ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
March 2, 2024 | Markets Not Priced For Downturn in Real Estate
Historically, downcycles in real estate have led to the harshest economic downturns. This cycle is global and highly interconnected. Charlie Bobrinskoy, Ariel Investments vice chair and head of the investment group, joins ‘The Exchange’ to discuss the ripple effects of China’s real estate issue on U.S. markets, which sectors would be most impacted, and more. […]
March 1, 2024 | Chinese Capital Retreating From Foreign Realty Markets
Thirteen years of ‘easy money’ spurred debt complacency and a global credit boom that inflated asset prices, particularly real estate, worldwide. Now, higher rates are triggering the great unwind in a dash to reduce overhead and raise cash everywhere, all at once. Countries that saw the most significant influx of foreign investment and property appreciation- […]
February 29, 2024 | Commercial Real Estate Investors Cutting Losses
2024 is a big year for commercial real estate refinancing (US loans maturing by year graphed below, via Liz Ann Saunders). Interest rates, insurance, taxes and ongoing maintenance costs are on the rise as occupancy rates decline. Investors who bought and held when prices were high are now selling at huge discounts to cut their negative […]
February 28, 2024 | Insolvencies Leaping as Credit Demand Slumps
Business insolvencies are rising globally (chart below via The National Post), and Canada is seeing twice the G7 average. Canadian business insolvencies rose 35% quarter-over-quarter in the final quarter of 2023. They doubled compared with the same quarter in 2022 and were at the highest level in 13 years (Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy). The […]
February 27, 2024 | Unaffordable Homes are Dead Weight
Thirteen years of ultra-easy money (2009-2022) drove an epic malinvestment of resources on a global scale. Now, we are grappling with the weight of those choices. From here, there’s a lot of room to make wiser investments that will increase efficiency and free cash flow while reducing waste, especially around energy, housing, transportation and food. […]
February 26, 2024 | Real Estate Leading Economic Stall
Some illuminating facts on the ground in this segment. Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht says regional banks have a “giant skeleton in the closet” when it comes to real estate loans. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, Sternlicht also discusses the state of the real estate market and his support for presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Here […]
February 24, 2024 | China Exporting Deflation To The World
Consumer prices in the world’s second-largest economy fell 0.8% in January compared with a year earlier–the most significant deflation in over a decade. With demand weak at home and inventories piling up, Chinese producers have the incentive to dump excess goods onto world markets, and they are. Chinese export prices have dropped steadily since […]
February 23, 2024 | Mortgage Renewals Driving Shelter Inflation and Slower Economy
As I have been pointing out…years of easy money and housing speculation have left Canada’s economy between a rock and a hard place. Shelter costs (28% of Canadian CPI) are inflating as mortgages come up for renewal month after month. Households are cutting spending significantly in response. The result is stubborn shelter inflation and slowing […]
February 22, 2024 | Commercial Real Estate Stress is Spreading
In 2023, the national office space vacancy rate reached 19.6%, above the 19.3% historic peak in 1991. The overcapacity, over-valuation and debt write-downs needed in commercial real estate are themes that will persist for some time. No quick fix. Federal regulators in recent weeks have signaled concerns about commercial real estate, a financial sector that […]
February 21, 2024 | Inflation Retreating But Shelter Remains The Problem
Canada’s January Consumer Price Index (CPI) report came in softer than expected at an annualized rate of 2.9%, down from 3.4% in December and 8.1% from the cycle peak in June 2022. This brings the CPI within the Bank of Canada’s 1% to 3% target range for the first time since June 2023. The share […]
February 20, 2024 | Rosenberg: The Economy is Weaker Than The Narrative Suggests
Economist David Rosenberg, founder and president of Rosenberg Research, shares his macroeconomic view of the economy and explains why he’s not throwing in the towel on his recession call. Here is a direct video link.
