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Site seeks feedback on Vancouver rental situation

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Metro Vancouver bureaucrat Don Littleford has put together a web site seeking personal stories and anecdotes about a perceived ‘Vancouver rental crisis’. The site is at http://RentersSpeakUp.org and is now starting to collect feedback. Their estimates are that there are 80,000 families here who spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and 30,000 households who spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent.

Vancouver falls behind most other Canadian cities when it comes to wages, so it’s not a surprise that financial pressure is put on many household even with our relatively low rents compared to sales price. Here’s a news story about the site with more information, and here’s the site itself if you feel like commenting on the rental situation in Vancouver.

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Jeff

Phil..

Realtors are lazy unless they can make money.

Listings get signed over the weekend and come flooding in on Monday/Tuesday.

Sales reports get put off until the Realtor's office has asked for the report 5 times.

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/dev/null

@Gen “why me?”: A friend and I were talking at a party, and we mused how if we were merely 10 years older, we likely would have been able to buy a place out of university and looked like a brilliant real estate moguls. Well, "why me", I'm about ten years older than you. And I recall looking briefly at a nice west side townhouse I now walk by every day on my way to work and at the time it was the ungodly price of $135k I think. This was about 2000, a few years after university for me. But we didn't buy anything and rented a condo nearby. Instead we traveled and so I've seen the Galapagos Islands, the mountains of Crete and a lot of places in between. Would I have done that if I had a… Read more »

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fixie guy

"Timing is everything and I feel the time has come for baby boomers to pass over their brass rings to those of us who worked so hard over what seems like nothing (I am nearly 30, and the most expensive possession I have is my bicycle).." If your generation thinks that's the world works, we're fucked. Life isn't an Xbox @ Xmas punky and this boomer busted his ass much longer than you have to date for my high paying gig. These positions were created, not found. No one has to clear out of your way. I'm not your parent, owe you 5/8 of fuck all and when hiring will pass you buy in an instant for hard working, well educated immigrants not steeped in that shitty spoiled attitude. And punky, that's exactly what I do these days. I don't… Read more »

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VHB

For historical data, here is what I have, taken from the monthly REBGV reports going back to 2001.

September historical data

year sales listings sell/list

2001 2155 3155 68.3%

2002 2476 3447 71.8%

2003 3357 4082 82.2%

2004 2853 4946 57.7%

2005 3344 4590 72.9%

2006 2519 5115 49.2%

2007 2776 4770 58.2%

2008 1760 6142 28.7%

2009 3559 5746 61.9%

average 2755 4666 59.1%

With projected sales around 2200, Looks like we might beat 2008 AND 2001 this year. Boy, what a bullish sign.

Sell/list of 45% in 2010 will be lowest except for 2008 pretty much for sure.

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VHB

September Projections for month totals

Days elapsed so far 14

Days remaining 7

Average Sales this month 104

Average Listings this month 231

Projected sell/list 45.2%

SALES

Projected month end total 2193 +/- 112

95% Conf Interval lower bound 2081

95% Conf Interval upper bound 2305

NEW LISTINGS

Projected month end total 4857 +/- 146

95% Conf Interval lower bound 4711

95% Conf Interval upper bound 5003

MONTHS OF INVENTORY

Inventory as of August 31st 15962

MoI at this sales pace 7.28

Note: This is a simple linear projection of month end totals.

This provides the answer to the question

"What will month end totals be, if things continue

on the same pace we've seen so far this month?"

Bonsoir Meth. Sleep well.

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Anonymous

#111 Soylent Green While I agree with you about the boomers having to operate within more stringent lending conditions, I have to 100% agree with Royce as to how different things are at present versus when boomers grew up. I also don't believe that most boomer aged folks realize how tough it is for the next generation out here. I am lucky that I put myself through University and now have a very good job, however I spent the first 10 of my work years working for crap wage while a significant numbers of boomers held entitled and cushy positions within our corporate, government and the many crown corps and subsidiaries. Even now the boomers at my work always speak of the good old days when wages were higher (relatively) and cost of living much lower. To put an example… Read more »

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Phil

We have seen this pattern for the last few weeks. Mon, Tues high listing/sales ratio, followed later in the week by low. Lets not get too excited. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

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junius

I just bet my Mom (she's a realtor in Edmonton) a whackload of scotch that Vanvouver house prices would drop more than ten percent this year by year end.

Burn baby burn!

junius

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Patiently Waiting

After 9/11, the rules changed. Who changed those rules? Not GenY. It was politicians and policy-makers of the older generations. They led a whole generation astray and into eventual ruin.

