Laneway housing
Patriotz posted a link to this article in the Globe and Mail about proposed Laneway housing for Vancouver.
The laneway house: A novel solution to Vancouver’s real-estate crunch
As he points out:
Note bogus headline. Is there a RE “crunch” in Vancouver? Of course not. Rents are falling.
Read the article and you will find that cash-strapped homeowners are planning to build laneway houses to recharge their finances. Running out of land? Nope. Pent-up supply? Yep.
Build baby build.
From the article:
Homeowners who can’t afford to pay their mortgages, parents who want to give their struggling children a place to live, and recession-strapped boomer retirees who want to lower their costs by moving into their own backyards showed up to make the argument that this is a great option for Vancouver.
Builder Jake Fry, whose company Smallworks has been gearing up to build the laneway houses, said he’s getting calls from families like the Woodmans “who are just finding it hard to get by, so they want to downsize and move in with the kids.”
Some residents, including Linda MacAdam, were adamantly opposed during last week’s public hearings. She complained bitterly that the “Vancouver we know and love now will no longer exist” once 65,000 homeowners potentially get the right to add another small house to their yards.
So what do you think about laneway housing? Will this be a good or bad thing for the city and why?
July 30th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
How pissed must that little kid that had his tree house (fort) torn down from his parents front yard on Oak or Granville be a few years back only to find out city now allowing crack shacks in lane ways! Man, the society we live in is fucked.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hey Mr Mayor you tagnut,
If the gardens all turn to mini-houses, where are we going to keep all the chickens?
July 30th, 2009 at 4:49 am
drugs “R” us:
I think Soviet bureaucrats have nothing on their local counterparts. Here’s one example -A responsible, civilized adults are prohibited from enjoying a beer when having a picnic in any of this glorious city’s public parks while at the same time junkies are shooting up publicly all over the place, pissing themselves, defecating and throwing up while at it and that’s OK.
Quit pointing the finger at "bureaucrats" (by whom I assume you mean public employees) and blame the people in power who make the actual decisions.
It is the provincial government and city council which make laws governing consumption of alcohol generally and in city parks (respectively). If you don't like the laws, blame them.
If you don't like the fact that illegal acts by junkies are tolerated, blame the Vancouver Police Board which is in charge of the city police. One member is the mayor, one is appointed by council, and the other four are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council (i.e. Gordo). And the city council which funds them.
Don't blame public employees for laws, funding, and enforcement policies which are decided by politicians.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Another reason why Van prices will inevitably collapse:
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/07/28/stud…
Just like in California, Vancouver home "owners" have been extracting non-existent "equity" from their homes, even those who bought years before the peak. There is no way out of this one, folks.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
"Rent was also cheaper than buying at the start of this boom back in 2001."
I mean were all bears here but are you honestly claiming that you would rather have rented since 2001 then owned. Sorry but that is just dumb.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Girlbear:
patience is so over rated!
i think i'm gonna go out and kill something…..
July 29th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
PATIENCE everyone…
July 29th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Boombust:
Rent was also cheaper than buying at the start of this boom back in 2001.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Two guys in my office are now getting into the market with 35 year almost nothing down financing. The first guy just sold his Metrotown highrise condo (took him around 3 months to sell) and the second guy is a first time buyer with a family and he is the sole wage earner. They are both looking in the $550K to $650K range. From what I understand, the first guy has almost no equity built up. I advised the second guy to wait until summer 2010 but he's hellbent on buying now for some reason. I don't know how secure their jobs are, either.
I can't believe this is the new 'normal'.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
…er, these are for places to rent as of this August 1.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I know TWO people who are paying rent that is below cost for most wannabe "investors" for BRAND NEW condos in the Coquitlam/Port Moody areas.
#1…paying $1650.00/mo. for a 2 bedroom condo at Nahanni in the Newport area of PoMo.
(It would require a DP of $160K to equal the rent/fees/taxes)
#2…paying $1100./mo for a 1 bdrm + den overlooking Coquitlam Centre.
So, it is definitely CHEAPER to rent in the suburbs.
July 29th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I feel that the next 6 months will be telling. If the market does not correct, or give an indication of a correction, we may be in it for a good 5 years. At that point we will have to ask ourselves if it is worth renting (as some may want a stable home to raise kids. Hold your renting is the same as owning comments), or we may have to bite the bullet and buy an overpriced asset.
July 29th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
#51
I agree with you. I thought (hoping) the US housing crisis was supposed to trickle down here??…Still waiting for that to happen…
I still laugh at all the 'real estate' articles the province/sun spews out from the so called experts, but the Vancouver sheep take all that for word, and it continues to sustain this market as buyers rush to purchase.
July 29th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Yalie: This fall/winter is going to be a real trainwreck.
I've heard (and said) that so much over the last few years that I think I'm starting to not believe it any more. Maybe people in Vancouver can really be kept permanently in a state of delusion over the value of real estate.
I realize that current rise in prices is due to the 10% drop in prices last year plus the lower interest rates improving affordability, right as the expected spring bounce arrived. I know about the double peak on the classic asset bubble graph. I know about Mohican's MOI-to-pricechange graph. But I also know that everyone I talk to about real estate in this city knows nothing more than what you read in a REB press release. The complete lack of critical thinking, or questioning of the information source, makes me wonder if there is some mass Jedi mind trick being employed.
I still won't buy at these prices. We rent a $1M house for $2100 in a nice west-side neighborhood. The math isn't hard. But I'd like to have my own house. We almost bought in late 2005. Now prices are 50% higher and my income is half of what it was. Swimming against the tide.