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The Canada Bubble?
Jason Kirby with Erica Alini of Maclean's report on The Canada Bubble:
Bob
Haber and David Madani are foreigners who have spent a lot of time
studying Canada. Haber, an American, was chief investment officer at
fund giant Fidelity Canada for 12 years and tracked Canadian stocks
from his base in Boston.
Meanwhile, Madani, a New Zealander, spent a
decade with the Bank of Canada as a forecaster and policy analyst. Both
are outsiders with an acute understanding of the inner workings of the
Canadian economy. That is where the similarity ends.Last December, Haber’s new book, Go Canada: The Coming Boom in the Toronto Stock Market and How to Profit From It,
hit bookstores. Haber, who now runs his own investment firm in Boston
and manages a series of Go Canada funds for
Toronto-based Canoe
Financial, has emerged as one of the most enthusiastic proponents of
Canadian investments at a time when the world can’t seem to get enough
of us. With Canada’s strong economy and wealth of resources, Haber
predicts the S&P/TSX Composite Index could double to 30,000 points
within 10 years. “Global growth and all the free money out there are
coming together and investors are realizing the best place in the G7 for
them to put their money is Canada,” he says. “Things are in gear for
Canada to really outperform.”
Madani’s outlook couldn’t be more
different, though it tends to get drowned out amid the Canuck euphoria.
Last fall, he joined Capital Economics, a prominent U.K. investment
research firm, to cover the Canadian market from Toronto. He says the
boom in commodities is due for a reversal. More importantly, Canada’s
red-hot housing market has soared into the danger zone. By his
estimates, house prices are set to plunge at least 25 per cent, and
will drag the economy down with them. “Housing has gotten crazy, it’s a
bubble,” he says. “These things always have an unhappy ending, and
Canada is not going to be any different.”
So
there you have it. Canada is either primed to be a world beater, or
we’re about to go down the tubes. There’s arguably never been a time
when forecasters have been so divided in their views of Canada’s
economy. That’s partly due to the seemingly Herculean way we shrugged
off the global recession while almost every other developed nation
tanked and continues to struggle—a feat that can’t help but arouse a bit
of too-good-to-be-true anxiety.
But the division of opinion has
to do mostly with the two particular engines that have driven our
success—resources and real estate. Both are cyclical. Prices rise and
fall as supply and demand shift. Only that’s no longer seen to be the
case in Canada. Never mind that some experts now say the surge in
commodities exceeds anything we’ve seen in two centuries, or that by
many measures the housing market sits at multi-decade highs. Those who
see good times ahead are convinced the phenomenal gains reflect a
fundamental shift in the global economy. In short, it requires one to
ascribe to the four most dangerous words in the world of investing:
this time it’s different.As it is, the love-in for all things
Canadian is in full swing. In January, giant U.S. retailer Target
announced plans to take over hundreds of Zellers stores in 2013, its
first expansion beyond America’s borders. The company expects big
things from shoppers here; Target believes its new Canadian stores will
help drive annual revenue, now around US$67 billion, to more than
US$100 billion over the next few years. And Target is just one of many
big name U.S. retailers, including J.Crew, Kohl’s and Marshalls,
banking that Canada’s prosperity can make up for sagging sales on their
home turf.
Canada is also the toast of international think tanks
and world leaders. They praise our sound financial system, which
seemingly avoided the traps that engulfed other nations’ banks.
Conservative legislators in America and Britain sing the virtues of our
relatively sound government finances. Like a cherry on top, the Economist
magazine once again just selected Vancouver as the world’s most
livable city, with Toronto and Calgary also making it into the top
five.
You can read the rest of this long article by clicking here.
So is this time different? Is Canada going to coast right through the
next decade unscathed? Of course not. I have already referred to a
Canadian bubble back in October 2009 when I stated another bubble sooner than you think.
It was a very wise senior pension fund manager who opened my eyes to
the one bubble that escaped me because I live in Canada and never
thought that a major bubble is brewing right in our own backyard.
