The bubble has burst!
There are a lot of quotes in the media these days from local developers and politicians with variations on the theme ‘nobody saw the Vancouver housing bust coming‘. This is surprising when you consider how many blogs we have out there dedicated to the concept that Vancouver house prices got way out of hand and are in for the mother of all corrections.
But lets not blame the experts too much, perhaps the extent of their research was a Google search for the term ‘Vancouver house prices‘ which yields this reassuring CBC article as the first result: Vancouver house prices expected to rise 9 percent in 2008. If you’re expecting a 9 percent increase in house prices, I suppose a 15% drop from market peak could really catch you off guard.
So this is my ‘told you so‘ moment. Not that the real estate market would see a sharp correction. Nope, I certainly wasn’t the only one to predict that. Most of the long-time readers here at vancouvercondo.info made the same prediction, as did many other local bloggers, so that’s no unique feat. I do believe however, that I was the only one to correctly call the Vancouver Bubble Blog Bubble at the beginning of 2007. Here’s the updated version of that chart along with my count of local bubble blogs:
1. March 2005: Vancouver Housing Blog – the original, closed in Feb 2007
2. Nov 2005: Rob Chipmans – gets a half point for being moderately bearish
3. June 2006: VancouverCondo.Info – Hey that’s us right here!
4. Oct 2006: Vancouver Unrealestate – Looks to be closing down January 2009
5. Dec 2006: BC Housing -Uncertainbuyer closed down end of 2008
6. Jan 2007: Financial Planning and Personal Sanity -now Housing Analysis
7. March 2007: Condohype – Still disowning the lifestyle
8. Dec 2007: North Vancouver Homes – stats and housing market data
9. Feb 2008: Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive – just as the title says
10. Jan 2008: Fishy Real Estate – FishRE closed down the blog in 2008 Q3
11. Feb 2008: Coco News – shared economic news stories, closed 2008 Q3
12. Feb 2008: Vancouver Housing Crash – last post September 2008
Have I missed your favorite Vancouver housing market blog? Add it to the Wiki!
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
This is really sad.
Illegal immigrants are not responsible for the global financial crisis.
"Our civilization in Europe took a thousand years to develop what we have today, the third world players have been around just as long and have chosen violence, mayhem and filth as they chosen medium, "
This level of ignorance and hatred is disgusting, and does not belong here. Change the subject back to finance now please.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Sidelines:
Was anything I said untrue?
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
"this thread has taken a really ugly turn"
I could not agree more emphatically. Holy sh*t! I, too, have travelled extensively to 3rd world countries. I saw nothing but people struggling to do their best. How you come to your conclusions conclusions, realpaul, is beyond me, beyond my comprension. It seems some history reading would be helpful here to help gain understanding and context. I'm not kidding. Wow. I have no time to get into it all – and this is not the place. Let's just talk about RE, I suppose. Having said that, may all those of us who witness (or read) intolerence remember to speak out. It's totally unacceptable – as is remaining silent in the face of it.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
"I have traveled extensively and have come to the conclusion that peoples in the third world are thier own worst enemies."
this thread has taken a really ugly turn.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
Mexico has replaced Guatamala, Honduras, and San Salvator as the greatest source of "refugees" in Canada over the past few years.
Unknown it is what life threatening "danger" they face returning to Mexico, but whatever, there are THOUSANDS here thanking you for your generous support.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
NO -LYMPICS:
I have traveled extensively and have come to the conclusion that peoples in the third world are thier own worst enemies. They support absolute corruption as normal, make no attempt to improve thier own societies. Exercise extreme tribal, religious, language , geographic, economic and racist wars and systemic violence upon each other and have generally been the master authors of thier own destruction to the point where they have turned thier own countries, homelands and economies into unlivable toilets which now they are trying to escape.
IMHO western countries should be putting more pressure on these people to clean up thier own act before springing into political correctness action and allowing the overflow of these malcontents into our country to drain our already scarce resources. Imagine a world where tribes weren't murdering each other, where Islam could decide not to raid thier neighbours steal the women and rape the goats over a disagreement over who should have succeeded Mohammed ( peace be to him) 1500 years ago exploding the ritual battles of blood and constant mayhem in the name of tribal devisions be they Sunni or Shiite.
