HISTORY & READINGS at Brian Ripley's Canadian Housing Price Charts & Plunge-O-Meter

Zero Percent 20 Year Fixed

1/9/2021

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Yeah, that's correct. On January 5, 2021, Bloomberg reported in a News Brief that:

Back in 2012, policy makers drove their main rate below zero to defend the krone’s peg to the euro. Since then, Danish homeowners have enjoyed continuous slides in borrowing costs. (and) The country with the longest history of negative central bank rates is offering homeowners 20-year loans at a fixed interest rate of zero.

The Bloomberg brief goes on to explain that:

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Denmark has a so-called pass-through system in which mortgages are directly tied to the covered bonds used to fund the loans. Lenders act as brokers between borrowers and investors, generating income from fees, not interest rates. Borrowers get the coupon rate, though the effective cost is generally a bit higher because bonds rarely sell at par.

(and) As rates have continued to sink, other banks in Denmark -- home to the world’s biggest mortgage-backed covered-bond market -- are joining Nordea. (and) Demand is there, Lisa Bergmann, chief housing economist at Nordea Kredit, said in a note. The bonds backing the mortgages are likely to price close to a record high, she said. (full brief here)

I mashed up the chart above from Statista.com to show the average monthly salary in Denmark in 2019 by educational level and converted into CAD on today's FX rate via xe.com (1 DKK = 0.21 CAD). In July 2019 it was +/-1 DKK = 0.2 CAD. Close enough.

The chart below from StatCan shows the average monthly earnings or employment income, all ages and highest certificate, diploma or degree in 2016 in Canada.

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Cost of Living Index

PRICES IN CANADA ARE LOWER

Consumer Prices in Canada are 24.02% lower than in Denmark (without rent)
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Canada are 20.60% lower than in Denmark
Rent Prices in Canada are 11.14% lower than in Denmark
Restaurant Prices in Canada are 38.97% lower than in Denmark
Groceries Prices in Canada are 6.69% lower than in Denmark
Local Purchasing Power in Canada is 13.11% lower than in Denmark

Source: Numbeo.com

But Commute Times are Greater

Affordability is the ability for any urban household to be able to rent a dwelling for less than a 25% of its monthly income, or to buy one for less than about three time its yearly income.

The mobility and affordability objectives are tightly related. A residential location that only allows access to only a small segment of the job market in less than an hour commuting time has not much value to households, even if it is theoretically affordable.

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"As a city develops, nothing is more important than maintaining mobility and housing affordability." Alain Bertaud

See also my Demographia (Price / Income) Ranks of Canadian Cities. They are affordable when the ratio is under 3 but are severely unaffordable when over 5.

See also my long term Canadian Earnings and Employment charts updated monthly.

Pandemic Update

Zero Percent 20 Year Fixed

Cost of Living Index

But Commute Times are Greater

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