When real estate is lacking the stability (or lacking at least the certainty of rising rapidly in value as it had been until last year) and mortgages are more difficult and expensive to take on, I notice friends of ours with capital and uncertainty how/where/when to deploy it. Stocks are experiencing some volatility as well, and when the conversation of inflation arises, people are hesitant to keep funds in their bank account for fear it could “devalue” or lose purchasing power.
Depending on the risk tolerance and the short- and long-term plans of the individual I’m speaking with, there are several ways to approach this.  Here are a few ideas I’ve recommended to others and seen them experience success with all of them.

1.     Keep saving.

2.     Getting rid of high-interest debt (especially consumer debt) is paramount. Start with the credit cards, work your way down to the lines of credit. This is not to say everyone needs to find a way to pay everything off but limiting exposure to slow financial ‘bleeding’ is wise. Take inventory of where you’re paying interest on things. This could involve putting holds on a few other things, like vacations or other large purchases that can’t immediately be paid for in full. Earning even 5% or 8% on money anywhere right now (which few people are managing to do) is irrelevant if your debt is financed at rates higher than that.

3.     Tackle your vehicle loans. Some auto loans aren’t terrible if the terms are favorable. But calculate what your actual money going out the door monthly is for a vehicle, then multiply it by the number of payments/installments to be made over the entire term of your loan. You might be surprised how much that vehicle will cost you to pay off.

4.     GIC’s or other high-interest options through your bank. Long-term, not a terrific investment strategy. But a very low-risk way to hedge a bit better against inflation.

The past 4 weeks or so, listings in all sorts of price ranges and neighbourhoods of the Fraser Valley and much of the Lower Mainland are seeing competing offers again! And we’re getting asked the question: with the cost of living so high, and interest rates limiting so many purchasers, how are competing offers happening?
It’s simple, and in my opinion unlikely to last long. We’re just coming a time of year (January-February) when there are traditionally very few listings coming on the market. This year has been, so far, an extreme in that way. Inventory is low and, if low enough, it can create competing offer situations amongst even a relatively small number of active and ready buyers. This is what we’re seeing now.  While there are a lot of hopeful buyers ‘waiting for prices to drop more’, the reality is that watching the market and being pre-approved for a mortgage and actively looking for a home are two different things. And the consensus we’re hearing from numerous friends in the mortgage industry is that there really aren’t many new pre-approval applications being received and processed. So, what this means is that as we head into the spring with instability in the market and expecting the traditional increase in number of new listings that usually begins to take place in March and lasts until around May, the number of listings on market could very quickly and significantly outnumber the buyers capable of purchasing them. And we are noticing signs of this beginning to take place as more sellers prepare to put homes onto the market.