Mexicans need to stay in Mexico and work for a better Mexican economy and corruption, why aren't they marching in the street? Ethiopians and Somali's need to stop killing each other over blood feuds and tribal disputes etc etc. Canada is not a fund raising time out spot for terrorists from India , Sri Lanka or anywhere else for that matter. Canadian church groups should not be allowed to disrespect the CDN immigration system and rename Chinese catholics and Evangelist as religious refugees, the Chinese should be working in China to improve China.
Now the the religious and ethnic wars are over in the Balkans and it's safe to go back, why are all these war displaced refugees still in Canada? We hepled them out, do we have to support them forever, isn't it better to build a better Bosnia, wouldn't that be better for the planet at large?
Political correctness is the problem not the solution. These people need to concentrate on using the aid money they recieve to build schools, flush toilets, roads, hospitals etc etc, instead of cheap russian guns. The bulk of the aid money is stolen and ends up in Swiss banks and French Chateaus, this has been voiced by the British Government.
Our civilization in Europe took a thousand years to develop what we have today, the third world players have been around just as long and have chosen violence, mayhem and filth as they chosen medium, why should we be rescuing these people who have no intrest in helping themselves?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
There are alot of for sale signs popping up here recently in the Fraser Valley.I would predict listings to hit 32,000 in the REBGV by the end of May. Anyone have a prediction?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
The refugee ( which is in essence a sub group of the immigration total ) question should be based on the given current cirumstances within the potential host country.
What is the obligation of any given country to accept these parties , do we have the resources to accept them and what is the impact on the current citizen base(which itself is made up of both immigrant (including past refugees)and native born citizens.
We can never accept every legitimate refugee or any other immigrant. There is a limit to that.
So, where do we draw the line?
IMHO, when times get more diffiult, we have to tighten up and allow less.
If not, then we drag this country down to thel owest common denominator and enter into frontier territory and a race to the bottom.. This conflicts with the very reason why these parties want to come here in the first place. There has to be a happy medium, but regardless can we even afford in these uncertain times the historical levels we have allowed to date?
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
sidelines, thanks for stepping up to say something. we have quite enough problems without bringing out racists nonsense.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Regarding the "problem" of refugees
"41,900 refugee claims are now pending in Canada. They take at least a year to resolve and much longer if appealed. In 2005 12,000 people made the cut, implying 3 out of 4 refugee claims are bogus."
Lets assume there are 4,200 "refugees" in the lower mainland. Lets further assume 3000 of them are bogus.
Welfare pays around $ 600 per month for a single male. Thats $ 1.8 million per month for the scammers. If the bogus "refugee" appeals their deportation they will be here at very least 2 years. The direct cost of these scammers is now $ 43 million.
All refugees are provided room and board immediately. Those beds are unavailable for Canadian homeless.
But that ain't all. Lets assume 80% of the scammers are working "under the table". Thats 2400 jobs in the lower mainland alone that ARE NOT available for Cannadians. No taxes, no CPP, no UIC, no contributions of any kind to our society. Further, most send the bulk of their earnings home, meaning virtualy nothing accrues to Canada.
Yes, it IS a major problem and one that MUST be addressed. Canadians are an open and giving people but we MUST NOT become a completely generous sucker for those seeking to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
All you doomers need to chill:
http://www.househunting.ca/story.html?id=849817&a…
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:44 am
VANOC chairman believes buyers will snap up Olympic village condos
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGA…
QUOTE:
This piece of property … is the tenderloin of real estate left in the city," Mr. Poole said yesterday, while stressing that he was speaking as a veteran real estate developer and not as a spokesman for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC).
"It's the last remaining piece of waterfront. It's something we would all covet. This is it."
===============================================
QUOTE:
Many believe that post-Olympic sales of the project's luxury condominiums will not be enough to enable the city to recoup all the money shelled out to finish the village in time, given plummeting real estate prices.
Mr. Poole, however, said he thinks the city will do quite well. "As a taxpayer, I am not losing any sleep that the city is going to lose money on this. It's a question of how much money they're going to make."
By the time units go on sale, there will be a shortage of high-level condominiums available because other projects are being mothballed in the face of shrinking sales, he said. "I don't have a crystal ball to tell you what the market will be like in 12 or 24 months, but if anything is going to be marketable, it's going to be those units on False Creek."