Of course I never bought into the real estate hype and totally missed
the boat on the spectacular run-up in housing prices. My friends were
all laughing at me because I preferred renting and waiting for a major
correction in housing, which has yet to materialize. But it will and
when housing corrects, the Canadian economic miracle will be exposed for
what it truly is, lots of hot air driven mostly by speculative flows,
not by solid fundamentals.
Bank of Montreal economist Sal Guateri recently wrote a report stating that Canada’s housing prices nearing bubble territory:
Canada’s hot housing market may not be in the red zone for prices yet — but it’s getting there, says a new report issued Friday by the Bank of Montreal.
And
unless there is some moderation in sales and prices, the market could
be setting the stage for a major correction, the B of M report warns.
“While
we do not expect a significant correction nationwide, the risk of
such would increase, especially in some regions, if prices were to
continue to outrun incomes or if interest rates were to increase
rapidly,” B of M economist Sal Guateri says.
He says that after slowing last summer, Canadian home sales rebounded in the fall and house prices have kept rising.
On average, home prices are 10 per cent higher now than they were before the recession, when they were at an all-time high.
He notes that after slowing last summer, Canadian home sales rebounded in the fall and house prices have kept rising.
The
U.S. realty market may be plagued by falling or stagnant prices, but
not Canada’s. Thanks largely to stricter Canadian bank lending
standards, Canada hasn’t had a real-estate bubble. Not yet.
I
sat in a sun-drenched coffee shop on Vancouver’s trendy Granville
Island last month with an old American friend from Portland, OR., who
also happens to have a Canadian passport. “The main thing that makes it
hard for me to move up here,” he told me, “Is the housing prices. They’re crazy. It’s over $1 million now for a home in Vancouver.”
Prices just keep rising
According to a report in the Toronto Globe and Mail headlined “Home prices nearing bubble territory,” Canadian home sales rebounded in the fall and house prices have kept rising.
“On
average, home prices rose 5 per cent in the past year to January,
while in Vancouver they rocketed 20 per cent. On average, home prices
are 10 per cent higher now than they were before the recession, when
they were at an all-time high.
“The problem is that the value of homes have increased much faster than incomes.”
The
cautionary Bank of Montreal report says average home resale prices
compared with personal incomes are 14 per cent above the long-run
trend, up from last summer, although still below the 21-per-cent peak
that preceded the 1989 crash.
But
that is not the case in all Canadian real-estate markets. Five
provinces are currently in the danger zone, led by Saskatchewan, where
the ratio is 39 per cent above historic norms. That province has a
booming commodities industry, centered around potash and oil.
Also
well above the long-run levels is Newfoundland, 34 per cent higher;
British Columbia and Manitoba, 31 per cent, and Quebec, 23 per cent
above.
By comparison, in the wealthiest province, Ontario, the
price-to-income ratio is only 10 per cent higher than historic norms,
suggesting prices are moderately overvalued but not in bubble
territory.
Outlook could improve
The Globe and Mail
piece explains that historically low interest rates, which have
allowed Canadians to carry bigger mortgages, have made such realty
prices possible. As a result, mortgage payments for the typical owner
consume 35 per cent of disposable household income, about the same as
the 23-year average of 34 per cent.
The bank says there should be no major correction if incomes increase faster than home prices in the future, as expected.
It
says sales are expected to cool and prices to stabilize this year in
response to higher interest rates and tighter mortgage rules that go
into effect later this month.
As for Vancouver, given that city’s
high rate of Asian immigration and investment — plus its scenic beauty
and solid infrastructure — who knows? The sky seems to be the limit
right now.
No major correction if incomes
increase faster than home prices in the future? Come on, who are we
kidding here? Australia's Business Spectator posted an excellent
article, Is Canadian housing the next domino?:
Canada and Australia have a lot in common. Both
economies are commodity exporters. Both countries have experienced
similar rates of immigration. Both countries largely dodged the global
recession that has recently shocked the developed world. And both are
said to have world-beating banking systems, with Canada’s ranked as the
strongest and Australia’s ranked third strongest in the world by the
World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report.
