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RBC, BMO and the tiny rate ratchets.

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Banks are nudging up their variable mortgage rates:

Bank of Montreal later joined Royal in raising its five-year variable closed mortgage to three per cent which, in the case of BMO, represented a 0.15 percentage point increase.

Meanwhile, the Royal’s special variable rate mortgage also increased by a fifth of a point to prime minus 0.45 percentage points, making it 2.55 per cent.

In the past when banks raised variable rates without a corresponding increase in the Bank of Canada rate, they were accused of trying to boost profit margins at the expense of borrowers.

But Royal Bank, which is also Canada’s largest mortgage lender, said the latest increase reflects higher costs in the bond market, where it raises money to finance its mortgage loans.

Bond interest rates have risen due to growing debt fears in the United States and Europe as lenders want higher rates to part with their money in a riskier global economy.

Full article over at CTV.

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Anonymous

"Agreed. People who think Vancouver is unfriendly can’t have lived outside of Canada."

Nonsense. People who think Vancouver is friendly can't have lived in non-Western cultures. Vancouver is characterized by superficiality and a sense of entitlement. Narcissism at its best.

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VanCity Guy

Next time you encounter a rude "vancouverite" ask them where they are from. I am betting dollars to doughnuts that more than 95% will not have been born in Vancouver.

All these experiences I read about here are people moving here from other places and find people in vancouver rude… could it be they are all interacting with themselves?

I was born in Vancouver and I can usually tell where in the country someone is from… and let me tell you, the worst people in the country are the trust fund kids from Ontario.

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Anonymous

@Anonymous:

saying thanks to the bus driver is a nice 'gesture' but that's all it really is

it's sanctimonious shite that hipster scum from ontario do to feel smug about themselves and their vancouver dream.

they're our okies and we have to put up with them.

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macho nacho

@ulsterman: Asians could be ignoring him because:

1) They are rude

2) They are surprised a stranger is saying hello

3) They are afraid he may say something offensive/rude/racist

#3 has happened to me enough times, I just ignore everyone, unless it's someone I recognize.

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Inventory

This must be a first for a long time.

No houses SOLD in Richmond today.

Only 5 condos and 1 townhouse.

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Anonymous

@collum: ……. One example – saying thank you to bus drivers. Vancouver is the only large Canadian city where people habitually shout thanks to their bus driver…..

With all due respect, you're full of human waste. Toronto is way friendlier than Raintown (and Toronto isn't very friendly). The reason people in Vancouver thank bus drivers is because without bus drivers, they'd have no one at all to talk to.

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Patiently Waiting

@ulsterman: Those Asians that respond are probably CBC or from SE Asia (Filipino, Thai etc.), based on my experience.

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Ulsterman

My dad is here for the summer from N Ireland and he made two observations that are relevant here:

1) He thinks the bus drivers are very friendly!

2) Being from Ireland he tends to nod / wave / say hello to people he passes on the street when walking in a quiet, residential neighbourhood. He commented to me that the Asian people ignore him. Go figure.

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DonLogan

Having lived on the East Coast, on the Prairies and here in Vancouver for the last 10 years I can say unequivocally that this country is friendly everywhere. We're social beings wrapped up in pretense and often a hand shake and smile is enough to break that down. You gotta be open- languages may vary, but body language is understood by everyone.

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nuxfan

agreed – Vancouver is not a friendly city as Canadian cities go. I was shocked when I moved here from Toronto – no one holds doors, says excuse me, sorry, whatever. No one makes eye contact when you pass by or smiles. It was nearly impossible to make friends with locals – invariably all my friends ended up being other people that moved here around the same time, who had the same experience.

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YLTNboomerang

I have to agree with many on this board having lived in the prairies, and four countries in mainland Europe, Japan and Korea I am always telling people that I find Vancouver the most unfriendliest place I've ever lived. You can call me racist if you want but I strike it down to lack of a common culture where our different ethnic groups tend to stick to their own. In each of the places I lived, I "stuck out" and was a bit different so people were interested in finding out about me. Here in Vancouver, everyone blends in and nobody makes any effort to interface with people outside of their regular circle. As to why so few people hold the door open, wave thanks when you let them in a vehicle line, or even say thank-you out here I'm… Read more »

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fixie guy

47 N Says: "… people are shockingly friendly and relaxed here, at least on the east side." BC'ers outside the Van core are generally agreeable and nice. Few I didn't like – maybe one – and the Valley gals were smart, adjusted and a stone hoot. I generally enjoyed living in overwhelmingly Asian neighbourhoods. But Vancouver has no apparent golden mean in the Euro zone between the low-lying, quiet, really nice types and the pushy, provincial in the worst sense, wastes of skin who mistake an accident of history for municipal manifest destiny. Hesitate to even hire them these days. I've lived across southern Ontario, in Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver, regularly spend significant amounts of time with the locals in California and Detroit and can say with confidence that the Van locals of European descent have a hard kernel of… Read more »

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jesse

@Keeping An Eye On The Pimps: Prices up, wages flat, and ridership drops. I expect Mr. Hahn earns enough to deciper a downward sloping demand curve to understand what's going on.

