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Owe the Podium

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Well that was fun.  The games have wrapped up, but we’re not completely done yet – the Paralympics are up next, so still a chance to partake in some Olympic fun before 2012.  Hopefully everyone out there had a good couple of weeks, whether you stayed in town or skipped out to some holiday destination.

Despite a bad start to the games, we had some unseasonably beautiful weather and wrapped up with a nice amount of Gold for Canada. Overall a positive experience with an upbeat ending.

So now what? We’ll find out what bills are due soon, but what will be the long term economic result of hosting the games? Are there people out there that have just discovered Vancouver and now must move here and buy at any price?

A recent UBC study found that host cities see no measurable boom or bust in real estate values due to the Olympics, but maybe it’s different here.  Do you think the next few years will see an economic boom or bust in BC?

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Ally123

I believe one of the major problems here lies in the reason or motivation behind buying real estate. Those in the business of flipping RE will soon be flipping burgers. Unfortunately, the innocent victims who are searching for a place to settle down will get sucked in and likely get into trouble. As long as people are willing to pay the price there will be no end….But…I wish to share my personal caution or warning to anyone thinking about this market. Look at the fundamentals (price per square foot, location, age of place,mtce fees, etc) and then seriously look at what you can afford in a worst case scenario. Make sure you do not drain all your liquid assets for a purchase (cash,stocks,etc). Shop around for the best rate, do not buy on impulse, compare what the previous owner paid… Read more »

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Disbelief

Supraboy(stupid name) what kind of a self respecting human being would worship a rice wagon like that.
Do you have a coffee can on the back of your rice machine. I am not a bitter renter at all. I just happen to believe that this and all other booms end in an equal bust and so will this boom. Believe me when I say that there are a lot more bulls that are suffering from nightsweats because they may have bought at the top than bears waiting for the pop.

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wiener

@Dave:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifameric…

but since you don't like the guardian…

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-sta…

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Alpha_Bear

@LordHuggington:

Well, according to the Sun the economy was on the up and up in the fourth quarter of last year thanks to people spending money that they don’t have at retail, and buying homes. Also they say exports were up. What says everyone, expect to see these numbers revised down sharply?…

You might want to take a look at BC's 2009 export stats before you get all exited about our resources (which the world so desperately wants) leading us out of this depression.

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/pubs/exp/expdata.pdf

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logic

113 – correct. Prepare for slash and burn with public service today and Thursday. And it still won't be enough.

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patriotz

@rp:

Does anyone doubt that our provinces and federal government will run deficits on the order of 30% of spending? I see it as likely.

Virtually impossible, because the bond markets will not stand for it. It's one thing for Greece, which represents maybe a few % of the economy of the Euro zone, to live beyond its means. It's quite another for 100% of the CAD zone to do so. There is simply nobody out there to enable it.

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The Van Man

@rp: Things will not turn out as badly in Canada as in the US because we are much more export oriented than them. The loss of domestic demand will not matter as much. Export in what? Canada, like Australia, are resource dependent. The US is not. The US provides a consumer and knowledge based driven industry which can easily be exported just as well. There was a time that Mr. Garth Turner recommended on his Turner Report that we should all buy US denominated dollars and that we should buy all US investments, just because they were popular then. There was a time in the Toronto Exchange that only 2 stocks (JDS Uniphase and Nortel) were the major lifters and mining stocks were in the doldrums. You think then they are not exporting anything? Perhaps more so as the Canadian… Read more »

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The Van Man

Judging from Supra Boy's previous statements seemed to suggest he's never been a landlord. Or if he is, he seemed to think that as long as the rent covers the mortgage, then he is breaking even and he waits for capital gain appreciation. Unfortunately, landlords that think this way is not working for him or herself, but they are working "FOR" the tenants! Why, simply the fact that your time (which is aggregated in a salary) is not factored into the rental equation. Expenses are not totally factored in. You provide free labor, so really the tenants are not throwing money away, but rather money goes to employ you to ensure the rental property is habitable and utilities are functioning properly! Unless you are in a positive cash flow situation; gross revenue from rental deducted expenses equal positive net revenue… Read more »

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patriotz

@rp:

Things will not turn out as badly in Canada as in the US because we are much more export oriented than them. The loss of domestic demand will not matter as much.

The exception, of course, is BC. Shockingly, the % of provincial GDP represented by merchandise exports in BC is half that of Ontario. This province is just running on debt.

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scullboy

Ah supra's obsession continues unabated. Since you asked, I'm not hibernating. You're so dim Supra the only way you can think to get wealthy is to do what almost everyone else does, which is rent money at an artificially low wate, purchase an asset at the height o a price bubble then rent that asset put at half the carrying cost. Honest to God, don't the bulls seem especially dim when you put it that way? I came out east to pursue opportunities creating wealth for myself through work. I have 2 jobs out here: I'm an IT consultant to an American bank and I'm a personal chef. American banks have near shored whole chunks of their infrastructure to the Maritimes because we are close geographically, we've had better networking infrastructure for quite come time, we speak the language natively,… Read more »