As in Australia, there is also widespread
debate about whether Canada is experiencing a speculative housing bubble
or asset inflation based upon sound fundamentals.
Canadian home values have risen strongly
relative to incomes and rents over the past ten years on the back of
sharply rising debt levels. The key charts pertaining to the Canadian
housing market are below, taken from Capital Economics’ recent Canadian housing and economic updates.
The house price growth of Canada’s major cities compared to Australia’s capital cities is shown below (chart courtesy of World Housing Bubble, here and here).
As you can see, there are some striking
similarities between the two countries' housing markets. First, the two
mineral rich cities of Perth and Calgary experienced their own unique
house price booms during the 2006/07 commodities bubble. Second, both
countries' governments and central banks were highly successful in
reflating their respective housing markets after brief falls during the
onset of the global recession.
In Australia’s case, the housing market was
reflated by a combination of significantly reduced interest rates, the
temporary increase in the first home owners' grant, cash handouts to
households, and the temporary relaxation of foreign ownership rules.
Canada’s central bank and government also
provided significant stimulus to the housing market. In addition to the
Bank of Canada lowering interest rates to record lows (click to view chart),
the government significantly loosened mortgage eligibility criteria,
culminating in the introduction of the zero-deposit, 40-year mortgage in
2007. Further, the amount that Canadians could borrow
was increased, with many individuals in 2009 being granted loans in the
$C500,000 to $C800,000 range, provided their household income ranged
from $C110,000 to $C170,000.
Finally, in an effort to support the housing
market in 2008 (when affordability fell sharply and the economy
stalled), the Canadian government directed the Canadian Mortgage and
Housing Corporation – the government-owned guarantor of high
loan-to-value-ratio mortgages (explained here)
– to approve as many high-risk borrowers as possible in order to keep
credit flowing. As a result, the approval rate for these risky loans
went from 33 per cent in 2007 to 42 per cent in 2008.
By mid-2007, the
average Canadian home buyer who took out a mortgage had only 6 per cent
equity in their home, suggesting the risk of negative equity is high
even if there is only a moderate correction.
The Canadian government has since raised the
mortgage eligibility criteria. In October 2008, it discontinued the zero
down, 40-year mortgage, reverting back to the 5 per cent down, 35-year
mortgage requirement that was in place prior to the global recession.
Then, last month, the Canadian government announced that it would reduce
the maximum amortisation period for mortgages to 30 years from March,
adding around $100 in extra loan repayments to the average mortgage. The
government also reduced the maximum amount that Canadians could borrow
against the value of their homes – called a Home Equity Line of Credit
(HELOC) – from 90 per cent to 85 per cent.
Bubble trouble
Last week, Capital Economics released its Canada Economic Outlook Report (Q1 2010), which predicts sharp falls in Canadian house prices, household deleveraging, and anaemic economic growth into the future.
The report warns that Canadians' belief that
their economy is somehow invincible after emerging from the crisis
relatively unscathed is "disconcerting" as house prices lose touch with
fundamentals.
"Relative to incomes, our calculations suggest
that Canadian housing is now just under 40 per cent over-valued, which
is about the same level of excess that the US market reached before it
collapsed. We have pencilled in a 25 per cent cumulative decline in
house prices over three years, mirroring what happened south of the
border.
"The biggest downside risk is that an adverse
feedback loop could develop, as it did in the US, with rapidly falling
house prices leading to a contraction in both output and employment,
which puts even more downward pressure on house prices."
Capital Economics also warns that the
government-owned CMHC could be exposed to significant losses should
house prices fall significantly.
"According to our reading of CMHC financial
statements, insured mortgages and securitised mortgage guarantees total
an amount close to $C800 billion. The total equity of CMHC is $C10
billion.