————————————————-
On the question of financing, Mr. Poole said the city now has all the tools it needs, after obtaining unlimited borrowing powers at a special weekend sitting of the provincial legislature.
"In my view, there will be a lineup of investors to participate in the financing the city requires. … Financial institutions and pension plans will want to buy that paper [debentures] as soon as it's offered," the VANOC chairman predicted. "It will not be an issue."
—————————————————
So:
Rose coloured glasses ?.
Poole may be right that in the relativity game, these may be prime choice, but what will the market price be?
Just because you put $"X" into each unit and ask "Y" does not mean they will even get "X" back..all indication is they will be sold for less than $"X" ie far below break even.
In another article…it is clear that they will be going in and doing renos on the condo units after the Olympics are over. It was noted carpets will be temporary and hardwood floors put in. Whers the environmental spin?Also, you don't thik they may have to repaint each one.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 am
Patriotz:
If you claim something is happening, the onus is on you to prove it. Not on the person who claims something isn’t happening.
Same argument as tobacco companies used against those nutty health risk alarmists, as Exxon-sponsored "scientists" are using against global warming, as is commonly used by anyone making tons of money in a societally-harmful way.
Do you realize the process by which a new food additive is approved? As long as the mouse doesn't die within days, all good to go!
Anyway, I agree with most of your posts, but you should really stick to business and economics. It's pretty deep mud everywhere else! There are both real refugee claimants fleeing terrible threats, and bogus system-scammers. Also about 5-6 BILLION people who don't have it as good we do here. Let's take them all!!! At taxpayer expense!!! Yayyy!
OK, that won't work. How many do we accept, and how do we choose them. The most pathetic? The pushiest? The least ethical? See where I'm going? I'm stopping now, the mud is getting too deep for my tastes.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:19 am
FINANCIAL MELTDOWN
The unreality of the 'real' business cycle
Not to mention capitalism's 'gale of creative destruction'
http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/LAC…
QUOTE:
Testifying recently before a U.S. congressional committee, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan said the financial meltdown had shattered his "intellectual structure." I am keen to understand what he meant.
Since I have had no opportunity to ask him, I have to rely on his memoirs, The Age of Turbulence, for clues. But that book was published in 2007 – before, presumably, his intellectual structure fell apart.
In his memoirs, Mr. Greenspan revealed that his favourite economist was Joseph Schumpeter, inventor of the concept of "creative destruction." In his summary of Mr. Schumpeter's thinking, a "market economy will incessantly revitalize itself from within by scrapping old and failing businesses and then reallocating resources to newer, more productive ones." Mr. Greenspan had seen "this pattern of progress and obsolescence repeat over and over again."
————————————————-
QUOTE
In classic business-cycle theory, a boom is initiated by a clutch of inventions – power looms and spinning jennies in the 18th century, railways in the 19th century, automobiles in the 20th century. But competitive pressures and the long gestation period of fixed-capital outlays multiply optimism, leading to more investment being undertaken than is actually profitable. Such overinvestment produces an inevitable collapse.
Banks magnify the boom by making credit too easily available, and they exacerbate the bust by withdrawing it too abruptly. But the legacy is a more efficient stock of capital equipment.
Dennis Robertson, an early 20th-century "real" business-cycle theorist, wrote: "I do not feel confident that a policy which, in the pursuit of stability of prices, output, and employment, had nipped in the bud the English railway boom of the forties, or the American railway boom of 1869-71, or the German electrical boom of the nineties, would have been on balance beneficial to the populations concerned." Like Mr. Schumpeter, Mr. Robertson regarded these boom-bust cycles, which involved both the creation of new capital and the destruction of old capital, as inseparable from progress.
—————————————————–
( More modern times):
QUOTE
Contemporary "real" business-cycle theory builds a mountain of mathematics on top of these early models, the main effect being to minimize the "destructiveness" of the "creation." It manages to combine technology-driven cycles of booms and recessions with markets that always clear (that is, there's no unemployment).
How is this trick accomplished? When a positive technological "shock" raises real wages, people will work more, causing output to surge. In the face of a negative "shock," workers will increase their leisure, causing output to fall.
