It looks like Vancouver’s housing slump is starting to get attention from outside Canada. Several people pointed out this Bloomberg article about our declining real estate market.
West Vancouver builder Sean Hanley thought Canada’s real estate market would be immune to the housing recession that sent values tumbling in the U.S. Then the economy slowed and oil prices fell.
The price of a detached house in this upscale community fell 22 percent in October from a year earlier, helping to drag the average residential price in Canada down by 9.9 percent, the biggest decline in 26 years, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and the Canadian Real Estate Association. For Hanley, that’s meant nary a buyer for his five-bedroom home.
“It’s been a little bit surprising the consequences of the subprime crisis have been so far-reaching,” said Hanley, 48, who has cut his asking price to C$3.99 million ($3.26 million) and is now offering a C$100,000 bonus, on top of regular fees, to the agent who delivers a buyer.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen offers of a bonus to the buyers agent instead of a price reduction, but I’m a bit suprised that it’s acceptable to openly pay the buyers agent to represent the sellers interest. Is this even an effective technique?
