s per capital income growth to San Francisco’s pictured here at right, and you can expect more skilled, creative talented IT related workers to choose Palo Alto and Mountainview rather than San Diego to work and live. But for startups, it might be better to stick to Toronto (see Entrepreneur.com’s vote), Vancouver or Charlotte. Boston, LA, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley are expensive. And Sergei Brin of Google agrees.
Don’t launch your startup in Silicon Valley. During the boom cycles, the expectations around the costs – real estate, salaries – the expectations people and employees have … it can be hard to make a scrappy initial business that’s self-sustaining. Silicon Valley is good for scaling that opportunity, providing more capital and allowing more risk.” — Sergei Brin stated at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit June 27, 2016
From 2016 to 2020, SD’s population will grow about 180,000 and per capita income will grow about $4,000 to an average of $58,428. The professional services sector will see the strongest job growth in total of more than 20,000 new jobs.
San Francisco’s average income is $30,000 above San Diego’s. It will take a lot for San Diego Businesses to overcome that, and the fact that Silicon Valley is full of investment money.
And in this graphic at right, we discover that per capita income will rise much faster than the California average (other CA counties will do much better).
High wages in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountainview, Santa Clara, San Jose will draw high skilled IT workers like flies. However the Bay Area is pricey and the cost of doing business there will eat away at capital and profits. Silicon Valley looks to India for alleys but Donald Trump might throw a monkey wrench into their machine.
REAL ESTATE: High volumes of sales and soaring home prices indicate that compared to the rest of the nation, California metros are benefitting from strong housing sector growth in 2013. San Francisco is considered by some to be the strongest market in the country, closely followed by several other California metros including San Jose, Sacramento, Orange, and San Joaquin Counties.
Screen Capture courtesy of Geico
The latest TREB report however was overshadowed by the bomb dropped by Doug Ford, leader of the PC party. Ford suddenly recanted his promise to increase housing development and construction to help with the housing crisis. Voters were praying for relief and now it’s uncertain who will win this coming election. Political leadership in Ontario is a big negative for buyers and investors.
Instead of accepting your own bank’s tired high interest offering, you’ll enjoy saving thousands by shopping online for a lower mortgage rate.
“
Big Data is owned by big tech, finance and retail companies right now and the battle over who gets access is being waged. The data is so important, it stands to reason that a few companies would not be permitted by government to own it or leverage it for massive monopolistic wealth. However, that conceivably could happen in the 
It’s not just to save money either. They actually can’t find competent service providers due to high costs and unavailability. Vancouver does have good providers, but not many of them. New providers haven’t caught up to demand.
It’s hard not to forecast 
What’s San Diego’s achilles heel? Lack of housing development and urban intensification. Another problem might be politicians trying to suppress growth in this little piece of heaven. But San Diego’s smack dab in the middle of everything. They’ll be under extreme pressure to stop the resistance and net migration into SD County.
According to dot.ca.gov, in 2012, most employment sectors in San Diego enjoyed job growth. And the city’s current 4.2% jobless rate is extraordinary. Most cities can only dream of that. The largest gains occurred in professional services (+5,700 jobs), leisure and hospitality (+5,400 jobs), and retail and wholesale trade (+4,500 jobs), and education and healthcare (+4,300 jobs). The only sector that 
