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December 17th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I personally know of 7 homeowners now that are going to re-list in the spring when “the maket recovers”
Kinda like: “IF I CLOSE MY EYES YOU CAN’T SEE ME”
December 17th, 2008 at 10:21 am
#95 Lily pad. Thank you for the insight into your market niche. Much appreciate getting professional real time info without a sales or personal agenda spin attached. Keep us up to date please.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Dave
“Most people who buy SFH in GV are not first time home buyers.”
And those people don’t impact the market significantly. Sell 1 home to buy another and the net market impact is essentially 0. For the market to keep going upwards it needs to feed on new buyers and home ownership is at record levels.
But enough of you changing the subject and avoiding my question.
You’ve admitted your system of market prediction is broken over the long run. You’ve said your system works fine for the last 50 years but will fail over the next 100.
At what point between now and 100 years from now does your system fail?
What makes you believe the system is still working now if you know it will fail eventually?
Your system of market prediction is 0 for 4 right now in predicting recent trends, that, coupled with the fact that you know it will not work forever doesn’t tell you that maybe now is the time it fails? Really?
You’ve said in the past that you don’t purposely dodge questions yet twice you’ve avoided this one (in spite of your name being in bold at the top). How about an answer Dave?
December 17th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I was wrong that Millennials were bigger in size than the Boomers, but they are fairly comparable in size. On top of that, we have positive immigration rates.
Dave what happens to our economy when productivity declines by say 1%? It’s bad right? With the Boomer generation winding down we’re going to see a declining population. What effect do you think that has on an economy? Oh and you’re right about immigration but guess what, most of the immigrants coming to Canada are Boomers! You’d think that a real estate agent might have even a cursory understanding of the demographics of the market they work in! Maybe you slept through the “Demographics 100″ component of your rigorous realtor training seminar?
December 17th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Re MILLENIUM Development in Nanaimo
WEB EXTRA: Hotel developer asks city for five-month delay
http://www.bclocalnews.com/van.....42384.html
QUOTE:
The developer has asked Nanaimo city council for more time to begin construction on the 180-room hotel adjacent to the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday night in a special open meeting to discuss the proposed new terms.
In a letter to council dated Dec. 15, Millennium Nanaimo Properties president Shahram Malek says his company is still committed to the project and has invested “significant time and resources” even though it has missed several contractual deadlines that should have seen construction begin last summer.
QUOTE:
In his letter, Malek offered the City of Nanaimo some incentives as a “gesture of goodwill,” adding that Millennium is now ready to obtain a development permit after two failed attempts.
One of those incentives would be to give the city $50,000 per month starting from Jan. 31 to pay for each monthly extension, though that money – up to $250,000 – would be refunded once the hotel is complete.
What makes this interesting is that Nanaimo, like Vancouver, had a bit of a purge after the civic elections , the common thread being deals with Millenium.
However, I think Millenium is simply delaying the inevitable in Nanaimo, given they had to borrow $100 Million from City of Vancouver to complete the Olympic village. Can’t Nanaimo see the obvious, it is getting the wool pulled over its eyes ? Unfortunately, Gov’ts, especially Local Gov’ts , are basically whores that will take any legal bribe they can, like Milleniums $50,000 per month offer to buy or rent ” False Hope”.
I see Millenium playing the new councils in both Vancouver and Nanaimo like fiddles, despite all the bluff and bluster of the new Councils who got elected on the platform of “Dammit we will get to the bottom of this “.
Egos and legacies are on the line….regardless of who is in power and when…the taxpayer always lose when these bad quasi P-3 deals are signed.
PS: Stay tuned for a major move by Millenium on the “new” Vancouver Council, and moreso based on what happened with Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme . I’ll bet Ladner and Sullivan are breathing a major sigh of relief they ain’t Mayor for the next 3 years.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I found this posting on the Greater Fool site. I guess it’s not only realtors who are feeling the pain but appraisrs, too. I wonder how home inspectors, mortgage brokers and real estate lawyers (the non-bankruptcy type) are doing right now.
