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Friday free-for-all!

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The world is going through some interesting times: a hangover from the boom of loose credit, house prices dropping in many cities, inflationary pressures and skyrocketing energy prices. This is our open-topic weekend post to discuss anything related to economics and real estate on the global and local level. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed this week:

– June 2008: Vancouver house prices drop slightly.
– Real estate inventory continues to grow
– Screen Actors Guild strike threat looms.
– Kevin Falcon cares about your convenience
– Victoria: love the weather, not the street people
– Americans move to Canada (less than vice-versa)
– Canadians work more for less
– Canadians no longer spending like ‘drunken sailors‘
– Loonie predicted to drop
– Canada from a Hawaiian perspective
– Will gas prices kill the suburbs?

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news, links and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

note: any conversation on real estate or economics is allowed, please keep it civilized. when posting articles please only quote pertinent points and link to the original instead of pasting the entire article here. Pasting a link will automatically create a clickable hot-link. Thanks!

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freako

according to Credit Union Central B.C.’s latest weekly economic briefing. “The long-awaited and much-anticipated price cycle peak probably occurred in February.” I love how guys like Pastrick go from perpetual appreciation machine to "long anticipated price cycle peak" without admitting that he was wrong. Lereah did it too. Gave us bogus sunshine reports and then reported that prices dropped just as he had anticipated. Rob Chipman now claims that he has anticipated a 20-40% drop. All he has ever said are cliches such as "buy when the numbers work" and the "cure for high prices is high prices". Now that the sh*t storm has finally arrived, he retroactively repositions himself. What a joke. Asshat Gary Watts from the States finally admitted that he was wrong, but blamed it entirely on Wall Street shenanigans. It is really twisted how all the… Read more »

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Scratchy

"Building permits in Canada up 1.1%. Housing permits dropped, commercial gained and made up for the housing short-coming. "

Once again *exactly* tracking what happened in the US market.

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Vansanity

Nice post Re-diculous. A lot of news on the recession this morning. CNN had a piece on recession proofing your assets ie. savings account. Building permits in Canada up 1.1%. Housing permits dropped, commercial gained and made up for the housing short-coming. Consumer confidence at all time low. BC Housing starting to fall: "Price declines in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley look to continue in the near term," according to Credit Union Central B.C.'s latest weekly economic briefing. "The long-awaited and much-anticipated price cycle peak probably occurred in February." TSX continues to fall today. Dollar is down on oil retreat. BOC set the tone for higher interest rates. Likely they won't raise them next week but they are worried about inflation and it's only a matter of time until the rates start climbing. It's going to be the "Perfect Storm".… Read more »

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Re-diculous

For all those in denial…this is for you

B.C. Records Biggest Drop in Consumer Confidence

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.htm…

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alexcanuck

Usually they’re insecure with good reason

Often they can be recognized by the rusty Camaro (if Asian, make that rusty Civic with 3" chrome tailpipe) that they tend to tailgate you in.

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Drachen

Why do you bring "oxy" into it?

Matt has nothing of value to add. His only topic of conversation is how much smarter he is than everyone else around him. In my experience people who need to brag about their mental prowess to that degree are very insecure about their intelligence. Usually they're insecure with good reason.

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oxymoron

Matt Says: "I think bears on this blog …"

Example of an oxymoron: the phrase "Matt thinks".

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ReductiMat

Matt, what geographical region gets to claim you as its paragon of enlightenment?

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Thums up2

Rob A,

Matt has long way to go because he has just sold his house then he has become desperate to re-enter quickly as he can so he has chose his suitable plate form called cry but after january 2009 he will change his plate form from cry to screaming.

Did you notice on 5k disscount they had start talking about recession,inflation,stagflation,and job loss but those are the least form on ending stages so you can see loser begin with final spin which already ended in march 2008 you can say lmao again!!!

Between INFORMERSOURCE1.said our blogger poster SOPHIA is pregnent by almost 2.5 months while informer source 2 said she is planing to settle up back home in ns.

SOPHIA?

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Rob A.

Awwwww…. Matt weeps for Vancouverites, how sweet. LMAO.

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patriotz

I think bears on this blog are driven by the same greed as the bulls.

Since when is refusing to buy a house, or anything else, for a ridiculous price being greedy?

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Patiently Waiting

ignorant? Yes, because our location has made this city insular. People here rather dull-witted and unaware of the rest of the world (despite all the immigration).

materialistic? Sure, but no more than anywhere else.

ostentatious? Actually, not really. People here dress more casually than other places, there are a lot less pimped-out SUVs clogging the highways than other places in North America, and Vancouver houses are nothing special (pun intended). Except for a few downtown yuppies, nope, no way, and much less than other places.

