@Vansanity:

I heard it was Harold Ford and the elevator boy, but same principle.

Then again I said that years ago when I heard about an office cleaner who was trying to get several friends together to buy an 'investment' condo.

"So.. plenty of time to install that laminate, paint the place up and stage it."

I was sitting in a restaurant today, perusing The Georgia Straight (yeah, nothing else to read). The real estate ads seemed to suggest we are locked in a pre-Olympic state of unstoppable financial frenzy and fortune.

I'll bet my previous landlord, who easily lost a quarter million bucks on the place I just moved out of, is chomping at the bit to buy another one. (Nope, it still hasn't sold)

Maybe we should force everyone who lost in the Real Estate Ponzi scheme to wear a small tattoo on their forehead? In a few years, Vancouver will look like downtown Calcutta.

@Meh: "If 3.2% rent increases become common that adds up to significant inflation. Is that a good thing?"

Don't know, just stating one particular case with which I'm familiar. One thing is clear, though, is that if rent goes up by 3.2% and wages fail to keep pace, that means the local economy suffers.

I hope people begin to understand how dangerous negative real rates are with prices at current levels. I think most readers here do.

What a brutal week for sales.

32% lower than the same week last year but we'll see after tomorrows numbers if that holds.

Read this in the G&M today. Oh Vancouver…

Five big blunders of 'do-it-yourself' investors

#2. Half-hearted diversification, or worse

Perhaps Mr. Collings’ Vancouver location is to blame for the preoccupation his new clients seem to have with real estate. “It’s hilarious,” he said. “They have their principal residence, they’ll have a rental property and then when it comes time to sit down and talk about their investments, what do they want? They want real estate-style investments in their RRSP.”

@patriotz: I am hearing some reports from what I would refer to as "rational" landlords that vacancies are lower and they are having little trouble finding qualified applicants. I don't know if that's translating to the spot price increasing — in many cases landlords won't jack rents up too quickly even if the market is tight due to their long time horizons. Perhaps the market is tighter than it was a few years ago. If so that's probably a good thing as it starts forcing people's hands. I saw this effect up close and personal recently where tenants in a rental complex moved after a 3.2% rent rise. Of the 10 who moved out in the last 6 months, half left the Vancouver area altogether, others moved to less expensive areas of the region. The building manager filled the units… Read more »

@RippedtoShit:

Well that's the beauty of it isn't it?

Yesterday I reported 44 sales for the first half of the month which means we're on pace for 88.

Get it? 88 sales? 888 listings? Richmond? Chinese? Superstitious?

This type of hilarity you just can't make up.

Richmond detached inventory just reached 888.

BULLISH!

@DEFAULT NAME:

I remember someone showed around the time of the US crash that in some markets *asked* rents did go up in response to the bubble bursting, but IIRC it had little to do with inventory and didn't have a huge effect on *paid* rents in the aggregate. I can't find a link, sadly…

The theory as I understood it at the time was that people were trying to recoup mortgage through rents, and therefore asked rents were reflecting the serious skew between owners and renters. Only it had no real effect on the long term market, because rents are fundamentally constrained by incomes.

@DEFAULT NAME: "but in the early stages when housing first starts to correct, the decrease in supply tends to cause an upward pressure on rents."

There is some weak evidence that this happened in San Diego leading up to their significant price drops. Not that this means anything.