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Wreckonomics

@Anonymous: Crazy Time article, thanks for the link. Apparently no other host city comes close when it comes to public intoication. Believe me, I'm no prude. But all the yelling and screaming and woo-wooing becomes grating. These are the fourth Olympics I've covered, and Vancouver drinks Athens, Torino and Beijing under the table. I asked a few journalists who have covered more Games than I have to rate Vancouver on the intoxication scale. Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who has covered eight Olympics, dating back to Atlanta in 1996, agreed with my chart-topping assessment. In reference to downtown Vancouver's main strip of nightclubs, he said, "Granville Street itself is unlike anything I've seen at an Olympics." And he noted that all the drinking has led to a lot of public urinating. "I've personally witnessed about 8 to 10… Read more »

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patriotz

@observer: I say, devalue RE to make labor costs more competitive in terms of cost of living and to attract investment into BC and Canada. Yes, home owners would lose out The value of RE is the present value of its future income, i.e. market rent. This is the economic return from RE to all of its owners collectively. Thus for the price to fall to this value is not a "devaluation", but a correction – the price represents the correct value. Home owners (as a group) do not lose out by a fall in RE prices. Owners collectively cannot gain from high RE prices, because there is nobody for them to sell their houses to as a group. Individual homeowners can only sell to other homeowners, in limited numbers. The gains of the seller are at the expense of… Read more »

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Anonymous

" Vancouver appeared to have more morons per square foot than the Jersey Shore house. "

From an article from the Times titled: ' The Vancouver Games: A Gold in Drinking '
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,196…

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trackback

[…] pertinent comment from Anonymous at vancouvercondo.info 1 Mar 2010 at 5:12 pm – “Friends and fellow citizens, that article is bullshit. The suites downtown in Coal […]

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rp

#102 @observer: Devalue RE? Dream on. There is no political support for such a move. The baby boomers need house millions to retire. The current generation needs to know they didn't just piss away a lifetime of income to buy a tiny condo or townhouse. As for the next generations – screw them. They can move to Borneo or something. We have already inflated RE beyond the anyones wildest dreams with the biggest credit bubble in 80 years. We had our chance to wind it down. We had many chances. We repeatedly hit the gas instead. This is going to implode. It will happen shortly, as prices exceed peoples' ability to pay, with or without rising interest rates. There is really nowhere left for house prices to go except down, barring more "free" money for buyers which would in fact… Read more »

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Neighbour

@Dave:

Dave, for starters can you please talk to those people and explain how it works. They will appreciate it.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergame…

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observer

@Dave: It was fun but was it because it was Vancouver or was it because of the Olympics. If the latter, one has to realize the Olympics are now over. Just go and walk around tomorrow and you'll see much of the vibe is gone. One should not confuse a two week party atmosphere with long term sustainable economic development. Many countries would like to devalue their currency in order to make their manufacturing sectors more competitive. I say, devalue RE to make labor costs more competitive in terms of cost of living and to attract investment into BC and Canada. Yes, home owners would lose out, but I think it is a reasonable sacrifice to our next generation and given that much of the wealth in RE was not really earned. I don't know about you, but if they… Read more »

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Anonymous

@oneangryslav2:

Exactly right. You can tell he's not from England by the way he writes. He's a dumb canuck, poorly educated in BC schools. That's why he has a glaring typo in his intro and he's too dumb to see it.

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Wreckonomics

You only 'haul in cash' if you sell. You can 'haul in debt' by remortgaging, but debt ain't cash.

Rates are going up and household debt levels are at record highs.

You see dead people? I see debt people!

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2010

100 days to the international sporting event that the rest of the world cares about.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html

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Anonymous

Australian central bank hikes policy rate to 4%

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australian-centr…

Stephen Harper: 'Party on Gordo!' Gordo: 'Party on Harps!'

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Supraboy

@patriotz: Regarding hibernation, I think Scullboy is one of them, he's hibernated to Halifax and he's not a homeowner. He's not worried about rate hike yet he's the one in hibernation. How do you explain that?

How are homeowners in hibernation when their housing prices are rocketing and they're hauling in cash? I think you got it the other way around. Renters are throwing out money to the home owners making them rich. Get with the program, buy yourself a place, then rent it out. You'll eventually find out that it's a better formula to make money than bitch about them.

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Supraboy

@Disbelief: And what makes you think RE prices will drop after the Olympics?

There are too many people like you trying to ruin a happy and festive mood. You're just another one of those minorities trying to use some bs as an excuse to start a riot for fun. In 1994, when the Canucks got into the Stanley Cup finals, I'm one of those hoping for a riot just to watch some action. Protesters and bears just show up to wreak havoc for fun, get on the news, and say "I'm cool, I busted some windows on Robson".

Too bad those fools got outnumbered by the rest of the Vancouverites who really wanted to go out and have a good time.

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Disbelief

Dave
You are dreaming if you think RE prices will rise because of a two week party. It was great but after a month the buzz will be gone and we will be back to the no fun city. We will probably get a boost in tourism but our overpriced RE is only attractive to the stupid FTB's that don't know any better.

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Declan

Re: 46, Realpaul says of Team Canada…

"Theu were outplayed ( then entire night was played in thier end)and outshot but pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the end,"

That was a ways upthread but I just wanted to highlight it as perhaps the craziest thing Realpaul has ever said on this blog – and that is a pretty high bar!!

For the record, final shot total 39-36 in favour of Canada 🙂

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