Industrial land prices crash
Blueskies pointed out this article in the Globe and Mail – Apparently industrial land prices in Metro Vancouver have dropped as much as 30% over the last year. Vacancy rates for industrial land is also on the rise.
The value of industrial land in Metro Vancouver decreased by as much 30 per cent in the last year as speculators desperately unloaded land bought near the market’s peak into a market with little demand.
“If there is no demand to build, it is no surprise vacant land is the first asset to be disposed of,” said Avison Young principal Rob Gritten. “Speculators who entered this market in the late stages of the bubble, and with no income to support carrying costs, have been forced to discount significantly to attract bids.”
Silly speculators, don’t they know that residential condos is the place to invest?
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domus Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Great post. This is clear evidence that the boom in residential real estate is a fluke, supported by the CHMC through loose lending practices.
If commercial real estate was as heavily subsidized as residential real estate, prices and valuations would be booming there as well.
More evidence that residential real estate valuations in Vancouver are not supported by fundamentals and will crash as soon as the heavy credit drug is stopped.
Don’t buy now!!
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Bizznitch Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
The house prices will fall all over. Want a cheap retirement home? Check out Kitimat in the new year. I’m predicting a 50% or more drop in that community since the announcement of the closure of the Eurocan pulp and paper mill.
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observer Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
@domus: I disagree. It is better for to get as many buyers to buy as much as they can now so the coming crash will be even more pronounced. If that means pumping the market with subprime CMHC borrowers who used to live in subsidized housing, so much that better. That way the move towards parity with fundamentals will happen quicker.
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california Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Kind of the same article but more information with regards to other Canadian cities such as Calgary.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cap.....te_outlook
From the article, “Vancouver was the best performer in the survey, although with a ranking of just 5.75 out of 10 for investment prospects and 4.68 for development prospects.
‘Many wonder what will happen after the Olympics,’ the report says. ”
A couple of Vancouver stats:
2008 Fall rental vacancies – 2.4%
2009 Spring rental vacancies – 3.2%
2009 Fall (3rd quarter?) rental vacancies – 4.4%
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ReadyToPop Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Wow…I went to a rigged, propped-up, over stimulated, tax-revenue-bleeding residential housing fray and a free market industrial land game broke out.
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vreaa Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Off topic:
Watch Vancouver Realtor Tom Everitt Seal the Deal…
http://vreaa.wordpress.com/200.....re-haggle/
Also starring uncanny thinktom look-alike, Richard Kind (super-geek ‘Cousin Andy’ in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’).
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Anonymous Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Kitimat?? Ha HA HA…… Come on man it is just only a Northern Shithole can’t compare with Vancouver.
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Bizznitch Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I suppose Vancouver compares with Paris! Vancouver is nothing special. Nothing warrants the high price of houses in this city. There are lots and I mean *lots* of dreamers in Vancouver. I can’t wait until the Olympics are over and this balloon pops. There’s going to be some sore asses after that happens.
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casanova Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
When will the rain stop in this city, please!!!
I have never seen such a city where it can rain all day without stopping. I need some sunshine, how do you people live here?
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ReductiMat Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Casanova, sorry we kept the rain thing a secret from you. We should have told you before you moved here.
It doesn’t rain much in Las Vegas if you are into that kind of thing.
If it’s cold and raining here, it’s getting whiter and deeper on the hills. If that’s the price I have to pay, I can deal.
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logic Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
casanova
never buy a house in a new city in summer
And reducimat! Yes, snow! Opening day soon!
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Vic Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 2:54 am
You think it rains here? PFFF…I am from Kitimat. And…it practically rains or snows everyday from mid-September to May. We have can have an entire month where it just rains…nonstop. As for Kitimat housing….you could trade a 2 story housing in Kitimat for a new 2010 Camry Hybrid.
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patriotzed Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 3:21 am
@Bizznitch:
Even getting a house for free isn’t worth it if it entails living in a craphole in the middle of nowhere.
69K gets you a SFH in Trail
Now Trail isn’t Beverly Hills either, but I like it better than Kitimat, and it has better weather, and it’s in one of BC’s nicest regions and near other towns and Spokane, WA. Skiing just up the hill in Rossland.