"If house prices collapse further than we
predict, say by 35 per cent, with a default rate of 10 per cent and
average home equity of 10 per cent, then the potential capital loss
amounts to $C20 billion.
"Even if we assume that half of this amount is
eventually recovered, that still leaves an expected loss of around $C10
billion. Under the same assumptions, the 25 per cent decline in house
prices that we expect over the next few years would still result in a
considerable loss of around $C6 billion."
Only a year ago, the mainstream view in Canada
was that the housing market was bullet-proof and that a US-style
meltdown was highly improbable. Now sentiment appears to have changed
following a collapse of sales, a build-up of inventory, and three
consecutive months of price falls between September and November
(December recorded a 0.3 per cent rise).
Will Canada be the next housing market to fall? Watch this space.
Yes,
it's only a matter of time before the Canadian housing market gets hit
hard. It's worth noting that the CMHC recently came out to publicly defend itself against its critics. Why such a public response from an agency that's typically very low key? Are they worried over at Canada's Moral Hazard Corporation?
If they aren't, they should be. We should all learn the lessons from housing bubbles worldwide:
Whether
we are talking about people, trees, or real estate markets, this same
idiom holds true. Since the recessionary period in the 1990s, the
economies of most developed nations have been growing at a rapid pace
and their real estate values have followed. Home values in some
countries have grown more quickly than others, and due to this rapid
growth, many of them also experienced rapid declines following the
credit crunch.
Prices in perspective
To
provide some perspective on the “bubbles” which supposedly formed in
global real estate markets over the past decade, here is a housing price index from The Economist showing home prices in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States over the past 10 years (see chart above).
During
the past decade, global economies recovered from the dot-com crash
and real estate values went on a tear in most of the developed world.
What we can see from this graph is that the countries who showed the
greatest growth were later hit by the greatest declines. Australia and
Britain had a great run over the first 7 years of the new millennium,
but were stopped in their tracks as the global financial crisis
unfolded. Things started to unravel a little quicker for the United
States where the mortgage defaults started to occur first. In Canada,
price growth was much more modest, but the decline in house prices
that followed was the smallest of the bunch.
Another interesting
observation that may not be apparent from media headlines is that
even in real (inflation adjusted) terms, house prices in each of these
countries are still ahead of where they were at the beginning of the
last decade.
Learn From History
It’s
easy to get caught up in the hype, especially when things are going
well. With double digit growth rates, who wouldn’t be excited to get
into the market? When things start to heat up, here are a couple
lessons we can take away from our recent recession.
1. Look for Sustainability
The
important thing is to ensure you are investing in properties which
offer sustainable growth potential for the future. Take a look at the
national and regional economies to determine whether they are poised
to grow. Beyond that, drill down to the individual property and look at
whether your monthly cash flow should be expected to grow or shrink
based on economic trends.
2. Be Prepared for Price Dips
Now
that we know that prices don’t always go up from recent experience,
we need to make sure we can hang onto our properties through any price
corrections so we are not forced to sell. As long as we have enough
cash flow to ride out price fluctuations, we won’t be forced to take a
loss while the real estate market hits a temporary bottom.
The problem is that Canadians are indebtted up to their eyeballs. Canadian household debt continued to grow at a faster rate than assets in the fourth quarter of 2010, Statistics Canada reported Monday:
The
average debt-to-personal disposable income ratio edged down to 146.8
per cent in the quarter, but only because a 1.8 per cent gain in
average personal disposable income outpaced a gain in credit market
debt.
The ratio of household debt to
assets remained high, by historical standards, and homeowner's equity,
or market value minus debt, continued a three year slide, reaching the
slowest level since 2001.
But the rate at which Canadians piled
on debt slowed, with nonmortgage credit, such as credit cards, slowing
the most, at 5.8 per cent from a year ago. That was its slowest growth
rate since the mid-1990s.
