About five years ago, I had a realization: real estate, and housing markets more specifically, are virtually exclusively viewed and analyzed — particularly within the industry itself — in a vacuum. There was heavy focus on the “whats” and little focus on the “whys.” There had always been lots of data and perspectives on sales counts, listings trends, and price changes, but what was conspicuously absent was the consistent, quantitative consideration of the factors influencing housing — demographics, economics and the labour market, inflation and interest rates, and even government policy and regulations.
This was underscored for me, around this same time, by a conversation I had with a colleague within the industry, who asked me where I thought downtown Vancouver's per-sq.-ft prices would go in the next two years.
“They’ve done this over the past two years,” he explained, angling his arm upwards. He then used his other hand to draw an imaginary path through the air that extended along the same angle as his arm, seeking confirmation that “[prices] will probably just do this, right?” Riiight.
#Industry