Is the summer of 2024 half-full or half-empty?
Aug 6, 2024
As we pass August 1st in the summer of 2024, I’m wondering if things are half-full or half-empty? It feels like lakeside vacation areas are busy and buzzing. The weather has been what I might call “choppy” but we are seeing lots of sun and heat, so that’s positive. Out west however, wild fires have been devastating again this year. Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by the fires. We know that the boat business has slowed a lot since the interest rate hike almost exactly a year ago now and the two downward rate adjustments have not seemed to have had a big impact.
In this edition of Boating Industry Canada News Week Digest we stepped away a bit from just boating to cover some research-based stories like the CADA report on the trends in the automobile market. Tesla shares suffered a big drop recently and I’ve read in many different media outlets, that sales of ZEV’s are slowing.
The other Feature story that’s concerning is, “Three quarters of Toronto condo owners are cash flow negative”. At the rate new condos are going up in Toronto, you have to be concerned. From the lakeshore, it’s just a shoreline panorama of construction cranes. We know many of these units are bought by investors, many of whom are just individuals who saw a great opportunity when condos were rising in value like other forms of housing.
With so much construction going on, the traffic downtown is miserable. CTV recently said that according to the traffic app TomTom, London England has the worst traffic in the world, followed by Dublin and then Toronto at number 3. They said that Torontonians were losing 98 hours a year to traffic congestion. No wonder people are stressed.
The ongoing economic pressure that the recent increase in capital gains tax has had and also, the Luxury Tax on boats, is clearly hurting business. I’m sure you saw the stories on the impact of the Luxury Tax from the CMRA and NMMA last week. As much as the boat business is suffering, the government coffers are missing an estimated $40-million in GST revenues.
So, is the summer of 2024 half-full or half-empty for you and your business? Let’s hope that the second half of the summer is good; good enough to leave you with your business and your staff intact and looking forward to a better 2025.
Andy Adams – Editor