” #8 Gordon C. on 12.15.08 at 8:21 pm
As for the “WET COAST” of Canada, it really sucks to be a Real Estate Appraiser. Sales activity is at the lowest point in ten years. That puts us back to pre-boom times which were a flat half dozen years. Prices are declining and in my city at a rate of 2 percent a month or roughly 25 percent a year for single family homes. Condo prices have rolled back to the Q1 prices of 2007. As for properties with 5 or more suites, there is no market for them and multi-family properties have stopped selling.
Lots of calls for divorces and I expect requests for court ordered sales to accelerate by Q2 2009.”
December 17th, 2008 at 8:57 am
On the topic of affordability or as some may prefer
“affordability”.
http://www.canada.com/vancouve.....f1&p=1
December 17th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Prices are going lower than $750k.
If you had stopped there you’d finally be right about something!
December 17th, 2008 at 7:54 am
GVRD median household income? About 62K
Median SFH? 750K
Mortgage payment with 25% down? At 6% 3595.71/mo
or 43,148.52 per year.
Leaving a bit shy of 18,000 for EVERYTHING else!
Back to you, Dave.
Prices are going lower than $750k.
Why pick 6% for your mortgage rate? It isn’t very hard to get 5%, so that brings it down to $3,250 per month, or $39k per year. It’s even easier to go lower than that with a variable rate mortgage, but I think people are safer looking at 5 year rates.
Most people who buy SFH in GV are not first time home buyers. Many go in with more than 25%, but I have no idea what the median down-payment is. Do you?
Median incomes do not necessarily translate into the median SFH buyer. Actually, the two demographics are probably worlds apart. Clearly a student working at Subway or a low income renter are not the demographic looking to buy a home. So why we think that the median income is somehow representative or even useful as an affordability measure? People who buy homes do it in their highest income earning years.
And why should we think the entire population will be able to buy a home? Do the math and look at our density. It’s not possible. At this point in time, perhaps only the top the top 1/2 or 1/3 of earners can afford a SFH. So again, the median income is useless for your scenario.
And finally, you have not accounted for mortgage helpers. What percentage of homes have them? 10%, 25%…???
December 17th, 2008 at 6:43 am
read on:
Yeah, that’s right! Forgot that bit about taxes. So you can’t even afford to live KD and value village style.
But you’re not hurting as bad as Dave, who just had his Beemer repossessed. Poor Dave, someone go buy a house from him.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:48 am
@alex. 82
19k? You’d probably want to use some of that pay your taxes, EI etc. I’m pretty sure the 62k stat is gross income.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
ooh, one more bit from the article:
“Once inflation returns, the central bank will need to sell assets into the market, to mop up the excess money it has created in fighting deflation. Similarly, the government must reduce its deficit to a size it can finance in the market. Otherwise, deflationary expectations may swiftly turn into expectations of above-target inflation. This may also happen if the debt sold in efforts to sterilise the monetary overhang is deemed beyond the government’s ability to service.”
this is what I have been wondering will happen, and I also wonder if we will see the housing market continue to deflate while inflation could ramp up again, and how that would last. I feel like there is so much banking and governmental manipulation that a strict Austrian school-style scenario might not happen? If anyone has an idea about this, I would be really curious to learn more.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Domus,
thank-you for the link. I have been following with interest (uh, no pun) various inflationary and deflationary scenarios for awhile, and I still find it the most challenging aspect to understand. Once you get past the basics, the scenarios become complicated and pretty interesting.
From the link:
“Is deflation a realistic likelihood? Core measures of inflation strongly suggest not. But one measure of expected inflation – the gap between yields on conventional and index-linked Treasuries – has collapsed to 14 basis points. Moreover, yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds are already where Japan’s were in 1996, six years after the latter’s crisis began.”
“…as explained by the great American economist Irving Fisher in the 1930s, ‘debt deflation’ – the rising real value of debt as prices fall – then becomes a lethal threat.”
If anyone is interested there is a nice list of various scnarios and bank reactions in that article: recommended!
December 16th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I just don’t get how significant inflation can happen at this point.
Maybe the gubmint will mail $1000 gift certificates to every Canadian every month for the next several months. That would be about $33 billion a month.
The gift certificates can’t be saved and have to redeemed at a car dealership/real estate office/furniture store/Future Shop before they expire at the end of the month.