Overall household liabilities grew by
6.5 per cent from the same period a year ago levels. That was its
slowest annual growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2002.The
value of financial assets, including investments in stocks and bonds,
grew by six per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Someone
recently told me that our policymakers are "smug" about the Canadian
economy and believe that we will escape the hardship that the US
suffered. I wish I can share their optimism but it's a fool's paradise.
Sooner or later, we're going to find out the harsh lessons of worldwide
real estate bubbles and when Canada's housing bubble pops, the fallout will be felt for years.
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crazy isn't it I mean Buffalo compared to Toronto - you can't even get good wings in Toronto
lol - I hope ;)
Try Duff's wings.
Interesting analysis. Thanks!
Here's another small piece to look at. My aunt recently came for a visit from Canada. She said that in the past few years, crime is skyrocketing in Canada. She attributes it to the Islamification of Canada, and said that like Europe, which now has a Muslim population of 44 million, Canada is growing very large Muslim populations, with large neighborhoods in many cities that don't become integrated into the culture and stay largely to themselves. This, just like in Europe, is a time bomb that is just waiting for the right moment to explode. This is the same trend that Prime Ministers Sarkozy, Merkel, and Cameron all commented within days of each other had resulted in an impending disaster for Europe.
I have no way to independently verify this trend, but was surprised to learn about it and took note of it.
My own personal experience in my own area has been somewhat different. I have met some of the local Muslim leadership and found them to be great allies in working for community programs that are family-friendly, but perhaps that's because the group that organized the event was called Family First. They were educated, eloquent, and helpful in encouraging community programs that are helpful for strong families, and none of the programs were government programs.
Wooow. I was a bit shocked by the first part of your post. With all due respect, your aunt is nuts. Crime has not been 'skyrocketing' by any measure and there is no 'islamification'. Depending on your time frame, it has been dropping significantly in the past couple of decades- including periods of high immigration.Your personal assessment seems much more accurate (not to mention balanced) There are significant immigrant populations in the major cities, however they are not the main sources of what little crime there is.
Your aunt is completely wrong. Crime rates have been falling steadily for a decade. http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/07/20/14765636.html
As for the muslim population - it isn't that large and seems to be fairly diverse. People forget that there are plenty of 'half-assed' weddings and funerals Muslims too (as for moderates not standing up to extremists - how many Christians feel the need to make a public stance about Fred Phelps?).
I've lived in both Toronto and London, UK and it's very different in Canada.
Where the real danger is, is that so many recent immigrants have bought houses or condos in the past couple of years taking advantage of the lax lending and cheap credit. While most Canadian mortgages are full-recourse there's not a whole lot they can do if deadbeats decide to high-tail it back to their home country, whether it be Serbia, India or wherever else they came from.
actually it's not the Muslims, its Americans (especially the Amish) crossing over from Calais, Buffalo, Detroit and Seattle in the dead of night plundering all in their path
I guess the US doesn't have the exclusive on xenophobia
From Buffalo???? The only plundering I've ever done in Canada is at the strip joints, which are far better than in BUF.
It is actually the reverse........Canadians are crossing en-masse to visit the Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga. The parking lots and common areas are a pig sty as the plundering Canadians toss out whatever rags they wore over the border and put on their new kit in order to avoid duty. The mall is a Canadian FREE FOR ALL!
Canadians in that area have always gone cross border whether due to the exchange rate or stores they didn't have easy access to (however now that Target is moving into Canada ....)
+1, but still there are sheeple to think everything bad happened on us is from someone who has another religion.
In fact every person has a religion and if they commit a crime, some will assume that his religion is bad..
They're setting you up...don't trust them... I've been to the middle east...Muslims do NOT like us. We are vile to them. Just as the Amish look down on us...Muslims do too...the difference is the Amish won't kill you to have their way.
global warming will bail them out..
Only way out is for wage inflation to kick in while housing prices stabalise. With huge numbers of people unemployed, I don't think so.
