Planets and stars are aligning for a resources boom and a dip in real estate prices, particularly in Metro Vancouver, Richmond-based fortune teller and astrologer Sherman Tai told Business in Vancouver.
He bases his predictions on the alignment of stars, the annually rotating, 12-symbol Chinese zodiac and a connection with one of five lucky elements that rotate at two-year intervals.
Each Lunar, or Chinese, New Year is linked with a heavenly zodiac sign and a material element. The year that starts January 28 has the rooster as the zodiac sign and fire as its element.
Fire burns materials and creates ash, which fertilizes the earth and helps nourish anything that is found within the ground, Tai said.
That is why he believes that resources, such as petroleum products, metals, minerals, fertilizers and forestry, will have a good year.
Digital technology, e-commerce and biotechnology should also have good years because they stem from nourished creativity.
Struggling sectors, meanwhile, are likely to be those above ground, such as retail and real estate. Both sectors flow above ground and are more associated with water, which extinguishes fire, he explained.
Tai expects retail sales growth to slow in B.C. from its torrid pace in 2016, when the province led the country in retail sales growth.
“In the last 12 to 15 years, every year I was telling people that if they have money to invest, to invest it in the property market,” Tai said.
“After 2015, and in my last year’s prediction in the Year of the Fire Monkey, I asked them to stop.”
His instruction to avoid investing in real estate continues into 2017.
Tai thinks Vancouver real estate prices could retreat up to 10%, in part because the city is in the southwest corner of Canada. The stars say that this is a bad location for real estate, he said.
“Some stars are good for property, and some stars are bad for property,” Tai said. “This year, the bad star is going into the house.”
Those born in the Year of the Rooster are customarily more aggressive, but when combined with fire the trait is exaggerated, Tai said. “Infants born with the energy of the fire rooster will become more aggressive and quick-
tempered. They would like to be the leader and to disrupt something and get the respect of other people.”
The influence of the element fire and zodiac rooster sign extends to everyone, but they affect people differently, depending on what their astrological sign is.
U.S. President Donald Trump, for example, was born during the Year of the Dog.
“Dogs are very protective,” Tai said. “In the Year of the Rooster, the dog will have more temper.”
In B.C., political parties are gearing up for the May 9 election, and Tai holds out more hope for the BC Liberals than the New Democratic Party (NDP) because of the astrological signs of the parties’ leaders.
Liberal leader Christy Clark was born in a Year of the Snake; NDP leader John Horgan was born in a Year of the Boar.
“The snake, rooster and ox are all in a good relationship triangle,” Tai said. “The boar does not have a good connection with the rooster.” •
