Dear Reader,
Welcome to the fifth edition of the rennie landscape, and the first of 2020--a year that will be talked about for generations to come. From the beginning of January through to mid-March, Metro Vancouver’s housing market continued along an upward trajectory that established itself midway through 2019. The regional labour market was strong, unemployment was near historic lows, and wages were rising; households were spending and homes were selling based on a re-emergence of consumer confidence. All of this changed over the course of two short weeks. Much like the financial crisis of 2008/09 showed us, the emergence of a global pandemic has underscored the extent to which our modern world is interconnected. As there was no underlying crisis of confidence or of finance that precipitated the worldwide economic shutdown we are currently enduring, there similarly is no blueprint for managing it. The downturn could last for weeks or months, and the precise path to recovery is uncertain. In short, there are many things we currently do not know. As humans, we do a reasonably good job at measuring and managing risk but we find it much more difficult to measure and manage uncertainty. Despite these increasingly uncertain times, rennie continues to be guided by data, whether that means monitoring changes in the myriad macroeconomic factors that typically form the basis of the following pages of the rennie landscape, or now the day-to-day changes in stock markets, interest rates, exchange rates, and oil prices. Regardless of what data we are following, our goal is the same: to better understand what it means for all of us. For now, the legacy of 2020 as it relates to our global community, our national economy, and our local housing market has yet to be determined. As our path to recovery becomes clearer over the course of the coming weeks and months, we will remain as committed as ever to tracking the most relevant and current data as part of subsequent editions of the landscape and our other publications. As always--and perhaps especially now--please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions, comments, or ideas. We are all in this together.
Thank you,
Ryan Berlin SENIOR ECONOMIST intel@rennie.com
Andrew Ramlo VP, INTELLIGENCE aramlo@rennie.com
rennie.com
2
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online