Top all-time · #5014
G
Garth Turner
Personal blog · greaterfool.caeconomicsbusiness
Garth Turner writes Greater Fool, a personal blog at greaterfool.ca about economics and business. Since 2010, 15 different Hacker News readers have linked it 26 times, most often “Toronto Is in a Housing Bubble”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
26mentions?
15HN people?
2010–2021first – last linked?
Too few sampled comments (20) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Garth Turner's greaterfool.ca blog for Canadian housing market and personal finance coverage, including Vancouver and Toronto bubble arguments, mortgages and debt data.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 20 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-05-09
- Toronto Is in a Housing Bubble2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-03-05
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-04-08
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-02-13
What Hacker News says?
I don't know about SV, but foreign investment is pretty dam low in Victoria, BC, which could be used as a proxy for Vancouver. 97.8% were domestic buyers.[1] It's not foreign buyers driving up the market in Vancouver, it's Canadians will to put themselves into serious debt in order to buy a house. [1] http://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/01/31/of-debt-data/
Comment linking /2016/01/31/of-debt-data/
on “Tableau stock down almost 50%”Submitted Toronto Is in a Housing Bubble as a story · 121 points
HN discussionToronto is now also completely out of control: http://www.greaterfool.ca/2017/03/04/its-official-its-a-bubb... Normally there would be an epic crash in the near future, but I have come to the conclusion that this time really is different, and I'm not joking.
Comment linking /2017/03/04/its-official-its-a-bubble/
on “Vacant Homes Are a Global Epidemic, and Paris Is Fighting It with a 60% Tax”Submitted Greater Fool's Predictions for 2017 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWell here is some info on Canada: http://www.greaterfool.ca/2015/05/14/the-tipping-point-2/ Vancouver not even in the top 10 yet we are told endlessly HAM is the cause.
Comment linking /2015/05/14/the-tipping-point-2/
on “What I’m Teaching my Son about Money”Submitted Deflation risk in Canada as a story · 2 points
HN discussioncan't reply to the throwaway dude as HN threading is nuts so replying here. Low interest rates allows banks to more efficiently financialise housing (that is to say price housing at the optimal point to extract as much economic rent as possible). You get to spread your repayments over a long time and end up paying lots of lovely interest. Higher rates (and therefore more wage inflation) quickly erodes the debt whils…
Comment linking /
on “Why so many Dutch people work part time”Submitted The Void as a story · 1 points
HN discussion> If the US market is only close to overheating, Canada lags behind that. Looking at this chart, I can't see how Canada is lagging anyone. Not even sure if this includes the 30% rise in Toronto (our largest city) this year. http://www.greaterfool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CANADA-...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CANADA-US.png?x64811
on “A tale of two Canadas: Where you grew up affects your income in adulthood”Submitted Canada's even bigger real estate bubble? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionhttp://www.greaterfool.ca/2010/08/24/market-update-6 (Granted, Garth Turner is extreme, but he does not make things up.)
Comment linking /2010/08/24/market-update-6
on “How to retire at 30 on $1 million”1. Norway 146. Yemen 2. Denmark 147. South Sudan 3. Iceland 148. Liberia 4. Switzerland 149. Guinea 5. Finland 150. Togo 6. Netherlands 151. Rwanda 7. Canada 152. Syria 8. New Zealand 153. Tanzania 9. Australia 154. Burundi 10. Sweden Will be interesting to see how spots 7, 8, 9 hold up going forward as many/most middle class people in these 3 countries increasingly find they cannot afford even a very modest home wi…
Comment linking /2017/03/17/outta-here/
on “Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth”You're right about the Canadian housing market; There are those predicting it is in a bubble, the most vocal of whom is a former government MP blogging at http://greaterfool.ca . The funny thing is that even after watching the carnage in the US housing market, people here don't believe it. I hear countless homeowners talking about housing is the best investment you can make, prices won't fall, it is different here,…
Comment linking /
on “I'm calling this Bubble 2.0, and it's ready to burst”Relevant: “ This has the potential to destroy the livability of every major community, create two classes of citizens, cement a wealth divide, disenfranchise an entire cohort, create structural household debt, make shelter unaffordable and hobble the economy as billions a week flow into vaporous housing equity. In short, it’s an epic policy failure. It’s time those who have greased the wheels – realtors, central ban…
Comment linking /2021/03/26/we-are-watching/
on “Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure”In a bubbly, Ponzi scheme way. Last one in is left holding the empty can. I used to read this blog back when I was watching for the crash that never was. (Doesn't appear to have happened in Canada either) He had an interesting tax story from a few days ago too about inheriting property. http://www.greaterfool.ca/2014/05/19/gross-me-up/
Comment linking /2014/05/19/gross-me-up/
on “To Get a Home in San Francisco, First Get a $200,000-a-Year Job”For the best Canadian financial advice, including variable vs fixed mortgage and investment strategies, read http://greaterfool.ca daily.
