Is this a bubble? | Vancouver Condo Info

Take a look at this chart and tell me if it looks like a bubble to you:

What does this graph show you ask? Thats the number of ‘bad news’ bearish bubble blogs focused on the BC / Lower Mainland / Vancouver real estate market over the last couple of years.

1) March 2005: Vancouver Housing Blog

– the original and still the key source of data on Vancouver housing bubble info and economic analysis.

2) Nov 2005: Rob Chipmans

– not actually bearish, but I give him half a point for being somewhat open to the naysayers and sharing data.

3) June 2006: VancouverCondo.Info

– Hmm.. Hey that’s me! You are here.

4) Oct 2006: Vancouver Unrealestate

– Solipsist brings more humor and a personal touch to the realm of those who just want a home to live in but aren’t willing to pay double the rent value for it.

5) Dec 2006: BC Housing

– “uncertain buyer” just sold his house and is watching prices slide down for the last few months. He’s looking for indicators that its a reasonably good time to buy in the interior.

6) Jan 2007: Financial Planning and Personal Sanity

– A financial planner / home owner in langley examines the downside of the BC market with a focus on graphing past market data and drawing connections to the current market.

All of these blogs are updated regularly, most every day or two. See that upswing in the last four months? Clearly this growth is unsustainable – it looks like we have a ‘bubble blog bubble’.

I will say one thing though: With all this focus on the Vancouver market anyone doing the most minimal research should not be caught off guard if real estate prices continue to drop for quite some time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make the big bucks. I got a tip about an internet startup that will be selling pet food online. Looks like a sure thing!

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rentah

16 years ago

Of course, THIS bubble is actually BULLISH for RE prices.Gulp!

mohican

So what is the advice here? Should we buy put or call options on Van RE Bubble Blog Futures?!?! 😉

Shanghaithunder

You are correct. I sold my Richmond1 bdm s**tbox last fall. Paid $85k in '94. Sold it for $140k. Almost the top so I was happy about that. Took a job in Shanghai for I don't know how long. At first I missed living in Vancouver but after a 2 week return trip I guess I lost my rose colored glasses. It's nice but it sure isn't special. Might return in the future to live but not until the prices get back to some sane level. My Van friends have accused me of puting a hex on Van. but I swear I had nothing to do with the harsh winter and certainly not the roof of BC Place. Hope the weather warms up soon and the prices cool off.

Alpha_Bear

Ah-ha! I scooped you all! And these are just the Vancouver Blogs, how many are there across the US?http://www.housebubble.com

the pope

Thanks for dropping by shanghaithunder, I take it you're not in Vancouver?Wannaget2calgary: Whats happening to the GVREB sfh benchmark? Everybody seemed to think we'd see condos show weakness first, so why are houses dropping? Who thinks we'll hit the highs of sept 06 again in the coming year for benchmark detached?

You beat me to the punch on that one. I was going to do a, Is there a Bubble in Housing Blogs Post. Ah-ha! I scooped you all! And these are just the Vancouver Blogs, how many are there across the US? I guess the difference is that the US mainstream media is using words like 'bubble', 'downturn' and 'hardlanding' regularly these days, whereas the local media is letting you know about the most recent condo tower with faux granite countertops.Now who wants to see that graphed logarithmic?

Keep up the fine work. I don't have ringside seats to watch this mess unfold but through these blogs it is almost like a closed circuit live feed.

Uncertain Buyer

You beat me to the punch on that one. I was going to do a, Is there a Bubble in Housing Blogs Post.There's an enormous amount of Blogs out there dedicated to this inflated market.

wannaget2calgary

"Where there's smoke, there's fire?" Nah, too corny. "With all this manure, there's gotta be a horse around here somewhere". Nah, that stinks. More seriously (?), with all these blogs, there must be a housing bubble happening somewhere.I think I'm bored. Can't we please hurry up the RE market crash. It's taking too long.

Bubble? What Bubble?