Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, December 1, 2022
President Jackie chaired the meeting.
She welcomed guest of Leslie, Paul Hollahan, RBC Mortgage specialist to the meeting.
Club Business
These were two items of business Jackie spoke about.
- The in-person Rotary Adventure in Citizenship Program is going ahead on May 14 – 17, 2023 and the club will plan to send a representative from Corner Brook Regional High School to Ottawa. Leslie who chairs this program, will send an application to Ottawa, and contact the high school regarding this. A student speak-off is usually held in the spring at a regular meeting with the winner being able to participate in this program. Jackie mentioned judges will need to be selected closer to the speak-off.
- Jackie reviewed the club fundraisers discussed at the last meeting. Rotarians are asked to choose which or all fundraisers they would like to help organize.
Fundraisers are a). Fundraising concert at the RAC
b). On-line auction
c) May high-afternoon tea
Guest Speaker
Rotarian Carol Anstey spoke about the current Real Estate Market.
Before she began Carol spoke about the consulting work that she does with small brokerages, so she is very aware of the markets and concerns outside larger urban areas.
Her first question was to ask if Rotarians thought we were in a recession. Different answers were suggested to which she replied, “What is a recession”. This she analysed and then considered the effects of a recession on the real estate market.
She passed out a handout giving facts illustrating the different points she addressed.
Interest rates have been rising since June but here it has been a stable market although until the end of October about 100 fewer home sales had taken place. In general, with rising interest rates the price of homes goes down, but a 17% price decline does not improve affordability due to rising mortgage rates.
Carol continued by looking at the population growth in Atlantic Canada with Halifax growth about 2.1% leading most major cities. The growth in the Eastern provinces is due not only to people leaving central Canada but also the increase in the number of immigrants which will impact the lack of housing. She continued by looking at the house price growth in major Atlantic Canada cities and how the average price has changed since 2015.
Her final handout dealt with the macro-economic outlook 2022 – 2024. From this if inflation remains elevated and stays above the Bank of Canada target range in 2023 the expectation is that inflation growth will slow down. Housing affordability is an extremely important factor in the real estate market.
Jackie thanked Carol for her interesting and topical talk
The meeting was adjourned at 1.40pm