Anyhow, I’m tired. Must go to bed.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Squidly,
if one closely reviews your last babblings…er, I mean…post, it is quite apparent that you reveal….. absolutely nothing.
Can you try again and actually make a point this time??
John
December 16th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
“Can’t have both, except sequentially.”
You could have monetary inflation with simultaneous deflation in some markets or vice versa, as I understand it.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Dave
“Is it even 1/10th of what has been thrown at me?”
See post #17
It’s certainly more than 1/10th of what I have thrown at you. I’ve been practically defending you on occasion here. Not your ideas, they’re complete trash, but there’s no need for people to insult you on things that don’t relate to your intelligence, your personality or your hygiene.
Actually there’s probably no valid reason for anyone here to insult you based on your hygiene either, I just threw that in there because I like saying things in threes.
P.S. I find it quite amusing that you take my gentle teasing seriously. As I’ve said before your personality shows on the page, you read like a book (a bad book, Danielle Steel or someone like that, real pulpy crap that’s only good for a long transatlantic flight or an epic bowel movement).
Merry Christmas!
December 16th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Dave
“The question of what prices will be in 100 years begged for the sarcastic response.”
Well it got the desired answer from you. You admitted your system will not work over that timetable. You avoided answering the obvious follow up question however, so I’ll ask again. If your system is broken in the long run what’s to make anyone believe it’s going to work for even a few more years? Why do you so oppose the idea that your system could be in the process of breaking right now? If, as you say, your system is good now, when does it break? At what time between now and 100 years from now does it fail?
Many many problems with your thesis Dave and, as always when cornered you simply ignore the issues.
Stop sidestepping the issue and dragging it to ‘affordability’, that word is simply a dodge used by the real estate salespeople to justify ridiculous prices.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Sorry, that’s a bit shy of 19,000. Extra grand for the car repair. You’ll need it.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
The term ‘affordability’ in real estate has a specific meaning and is a commonly used term. It is simply the ratio of income to carrying costs (payments + interest)
GVRD median household income? About 62K
Median SFH? 750K
Mortgage payment with 25% down? At 6% 3595.71/mo
or 43,148.52 per year.
Leaving a bit shy of 18,000 for EVERYTHING else!
Back to you, Dave.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
hey Pimp, one piece of advise friend-find out what helicopter Ben said today. You’re peddling yesterdays news.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
ReductiMat,
Congratulations at your first ever post it took lots of hat tips from the pope in the past between strataman disappeared some where and scullhead lost her job,k financial never returned back to report how he is doing in rental unit a great son who encouraged his parents and pushed them in rental unit as well.Dave congratulations to you as well it was a hit but i don’t wear any hat i tip cowboys hat to you and reductimates how ever VRENGD.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Holg, dude, don’t have a cow.
“Ms. Kniffen said about 40 percent of Cascadia Pacific Realty’s clients were Americans” is a direct quote from the company not my writing fiction. Look it up on their web-site. Look for quotation marks in my posting . They are these sqiggly things “”"”"”"”"”" on either side of an enclosed grouping of words. Ex: The dog said “Woof” at the mailman. Woof is the direct quotation.
Are you saying that Americans weren’t buying the cheap Canadian Peso and getting 50% off all their purchases. This is the reason why Americans were buying here.
I don’t drink, but I like Korean party girls. How about one of those instead of the beer. 19ish, slim. Stand her on any corner in Yaletown for me with a sign around her neck saying “Korean Real Estate Investor”, she’ll be impossible to miss as I suspect she’ll be the only one in the city.
If you’d care to do some research I think you’ll find that the Spanish statistics are very similar to Canadian. You can also look at Australia and see the same similarity. And don’t you find it amusing that the people there were as stupid as the people here?
December 16th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Dave, your sentence structure, word usage, and idioms sure could get you identified as a certain realtor of blog notoriety.
Strangely enough the BS you spit out was used to rationalize word by word the bubble I the US, yet the bubble popped.
Land shortage, mushrooming population, rich boomers, rich immigrants, everybody wants to live here, have gone bald and have no more traction at the apex of the hysteria.
Dave stop peddling this nonsense.