February 19, 2024 | Grantham: Pollution, Population & Purpose
Thought-provoking, far-reaching discussion about things that matter in this segment. Worth a listen. On this episode, Nate is joined by co-founder of GMO Financial Holdings, Jeremy Grantham, to discuss how finance, human population, ecology, and pollution interact to shape current trends and what they could tell us about the future. Mr. Grantham unpacks why the […]
February 18, 2024 | Harder To Get Insurance is a Game Changer
In the US inflation estimate for January, auto insurance premiums rose 20.6% year over year, while tenant and household insurance rose 6% annualized over just the last three months. Across the developed world, insurers are exiting some areas and demanding higher premiums and deductibles in others; affordable insurance — often a condition of mortgage and vehicle debt […]
February 17, 2024 | Too Many Payments, Too Little Income
In the fourth quarter of 2023, 7.7% of US auto loans transitioned to delinquency on an annualized basis (New York Fed data)—the highest rate in 13 years. The total annual cost of owning a new car, including expenses such as gas and insurance, climbed to $12,182 in 2023, up from $10,728 in 2022 (latest estimates […]
February 17, 2024 | High Home Insurance Rates Driving Away Would-Be Buyers
A wave of new multifamily residential projects are coming online as migration slows and high mortgage rates weigh on housing demand. Add to the mix an insurance crisis, and a seller’s market is becoming a buyer’s one. See, In Southwest Florida, high home insurance rates are driving away would-be buyers: Florida’s southwestern coast — long one […]
February 16, 2024 | Bad Loans Mount in ‘Greatest Real Estate Crisis Since The Financial Crisis’
The credit cycle is alive and well. But credit cycles typically move with multi-quarter time lags, and that’s longer than the attention span of most. Moreover, massive government subsidies slowed the monetary impacts more than average this time. Nevertheless, twenty-three months since this epic tightening cycle began, wheels are coming off all around for those […]
February 15, 2024 | New Tax Filing Requirements For Jointly Held Assets in Canada
New bare trust reporting requirements for the 2023 tax year include accounts where adults have been added to the bank and investment accounts of another relative. For Bare Trusts ending December 31, 2023, you have to file a T3 tax return, says Ali Spinner, tax partner at Crowe Soberman LLP. Here is a direct video link.
February 14, 2024 | What It Means To Restore Home Affordability in Canada
To restore Canadian home affordability to historically sustainable levels, prices need to halve, incomes double or some combination of both. All options are painful in the short to medium term for asset prices, the leveraged and Canada’s real estate-concentrated economy. Charles St. Arnaud, Chief Economist at Alberta Central and former economist at the Bank of […]
February 13, 2024 | Sam Cooper Details Mortgage Fraud and Canadian Banks
So-called “liar loans” helped fuel the US property bubble and bust, leading to the 2008 recession. Unfortunately, Canada has followed suit since. Sam Cooper BREAKS NEWS on Mortgage Fraud and Canadian Banks. Here is a direct video link. Read more at “Fake Chinese income” mortgages fuel Toronto Real Estate Bubble: HSBC Bank Leaks.
February 12, 2024 | China Exporting Deflation To The World
Since China entered the World Trade Organization in December 2001, US producer prices (black line below since 2000) have tracked up and down with China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI in green). Awash in excess capacity today, China is exporting deflationary pressures to the rest of the world. In several key manufacturing sectors, goods are […]
February 10, 2024 | Sri-Kumar: Commercial Real Estate ‘Tsunami’ Coming
Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the latest market trends, the looming commercial real estate crisis, impact on the Fed’s rate path outlook, and more. Here is a direct video link.
February 9, 2024 | Less Insurance Coverage Suggests Less Exposure Appetite
Property insurance premiums are leaping, and coverage is becoming harder to find in many areas of the world. Few note the significance of these trends and the negative impact on asset prices. Less insurance coverage naturally reduces the amount of net worth owners want in real estate overall and in any location. Many homeowners in […]
February 8, 2024 | Canadian Consumer Insolvencies +23% in 2023
Canadian consumer insolvencies rose significantly in 2023, up 26.2% in Ontario and 23.0% across Canada. The latest Hoyes Michalos 2023 Joe Debtor insolvency data is available here. Doug Hoyes explains the findings below. What’s distressing to me is the person filing for insolvency is someone with higher income than in the past, says Doug Hoyes, co-founder […]
February 7, 2024 | Powell Focused on Killing the Fed Put?
Danielle DiMartino Booth believes Fed Chair Powell is sticking to prudent interest rate levels in an effort to crush the Fed put and do the “right thing” in the long term for the economy. Here’s hoping… Powell: We Wouldn’t Wait to Get to 2% Inflation to Cut Rates — DiMartino Booth with Charles Payne of […]
February 6, 2024 | China Stumbles Under Debt and Real Estate Bust
Our September 2021 client letter “Shifting Foundations” examined the default of China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande, and the implications of a real estate bust leading to a slump in the Chinese and global economy. You can read the entire letter at this link. Here’s a taste: Insolvency problems in China’s real estate sector sent shock […]