We have a crazy market here right now.. all the workers that have been told.. you are moving to working from home for the forseeable future.. they are moving out of the city and small apartments and so forth and they are coming out to the suburbs and the house market is a sellers market here.. we had a house go 250,000 over asking and it was already asking high..

So many are selling in the outlaying area's of the city while the prices are higher and moving further out.. selling high, buying more .. I am interested to see how long it will hold.. only time will tell on that one..

To add to FG’s note for ottawa area. Shopify is apparently vacating an office tower built for them as anchor tenant and having a great many work from home. They will still have an office downtown but definitely permitting work from home.

From a security or people type problem/ situation, this will likely result in higher income earners and spenders dropping less coin in city retail and restaurants. This could result in the local city businesses seeing less money and with resulting layoffs and store closures. All of which will then mean the nasty urchins being upset and rioting. Now of course we are nice Canadians and never riot and we all know the G7 riots in Toronto a few years back didn’t happen 😂

When shopping for new digs, one must always remember who lives where, their social, religious background, history of conflicts in previous country, dependence on the state for all basic needs, the political makeup Of the city government and their being subject to permitting riots like one Witnesses in Toronto, San Francisco, Portland, ..... then you branch further out to the burbs and eventually the rural areas and see what that composition looks like.

Many People make the huge mistake of believing that because they have a few trees in a park and a patch of grass twenty by twenty feet and have a squirrel sitting on a fence that they live in some remote location when in fact they are often a twenty minute drive from the core and that’s the “core”. the outer ring of a city and its propensity to have subsidized housing with everything that entails turns into being a five minute drive to ones doorstep. That was recently highlighted In Portland and Seattle events. Suddenly one has the nice folks chanting burn down this or that marching on tree lined neighborhoods.

Now in canada, one will have to count on the police you may see once a month to protect you or throw a Tim hortons mug at them Or Turn on a pressure washer on them in January as they approach your door. Well on second thought not exactly because legally you probably have to wait till they have broken down the door and entered your house and show a weapon before you can legally defend yourself and children, you can’t be getting to aggressive and mean with the nice protesters with a match and bottle of gas as they will later claim that they were smokers and carrying The bottle of gas with a rag in it ( lost the cap) to fill up their moped later on.

We know from ample video that the police have for the most part permitted rioters in canada to smash windows and turn over benches... during past riots, so to believe they can or will control large swaths of suburban homes is in my opinion a fantasy.

For those ready willing and able to vacate the downtown apartment or tiny 1950 vintage homes and can get decent high speed in a more rural environment, I would encourage that over the burbs. The further away from the core and it’s various rings of habitation the better/ safer.

If you can have a river separate you, that’s even better because bridges are easy to control and while a city rat can “borrow” a boat from the poor soul on the wrong side of the creek, it still does help. With luck they don’t check drain plug and sink three hundred feet from shore in November.

Cash in now If you can and good luck finding a home for sale in the country side in eastern Ontario. Ifff second wave grabs hold in next few weeks, the lawyer offices and court registry office will likely start closing down again and then nothing will happen in sales

Of general observation...In a near by little town I have seen 3 new businesses open up. One a pot store, 2nd a sports lounge, and just this week a new restaurant. Life goes on. Though that in no way makes up for those that I know of who have closed, Still thats a sign people are willing to gamble.

One of the outcomes, and Clarence touched on this a bit, is all the people in the city who have now found that they can work from home, and I suspect employers are finding out that this has a unexpected up side..finding that they dont need the same high priced office space anymore or all the associated costs that come with it.
This has the potential to seriously effect commercial leasing rates and activity, thus the tax base. The money has to come from somewhere and if its falling short from businesses then it will shift to homeowners.

It’s hilarious you mention the City tax base Suffering, I was mentioning to my wife a few minutes ago that if large commercial and retail shopping space owners were smart, they would be filing for revised property value assessment! If you have a quarter or more of your space unoccupied, that building isn’t worth what it was nine months ago and no oNe could logically argue it is. That’s a lot of money less for wasteful cities to sprinkle around for parades......of course you may not care about fewer parades and July 1 fireworks but you will if water interruptions increase, roads look like something in Pakistan, fewer police, less and more congested city transport....

The big nut Out of this will be the hit to the tax base now and the future. There is not a snowballs chance in hell a government can pay this off. Zip nada nothing. The downward cycle has long since started and this will simply accelerate the slide. All the many side effects are also known in security or related professions and it is not pretty. Right now, people are demanding CERB payments and other programs and it simply can’t be maintained for long and even if the printing press kept spitting out paper, the music will stop and all the chairs will have been burnt in the furnace. That is when the REAL fun will start. This is but a very, very small warm up exercise.

So buy tangible items while one still can, look at your residence and consider other more secure, less costly, easier to operate buildings/ site etc. farms, cottages are all near impossible to find out here in eastern Ontario and north of montreal BUT, maybe this spring, die to financial hardships, some may pop up and I suspect they will.

We are not NYC, Seattle... right now but could we see some nasty riots next spring and summer when the government can no longer hide the inevitable and they start cutting back on the flow of heroin? Should this happen and I am very confident it will, then living in a city or burb with decreased safety, crumbling infrastructure not being repaired for want of funds, likely utility strikes... will not be as calm as it is right now.

Will there be a sweet spot to sell a currently in demand private residence in the city or burbs and yet be able to buy something more remote, I do not know but it may be the one and only last chance to max out what one has and get better situated. It may mean a smaller place, not as well finished etc but it could be a savior in the not to distant future.

