tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436290627248034888.post3807789729764264407..comments2023-06-22T04:45:54.673-04:00Comments on The Great Recession (2008-2010): The Chain of Events 2007-2012Adil Burneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15716540441921591613noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436290627248034888.post-2390818430746551302008-04-14T22:42:00.000-04:002008-04-14T22:42:00.000-04:00Thanks for the insights, Longzhou. All this with o...Thanks for the insights, Longzhou. All this with oil at $110+!<BR/><BR/>Just imagine what would happen in Edmonton (& much of the West) if oil prices fell to $50 and stayed there for a few months. I'm not predicting that but it is a possibility. Far fetched? Oil was at $50 just 16 months ago (Jan 07). I can't explain the oil market although I will take a stab at it in a future blog posting.<BR/><BR/>Regardless of what happens to oil, housing is a case of supply and demand, and if the balance swings as it appears to have in Edmonton, prices of homes will fall.<BR/><BR/>Out East, the job market has gone eerily silent. In January/February, anecdotally, the market was hot (consistent with Stats Can's numbers). In the past 6 to 8 weeks, I have noticed a big time slowing. Not layoffs, mind you, but much less hiring.Adil Burneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15716540441921591613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436290627248034888.post-57105485537082581652008-04-14T20:08:00.000-04:002008-04-14T20:08:00.000-04:00I live in Edmonton and would like to share my opin...I live in Edmonton and would like to share my opinions on 3a and 3c. Starting about two months ago, I started getting fliers from rental companies and home builders. One rental company offers $500 incentives for a one-year lease. That's something unimaginable here in Edmonton even a few months back, considering the vacancy rate is below 0.5% and a apartment manager gets 50+ calls per day inquiring availability. Most of the home builder fliers advertise very low mortgage rates provided by the builders themselves and closing-bonus. Also something unseen for the past 2-3 years, when multiple offers for a house are common place and a 50-year-old regular bungalow asks for 400k. The job market was hot until the end of 2007. I have my resume posted on moster.ca and whenever I updated my resume I got 5+ calls the next day from various companies to ask me to attend interviews. I updated my resume again last month and I only got one email response this time. My friend who has been contracted with energy sector has been out of work lately. Although I doubt he will have trouble finding work within weeks, there is still sharp contrast against last year when he was overly booked.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I don't want to spend 400k+ for a 1200sf cookie-cutter and horribly built new house in Edmonton. I am going to wait a year and see what it's like. If the price is still high, I can always move to another place, say Ottawa, and buy a house and settle down. The boom in Alberta is only good for you if you work in the energy sector or you already own a house. Neither applies to me so I better move on. Honestly I don't know if the house price is going to fall, or if so by how much. What I am sure is that there are more affordable places out there (including U.S.) that offer equally good jobs and salaries and I don't mind relocating.longzhouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17902917545900383136noreply@blogger.com