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Slower housing market presents investment opportunities – Cape Breton Post

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For years, single-family detached homes, inside the Anthony Henday circle, have performed well and this year is no exception, with multiple offers competing with each other in some cases in June and July.

There are good reasons for this.

First off, it’s highly flexible, as a residence or income property. Many have high ‘walking scores’ where families can get by with one vehicle or none at all.

There are no issues having pets, you can get a big garage for your toys and even plant a garden and, unlike a condo, you choose when and how maintenance and renovations are done.

While demand for single-family homes is up this year, there is another reason that helped propel them into the pandemic’s most highly fought-over property.

Looking at the demographics of these homes owners, we will find a higher percentage of older sellers than the other property types, particularly homes built prior to 1990.

This year, 15 percent of my sellers decided not to participate in the market due to the pandemic, feeling they were more vulnerable being older and were okay waiting another year. I suspect there were many older or vulnerable sellers who decided to postpone their move this year.

This meant fewer of the older single-family homes were available for sale, creating an imbalance in supply and demand. Demand for these homes was not way up this year, it’s more there is a supply shortage, especially homes priced under $400,000 in core neighbourhoods.

Coming out of the most restrictive lockdown measures, June and July performed much better than March through May, however, sales are still down, year over year.

Historic low interest rates have helped to spur demand and sales, with many buyers able to lock in at two percent or even less on insured mortgages. These rates, coupled with the buzz of activity in June and July, encouraged many to enter the market, even first-time buyers, regardless of the uncertainty with the pandemic.

Where do we go from here?

It’s no secret that many businesses are struggling and there will be layoffs and higher unemployment for a time.

How much and how long an effect is really the question, and, right now, no one can answer that question.

Without that information, we can’t predict or run models with any reliability.

I don’t think the news is all bad. If we put on our long lens and look further into the future five to 10 years, we can see this as an opportunity.

In the last five years, we’ve seen property values fall in Alberta while many other regions in Canada saw significant growth. This has created a bigger gap in relative values and gaps like to be filled.

The next year or two could present some great buying opportunities to position yourself as a real estate investor for the next boom, if I’m right.

Dennis Faulkner is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Select.  He can be contacted at

f


aulknergroup@shaw.ca

.

Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020

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Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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