These are efficient responses to changes in real wages. No intervention by government is needed. Bailing out inefficient auto companies such as General Motors only slows down the rate of progress. In fact, whereas most schools of economic thought maintain that one of government's key responsibilities is to smooth the cycle, "real" business-cycle theory argues that reducing volatility reduces welfare.
It is hard to see how this type of theory explains today's economic turbulence or offers sound instruction about how to deal with it. First, in contrast to the dot-com boom, it is difficult to identify the technological "shock" that set off the boom. Of course, the upswing was marked by super-abundant credit. But this was not used to finance new inventions: It was the invention. It was called securitized mortgages. It left no monuments to human invention, only piles of financial ruin.
————————————————-
QUOTE:
Equivalent advice today would be that governments the world over are doing all the wrong things in bailing out top-heavy banks, subsidizing inefficient businesses, and putting obstacles in the way of rational workers spending more time with their families or taking lower-paid jobs.
It reminds me of the interviewer who went to see Robert Lucas, one of the high priests of the New Business Cycle school, at a time of high U.S. unemployment in the 1980s. "My driver is an unemployed PhD graduate," the interviewer told Mr. Lucas. "Well," replied the 1995 Nobel laureate, "I'd say that, if he's driving a taxi, he's a taxi driver."
————————————————-
Good article.
Seems to indicate that Gov'ts, Banksters etc do a " Plug and Play" to prime the pump.
Plug in some thing that will create or "Play" out a "boom" .
The latest one , the RE run up. makes one think that the powers that be have run out of ideas, the well is dry.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 am
Post # 116
This begs the question, where do these people come out with all that money to buy those condos?
———–
This type of buyer was somewhat predictable.
Not sure if they had the means to purchase, and the so called "discount" was their affordability benchmark.
OR …were they "bears" in their own mind….thinking they are great bargain hunters, and need to have bait thrown at them to pounce. This type sems to be the ones that if they hear the word "sale", they react like Pavlov's dog with open wallets, and feel its true, the facts and details be damned.
In a declining market, one can predict and define various buyer groups. The aforementioned types would tend to be naive and unsophisticated, with a clear lack of understanding of the normal real estate cycles, but even worse, not reading how this latest one will shape up.
A truly sophisticated "bear" buyer is still hibernating…hedging their own bets via all indications are that major haircuts are still to come.
Maybe its good the "the Flo" and other ONNI product came on market..it tested the waters and we can get a feel for the market learning from others self-inflicted mistakes as these fire sales start and thus let others get burned while the rest of us watch from a safe distance.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:32 am
UPDATE: all layoffs confirmed as per company announcements:
Microsoft 5000
Unisys 1300
Hewlett – Packard 25000
Sun Micro systems 6000
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:31 am
Lily pad:
patriotz: You might find this site a good place to start.
Well sure, I agree the refugee system needs improving. I have already said so.
But one of the biggest problems with the system is that there are too many spurious claimants. They take up too many resources and impair our ability to help genuine claimants. Because the system works so slowly the spurious claimants have an opportunity to marry or have children in Canada to make it more difficult to remove them. If we had a fair and expeditious system the incentive for spurious claimants would be much smaller. Also the fewer resources that are available to investigate claims, the more likely the board members are to give claimants the benefit of the doubt whether genuine or not.
It should also go without saying that the prevalence of spurious claimants who are obvious to anyone (as I have given examples of above), erodes public support for refugee protection.
You might like to know that one reason I hold these views is that I personally know someone who used to be on the refugee board, who is one of the strongest advocates for human rights that I know, and he told me that the great majority of claimants were not from countries that were major human rights abusers.
If the government allocated sufficient resources to the system, it would result both in better protection for genuine claimants and quicker removal of, and ultimately fewer claims from, the spurious ones.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 am
HPs EDS, Sun and Unisys are all confirmed, thanks for posting the link on the details supraboy, not sure how you thought they were all rumours. MS is the only non-confirmed … but news will come out any day on MS plans.
