Easterner Garth Turner who has made no secret of his disdain for Alberta, has a posting on his pathetic blog which is critical of Calgary’s Attainable Homes program. No mention has been made of Calgary’s May real estate numbers, something he does for all other major cities in Canada. After making predictions about a housing crash with home prices falling 50%, he can’t find anything to criticize here except a program which helps people buy their first homes. Seeing Calgary’s stable real estate market must be driving him crazy. He could have swallowed his pride and reported the truth: Calgary housing market smashes records in May.
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Garth Turner has changed his tune so many times he is beyong incompetent.
He says that Toronton will tank, crash, etc. When a poster confronts him, Garth tells him off. I did notice that his loyal flock does change guard every 6 months.
Well into his fifth year that guy has changed his tune several times, it’s so confusing. I don’t even know what his mission statement can even be.
Is there any information on New Home sales for May, all I have read is resale homes. If there are cracks in home sales, they will show up in new home sales long before resales. Actually, resales surge when new home sales are imploding. Not saying that is the case, but I would like some data.
Is there info on the new home front?
Statistics Canada publishes some data on new home sales but it’s not very current. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130509/dq130509b-eng.htm
You might get some info from the city’s building permits: http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/DBA/Pages/Permits/Building-permits/Building-Permit-monthly-values.aspx?redirect=/bpstats
MLS data is not a good indicator of new home sales, but for what it’s worth, they are up 3% in May compared to last year. April was up 20%. -Bob
Point taken regarding Mr G. Turner’s silence regarding the May numbers for Calgary real estate. I would ask you though, do you really see no problem with tax payer money being used, in any manner, to help people with significantly above average household incomes buy houses? It seems to me there must be a better way to utilize these public funds. I want to add the disclaimer that while I do live in Alberta, I do not live in Calgary. I believe this program is funded by the City of Calgary and therefore it doesn’t really affect me. I do struggle though to see why public funds are being made available to people who, financially, are in decent position to take care of themselves when surely many people are not. I’d really like to hear your take on this.
Thanks
Brian
I don’t have an opinion one way or the other, but your comment prompted me to look into how much tax money has been given to Attainable Homes, and it would appear not much: -Bob
“While the organization was created by The City of Calgary, we do not receive ongoing Government subsidies. Funds generated through sales are sufficient to cover overhead and administrative costs. Read our Report to the Community for more financial information.” http://attainyourhome.com/sites/default/files/2012%20Business%20Plan.pdf