Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of October 4, 2016

Article Excerpt

Please note: Due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Monday, our next Inner Circle Q&A will go out on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. Dear Inner Circle member, Recently some of our Inner Circle members and portfolio-management clients have asked if we’re in a new real estate bubble. I doubt that we are, at least in any way that would endanger the broad stock market or economy. But the question calls for more than a yes-or-no answer. Today’s interest rates are artificially low. This gives house buyers much more buying power than they had years ago, when interest rates were high. You can borrow a lot more money now, yet have the same monthly mortgage payment you would have had a decade or two ago. Instead of taking the drop in house payments as a windfall that should be tucked away in savings or RRSPs, most house buyers used it to buy higher-priced houses. In doing so, they have bid up house prices. This…