Comment linking /
on “30-year U.S. bond yields less than S&P dividend rate”Actually, one of my favorite blogs is http://www.greaterfool.ca ;) I'm familiar with the greater fool theory. But people buy commodities, currencies and financial instruments on this expectation of increased future valuation. There could be a case made that the greater fool theory is in effect for bitcoins, but it can't be said that it is the case simply because people expect higher valuation in the future.
Comment linking /
on “Bubble or No, This Virtual Currency Is a Lot of Coin in Any Realm”At least on Vancouver Island, it's not the foreigner's pushing up home prices, it's the locals. Victoria is one of the few cities that actually tracks the citizenship of the buyer. In 2015, 97.8% of buyers of homes in Victoria were Canadian citizens. 0.68% were from Asia.[1] [1] http://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/01/31/of-debt-data/
Comment linking /2016/01/31/of-debt-data/
on “The Golden Generation: Why China’s super-rich send their children abroad”Winter: http://www.greaterfool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Winter-...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Winter-modified.png
on “U.S. GDP Shrank in Q1 2015”I suggest you read this blog: http://www.greaterfool.ca Why do you feel a need to buy a house? You can always rent and right now renting is far cheaper in Toronto than buying if you include buying and selling costs (realtor commissions, land transfer taxes).
Comment linking /
on “Living in retirement: Seven things I wish I could tell my 35-year-old self”If you look at the indicators, Canada is in a worse situation than the US back during the peak of the real estate bubble: debt levels, housing inventory, etc. http://www.greaterfool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/chart.p... Also remember that Canada doesn't have 30 year terms to their mortgages. Most people have 5 year terms. When rates go from 3% to 6% (which is still historically low) you'll see a lot of people who…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2014/01/chart.png?8f4c78
on “Living in retirement: Seven things I wish I could tell my 35-year-old self”I linked http://greaterfool.ca higher up, but I think it's the best source for Canadian financial info. Garth Turner does a really great service cutting through the bull with a blog article every day of the week!. Search his site on google for "canada debt" for plenty of articles with links to real data / surveys.
Comment linking /
on “48% of Canadians on brink of insolvency, online survey says”It matches everything I’ve been reading on http://greaterfool.ca for the last 7 years. Like this from 3 months ago: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2019/02/02/tapped-out/
Comment linking /2019/02/02/tapped-out/
on “48% of Canadians on brink of insolvency, online survey says”Interesting article considering Toronto's housing market is rolling over in a bad way. In fact the average detached house in the jewel of the GTA is changing hands for 12% less than in the Spring of last year and a crispy 25.6% under what it commanded the previous year. https://www.greaterfool.ca/2019/02/06/nowhere-to-hide/
Comment linking /2019/02/06/nowhere-to-hide/
on “Airbnb is squeezing Toronto’s housing market”Lone Person in Toronto has median of 22k http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/f... Lone Person in Toronto treated as Family (single parent) has median of 39k http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/f... I noticed that you put down 300$ into savings, but later, at end of month, you claim that there 0$ left, as if savings evaporated. Other numbers As per housing / condo market…
Comment linking /
on “A 29-year-old on the difficulties of landing a first job”