Up until a few months ago, 95% of everyone I knew was a bull. Soon 95% will be bears. Same people, different times.

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betamax

The main reason Vancouver has been maligned with a real estate bubble is that Vancouverites are ignorant, materialistic and ostentatious. These attributes afflict both bulls and bears.

You comprehend neither bubbles nor bears. In fact, your posts here invariably communicate little more than the limits of your own comprehension. It's like watching a man bounce off a trampoline and bash his head against the ceiling, over and over again.

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Matt

#123, VHB,

Loosen up the drawstring on your lululemon pants. I think bears on this blog are driven by the same greed as the bulls. The main reason Vancouver has been maligned with a real estate bubble is that Vancouverites are ignorant, materialistic and ostentatious. These attributes afflict both bulls and bears.

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Joe Stalin

When this house market crashes the provincial and federal governments will bail everyone out. You will all pay fot the foolishness do not be fooled.

As for the carbon tax and transit etc you have all missed the real show yet to come. Cap and trade is on it's way and will shutdown what's left of industry in BC.

So let's sum it up. We've got a crashing housing industry, a forestry industry that's on death's door, a huge bailout on it's way and a provincial government hell bent on shutting down all industry in the name of a slide show by a failed politician. Should be fun.

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Thums up2

"Did it explicitly say anywhere that there are 2 ‘additional’ stalls, or are you using your imagination again?"

Exx,

here we got description of property if you don't believe this then go check out your own posted link again- good?

Unit #301

Type: Apartment

Description: Coquitlam’s tallest building, brand new 2 bedrooms, den & 2 baths + 2 parking. The best layout in the building, 965 sq ft + 73 sq ft balcony. Close to Coquitlam Town Centre, restaurants, public library & recreation centre.

Exx i shoudn't be complaining if you had left your post

question marked but you were throwing your post with confidence so you deserve that rant you have got to mislead the thread and posters but today you are doing little better so hey? IT'S OKEY!!!

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M-

Punface: new listings was up 18%. Total inventory was up 50-some percent, though the REBGV report doesn't make it easy to find this number.

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exx

Sorry I'm not very good at imagining what things should cost. Don't you feel much better knowing instead? Did it explicitly say anywhere that there are 2 'additional' stalls, or are you using your imagination again?

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Thums up2

Brittanny,

Are you trying to say "WOW" melt down while waiting for crash?

opppsss you did it again Brittanny?

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Thums up2

Exx,

What did i say imagine parking lot in coco at half price"IMAGINE"

Now work on your recomendation 2 parkings =$14,000 distance between third floor to twelfth floor $1,500*9=$13,500 so floor 3rd and 12th will cost same in same direction that's why both units cost $389,000 in downtown difference between floors cost atleast $4,000 then there are lots of view in downtown while view in coco could be free but directions still cost little bit extra every where.Imagine 15k in east side almost $500k in west side for all e,w,s,n facing.

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Brittanny

Bear who sold in Dec, 2007 – I knew it was going to get bad, but I did not think it would get this bad so fast. Wow, what a meltdown!

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browntown

hey nutslappers! good try with history canucknut but remember history show realestate go up! check 1978 to 2008, only canucks stay same level! calculate your rent going out of bank account! ha ha ha hey jim try calculating land left for houses, too bad to many people scrample for garage! hey exx, smart move shop for condo!

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punface

From the latest entry on Garth Turner's blog: "In Vancouver, despite the hype of the 2010 Olympics, the situation is even more dire. Sales have crumbed by 43% in a year, and the number of people trying to bail has grown steadily, with listings up 18%."

Aren't listings up way more than 18%?

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Jim

A few reasons BC’s bubble burst will be bigger than most: – Olympics venue construction complete as of spring ’08 (2+ billion of investment completed) – Housing speculation rampant in BC in the past three years – Widespread psychology of “things will continue to go up until well after the games” – American speculators begin cashing out to cover their losses south of border – Listings in the lower mainland triple in 2008 as speculators/investors try to sell – With multi-billions in mortgage defaults at stake, Canada’s banks release weekly reports pleading Canada is separate from the US (‘Canada will withstand US meltdown’, ‘Canada does not have a subprime crisis’) – Canada’s versions of subprime mortgages are 0% down, no income verification with 40 year amortizations (40 year mortgages merely inflated and prolonged the bursting of the bubble) – Most… Read more »

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