Note what kind of pricing you get when it’s driven by rental value alone because the speculators aren’t buying. And ironically Trail is the only town left in the West Kootenays that still has an industrial job base.
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No Longer Looking Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:19 am
If Vancouver is like Scotland, then look for a grim future where people pay debts before they eat or heat:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_…..355815.stm
Personally, I would fill my stomach and oil tank before I filled the pockets of a banker. Come on folks, we don’t have debtors prison anymore.
Australia is ready to raise rates again
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8356129.stm
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No Longer Looking Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Local Home Inspector is successfully sued for $192K :^)
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/briti…..ml?ref=rss
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No Longer Looking Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:21 am
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/briti.....ml?ref=rss
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No Longer Looking Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Here is the link to the Scottish debtors story (I was tripped up by three links in my original post):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_.....355815.stm
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realpaul Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 8:00 am
The bigger picture
“As Goes Zimbabwe…
There’s a fine article to start things off today over at the Kitco web site by Alf Field. It tells the tale of what happens when a currency dies as it did earlier this year in Zimbabwe.
I mention this as a reminder that the USA is on a similar track – toward death of the dollar – although Zimbabwe got there first. Our own progress has been a little slow, but not for a lack of effort on the part of the left-right-money alliance in Washington. The ruling Troika (and the Russian word is becoming more and more apropos) has been moving us right along the nonlinear path toward hyperinflation ever since the bankers seized the nation’s monetary controls in 1913.
By 1929, the not-really-federal reserve had stolen away 42.1% of the dollar’s purchasing power. By 1950, that amount had swelled to where 58.9% of the dollars purchasing power had been stolen. Even more importantly, thanks to Keynesian doubletalk, the American public had the “Big Lie” about inflation deeply seated in both textbooks and popular media.
The Big Lie is that prices go up. They don’t. The purchasing power of your dollars goes DOWN.
By 1975, the dilution of purchasing power had sucked 81.6% of the dollar’s purchasing power away – meaning that something which cost $1 in 1913 when the banksters took over (along with their free lunch/deficit spending pals in congress) was up to $5.43.
Then things got worse.
By 2000 the dollar’s purchasing power was diluted 94.25% from where it started in 1913. What had cost a single dollar then was up to $17.39.
This morning, if we assume 5% inflation for 2009 year-to-date, what cost a single dollar in 1913 is up to $22.61. The dollar is buying 4.42% of what it did in 1913, or more clearly its purchasing power has dropped 95.57%
It doesn’t take a financial genius to figure out that what’s happening to the US dollar’s purchasing power is along the same lines as Zimbabwe’s only slower – at least for a little while. But over time there’s no way of getting around it: We’re going down the same road led by compounding interest the whole way.
The major task of governments is to keep as many people buying into the idea that paper money is a ’solid’ thing. It is…and it isn’t.
John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics wrote a most excellent piece back in 2008 – a “Hyperinflation Special Report” in which he forecast a “Hyperinflationary Depression remains likely as early as 2010.”
Williams calculations of the dollar depreciation, by the way is even more grim than mine. The way he figures it, the decline in purchasing power has been such that since December 1913 through August of this year, fully 96% of the dollar’s purchasing power has gone toes up and what cost a single dollar in 1913 is up to $25.18.
—
Obviously, this can’t go on forever. The only reason that China has played nicey-nicey is that the U.S. has been bribing China with things like missile technology. “
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realpaul Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Did anyone else notice that you can’t spin a good story out of 500++k more people unemployed this week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....NzY2xhaW0-
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Anonymous Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 9:00 am
@patriotzed:
That particular area of trail is pretty much a write off, dark in the winter and the least desirable part of town unless you really like the Colander.
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Mount Baker Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 10:08 am
“….…I am from Kitimat. And…it practically rains or snows everyday from mid-September to May. We have can have an entire month where it just rains…nonstop. …..”
How is that different from Vancouver exactly? Oh yea: in Vancouver is rains from Mid September to mid July.
