We all know by now, that what our parents and grandparents said to us when we were younger - that we should ‘put money away for a rainy day' was sage advice, at the very least. I suspect that many of us now wish that we had listened more closely to their counsel. Our parents and grandparents saved long and hard before they purchased a home, and kept their mortgages to an absolute minimum. Many of us, by comparison, who have purchased homes (in a very frenzied fashion) over the last ten years have purchased homes that we clearly have not been able to afford, so that we have become ‘a nation of borrowers' rather than a ‘nation of savers'. Now you could argue that the paradigm shift is not entirely our fault. Others made us feel that it was in fact acceptable and normal to spend more than we make, but the end result is, we're paying for it - and how!
For those of you who have read my articles, you now know that optimism rates high on my agenda. So, despite the fact that we've landed ourselves in a situation we'd rather not take the time to think about, I propose that we take a moment to see the positive signs hidden, (really well hidden), amongst the current doom and gloom pervading the newspapers right now.
Atlantic Canada has shown that it's becoming a popular place to relocate to for both Canadians and Immigrants alike. An article in ‘The Globe and Mail' recently reported that many Canadians are flocking to Atlantic Canada and the Maritimes for job opportunities that they would have formerly considered taking up elsewhere. This trend was somewhat evident before the current downturn (dare I say the ‘recession' word), but now appears to have strengthened to the tune whereby Halifax is rewarding companies with ‘payroll rebates' for each person hired.
The latest data released from the New Brunswick Real Estate Board supports the notion that this part of Canada (which I often refer to as the ‘emerald in Canada's crown), is in fact ‘the' place to live right now. Despite the obvious erosion of consumer confidence - an ingredient that is pivotal in terms of housing sales activity, February home sales in New Brunswick are only down by 23%, compared to our 31% national results for that month.
The Canadian Real Estate Association predicts that New Brunswick home sales activity for the entire year of 2009 will likely be 9% lower than that of 2008; whereas it predicts that nationally, the average activity will fall by almost 17%. This would be the lowest level of activity recorded since 2000.
However, the Canadian government, and in particular the Bank of Canada Governor, Mark Carney have been phenomenal in providing and maintaining the stimulii and buoyancy required in a market such as we have. I think it is very important that we recognize that we should look for signs of robustness and of growth, because the last thing we need to happen either at the end of this year, or early next year, is for consumer confidence to be lagging unnecessarily.
The Government of New Brunswick is certainly doing all in its might to help homeowners to prepare their homes for the best possible re-sale when the market begins to show signs of recovery. In my next article I'm looking forward to telling you about two very recent initiatives that will please any home owner thinking of carrying out much needed renovations to their home.
Since the ‘rainy days' that Grammy and Grampy referred to seem to be here, and since it's likely that not many of us going on vacations this year, (in fact if the truth be known, we may be staying on ‘staycations') - spend the time adding value to what may be still your largest asset.
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