The Case Of The Toronto Housing Market

709 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cocktail party economics concepts

The housing market is very unique as unlike other goods and services, houses have permanence, it is a fixed location good causing the rules of supply and demand to be taken to new extremes. In the case of the Toronto housing market we can view in almost real time the role supply and demand play on he ever increasing house prices, additionally the fundamental economic issue of scarcity is made extremely apparent by the limited size of the city of Toronto.
In the early chapters of Cocktail Party Economics, the foundational economic concept of scarcity is brought up as a handful of statements: “a good man is hard to find” or “there’s not enough time in the day” (Pg. 8). What do good men, time and houses in Toronto have in common? All three of these scenarios have some variable or element that is beyond a consumers control, regardless of how hard you try or how much work you put in there will never be more than 24 hours in a day on earth, you can’t change the supply of good men (though that’s a matter of perspective) and regardless of how much you want it the supply of houses or the spac...

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Overselling Capitalism Benjamin Barber

    202 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his work, “Overselling capitalism,” Benjamin Barber speaks on capitalism’s shift from filling the needs of the consumer, to creating needs. He tells how it has become easier for people to borrow money, so that they no longer get as much satisfaction from affording necessities. He says capitalism can be good when both sides benefit, but it has overgrown and must continue creating needs, even though the only people who can afford these needs don’t have any. According to Barber, people are still working hard, but them and their children are becoming seduced by unneeded shopping. He states that people are becoming more needy, and losing discipline in their lifestyle. Additionally capitalism must encourage easy and addicting shopping to

    Read More

  • What Does The Bell Jar Mean In The Great Gatsby

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scott Fitzgerald respectively) and applying both the Marxist and Psychoanalytic critical theories, it’s clear to see that the race to get to the highest crest of the metaphorical food chain affects the people on the top, on the bottom, and everyone in between, which causes a divide in society and consequently forces people to adopt the mindset of “get rich or die trying,” or else their lives will amount to nothing.

    Read More

  • Observations in All Our Kin

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...their lifestyles or values, but merely funnel greater sums of money into bottomless, self-destructing pits” (23). If this is true, then certainly the American Dream wins out for virtue. Indeed, throwing money at a problem absolutely does not make it go away – but when families are legitimately struggling to make ends meet and goods are scarce, when they’ve established these complex chains of organized networks and trades, and when they can empathize with others in their situation and see the big picture beyond their own, one is left to wonder why Stack’s voice hasn’t been heard more widely, and why the residents of The Flats are still left to fight against the current in their own comparatively competent culture of exchange, and networks of all their kin.

    Read More

  • Canada Housing Market Essay

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The housing market will get worse before it gets better” –James Wilson. The collapse of the United States housing market in in 2008 was one of the most devastating moments for the world economy. The United Sates being arguably the most important and powerful nation in the world really brought everyone down with this event. Canada was very lucky, thanks to good planning and proper preventatives to avoid what happened to the United States. There were many precursor events that occurred that showed a distinct path that led to the collapse of the housing market. People were buying house way out of their range because of low interest rates, the banks seemingly easily giving out massive loans and banks betting against the housing market. There were

    Read More

  • Summary Of Michael J. Sandel 'What Money Can' T Buy?

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both of these relate to putting a price on the good things in life (e.g. safe neighborhoods, good medical care, joy of reading, college acceptance based on merit) which should not be affordable only to those financial affluence. Sandel offers that there needs to be a debate about the moral limits of markets. If a market serves the public good, then it is appropriate; however, if a market unacceptably promotes inequality or corrupts a societal activity that should be equally shared, then the market is inappropriate. The decision of whether a market is appropriate or inappropriate should be based on public judgement and promoting healthier public

    Read More

  • Affordable Housing In Canada

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable by that section of society whose income is or below the median household income. For example, affordable housing should address the housing needs of lower or middle income households. And for sustainable communities, it is one that is economically, environmentally, and socially healthy and resilient.. According to the Western Australia Council of Social Services (WACOSS): "Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal processes; systems; structures; and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and livable communities.” As we can tell, all affordable housing, sustainable community, and social sustainability are