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blueskies Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Kitimat:
http://tinyurl.com/y9we7ab
(86.24) inches of rain per year
by way of contrast Tofino is over 200 inches
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Franco Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Price ain’t gonna pop after Olympic but will only be edging up moderately for the decades to come though there gonna be some sudden surge episodes like 2002-2007.Chinese well keep gulpping houses at any price in this city because Van is a ideal settlement for their Concubines and wealth stolen from national coffer.Recently,my friend sold a 3 millions house in Burnaby North.Chinese purchasing power will surprise poor Canadian.
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Starving Artist Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
http://www2.canada.com/vancouv.....786e672252
South Granville bleeding businesses at alarming rate
South Granville has lost three times as many businesses in 2009 as previous years, according to the executive director of the South Granville Business Improvement Association.
And they are not being replaced.
So far, 16 businesses in the neighbourhood between the Granville Bridge and West 16th Avenue have closed this year, Sharon Townsend said.
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Anonymous Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Franco is right, there is so much corrupt Mainland Chinese money here is unbelievable. You bears won’t find any of this showing up in any statistics.
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Purp Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
@Anon #25 : How much corrupt Chinese money is being invested Van RE?
@Franco : Please explain what it is about Vancouver that makes it an ‘ideal’ settlement over other cities such that rich folks from China would keep buying here at ‘any price’? Oh by the way, I know a friend of a friend who sold a house in West Van to a rich Hollywood actor. I think the rich Hollywood actor purchasing power will surprise poor rich Asians.
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oneangryslav2 Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
@Starving Artist: An excerpt from the linked article:
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Drugs "R" Us Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
@ Purp (26)
As long as the seemingly unsupported high prices of today are set to become even higher tomorrow, they will keep buying.
All of you who doubt the purchasing power of Asian “investors” should go out more and check out Chinese-only ghettos all over Richmond, Vancouver or Burnaby. Have you been to Metrotown lately?
You ARE in China when in Metrotown.
Entire developments around Royal Oak have been bought-up by Chinese – and I don’t care if they’re foreigners or immigrants – they’re rich, they don’t speak English and they have money, obviously, if they can afford 1000sqft townhouses for $560,000 plus GST in the middle of the industrial wasteland of Burnaby…
This is reality and wishing it wasn’t will not change the status quo.
Skullboy made a good call when he/she decided to “get as fas away from China as it pretty much gets” and is moving to Halifax. Vancouver is or at the very east is becoming a Chinese colony and it’s time to face it.
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Purp Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
My apologies for provoking the racist trolls, my bad.
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scullboy Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I should clarify, I’m happy to be moving away because NOBODY says “Rich Asians are keeping housing prices high in Halifax.” It’s not the Asians (Rich or not) I have a problem with, it’s that stupid reasoning.
That being said, there *is* a lot of shady activity going on in that community. I personally know 2 guys who are involved in gang activity, they were using school as a hideout. One had a wife and a girlfriend, that’s pretty common. It’s also a fact that a guy in the class after mine was kicked out because he was clearly in a gang.
I don’t have anything against any community and I think we all know there are bad apples in every group. That being said, I do think there’s enough illegal money sloshing around Vancouver to distort the local economy. I *definitely* think that considering the size of the Asian community and its connections, there’s almost certainly a lot of illegal funds flowing into Van from other parts of the world.
I think Vancouver has a unique problem. Toronto’s an extremely multicultural city, so no one community can really distort the economy. There are huge Italian, Portuguese, Brazilian, Caribbean, Somalian etc. communities there, so the cultural “mosiac” is made of many small tiles.
Vancouver, on the other hand is pretty much all white, Asian (mainly Chinese) and Indian. It’s pretty easy for just one of these groups to exert an enormous influence on the city, which isn’t to anyone’s benefit.
I don’t think its racist to point this out but hey… draw your own conclusions.
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Anonymous Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I applaud scullboy for sensible discussion. I am Asian and don’t think it is racist just to tell it like it is even though it may sound a bit racial. I agree 100% with scull’s observations.