" it is also being rumored that Microsoft is planning to fire 15,000 employees this month; about 17 percent of its workforce. That's a much bigger hit. Server maker and services provider Unisys just announced 1,300 layoffs, about 5 percent of its workforce. Hewlett-Packard announced last fall that as part of its acquisition of services giant Electronic Data Systems, the company would be cutting 25,000 jobs over two years, or about 7 percent of its global workforce; you can bet a lot of those job cuts have nothing to do with EDS, but this way HP only has to put out one press release. Sun Microsystems, which has been struggling in the server space, announced in November it would cut 5,000 to 6,000 employees, or between 15 and 18 percent of its workforce."
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Sun Microsystems: 6000 is already in motion …. this was announced last month by Sun.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 am
#89
"Let me get this straight
Sale lasted 2 1/2 hours, sold 55 units:
Did anyone even kick the tires ?
PS Supraboy: do you think they got a bargain?"
As much of an a** that I am here, I think those people are idiots buying those junk units by Onni. The granite they used on the kitchen tops aren't even half inch thick.
This begs the question, where do these people come out with all that money to buy those condos?
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 am
"more digging more tech layoff news
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh011209-story02.htm…
Microsoft 15000
Unisys 1300
Hewlett – Packard 25000
Sun Micro systems 6000"
RealPaul, those are only rumors, don't read too much into it till it happens.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 am
"June 2006: VancouverCondo.Info – Hey that’s us right here!"
I believe VancouverCondo.info start around Jan or Feb,2006 Nope?
January 21st, 2009 at 11:47 pm
patriotz: You might find this site a good place to start.
http://www.cpj.ca/content/safety-and-dignity-refu…
There is so much criticism of the immigration system it's not even funny.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Evidence, please?
You have to show us evidence of genuine claimants being refused. If you claim something is happening, the onus is on you to prove it. Not on the person who claims something isn't happening.
Do you have any examples of rejected refugee claimants facing retribution after being returned to their country of origin?
January 21st, 2009 at 10:53 pm
BC personal banruptcies 'skyrocket', hmmmm that can't be good for buisness
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/…
January 21st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Engineers, analysts , tech and experts of every kind lose jobs in a lay off of this magnitude.
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM….
When these giant projects go down they take years to start back up and so the economic disruption of major industry players shutting down is huge. Guaranteed many of the effected are Canadian specialists.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
patriotz: "I don’t think any significant number of genuine claimants are being refused."
==============================================================
Evidence, please?
January 21st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
41,900 refugee claims are now pending in Canada. They take at least a year to resolve and much longer if appealed. In 2005 12,000 people made the cut, implying 3 out of 4 refugee claims are bogus.”
Well no it doesn't, because the number of pending claims and the number of claims processed in a year are two different things. Stock and flow, you know.
That said, I disagree with Lily Pad. I don't think any significant number of genuine claimants are being refused. There is always a good sized group of people who try to use the refugee process to get into Canada when they would be ineligible to get in as legal immigrants, which varies by source country over the years. My favourite was an influx of Jews from Israel in the 90's claiming persecution. No I'm not kidding. More recently it has been Latin Americans claiming to be gay. And so on.
That's not to say that the current system doesn't need improvement. The size of the backlog alone speaks to that. It's the duty of the government to set up a fair and efficient refugee processing system:
http://www.ccrweb.ca/documents/claimsfacts07.htm
January 21st, 2009 at 10:16 pm
sunny source:
When you borrow money from yourself thats not really
" achieving an attractive rate " is it? That story is spun so much it will probably twirl until the end of days. The good old taxpayer is exceedingly generous and gullible, because we're 'world class' wannabe's.
I have to wonder though that had the governments been so happily willing to borrow and lend amongst themselves how many books would have reached the classrooms, how many new schools, student computers, student loan relief schemes, hospitals, homeless shelters, affordable housing, bridges and roads , income tax relief programs etc etc that the excess monies could have been spent on instead of blowing the wad on a two week party.
But you say, " we built buildings and they'll be a legacy", to which I would have replied " building schools and hospitals are man hour intensive too".
And we could go down the entire list and see that we have allready built all the athletes facilities the number of Canadian atheletes can ever use in Calgary. It seems that Vancouver/BC has spent billions on building unnessescary infrastructure which could have been better utilized as public buildings projects like new hospitals, real transit instead of this rediculous skytrain and universities.