    Read More

  • Housing Affordability Crisis In The Bay Area

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    This high demand can be due to what many people call “historical low interest rates” as more people are interesting in home ownership especially young people to take advantage of these low rates. A prosperous tech industry in the area that keeps attracting highly skilled workers who earn higher than average incomes increases demand. In her article “Housing affordability crisis drives Bay Area middle-class exodus”, Mary Ann Azevedo explains that the Bay Area created 114,000 new jobs in 2014 and only 8,000 housing units. Azevedo further explains this low inventory, “The City of San Francisco is still producing only 2,000 housing units per year — when it has needed more like 5,000 for the last 20 years and going forward.” These statistics provide a clear picture of the seriousness of the situation and explains one of the major reasons that are driving the prices up with no sight of slowing

    Read More

  • Materialism in The Great Gatsby

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    It's true that this desire for things is what drives our economy. The free market has given us great blessings, but it has in some ways also put us on the wrong path -- the path to a selfish, unhappy society. Michael Lerner, who worked as a psychotherapist to middle-income Americans notes that

    Read More

  • Economics In Harry Chapin's Cats In The Cradle

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    Economics take part in many daily lives can be seen in the music people listen to. Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” song is no exception. The song describes a young father trying to live up to capitalistic America’s economy and needs. Sometimes in life choices must be made. People respond to incentives put in place by Homo Economicus. For many, just as it is in the song, that incentive is money. The song states, “My child arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away.” These lines relate to opportunity cost. The father had to give up one thing in order to achieve another. The opportunity cost is the time that the father lost watching his son grow up. He felt there was a higher demand for his job than for his time with his son. He chose to be on that plane and to be at a job that would keep him from his family. In his mind, the father used marginal analysis to make this decision. He simultaneously, even though he might not have realized he

    Read More

  • The Gospel of Wealth, by Andrew Carnegie

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    item at a price, set forth by the company, to make a profit. Greed may have the profit margin set high, so the return on the item is substantial to the company. If another company can make a similar item and sell it for less, while still making a profit, society and the company benefit. It forces the company with the higher profit margin to either find a more cost effective way to produce the item, or cut their pr...

    Read More

  • The Housing Crisis

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    “One out of every two hundred homes will be foreclosed every month, making 205,000 new families enter into foreclosure,” Mortgage Bankers Association. The housing industry in the United States is undergoing an unfortunate crisis. There are way too many homes being foreclosed, which cause a ripple of problems.

    Read More

  • Affordable Housing Crisis

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    Affordable housing in the United States describes sheltering units with well-adjusted housing costs for those living on an average, median income. The phrase usually implies to applied rental or purchaser housing within the financial means of lower-income ranges specific to the demographics of any given area. However, affordable housing does not include those living in social housing owned by government and non-profit organizations. More specifically, the targeted range for housing affordability sets below 30 percent of a household's annual income, including all applicable taxes, utility costs and home owners insurance rates. If the mean income per household breaches the 30 percent mark, then the agreed status becomes labeled as "unaffordable" by most recognizable financial institutions.

    Read More

  • Review of Funky Business by Jonas Ridderstråle

    1938 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ridderstrale and Nordström`s “funky village” chapter three deals with several developments of our society in recent years and it also demonstrates the certain characteristics of our today’s society. Ridderstrale and Nordström begin with the “surplus society” which is characterized by excess and abundance and where oversupply and nearly perfect markets are standard.

    Read More

  • Real Estate Industry In The Rental Market

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like with any other commodity or resource the market for rental property is affected by supply and demand. “When we break the market for land into markets for uses of land, then the supplies are not fixed, and prices and profits function as they do in any other market.” (Microeconomics 396) When analyzing the housing bubble it is important to understand that the rental real estate market is not necessarily affected in a negative way. “The term bubble means that the price of an asset is being bid up through speculation or gambling rather than because of the value of the services the asset returns.” (Microeconomics 396) Often times the housing bubble deals with speculative real estate which is in a fluctuating market. For example, housing which is located close to resort areas will change value dramatically with the change of the affects of the bubble. One of the constant factors of the real estate market becomes the average price rental market which may actually see an increase in demand when higher priced real estate becomes unattainable. ...

    Read More

  • Perfect Competition And Real Estate Agencies

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    When prices increase, the quantity decrease (Graph 1) and new firms enter the market in order to make economic profits. However this does not mean the real estate agents or brokers earn more money. On the contrary, the prices they charge may increase, but the number of houses each sell do not change (Goolsbee, 2005, Online). From this it is evident that the price of products in the real estate market is not affected by the entry of new firms.

    Read More

More about The Case Of The Toronto Housing Market

Open Document