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I told you so Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
It seems like everyone is jumping off the ship before it sinks in June 2010.
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2215373
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Vomitron Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Re: Business Property Tax
Vancouver has the highest commercial property tax rates in Canada, by quite a bit. In a normal city commercial property tax rates are 2 to 3 times residential property tax rates. In Vancouver commercial property tax rates are an astonishing 5 times residential property tax rates.
The high commercial property taxes are an effective deterrent to business in Vancouver (along with the usual Vancouver deterrents, like high business insurance costs due to high property crime in Vancouver and the bubble pricing of housing in Vancouver which makes it difficult to attract and retain employees).
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Drachen Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
There’s some serious delusion going on in this town.
I just heard a woman on the CBC talking about a rental scam where people ask for money up front and of course don’t provide any actual accommodation. Nothing shocking there. But describing it she said, “This type of scam is very common when there is anxiety about the availability of accommodation because the rental market for the Olympics is very tight and people may jump at any opportunity.”
Maybe locals believe that but anyone from outside of Vancouver looking in would see a ridiculous amount of listings and relax.
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Dave Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Most immigrants are hard working taxpayers. Criminality and illegal activity cross all ethnic boundaries. If we are going to make accusations towards a certain group, let’s at least have some evidence to back it up.
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space889 Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
@Franco: So I guess the moral of your story is that as long as the money comes to Canada and benefit you personally, it’s fine and dandy? You don’t give a damn that those $$ are STOLEN from the working poor, peasant farmers, honest working middle classes people in China who are just trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. That they often work in horrible conditions @ slave wages as often portrayed by the media here and paying taxes that gets siphoned by these corrupt officials and smuggled out of the country doesn’t raise any moral, ethic concerns in your heart and mind because hey, it’s making my house price going up!?
Geez, you wonder why Canada is still a member of an extremely exclusive club in the world? That club being of a handful of countries (think it’s only about 12 or so now) that doesn’t have a preferred tourist destination status with China. Guess why? Because Chinese gov’t does not want to make it easy for corrupt officials and smugglers to come to Canada with their $$ and then hide behind Canada’s refugee systme (@ Cdn taxpayers’ expense btw) for years and years while spending their ill-gotten gains on a good life. And you know what that means? Despite the free advertising and publicity Vancouver (and recently Toronto) got in several very popular Chinese TV series, there aren’t going to be a lot of tourists and international students coming to Canada. So that means Canada/Vancouver aren’t going to be getting the billions of $ in tourism $$ that a couple hundred thousand Chinese tourists will bring to the local economy every year. Also more and more “proud” homeowners will have compete for those limited quantity, coveted international students to rent their dingy basements to pay for the mortgage. Now granted you can try to substitute with say Japanese, Korean, and Indian tourists and students but I’m not sure there is enough additional demands.
Anyways I just get really pissed about people saying how happy they are to have rich Chinese immigrants coming here with their new found likely corruption related/ill gotten gains and drive up the house prices. It’s just so selfish and short-sighted! Yeah you get maybe a few hundred million corruption money but you are probably sacrificing a few billion in potential revenue. Also I got news for you! Those rich Chinese immigrants aren’t going to shell out big bucks for your house if it is old, dingy, moldy, neglected! yeah that’s right! Those people aren’t stupid, they aren’t going to pay top $ for some old crappy house. They will only pay top dollar for a big lot to bulldoze and rebuild over, or for an existing well maintained mansion. If you are hoping to sell your non-renovated or even crappy renovated old timer on a small lot on a crowded street to a rich chinese guy looking to show off for $1M+ or whatever you feel your house is worth? Tough luck!
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scullboy Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
…. and there we have the knee jerk reaction I was expecting. Thanks for being utterly predictable, Dave.
As I said previously, I have nothing against any community. Hell, my ex and his family are Colombian and trust me, if assumptions are made about any group, Colombians are high on the list.
As I previously stated I’m personally acquainted with at least two Asian gangsters. Another guy was kicked out of school for gang related activity. I’m not making it up, dude. All three were Chinese in that particular case.