We could have afforded a bridge to Vancouver Island as well, I mean if the Newfies can build Confederation Bridge what the hell is wrong with us? Getting rid of these antiquated ferries might make us think about becoming world class, we'd have a world class product , but no, we have a big fat elaphent sitting in the lawn and no one knows how it's going to be fed and housed.
Yes the generous and gullible taxpayer, a great big pat on each others backs for another screwed up boondoggle. And now there isn't any money left to build schools, hospitals, highways , bridges, universities etc etc., we really look like a bunch of fucking inbred rubes.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
This Saturday, the Shangri-la will open its doors at Georgia and Thurlow downtown.At 62 storeys and 646 feet, it is the tallest building in Vancouver, 146 feet higher than the previous champ, the Wall Centre.<a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/Gallery+Shangri+tour/1203559/story.html" rel="nofollow">views
January 21st, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Vancouver closer to taking over Olympic village
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGA…
QUOTE:
“When you hear the words ‘Olympic bailout,' people assume that these are costs that are being spent because of the Games, which is simply not the case,” Mr. Cobb said. “If the village ends up making $200-million, people aren't going to say that's a profit because of the Olympics, so I think there's a real imbalance in the perceptions of these projects. ”
WTF?:
Greater weasel words methinks I have naught heard in a fortnight !
January 21st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Whistler Olympic village secures attractive interest rate
http://www.vancouversun.com/Whistler+Olympic+vill…
January 21st, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Flu-fix firm offers up cold cash as sponsor
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGA…
QUOTE:
RICHMOND — The 2010 Winter Olympics now have an official cold and flu remedy, and it's not chicken soup.
Instead, it's the high-profile natural medicine, Cold-fX, announced as an official Olympic supplier yesterday to a gathering of wheezing journalists, who were offered plenty of free samples to ease their ills.
There were no claims, however, that the controversial product hawked on television by Don Cherry would cure any of the economic ailments currently besetting the Olympic village.
===========
Don Cherry?
I'm in !
January 21st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Stoxxman:
"Regarding “refugees”
41,900 refugee claims are now pending in Canada. They take at least a year to resolve and much longer if appealed. In 2005 12,000 people made the cut, implying 3 out of 4 refugee claims are bogus."
==============================================================
Actually, it does NOT logically follow that 3/4 are bogus. It simply means that the "judge" has declared them to not be in sufficient danger to be given refuge by Canada.
Who are these "judges" you ask? Well, they are ordinary people like you and I. And I'll bet you thought they had some sort of law degree or some kind of expertise. Nope. Used car salesman will do… makes for a nice political appointment, doesn't it?
http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/about/employment/mem…
"There, but for the Grace of God, go I…."
You should just be happy you are not one of these refugee claimants, Stoxxman. If you were to appreciate your luck in being Canadian born you might be a wee bit happier.
As they say, "Walk a mile in my shoes".
January 21st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
FROM The U.K.
Government forced to bail out major Olympic projectsMinisters raid £461m from contingency fund to keep construction of athlete village and media centre on track
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/21/olympics…
QUOTE:
The government today revealed it would have to raid its London 2012 contingency fund for £461m to pay for the ongoing construction of the athletes village and the international media centre, after private sector investment dried up.
The Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, also announced that the media centre – due to form a major part of the legacy from the games – would not be downgraded to a temporary building. But she admitted it would have to be entirely funded from the public purse.
Ministers and 2012 organisers had prepared the ground for today's decision by revealing that private-sector interest in the £1bn Olympic village and media centre had all but evaporated. The developer Lend Lease was to build 3,000 flats that would be sold on after the games, but those plans were hit by the collapse of the property market.
Despite reducing the number of flats by around 1,000, the developer has been struggling to find any takers, requiring the government to sanction the use of £326m from the fund to keep work going while talks continue.
The Olympic Delivery Authority will continue discussions with Lend Lease and with banks in the hope of reaching an agreement by March. There will also be an increased affordable housing element, with a third of the flats now set to be allocated for that purpose.
============
Hmm
Where hav eI heard this before?
Oh yeah
World clASS city in an old British colony.
cc
Jack Poole
Bob Rennie
etc.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Yeah:
And how come NASCAR drivers are 100% White :
Obama will fix that !