Liberty

If they invested the money that they saved by renting, they probably did better, as RE over long periods doesn't do much better than inflation and equities over time have a nice premium over that. If they decided to spend it instead, that's a different choice, the same as those who are now taking equity out of their houses via HELOCs and spending it on luxury SUVs or downpayments for their kids. Ask the people who bought in Toronto in 1989 how long it took them to get back to where they started. I'll give you a hint: The year starts with a 2. Most people do better owning their home because it forces them to save, but that's not really a thing of owning homes, you can save my while renting too. Sometimes one approach makes more sense than the other, houses are not worth owning at any price.

I think a lot of demand is coming from Asia where those prices don't look all that high. The prices I saw in the Twitter feed, while quite high by North American standards, are quite cheap compared to HK or Singapore (and many tier 1 Chinese cities are not far behind). Property taxes in major Asian cities are, however, low or even non-existent so the comparison is more complicated than that but it is entirely possible that the prices are just re-valuing to more reasonable levels. What percentage of houses in Toronto would you estimate are bought by wealthy Chinese or Singaporean nationals?

Thank you for posting, I appreciate it.

The ambition never stops! http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately-crewed-dragon-spacecraft-beyond-moon-next-year 2 astronauts to go around the moon next year in private trip!

I understand that growing cities have more pressure on pricing, and that old buildings get torn down over time to be replaced by new ones. I just think that there are many places in the world where the same factors are present yet prices are nowhere near what they are in Toronto and Vancouver.

It's the lot that ultimately matters, not the dwelling itself. For example, there are plenty of shoddy looking homes in my area that have recently been sold for likely $million+ prices, but they are being taken down to build condos. Those shoddy-looking homes happen to sit right next to a main subway stop. Taking out a couple of shabby homes for a few million dollars each to build a 200 unit condo selling at average prices of $400-500K/unit is a slam dunk for developers - if they can get the requisite permitting. Sometimes that's the case, but prices for houses and condos across the whole region are crazy and it's not condo developers and chinese princelings buying everything. Many of the houses you see are in residential neighborhoods full of other tiny houses on tiny lots, nothing much above 1-2 stories on the horizon. I doubt the whole neighborhood is getting razed and massive towers are being built there in every case.

Welcome to the forum, thank you for your well thoughtful intro. Cheers!

It's not the land in every case, the whole city isn't being demolished. And buying these tiny parcels of land at these prices and then spending a boatload more to build doesn't seem more financially sane to me.

This is normal... And the best for last:

http://www.bnn.ca/canada-s-financial-watchdog-warns-lenders-against-bundled-mortgage-loans-1.679621

You've probably somehow requested the desktop view. You can do that at the bottom of the mobile page or by long-holding the reload button. Not sure how to go back, as I prefer the desktop view.

That's what I was about to say. I've heard about so many of these breakthroughs over the years, but nothing came of it. I am extremely skeptical. They're usually good for a nice article and nice PR for the idea of carbon capture and then nothing.

Omaha seems nice to me. Good place for an introvert who likes routine and to be left alone :)

Did the article change your mind about this topic?

I knew you'd get the reference. But I still mean every word... What is going on with you two? Scott had a few thread titles designed to get people to click through recently, and so I playfully wrote this: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/wrong-again-idiots/msg289606/#msg289606 When I used a similar approach for this thread, he wrote the same thing to me.

I knew you'd get the reference. But I still mean every word...

Equinix

I just want others to see what I see ;)

Every presentation should have a slide like this, decomposing revenues by source into expenses and profits. Any of you is chairman of the Association of Investor Relations Slidedeck Makers? Please make it so. I was familiar with this in the context of energy flows thanks to the classic chart from LLNL: (Someone on Twitter pointed out to me that these are called Sankey Diagrams, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankey_diagram)

Transcript/notes of the meeting by Adam Blum (posted on Twitter by Pabrai): https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp9ardwn6ywgwjp/February%2015%2C%202017%20-%20Adam%20Blum_s%20Daily%20Journal%20Annual%20Meeting%20Notes.pdf?dl=0

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/drop-the-pretence-toronto-region-in-housing-bubble-bmo-warns/article34027681/ https://twitter.com/RenJohnston/status/832279432320659457

That's a great idea. Let's use our powers for good, guys and gals.

Having fun with your copywriting skills, eh?

The new census gives new data about population growth in Toronto: http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/population-growth-isnt-driving-toronto-house-prices-so-what-is/

I probably read books 50/50 on the iPad Air 2 and on paper. All company documents on the iPad or Macbook Pro.