Real Estate
Canadian housing is far outpacing the growth of its economy, shows government stats. That’s what 2020 home assessment values show, provided to us by Statistics Canada (Stat Can). Home prices added billions in value last year, as you might have guessed. What you may not know is Canadian homes have added so much value it’s now worth 3x the output of Canada’s economy.
Canadian Residential Real Estate Is Now Worth $6.1 Trillion
Canadian residential real estate prices have hit an obscene valuation, even when sandbagged. National assessment value hit $6.1 trillion in 2020, up 2.5% ($146.0 billion) from a year before. It’s not quite the growth rate you’d probably assume from monthly home sale reports. However, it is a mind-blowing amount considering this is a conservative estimate. The Queen should totally take out a HELOC on the country and buy herself a nice hot tub.
The Value Of Canada’s Homes Is 3x The Output Of Its Economy
Numbers this large are hard to appreciate without context, so let’s give it some. Canada’s housing is valued at more than 300% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). In contrast, US housing was worth just 170% of its GDP over the same period. As pricey as American real estate is, the value of home prices relative to its economy is almost half that of Canada…read more.
The new German government has cited crypto in its coalition agreement, advocating for an equal playing field between traditional finance and “innovative business models.”
Three German political parties agreed to a coalition deal this week that will see left-leaning Social Democrats (SDP), the Green Party and the right-friendly Free Democrats take the reins from December this year.
According to a rough translation of the 177-page agreement published on Wednesday, the coalition calls for a new “dynamic in relation to the opportunities and risks from new financial innovations,” such as crypto assets and blockchain businesses:
“We are making European financial market supervisory law fit for digitization and for complex group structures in order to ensure holistic and risk-adequate supervision of new business models.”…read more.
Hopefully you’ll get a chance to unwind over the holiday season. In order to help out over the next few weeks we’re going to ask a series of poll questions. Let’s start with which streaming tv series would be your top recommendation.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that cryptocurrency markets need stronger regulations to protect against technological manipulation by Russia, China and others.
Her comments on cryptocurrency were part of a larger segment in a Wednesday interview with MSNBC TV news host Rachel Maddow on the manipulation of social media platforms by certain nations.
Clinton’s warning extended to “technology of all kinds,” which she said states and non-state entities could use to destabilize countries and the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. She said, “There’s one other thing that’s on the horizon, which people are only beginning to pay attention to, and that’s the need to regulate the cryptocurrency market.”
“Imagine the combination of social media, the amassing of even larger sums of money through the control of certain cryptocurrency chains,” she said…read more.
Trans Mountain Corp. hopes to have the pipeline that supplies the Lower Mainland with oil for refining, as well as refined fuels from Alberta, back in operation by the end of this week, if, as the late songwriter Jerry Reed put it, “the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise.”
The pipeline was shut down as a precautionary measure, due to the instability caused by flooding, and now more heavy rains are in the forecast.
Meanwhile, the only refinery in southwestern B.C., the Parkland Fuels (TSX:PKI) refinery in Burnaby, has run out of oil and has stopped refining.
Gasoline is being barged in from the U.S., and rules have been relaxed to allow Lower Mainlanders to skip across the U.S. border to buy gas without being subject to COVID-19 testing.
“If all planning and work continues to progress and no further issues with the pipeline are assessed, Trans Mountain is optimistic that we can restart the pipeline, in some capacity, by the end of the week,” Trans Mountain says in a press release.
“Key to successful execution of the restart plan will be access for equipment, fair weather, and no new findings of concern.”…read more.
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