So with all the building inspectors on strike are these CONdos going to take longer to complete.

I remember Toronto was voted best place in the world to do business or to live or something like that about 10 years ago.All over the city there were posters saying "TORONTO IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE – VOTED NO 1". I found it so strange. It was almost like brainwashing people. Don't comp[lain. This is the Best Place to Live. If you said you wanted to live in Switzerland, Ireland or anywhere else people would get so upset. Now I think TO has sunk down to 20th or something.

Ken:Europeans should be consistantly embarassed, can't believe how backwards they are.You certainly can't accuse the Europeans of modesty and humility. I think BC's claim is a little over the top, but people in glass houses…On a related note, I was in London recently and its amazing to spend some time there and actually wonder how these people at one time ruled the world, nevermind the fact that they currently enjoy a great standard of living on the world scale. Ditto Italy.

Inwonderment: From your story I see the completely different logics people have regarding rent and buy. Rent in Vancouver is at most double of rent in Ottawa, while buying in Vancouver is at least triple the cost of buying in Ottawa. Somehow people would refuse to pay the double rent in Vancouver for the next year, but have no problem commiting to paying triple mortgage for the next 25 years. Just unbelievable. I guess prices going down is just too foreign for most people, and buying is never throwing money away.

Real-estate values and construction have peaked one to two years before a depression, and have stayed at peak levels until the onset of the downturn.The historical evidence is consistent with the theory that speculative booms in real-estate prices and construction act as an impetus for the downturn itself.

hadenough said "They thought it was very naive and childish.It is so embarassing." Actually in general I feel Europeans should be consistantly embarassed, can't believe how backwards they are. Some of them even think the monarchy is special, and believe it of not, most of them forget that they have caused almost all the present day strife through there colonial practices. That would apply to the majority of European countries, and yes I've been there many times, most I can say is they should maybe for once practice what they preach. BC IS the best place on earth, no thanks to our politicians of whatever stripe. It was a beautiful natural environment. (Emphasis on was)!

inwonderment,It sounds like they were extremely wealthy buyers with a large down-payment and excellent credit. People like that aren't taking the same risk as Mr. and Mrs. Howmuchamonth.

This is changing the topic a bit but it I thought it was an interesting story some friends told me at lunch yesterday before they departed Vancouver.It is their experience with Vancouver real and estate and I’m not sure if this is a story about the Vancouver condo market or about how we do business in Vancouver, but here is the story of my Ottawa friends. My friends contacted me about their child who was moving to Vancouver to do a five year hospital residency. I gave them the cautionary notes about BC real estate, they were more inclined to rent anyway because it had worked well while the child was at medical school in another large Canadian city. They tried to find a rental place from Ottawa but gave up on that idea and in a bit of frustration… Read more »

Rentah,Assuming 25% down, the monthly payment on the large place is around $2,250 a month, not counting maintenance fees and taxes. Not an insignificant part of most people's take home pay……I too am in the 45-50% price drop range, which means my neighbours think I am slightly less sane than the woman down the street who lives with 60 cats…….

"Ultimately the union is not in a position of power and is unlikely to gain anything by going on strike."True, and once the summer is over, the city will have even less incentive to meet their demands.

"clarke: Do these units have condo maintenance fees?"Yep. It works out to a monthly levy of around $0.26/square foot.

The city is offering a 39 month contract and the union wants either a 36 month or 48 month contract. The city rejects both the 36 and 48 month durations because of the olympics and municipal elections respectively. In past years, councillors have avoided holding elections during collective bargaining periods out of fear of union manipulation of election campaigning. CUPE 1004's Mike Jackson states that it isn't likely that there will be much money left in city coffers after the olympics so the unions prefer the shorter contract. Other major points of contention in negotiations include removal of a new contract clause that stipulates that new job postings can be posted internally and externally at the same time, and higher wage increases (14% vs 9.75%).You can read the union's take on it here: http://cupe15.org/Contract%20Counterspin.pdf

It looks like there are still buyers. In my complex in East Van, one 500 square foot went for $300,000 (asking price) and a 900 square foot top floor unit went for $475k (asking was $449k). As a number of units are rented in this complex, rent to own comparisons are easy to do. The smaller one would likely garner $1,000 a month in rent, and the larger unit could pull in around $1,600. So between the rents, and the fact that neither of the two buyers appears to be a wealthy foreigner, I am a little mystified. I am not sure what either party was smoking so that these purchases seemed like a good idea, but I have to score some!