Not to mention Canada's poor demographics, with only 1.5 births vs a 2.1 replacement rate, and a rapidly aging population. There is a parliamentary report on this. Ultimately, demography is destiny.
I like the idea of the US annexing Western Canada, as mentioned below; good skiing!
Will never happen. Ever read about 1812?
There actually is a strong Canadian national identity that trancends bitching about the french or bitching about the anglais.
And to talk of a bubble in a American economy is somewhat irrelevant. Canada will survive the coming (ongoing) storm better than the US because we have stuff we can sell for a profit at better than margin than most.
Pardon me for Jumping in here friends.
Eastern Canada, Ontario/Quebec, are proportionately overpopulated, rely too much on a Manufacturing economy and each have built up humungus Provincial Debt and Deficits.
...Will not end well for Eastern Canada....Eventual Secession by Western Canada is guaranteed.
Canada's Four Western Provinces have a Plethora of Natural Resources w only 12.5 million citizens!!! and led by gateway city Vancouver BC (@ 1 million citizens and aka North America's Geneva of Switzerland)...
http://seenoevilspeaknoevilhearnoevil.blogspot.com/2011/02/vancouver-bcworlds-most-liveable-cities.html
Being that my wife is from up Vancouver way I feel that I've got a bit of a handle on things up there...
Your assessment relies on two key things:
1) Continued export markets (and by "continued" one has to project this as "growth," because that's what the game is all about, growth in exports);
2) Wages continue to go up (again, refer to "growth").
I agee that Canada has a lot of resources and has a small-ish population. But the bottom line is exports, and here's where I'm not seeing sustainable growth. Major export nation is the US. The US will continue to decline economically, in which case Canada will have to look elsewhere to make up the slack: where will that be, China? China is brewing the biggest bubble, not exactly a good long-term bet here... Mostly what we're talking about (vis a vis resources) is timber and oil/gas. US energy use will continue to decline (from the Greatest Depression), which will place a two-fold attack on imports from Canada: 1) Direct reduction in imports; 2) Probable decrease in prices due to drops in conventional energy (major exporters of conventionals will have no recourse other than drop prices in order to try and pump up demand). This doesn't bode well for tar sands. NG will likely hold fairly steady, but I doubt there will be much in the way of growth: LNG might be pushed, but that'll be at a cost and won't likely result in a significant increase in exports (in the face of possible declines in use in the US). And for lumber there are these issues: 1) Collapsed real estate market in the US; 2) Mountain Pine Beattle.
Again, the macro should always address growth. It's easy to point at what is currently happening and say "there! see how well everything is going!," but things DON'T continue going/being positive unless there's growth. So, just where is growth going to be derived? Real estate up in Canada can't be propped up by the Chinese forever: as their economy implodes they'll be recalling a lot of their children from Canada (esp the Vancouver area- there goes the rental market!). Energy markets can only increase if there's an increase in energy use- what is going to drive more energy use? I'd argue that real estate development is the greatest contributing factor to growth in energy consumption.
Real estate drives growth. Energy facilitates it all.
Canada cannot escape the black hole.
NOTE: Canada's second highest export, behind petroleum products, is vehicles. I don't think that any comment is needed here (should be obvious where this is heading).http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Canada%27s_five_major_exports
Unless your Grizzly Adams, there are not going to be many who are not going to sucked into the black hole.
Some will fair better than others of course. But the math is just math. It always wins in the end. It is just a matter of time. Ticking time bombs all over the place now. Australia is one for sure. Steve Keen has been warning of it for quite some time.
Is there anyone out there who is better at speaking the truth than Keen? If there were only one person to follow I'd pick him.
try annexation by the US is guaranteed
Rising demand from Asia along with the general very widespread HOPE for more, and money printing trumps. Central banks know it.
Who's your daddy?
Things change so fast nowadays it can be hard to tell, but reversed shorts and am long into the coordinated intervetion, at least until the weekend.