I always pinch pennies, so I've got what I need should a place open up. I'm just worried it won't happen. Have you seen the housing market lately? Rural boonie-locations are starting to see bidding wars several hundred thousand over the asking price, as people relocate out of the cities. The toxic housing bubble in Vancouver and Toronto is starting to spread nationwide.
On top of that, the banks are considering making the mortgage stress-test harder to pass, thus meaning fewer people will have the resources needed to buy a house, effectively relegating them to renting for the rest of their lives. The cost of a (small) house in Toronto just crossed the $1.1M mark, and shows no signs of slowing down.
All of this means that people looking to build new housing will build condos instead of apartments. Because that's where the money is. Which also explains why the market for available apartments is red-hot and not likely to cool down anytime soon. So, let's assume the horrible for a moment, and one of my roommates passes away. Unable to pay rent, we have to move our belongings into storage and then... what? Without the means to afford a place to live, I may wind up on the streets, using my ODSP to pay the rental on a storage locker for my stuff. That looks like a very plausible outcome at this point, which I'm trying to get away from. No luck so far, however.
On top of that, the banks are considering making the mortgage stress-test harder to pass, thus meaning fewer people will have the resources needed to buy a house, effectively relegating them to renting for the rest of their lives. The cost of a (small) house in Toronto just crossed the $1.1M mark, and shows no signs of slowing down.
All of this means that people looking to build new housing will build condos instead of apartments. Because that's where the money is. Which also explains why the market for available apartments is red-hot and not likely to cool down anytime soon. So, let's assume the horrible for a moment, and one of my roommates passes away. Unable to pay rent, we have to move our belongings into storage and then... what? Without the means to afford a place to live, I may wind up on the streets, using my ODSP to pay the rental on a storage locker for my stuff. That looks like a very plausible outcome at this point, which I'm trying to get away from. No luck so far, however.