Real Estate
Canadian real estate prices are seeing the rate of growth accelerate once again. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) Home Price Index (HPI) shows prices surged in November. Even as the inventory squeeze eased a little, buyers bid up home prices at an even faster rate. Annual home price growth is at a record high, and it’s been accelerating.
Canadian Real Estate Prices Hit A Record High
The price of a typical, or benchmark, home across Canada has never been higher. The record composite price was $780,400 in November, an increase of 2.35% ($17,900) from the previous month. Annual growth hit a rate of 25.31% ($157,600) as well. Once again, this is a record for prices. A typical home across Canada jumping $17,900 in a month is hard to believe, but it happened. Again. Did we mention this is across Canada?
Canadian Home Prices Have Never Seen Faster Growth And It’s Accelerating
The prices aren’t the only record being set, but growth is also moving at the fastest rates in history. The monthly increase is the largest since April. Annual growth at 25.31% means a new record high for the CREA composite benchmark. Price growth hasn’t eased, it’s actually accelerating as moral hazard sets in.
Canada Housing Inventory Is In A Squeeze As Demand Gets A Boost From Monetary Policy
If you heard home prices are rising due to a lack of inventory, you heard correctly. Well, sort of. Seasonally adjusted existing-home sales reached 54,222 units in November. This is an increase of 0.6% from a month before. Home sales are just below the record for November, set a month before…read more.
England’s central bank has said that Bitcoin (BTC) could become “worthless” and people investing in cryptocurrencies should be prepared to lose everything.
In a warning over the potential risks for investors, the Bank of England questioned whether there was any inherent value in Bitcoin, the most prominent digital currency, which has soared in value this year as high as $68,000 U.S. a piece.
However, since peaking in November, Bitcoin has suffered a steep selloff after news first broke of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The digital coin now trades at just over $48,000 U.S.
The market capitalization of cryptocurrency assets has grown tenfold since early 2020 to about $2.6 trillion today, representing about 1% of global financial assets.
The Bank of England estimates that 0.1% of British households’ wealth is in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets such as Ethereum (ETH). The central bank’s financial policy committee, set up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to monitor risks, says there is little direct threat to the stability of the British financial system from cryptocurrency assets.
However, the Bank of England warned that, at the current rapid pace of growth, digital assets could become more interconnected with traditional financial services and are likely to pose a number of future risks…read more.
Gas restrictions at some B.C. pumps due to expire by the end of Tuesday will not be extended.
The province began restricting non-essential vehicles in southwestern B.C. to 30 litres of gas per visit to stations last month after severe flooding choked supply chains and put the Trans Mountain pipeline out of commission.
Restrictions introduced November 19 were initially going to be in effect 10-11 days before the government extended them until the end of day on December 14.
Victoria confirmed Monday it will not be extending the restrictions further once the order expires.
Access to gas had been prioritized for emergency and essential vehicles, which were granted unrestricted access to gas using commercial card-lock stations…read more.
- Berkshire Hathaway’s Apple holdings of 887 million shares swelled to a value of $159 billion on Friday.
- That makes the stake worth half of Berkshire’s entire equity portfolio, and almost 25% of its $649 billion market capitalization.
- Warren Buffett started to build Berkshire’s position in Apple in 2016 and added to it up until mid-2018.
Warren Buffett is known for concentrating his investments to build generational wealth, and Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Apple is no better example of that investment practice.
Berkshire’s 887.1 million shares in the iPhone maker swelled to a record value of $159 billion on Friday, a 342% increase from its original cost basis of about $36 billion. That means Apple is now worth more than half of Berkshire’s $293 billion equity portfolio, based on data from its third-quarter 13F filing.
And assuming Berkshire hasn’t trimmed its Apple position since September 30, the equity stake now represents about a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway’s $649 billion market capitalization.
What also makes Buffett’s concentration in Apple notable is that it didn’t take decades to compound like most successful investments managed by Buffett. Instead, it’s only been five years since Berkshire began to build its stake in Apple…read more.
Blake Simms of Langley, B.C. knows how to sell and is offering a fix for the dilemma over what to get the Bieber fan on your gift list.
“Great Christmas gift for Justin Bieber fans!” said Simms’ post, on Facebook Marketplace, in which he pitches a crumb from a Tim Biebs doughnut hole for $100,000.
Just the crumb, not the doughnut hole, not the box, not a meet ‘n’ greet with the man. A crumb.
But Simms’s Marketing 101 oversight? He didn’t specify the type of TimBieb from which the crumb crumbled. That detail could make or break a sale. The listing is no longer up, meaning he may have sold the item or was simply overwhelmed by interest.
We’re betting the latter. Simms seemed incredulous when Glacier Media reached out about his post…read more.
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