I also made the point that Vancouver really is different in its immigrant makeup from Toronto, and the nature of those demographics may influence how criminal elements differ in each city. I guess that went over your head though.
The sad fact is we can’t have any kind of real discussion about criminal activity in different ethnic communities in this city because the minute anyone makes an honest observation, guys like Dave jump in and accuse you of making “accusations”.
News flash, dude: a comment like “All the crime in this city is because of the Chinese immigrants” is an accusation.
Comments like “I actually know a few Chinese gangsters and here’s what I observed” are not.
Pretending problems aren’t there because they touch on ethnicity doesn’t help anyone.
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space889 Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
@Purp: There is a very simple reason for this, Canadian’s refugee system. As Lai Changxin’s case and several other cases in Canada made it perfect clear to those corrupt Chinese officials/smugglers/gang members/etc, as long as you have money and set foot in Canada, the Canadian legal system will do everything and anything in its power to keep you from being extradited back to China. All you have to do is bring cash to Canada, say any 2 or more of the below:
falong gong
death penalty
human rights
unfair trial
democracy
1 child policy
and you will be allowed to stay in the country for years and years, probably collecting social benefits, free medicare, living a nice/luxury life, have a couple of kids (very important, must be 2 or more). If after everything you lost your case and have to be deported, you can now make another claim to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds because of your kids and that China does not allow more than 1 kid per couple (not true anymore by the way) and you get to stay for years and years while that gets sorted out through our nice legal and refugee system, probably at taxpayers expense.
If you try to do that in US, Australia? tough luck, you get send back to China along with your $$ pretty fast!
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realpaul Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
The legal system in Canada supports the criminal element. This country is well known as a soft spot to sit on stolen booty and criminal misdeeds. Corruption is absolute in China and there have been many well publicized cases of th e corrupt coming to Canada and using our own lax sytstem and the bleeding hearts and Liberals who can’t get enough Sikh and Tamil terrorists as thier doormats and stooges. And knee jerkers….Sikh is a tribe currently occupying the state of Punjab not a race and Tamil is a state in India, not a race.
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Ulsterman Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
@Starving Artist:
The S Granville merchant issue is a sad one. I lived in that area for years and in the past 3-4 years lots of the mom n pop business closed because their lease went up fourfold at the end of the lease. The area is losing character fast.
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Starving Artist Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
And all this has what to do with Industrial land prices?
Have we just completely given up on staying on topic these days?
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Dave Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
@scullboy:
Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Relax.
Let me sum up your thought process:
1. I know a few asians gangsters;
2. There are lots of asians in Vancouver;
3. Therefore, high real estate prices in Vancouver are probably caused by Chinese money laundering gangsters.
Seems like a pretty big stretch to me. First it was the realtors, then the developers, then the speculators, then the media, then the bankers, then the CMHC… now it’s Chinese gangsters. Who can we blame next?
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Anonymous Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
“Seems like a pretty big stretch to me.”
yes it does seem like a big stretch. except i don’t think that was what he was saying. are you smoking something dave?
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Ulsterman Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
@Vomitron:
Yet despite all the deterrents the band keeps playing and the price of drinks keeps on rising.
Low incomes, poor quality jobs, last major employers shedding workers, difficulty attracting out-of-town employees, high commercial taxes, bad weather, traffic, drugs, litter, gangs, apparently mostly local buyers with local incomes, major buyers of our products in recession, AND YET IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE.
I feel like i have fallen down a rabbit hole. Now where did i leave my ruby red slippers?
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realpaul Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Is there a similarity here? You decide.
The bubble now is US Treasuries.
And that bubble is caused by credit, specifically “bail out credit” provided to banks at 0% or thereabouts used to buy 10-Year and 30-Year paper and make a “risk-free-margin”.
Except it’s not risk-free, because as soon as interest rates start to rise, anyone who bought a 30-Year on effectively a 100% margin, will lose his shirt.
That is the stuff bubbles are made of. And that is very dangerous.
Einstein once defined a lunatic as someone who keeps on doing the same thing even after there is overwhelming evidence that course of action is misguided.