I am pretty sure I am observing some effects of the downturn. In a nearby town I have noticed a few homes over the last few months just go dormant. Its like the people have just disappeared. The house sits with no activity, no for rent sign goes up, no for sale sign goes up... you can tell that the property is empty. Now because I go for long bike rides in the country I get to observe things at a pace most people miss driving by in their trucks, I am seeing the same thing starting to appear at rural locations. Homes with the lights out, vehicles gone, no tracks in or out, school bus dosent stop.....I think the economic effects of both the corona virus lock down and the multi year down turn in oil prices ( what are we at now 5 + years of low oil prices) is seriously catching up with people in my province.

Mentioned this before in some post and speaking with the same person, they mentioned seeing more people sleeping in vehicles at their apartment complex or company parking lots.

Completely expected and one of those things people and most certainly governments do not want to talk about.

Ottawa is in a hot zone and restaurants are closed with exception of take out and an out door tent open on two sides! With cold weather coming, that’s toast.

Pizza,some pasta.. but no ones ordering a 200.00 meals.

Bars and gyms are all closed but ballet lessons are ok? hey who to say it makes sense right!.

The trickledown effect will be huge and I can’t see any reprieve until next summer. So ya, more lights out at abandoned homes and more people sleeping in cars, tents or with others.

The same little town where I observed those 3 new businesses open up now has a 4th, a new tattoo shop.

In another a bit larger town, I caught site of a new grill house restaurant that just opened. People are willing to take risks, business goes on through all conditions.

Just back from a trip to the big city. 6.xx dollars for a 2 x 4 ( 8 foot long), 30.00 dollars for a sheet of 7/16ths OSB, 29 dollars for a sheet of 3/8ths plywood.
The 10 foot long 2 x 4s were 9.80 each.

I should invest in the lumber industry!

The prices are very high here as well but so is finding what you need that is regular qaulity at least for me locally, I just went that's enough of that and went to friend that has a private saw mill and got what I wanted custom cut for me and it cost less as well.. which works fine this year but next years planned work.. I need stamped inspected wood so I either have him do the whole lot and pay to have it done or I have to buy from the store..

In Edmonton on Thursday. 30.89 for a sheet of 3/8th osb board. I complained about the price, was told I should stock up as they are expecting more price increases.
Drove down the length of 82nd ave, then Argyll and seen lots of closed up businesses. Cafes and restaurants mostly but some other types of businesses as well, one a Honda dealer selling mostly toys, trikes, quads, and motorcycles. I dont think many people are putting their discretionary income into such things at the moment.

I’m a short distance from Edmonton and have not set foot there since March. There could be zombies in the streets and I wouldn’t even know.

Sad to hear about lumber and construction material though... Did anyone mention a reason as to what drives the cost up?

Sounds about right.. we are seeing things closing up locally as well and so many folks are talking about things closing right after christmas.. I know of at least 8 small businesses that say.. closing in jan.. they are just hoping to get some of that "shop small, shop local christmas money" in first..

But honestly, I think that peaple will be spending a lot less on christmas this year, I know some are going big on the lights but still light on the presents. there are local folks that have been working for months during the shut downs who must be laid off at this time as they are home.. or its possable that many of them are in two week lock downs due to school related covid child expose.

I have one set of friend that are on their 5th stay home, wait 5 days, test, wait for test results go back to school/work.. have another classmate test postive, shut down class, everyone back to home.. wait.. test and repeat.. school started in sept.. by first week of Nov.. 5 times.. granted having 3 kiddo's in different classes and grades does not help matter.. but honestly.. at least the parents homeschooling or online schooling are not getting the same issues locally as the going to school..

Has a phone call from a friend of mine in alberta is part owner with mate of a pub style place with lots of interesting stuff.. some pool nights, some paint nights and so on.. her city just added in masks and with the rising numbers.. they are freakin out that they can not make another shut down and that no one is coming in..

She was like.. what is going to happen.. me.. hard truth.. a) a series of rolling lock down and reopens and B) you can NOT go from peaple spending on average 37% of their "food" budget from eating out to 9% and dropping for eating out/take out and think you are going to keep the business's alive..

Call it.. if you are that thin of a line.. just bleeping well call it.. sigh.. I got the but we put everything into it.. yes I get that! I do.. I really do.. but call it.. if you truly went a whole shift without a single customer and you at under 10 percent of normal reservue and you are looking at coming lock down.. just friggin call it!

I’m a short distance from Edmonton and have not set foot there since March. There could be zombies in the streets and I wouldn’t even know.

Sad to hear about lumber and construction material though... Did anyone mention a reason as to what drives the cost up?

They gave me some answer about the Americans and tariffs, dont think they really know the reasons though, suspect they are right about prices going up higher.

She was like.. what is going to happen.. me.. hard truth.. a) a series of rolling lock down and reopens and B) you can NOT go from peaple spending on average 37% of their "food" budget from eating out to 9% and dropping for eating out/take out and think you are going to keep the business's alive..

Call it.. if you are that thin of a line.. just bleeping well call it.. sigh.. I got the but we put everything into it.. yes I get that! I do.. I really do.. but call it.. if you truly went a whole shift without a single customer and you at under 10 percent of normal reservue and you are looking at coming lock down.. just friggin call it!

Yes, couldnt agree more, Call it!

I would say that for the little business or the big ones at this point, even more for the big ones. People just dont seem to be able to make hard calls anymore but that is what business is about, making calls all the time even hard ones.
The oil industry was clearly going into a slump by the fall of 2014, but since then every high school trades program has still been pushing students into welding programs like they all are going to be pipeline welders. Nait/Sait have been pumping them out faster than the pope does saints. Now on top of out of work experienced welders, the province is floating in new unemployed or under employed welders. I just shake my head.