Vancouver Condo Info

Thats it! I’m cashing out all my stock and buying pre-sale condos in downtown Vancouver. US and Canadian markets had another stumble today on more bad news from the home-lending sector and fears of a wilting economy. Gold mining stocks lost their glitter today and sub-prime lender New Century Financial isn’t looking so shiny either. Just how the hell is a fella s’posed to get rich these days?

The Mortgage Bankers Association said delinquencies among all borrowers reached the highest since the second quarter of 2003. Government data also showed February retail sales rose less than economists forecast, spurring concern department stores and discount retailers will be hurt by the fallout from the home-lending market.

“I would be very surprised if it didn’t spread,” said Alex Motola, who manages the $2 billion Thornburg Core Growth Fund in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “The consumer is at risk again.”

The guys behind seattlebubble.com and socalbubble.com have put together a new site that addresses housing market issues, particularly the fear-inducing ‘Priced Out Forever!‘ myth.

have you ever thought through what it would really mean if across the country, hundreds of thousands of people just like you really were being priced out forever? Who would buy homes? What would happen to the housing market as a whole? These are questions that are frequently ignored.
…
The absolute worst reason to buy a home is “I’m afraid that if I don’t buy now I’ll be priced out forever! The biggest financial decision in your life should be based on reason, logic, and sound financial planning, not fear.

Check it out at the easy to remember URL: pricedoutforever.com

This is your open-topic for the weekend. I normally post this in the morning, but I was busy saving the world, hence the delay.

Some things I’ve noticed:
-Our Property taxes are going up to pay for a bigger translink.
-Denver Colorado lost four years of price gains in the last year.
-US housing continues to tank, D.R.Horton CEO says 07 will suck.
-Subprime lender New Century Financial halts all loan applications.
-People still lining up for condos in Vancouver, price spike in Nov.

What are you seeing around you on the housing front today? Share your links, anectdotes, news and opinions here!

Cecil posted a link to this video in the prior thread and I thought it was worth posting on its own – David Ingram & Ozzie Jurock discuss the real estate market. Ozzie say’s he wouldn’t buy a pre-sale in vacouver even if his ‘life depended on it’, calling the Vancouver market pure speculation, and suggests some better options for investment include Kamloops & Prince George.

Meanwhile in America… Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is looking for stronger regulation of Mortgage markets in the US for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going so far as to suggest today that their holdings should be linked to a “measurable public purpose, such as the promotion of affordable housing.”

His remarks come as worries about risky mortgages are making investors jittery. Those fears contributed to last week’s worldwide stock meltdown, where the Dow Jones industrials suffered a gut-wrenching 416-point plunge.

Lenders to subprime borrowers — people with blemished credit histories — have been battered. Rising interest rates and weak home prices have made it increasingly difficult for these borrowers — especially those with adjustable-rate mortgages — to keep up with their mortgage payments. Delinquencies and foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market are spiking.

Meanwhile his predecessor Alan Greenspan says today that there’s only a 1/3rd chance of the US falling into recession this year:

“We are in the sixth year of a recovery; imbalances can emerge as a result,” Bloomberg quoted Greenspan as saying. “Ten-year recoveries have been part of a much broader global phenomenon”

..and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says not to worry, the housing credit worries are ‘largely contained‘ and shouldn’t pose a huge risk to the rest of the US economy:

“The global economy is more than sound,” Paulson said. ”It’s as strong in the last couple of years as I’ve seen in a lifetime.”

..so there you go, problem solved.

Hey, you never know..

Wow. Not only did February see a stop to the dropping benchmark price, it leaped back up to a new peak featuring the number of the beast: $666,983

I haven’t seen stats for apartments and townhomes yet, but I’ll add those graphs when they’re available.

Update: here they are, craziness in every sector. Buy now before everyone is priced out forever.

Stats are from agentwill, he’ll email you the full stats, but I just grabbed the February benchmark numbers from his post at Realestatetalks.

In order to protect our economy from an invasion of parasitic small family-owned businesses hitching a free ride on the Olympics ‘brand’, Industry minister Maxime Bernier has introduced bill C-47 which grants Vancouver Olympic organizers ownership over public use of exotic words like winter, gold, silver, bronze, sponsor, Vancouver, Whistler, 2010, tenth, medals, and games.

So if you had plans to run a seniors hockey tournament in 2010 and branding it ‘the Vancouver 2010 silver winter games‘, just don’t. ok?

Just to be safe, refrain from using any of the words listed above until 2011 and you should be ok. The last thing we want to do is infringe upon the fragile rights of the I.O.C.

It’s Friday and here’s your open thread to discuss whatever’s on your mind when it comes to the housing market and Vancouver. Post your links, anectdotes, numbers & news here.

Whats been going on this week?

-global stock market wobbles
-end of the month stats coming out soon
-rsp deadlines

Whats happening in your neck o’ the woods?

Asun sent in this shot of a skytrain ad he found on flickr.