watch industry seems slower than it's ever been

JwRosenthal

I think this was discussed in another thread- about the summer slump, and that the top end pieces continue to rise and trading is brisk but the lower end pieces are sitting- the divide between upper and lower class in the watch world.

That said, we have 4 houses on my block for sale they have been sitting for months- 3 of them vacant as the sellers already moved out- and this is one of the best neighborhoods in the city. A brisk economy I am not seeing on the ground, only on paper.

Archer

... and land running out.

kov

Depends on what you’re looking for. I am in the market for a good 2998, for months now 😗

Archer

Yes. Land that is available for development in specific communities is running out. If you have ever been involved in municipal politics and planning, you will understand what I mean. One of the big challenges is services, since regulations require that new developments have specific services that make creating new developments outside current settlement areas quite expensive.

Yes, Canada is a vast country with a lot of land, but unless you want to be a mountain man living completely cut off from civilization, jobs, etc. you are looing for housing in areas that are already populated, so looking at the land mass available and concluding there's tons of room for development is very simplistic view. Something like 75% of the Canadian population lives within 161 km (100 miles for the Americans) of the Canada/US border...

Archer

It's actually all about money. For example unless you are a lone house out in the middle of the country, you can't use a septic system. The small community I live in had a population of about 460 people a few years ago all on septic. When the first new development went in a couple of years ago, it required the construction of a sewage treatment plant, costing millions in construction and study costs. All new construction in the area will be hooked to this system, and that will be in total about 500 new homes.

For 30 years this was not considered economical, because there was plenty of land that could be serviced for far less available in surrounding communities, but as I said all that land is running out. The nearby city of 400,000 has no place left to build within their boundaries...one reason why the development in my area is happening. This is what land shortage looks like, and the costs for the municipalities, developers, and eventually the new homeowners will be significant.

Again taking the simplistic view is not showing the whole picture here.

Archer

Yes. Land that is available for development in specific communities is running out. If you have ever been involved in municipal politics and planning, you will understand what I mean. One of the big challenges is services, since regulations require that new developments have specific services that make creating new developments outside current settlement areas quite expensive.

Yes, Canada is a vast country with a lot of land, but unless you want to be a mountain man living completely cut off from civilization, jobs, etc. you are looing for housing in areas that are already populated, so looking at the land mass available and concluding there's tons of room for development is very simplistic view. Something like 75% of the Canadian population lives within 161 km (100 miles for the Americans) of the Canada/US border...

Nobel Prize

boom! @kov

Nobel Prize

boom! @kov

pIoNeErOfThEnILe

sharp looking watch.

STANDY

Tried in Australia, didn’t work. They stayed the few years they had to and when subsidies to do so ran out, they moved to the big cities. Some stayed which was good but not enough to say it worked.

Currently where I live is a shrinking population (-4% a year) due to the cost to live in Northern Australia. We have been lobbying for tax offsetting but apparently that’s not going to happen until the government realises it’s costing them more for services ( currently the government pays for flights for medical treatments that are not available )