In the aftermath of the deleveraging which is underway, no matter how good the metrics, may seem compared to now, not many will have the financing or the inclination to gamble with RE in Vancouver.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Hey Domus your link wanted money to read it but here’s a another one that doesn’t (at least yet)
http://www.businessspectator.c.....mp;src=sph
December 16th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
very true anonymous because there clearly are no alternatives to living in a basement suite.
1,143 sq ft at Shangri La for $2200 is one…..
December 16th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Beautiful explanation of the inflation/deflation issue by Martin Wolfe on tomorrow’s Financial Times. This is all you need to read to understand the problem.
‘Helicopter Ben’ confronts the challenge of a lifetime
http://tinyurl.com/6sy76f
This article is exactly what I have been posting about for the past few months.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
A lot here would have thought prices couldn’t go higher in 2006. We now have 2006 pricing, lower interest rates, lower income tax and gst tax, etc. Basically real estate is more affordable now. Prices could go back up. There is a limit to how long people want to occupy a basement suite. Momentum argument? this is a new era friends.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
browntown or john would be much better at guest posting because at least they’re funny.
good plan!
the nutslap chronicles!
or:
the SUV as an investment vehicle
December 16th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Judging from the your intellect Dave you are the most likely to be living in your Mums basement.
browntown or john would be much better at guest posting because at least they’re funny.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The term ‘affordability’ in real estate has a specific meaning and is a commonly used term. It is simply the ratio of income to carrying costs (payments + interest). Let’s say you made 50k per year and paid out 25k in carrying costs. The affordability ratio would be 2.0.
For the last 32 years (as far back as the data goes), the affordability ratio was mostly (say 90% of the time) between 1.5 and 2.5. The lowest point was actually at the peak in the 80′s.
The low affordability at the past peak is nothing new. We’ve been there and done that. Each time real estate came back to make new highs.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
“Affordability, has traded within a moderate range (generally between 1.5 to 2.5).”
can you explain what that means? i don’t get it. what is this 1.5 and 2.5? and how is affordability traded? or is there some other more suitable word for that?
December 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I contend that we’ve hit the practical limit of that effect– prices have risen beyond a sustainable point, and that the Boomers’ reign of ever increasing asset values has come to an end. With the smaller generations following behind the boomers, there won’t be much stimulus to allow rising numbers of owners to exist. Without an ever-increasing number of buyers for a limited amount of land, land values cannot increase.
What effect? And how do you define and measure it?
If you want to talk about valuation, then I would suggest affordability is the number to consider. Affordability, has traded within a moderate range (generally between 1.5 to 2.5). You make it sound as if affordability has gone well above historic norms. It hasn’t.
Smaller generations? I was wrong that Millennials were bigger in size than the Boomers, but they are fairly comparable in size. On top of that, we have positive immigration rates. And yes, 1.3% is still a lot of people. And yes, we do have an ever increasing population and a limit of available land.
The other way that land values increase is through inflation.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
consumers are tapped out.they cant work anymore ot hours
they can no longer support the auto industry and the housing industry and the electronic goods making industry
and the oil industry and the banks and starbucks
consumers need to relax and just try and survive
we have given all that we can give dudes
December 16th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Anon #63: What’s this about immigration? Metro Vancouver’s population growth rate was a whole whopping 1.3% per year from 2001-2006.
http://www.metrovancouver.org/.....Facts.aspx
December 16th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Inflation vs. deflation or both
Can’t have both, except sequentially. They are opposites, as long as you’re talking inflation/deflation in it’s true sense, that is, as a monetary phenomena. Price increases, as most people think of inflation as, are only a result of, not the meaning of inflation. Prices are subject to many different influences, inflation being only one.
For instance, inflation has been masked for many years now by price DECREASES from productivity gains, off-shoring, cutting out the middle-man, tightening margins, and so on. That has allowed wages to be eroded in real terms, as inflation marched on, but was deliberately disguised by fun with numbers by the Government.
To be true inflation we need to see wage increases at the same pace, and that just ain’t happening!
December 16th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’ve been tracking Yaletown rentals intently for what seems an eternity now.
For the first time in, well, ever, I’m starting to see BIG pricing drops.