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jesse

@Solyent Green: "the baby boomers never overleveraged themselves to buy real estate when starting out"

And how many baby boomers vehemently counseled their children not to take on a large amounts of debt? My bet is most have relayed their experience — buying the biggest house they could afford, being scared out of their minds, then seeing 6% annual appreciation — as a way of encouraging their children to follow the same successful path they did.

Everyone is subject to influence, especially from direct family members. Parents of over-leveraged young families who encouraged them to buy, either explicitly or implicitly by saying nothing, deserve some of the blame for their children's fates as well.

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hmmm....

@paulb.: Dude… that's HUUUUGGGEE! Made my day man, thanks. Can't wait to see that awesome chart updated with sales and inventory going in opposite directions. All those 20 something "investors" must be crapping their baggy jeans these days. I LOVE IT!

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pricedoutfornow

@Solyent Green:

I say bring back the 25% downpayment! Then we'll see how fast prices drop. And these "kids" will realize you actually have to SAVE to buy something (imagine that!). And gone will be the days of "kids" buying multiple properties with 5% down on each…ya I know a couple of those…they're sleeping a little less these days because they found that the roof cost $10k to replace, and the rent barely covers the mortgage, now that variable rates have ticked up a bit.

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ulsterman

While killing time in a Safeway queue i browsed through that Vancouver pumper magazine Vancouver Magazine. They had a section profiling Vancouver neighbourhoods. What struck me was the extremely low median incomes. I pondered the challenge posed by living in Best Place on Earth while earning some of the lowest wages in Canada. Is our quality of life also the Best on Earth Too. Who cares if you live in the Best Place on Earth if you can't afford to do anything? I don't know where they get their stats but i presume Stats Canada of somewhere else – they didn't provide any refs. Yaletown, 48% renters, $81,737 median, 2 people / household Downtown, 50%, $35,009, 1p/household Gastown, 93%, $31,733, 1p/household Coal Harbour, 65%, $63,385, 2pp/household Westend, 76%, $39,476, 1p/household Kits, 53%, $79, 549, 2pp/household Just imagine what the median… Read more »

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Best place on meth

I gots my paulb numbers, nows I just needs my VHB updated projections.

Then I can sleep like a baby.

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Anonymous

have to agree with Solyent Green and I'm 25 years old

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paulb.

New Listings 248

Price Changes 101

Sold Listings 90

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Solyent Green

Sorry to rain on your parade, but the baby boomers never overleveraged themselves to buy real estate when starting out, nor did they buy their dream home as their first home. When they bought their first house, they had to have 25% down, and banks would not acknowledge dual incomes. The wife's income was put as half at best, as the banks knew that the wife would eventually lose that income stream when she had kids. As such, the amount they could borrow was much less. Rarely did they get gifts of cash for their DP. Fast forward today, and every 20 something can borrow, regardless of a down payment or not. No need to save, because hey, your deserve everything you want right now! Mommy and Daddy will give you that DP because you are special. Sorry, while the… Read more »

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jesse

"inventory has always risen in September…"

…which is why, given sales have not been strong, MOI is going higher and, as we all know, MOI is a very strong indicator of price changes. Price drops are likely through the rest of the year — probably on the order of a handful of % — and will set a new low bar for the spring of 2011.

A few % here, a few % there; after a while we're talking serious money.

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girlbear

Another "site" that started up today…

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/YVRRE

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jesse

@Junius: "I am a bit shocked by how high the listings numbers are."

Are you? Check out vibe's chart and you'll see inventory has always risen in September, even last year in the heat of a massive fall bull rally.

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patriotz

@chip:

As for slavery, sure one person could take control of another but in any system where slavery flourished the “rights’ of the slaveholder were recognized in law,

What do you mean by "law"? If you simply mean the consent of the slaveholder's social group, yes. If you mean some codified law by an organized state, no.

It requires the intervention of a disinterested state to eliminate slavery. Otherwise the strong will always prey upon the weak.

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Gen "why me?"

@Royce McCutcheon: Further to Royce’s rant (which I feel is fairly apt) I am probably a little younger than Royce, and I can’t remember a time where I felt that I should have purchased real estate. By the time I graded from Uni, condos downtown were already 250k. How is someone from my generation expected to own a home when they were given no time to save before prices were already ridiculous? A friend and I were talking at a party, and we mused how if we were merely 10 years older, we likely would have been able to buy a place out of university and looked like a brilliant real estate moguls. Timing is everything and I feel the time has come for baby boomers to pass over their brass rings to those of us who worked so hard… Read more »

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Royce McCutcheon

@Reality Check:

Previous comment directed to this post.

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Bilbo Bloggins

@metalhead:

Bulls don't realize a 20% decline wipes out a previous 25% gain!

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