[URBAN NOTE] "‘Buyer gridlock’: If Toronto and Vancouver homes were on a Monopoly board"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Michael Babad reports on an eye-catching, if depressing, analogy for the Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets: The board game Monopoly.

TD’s chief economist, Beata Caranci, has done a unique study of what observers believe are the frothiest markets, and how things might look on a Monopoly board.

And they sure look different than when we were playing the game as kids.

“Baltic Avenue, once considered one of the most affordable, is now fetching the price of St. James Place,” Ms. Caranci said in her recent report. “Ultimately, Toronto and Vancouver are moving the way of many international cities, where land constraints and population growth forces residents out and up. Out into suburbs and up into condominiums, be it ownership or rental.”

[. . .]

Ms. Caranci noted that Monopoly players might normally buy something cheap like Connecticut Avenue on “the first time around the board,” but they’ll still have enough to buy, say, Marvin Gardens, which is a goal.

“If the game changes such that Connecticut Avenue fetches the price of Marvin Gardens, would this alter the selection of your first purchase?”