One three bedroom started at $3,500 a month, then over the course of the next two months dropped to $2,600 before it was taken off the list.
Take a look at all the Coopers Pointe rentals Prompton’s trying to rent. Some have been on there for close to two months and even with 25% cuts, still no takers.
Furthermore, for the first time on the Prompton sheets, I’m seeing, “Offers Accepted” (what, they never were before?).
What is going to happen in the Spring? When the great Rush of ’09 starts, I wonder how that will affect the rental market.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
M – one word for you friend
“immigration”
December 16th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Hyperinflation (or just a lot of inflation) is the only way that I can see real estate going up next 5 years, or not falling significantly. However, the loss of jobs and just general money disappearance going on makes it seem impossible not to crash anyway (as Patriotz likes to point out). I do think people are waking up to the idea of credit being in real dollars, not little bits of paper you can reshuffle forever..
Unfortunately, as I watch the US Fed cut rates down to the bone, I worry we will follow their lead. Obama has Volker in his cabinet, which makes me wonder if they will wind up taking the other tack? We often seem to follow several years behind the US in our policies.
Inflation vs. deflation or both. This is going to get confusing.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Dave: “The question of what prices will be in 100 years begged for the sarcastic response.”
The far-off future was used to demonstrate how ridiculous your predicted appreciation of 5.5% per year off into the indeterminate future is.
Property prices cannot increase at a rate greater than wages forever– that’s mathematically impossible. Well, impossible if people have to pay interest and principal payments. Prices have been increasing at greater than inflation for much of the Boomers’ adulthood.
I contend that we’ve hit the practical limit of that effect– prices have risen beyond a sustainable point, and that the Boomers’ reign of ever increasing asset values has come to an end. With the smaller generations following behind the boomers, there won’t be much stimulus to allow rising numbers of owners to exist. Without an ever-increasing number of buyers for a limited amount of land, land values cannot increase.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Rents still seem high. I have searched Yaletown and I don’t see a big % drop in rental rates. So all the foreigners that hold Vancouver real estate aren’t selling on mass.
December 16th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
hey vancouver comrades your bust is on now
i posted my opinions on the ecomomy and bailouts on the bubleblog and fool blog
just in my humble opinion
auto bailouts are useless
the problem is not building the cars..its selling them
theyll just keep building cars into oblivion
subsidizing the forestry industry is useless..its not that they pay there employees to much
its the lack of people buying the lumber
they will keep building lumber inventories into oblivion
all they are doing is kicking the can down the road..the problem will still be there only it will be much bigger
the problem is high priced real estate..people spend so much of there disposable income on shelter
that that they can not buy the products that other industries produce for example autos and lumber
the economy has been destroyed because of over priced homes
the prices must come down fast
addition to the post above
consumers have hit the wall world wide they have simply run out of money to keep the ponzi game alive
every thing is over built
to many cars to many houses to much of every thing
this was painfully obvious to me
we are going to have a major recession for sure
taking our medicine will be nasty
but take it we must
and we are going to have to accept the fact that we will have much less for a few years maybe longer
and yes many many people will lose there homes
the REIC have destroyed the world wide economy
all the crap bailouts that the NDP and Liberals want wont solve a thing..nothing
December 16, 2008
December 16th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Hyperinflation:
it will kill savers who hold cash. In the short term it will provide a clean slate for debt, giving a kickstart to consumption/investment.
In the long-term it will mean higher interest rates (because you can’t fool savers twice, at least not just immediately after) and lower asset values. House prices will then suffer, just as well.
Just think about this: bubbles in the US started to happen when inflation was ‘credibly’ tamed and nominal/real rates went low for prolonged periods. Cheap cash and leverage induce asset prices to grow. But what if lenders stop believing in ‘credibly’ low inflation: long-term everybody lose when you let the inflation genie out of the bottle.
Of course, politicians are short-term agents…..
December 16th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Korea’s economy and housing market is taking body punches worse than Vancouver… and devalued currency rubbed into the cuts to make it mor painful
December 16th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Good point bdk, Many who hold dual passports don’t show in any stats as “foreign” buyers, yet have little or no commitment to Canada, and have very opaque finances here. As soon as the tide turns they can easily disappear, and have to dump their properties. I don’t think anyone knows, except anecdotally.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Hey alex you beat me to my question by mentioning Korean party girls.