Tis the season for lunatics clearly, take care!
http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....urce=yahoo
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Starving Artist Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Interesting precedent….
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/briti.....wsuit.html
The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered a home inspector to pay nearly $200,000 in compensation to a North Vancouver couple for a faulty home inspection he performed.
The court found that Imre Toth of Aldergrove was negligent because he failed to inspect the entire home, and should have advised the couple to hire a structural engineer before they bought the $1.1-million house in September 2006.
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Starving Artist Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Also an interesting comment from the Greater Fool blog….
Cariboojohn on 11.12.09 at 3:56 pm
Hi Garth
I live downtown Vancouver- Gastown, in somewhat of a new building. 1996 It has 170 suites in it.
I was just reading my council minutes.
One lien has been placed on a unit.
Two last warning letters for two units.
And four warning letters to units.
That seams high to me.That thay can`t pay the mantenace fee`s
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truthiness Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Another gem from g’s blog comments points out that civil service unions love the rise in assesments because it clears the way for higher wage and benefit demands. Sneaky eh?
“High real estate prices are a stealth tax. Governments, at all levels, pursue policies that tend toward higher real estate prices.
Why? It’s a way to raise taxes without officially “raising taxes.”
The key beneficiaries are the municipal politicians and municipal public employees, but also the provincial governments, along with the federal government.
Higher assessments mean higher property tax revenue. This means that municipalities require less in the way of transfer payments from the provinces, and, in turn the provinces need less from the federal government.
Feeding the municipalities with high real estate prices leaves the feds and the provinces with more money to “redistribute.”
This is before we even start talking about the sales tax revenues associated with building, buying, selling, and maintaining property.
Maybe we need to rethink the way we do municipal finance?
Perhaps eliminate all property taxes, with a corresponding increase in provincial sales taxes, with municipalities getting a transfer from the provinces based on population?
Has anyone thought about or written about the housing bubble from this angle?
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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tincup Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
@Ulsterman: #44
I agree, Ulsterman. I lived in South Granville for about five years, and it was sad to see old places like the Normandy shut down to make way for yet another women’s shoe store. Even the butcher has moved to kits (on 4th) because it’s more affordable. I guess its proximity to Shaugnessy makes the landlords ask high rents. Glad they are not getting them.
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Drachen Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Truthiness;
You don’t really understand how municipal taxes work this has been covered 1,000 times here so I won’t go into detail but it doesn’t work the way you think it does.
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Purp Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@Truthiness : I think it’s been discussed here lots before, but property taxes are not calculated as you describe. The annual budget is determined, and then property assessments are used to divide this tax burden based on a property’s assessment relative to other properties. Total assessed value of all properties do not affect the total amount of taxes collected.
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Deliverator Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 12:31 am
@realpaul: Sikh is a tribe currently occupying the state of Punjab not a race and Tamil is a state in India, not a race
Sikh is a religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh
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patriotzed Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 2:35 am
@Deliverator:
Well actually Tamil is the language spoken by (surprise) Tamils. Tamil Nadu (which literally means “Tamil Land” is a state in India. Tamils are an ethnic group whose homeland is Tamil Nadu and who also live in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere. Whether you want to call an ethnic group a “race” is subjective and not worth debating.
realpaul:
Are there prizes for this kind of thinking? The price of something is how much money it takes to buy it. The purchasing power of money is how much of something you get for a given amount of money. In other words, one is the reciprocal of the other, and if one goes up the other goes down, by definition.
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space889 Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 11:24 am
@Purp: Not all municipalities follow that model. Majority do but not all. The big one is apparently City of Vancouver which operates more on a % level rather than on a budget level.
Also doesn’t change the fact that higher property assessment values can mean a lower property tax rate even if the tax has actually gone up. If enough people believe the property tax is set based on a rate then a lower rate will give the appareance of doing a good job to keep the costs down.
55 X What happens if the debtor of a lien dies in califiornia | Money Talks... Says:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:33 am
[...] Metro Vancouver industrial real estate prices plummet, vacancies … [...]