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Anonymouse

@N:

Agreed. People who think Vancouver is unfriendly can't have lived outside of Canada.

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Girlbear

@collum: Having lived in both Vancouver and Toronto I can confirm Toronto was by far friendlier. Bigger city, fewer phonies.

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Anonymouse

@Keeping An Eye On The Pimps:

Traffic is down because BC Ferries are crazy expensive. Taking a car from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert is $410 excluding the driver (another $180) plus tax. One way. You could fly to Hawaii for that. Return.

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Frank

Vancouver East & West*
New Listings – 78
Back On Market Listings – 2
Price Changes – 32
Sold Listings – 41
Vancouver All Areas*
New Listings -201
Back On Market Listings – 2
Price Changes – 101
Sold Listings – 103

*Attached & Detached – Date: 08/24/2011 Time: 18:13 Pacific YatterMatters.com: Courtesy REBGV. Data believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed.

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Keeping An Eye On Th

“its largest first-quarter year-over-year decline in passenger traffic in recent years and a 20-year low. Vehicle traffic is also at an 11-year low.

BC Ferries CEO David Hahn said the proposed cuts represent a small fraction of the 10,000 sailings the company runs each year.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/brit…

2 rapid fire points:

How could traffic be down, doesn’t everyone want to come here,-best place on earth post Olympics?

And we pay this dumb fcuk how much to run a monopoly?

Hahn's,next job co host with Bill Slut.

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N

There may be friedlier cities (I don't think of Toronto as one of them) but compared to the big cities of the world, people are shockingly friendly and relaxed here, at least on the east side.

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collum

People saying that Toronto is friendlier than Vancouver crack me up. Having lived in both, I can confirm it's not. I would grade Vancouver as easily the friendliest of the large Canadian cities, i.e. Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. One example – saying thank you to bus drivers. Vancouver is the only large Canadian city where people habitually shout thanks to their bus driver. It's something every visitor I;'ve had has commented on and used an example of how friendly Vancouver is. Even our bums are friendly here.

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Anonymouse

@painted turtle: "Dysfunctional wealth distribution, immigrants that do not speak English, transient immigrants that do not make efforts to fit in, rich immigrants that expect me to adapt to their values (I even faced very racist anti-white stereotypes in a Tai Chi class), locals that need to work two jobs to make ends meet, students overwhelmed with debts that can hardly eat, people who cannot afford to take time to relax and socialize, families on the verge of a burn out, rampant drug markets, huge poverty in DTES, newly rich that overexpose their wealth, or even worse: homeowners who expose their virtual/HELOC wealth." If you'd written that in general terms then you could be talking about just about anywhere… Students overwhelmed with debts, for example, is hardly an issue that's specific to Vancouver. How are students doing in the rest… Read more »

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painted turtle

Agreed that Vancouver is rude, and becoming worse. I recently went to Calgary and strangely felt home, even if I did not used to like that city. I sat down at a coffee place and investigated that sentiment. Well, it felt like being in Canada, I mean to country I chose to immigrate to a long time ago. People were polite, some were kind and smiling. I really enjoyed going to the zoo, where nobody was showing off, every one seemed just the average family having a good time with their kids. There was a form of peace and happiness there. And a very Canadian "je ne sais quoi". Every summer, I spend time in B.C. interior, for the sake of meeting very friendly, joyful, down to Earth Canadians. Even Victoria seems to be a relief from Vancouver's mentality. Now… Read more »

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Patiently Waiting

@space889: But how hard is it to learn a few simple words of the main language? Kind of disrespectful not to. But its their loss more than anyone's.

In this case, though, this guy spoke fluent English. He was just a boorish, upper-class twit, I guess. BTW for the record, I'm fairly certain he was Korean not Chinese.

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Anonymous

@Victoria: ….The one place that has the nicest people I must say is Winnipeg (and probably the other Prairie Cities are the same)….

Yep, prairie folks are the friendliest in Canada (and I'm an easterner)! Quite a shocker coming to Vancouver after spending some time in the flat lands. You can live here for years and not make any real friends. In the parries, you show up for a weekend visit and you have half a dozen new best friends before the weekend's over.

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DaMann

@Victoria:

Not to stick up for Vancouver but

"When we had a black out a few years ago in Oak Bay we took out lawn chairs waiting for everyone to come out – well everyone just their doors and pulled down their blinds."

WTF? Some eastern things just don't translate here on the West Coast. I have no idea what you are talking about!

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