Are permanent residents or new Canadians who’re living here off the fortunes of their parents ,who do not live here,considered foreign buyers?
If Asian and East Asian Canadians and their extended families money from abroad count then Vancouver and Richmond have a huge percentage of foreign buyers.
I know a bunch of Koreans too and was told a year ago that they weren’t coming here anymore because L.A. was cheaper, they had a bigger community and the weather was nicer.
But that is another topic altogether.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I owe you a 24-pack if you can prove there were more foreign RE speculators, per capita, in the city of Vancouver than the entire country of Spain
To be fair, you should compare the coastal areas of Spain that were popular with foreign buyers to Vancouver. Most inland villages were ignored, just as Moose Jaw never really got onto Singapore’s “A”-list.
I actually knew a Korean party-girl, (friend of my wife’s friend), rich parents, big allowance, no responsibilities or job, owned places here, Miami and California. Her parents got wise early, made her sell “her” condos, and yanked her back home. That’s two years ago. They didn’t get rich by being stupid.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Hi Paul,
You bring up a real estate agent stating 40% foreign buyers. Where is your documented proof?
My argument is that the foreign buyer myth in Vancouver is provably false. Very very provably. We need to get paulb here for confirmation, but there never were significant sales to foreign buyers.
My argument is also that Spain very provably had foreign buyers – mostly from the UK, buying “cheap” real estate with the strong pound. Now that the pound has crashed, and the market in Spain has crashed, what happens?
Two bets!
1.) I owe you a 24-pack if you can prove there were more foreign RE speculators, per capita, in the city of Vancouver than the entire country of Spain. Vice versa if I’m right (you owe me a keg.) I’m going on my gut here.
2.) I owe you a keg if, within the next 5 years, the Canadian RE market crashes, peak to trough, relative to our own currency less than the Spanish market crashes in their own currency (the Euro.) Vice versa if I’m wrong. IE if CDN houses drop more in CDN dollars than spanish houses drop in Euro, I pay you. This includes the market peaks though.
Is it a bet?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Holg #46, The numbers speak for themselves. I am suggesting apparent similarities between the two economies exist based on published facts. It’s nothing personal I assure you. Figures don’t lie and liars can’t figure, I think the old adage goes.
The Spanish finance minister refers to speculation by foriegn buyers affecting the market. I offer this by way of the Vancouver parallel.
“Ms. Kniffen said about 40 percent of Cascadia Pacific Realty’s clients were Americans. Most are interested in buying bigger houses in and around Vancouver to use as second or even third homes. The market has thrived to the point where more affordable housing has been replaced with high-ticket units, many used only part-time.
“It certainly has been a cause of concern,” said Brent Toderian, the director of planning for the City of Vancouver. “Some Vancouverites have expressed concern with having to compete with infrequent users — or second-home buyers — in a very expensive marketplace. It’s often been a source of tension and debate within the city.”
Holg, i am suggesting that as the situation deteriorates in the US, China, S. Korea, Britian ( vancs biggest foriegn contingents) etc., that more spec condos will not be purchased and that inventory will be dumped onto the market. I saw a show the other night that looked at the sales of personal items being dumped on the market. This included art works, wine collections, jewellery to raise cash as asset values plunge around the world etc., why should a Vancouver condo be any differant.
I was in Singapore recently and the number of redunacies is causing a huge flood of people whose fortunes have changed suddenly to sell their watches and other jewellery to pawn shops at rock bottom prices to raise cash. This is not anecdotal it was published in the Straits Times newspaper. Singaporeans are not coming to Vanc to buy condos it would appear if they are having to sell their furniture because of sudden job losses.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Douglas Grey of:
http://www.homebuyer.ca/making.....investing/
was just interviewed on CBC radio and he said home prices have declined in the vancouver area over the past 6-9 months and people should not list their property unless they really need to sell because prices might increase again after 2, 3, 4 or 5 years.
The interviewer asked several times how much real estate prices have declined and after a few avoidant comments Gray finally choked out “2-3%”. Huh?