Hi Alvin,

From time to time, we make some of our exclusive video conferences freely available to our followers.

A year ago, we started our Fact-Finding Video Conference Series to help us understand how the pandemic would affect our lives, economy and investments.

Our recent 55th episode was with John Zinati, a veteran Toronto real-estate lawyer at Zinati Kay. With more than 23,000 real estate transactions completed, Mr. Zinati has a unique perspective on the housing market with a view into buyers, sellers and financing.

On March 30, 2021, Mr. Zinati and Veritas President and CEO Anthony Scilipoti discussed:

• What is the mentality of buyers/sellers/financiers in today’s market?

• How does the past year compare with the previous 35?

• Where is the financing coming from now, and how has that changed from previous years?

• The condo market softened in 2020, while detached housing skyrocketed. What is happening now?

• What key metrics are you watching to monitor the health of the housing market?

Watch the replay for free: Inside this Unstoppable Canadian Housing Market.

Please feel free to share this email or the video with colleagues and friends.

For us, this was a particularly poignant quote from Mr. Zinati:

Zinati: How old do you have to be to understand a true real estate crash? Let’s say the last crash was 1991. That’s the big one with 50% drops in value.

That condo that I bought dropped about 30%. Others in Malvern [Scarborough] dropped 50%. I remember condos that went for $200,000 started selling for $100,000. You’ve got to be 45 or 50 years old to really understand. You have to be financially conscious in 1991 to understand what a crash is.

The young professionals I see, the real estate agents I see, the people getting into the market that I see, don’t know what a real estate crash is because we really haven’t had one. 2008 does not count. There were no boarded-up signs for office buildings in Scarborough. No factories closed. No people seeing half or a third of their equity wiped out. None of that has happened. If you’re not 50 years old, you’re not going to understand that that’s even a possibility.

Other recent news from Veritas:

April 01, 2021

Veritas Analyst Howard Leung has been appointed to be a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board to represent investors. - The AcSB is an independent body that establishes standards for financial reporting for all Canadian private sector entities and contributes to internationally accepted financial reporting standards.

March 12, 2021

Household savings are fuelling the demand side of Canada’s housing market - Veritas Financial Services Analyst Nigel D’Souza was a guest on BNN Bloomberg discussing why he doesn’t think house prices are set to decline imminently

March 11, 2021

SPAC’d out: Everything you need to know about the next hyped-up investment fad - Veritas President and CEO Anthony Scilipoti provided some wisdom and advice in this CBC article on why many SPACs coming to market today will end in tears.