Open Topic

FFFA! Canada, Construction, Condos, Confidence

136
136 Comments

Wake up!

Grab some coffee and some left-over halloween candy, it’s Free-for-all time!

This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Ready to count BOC out of rate hike?
–Consumer confidence falling
–‘red mitten’ benefit from winter games
–Flaherty to give market a talking to
–Housing Analysis construction activity
–Buying Genworth?
–Preparing for a stock market correction
–Can we have some accurate data?
–The foreclosure cup
–Where’s the next property bubble?
–Best places to retire
–

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

136 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Devore

#135: Sorry you feel that way. Words have meaning. We use words to communicate ideas. Dialogues break down when the two parties are using the same words to mean different things, leading to misunderstanding. This is semantics. If you use “Jew” or “race” to mean something other than what people commonly accept them to mean, you will fail to communicate. Use the correct words to say what you mean.

0
0
Son of Ponzi

#134.
Semantics. That why most dialogues break down. Form over substance.

0
0
patriotz

@133: “My point was that stating that Fed Chairs lately have come from a certain race does not make me a racist.”

Judiasm is a religion, not a race, and calling it the latter associates you with some pretty racist people,

0
0
Son of Ponzi

# 131
fair enough.
My point was that stating that Fed Chairs lately have come from a certain race does not make me a racist.
The same as you disagreeing with David Suzuki does not automatically make you an anti environmentalist.
We all should be judged by our actions not words. This, of course, is hard to do on a blog.
So, let’s use a little common sense and discretion.

0
0
Son of Ponzi

# 123
This shows you that stupidity runs in the family.

0
0
N

@Ponzi

I don’t hate him, I just don’t think he is reliable as a source of information as he is primarily an entertainer. His relevance to Vancouver RE is that Beuller quoted him a as a source arguing that the Fukushima plant would soon blow up and necessitate evacuation of the west coast. I’m guessing that you realize that is a silly thing to say.

0
0
Naked Official #9000

@129 gotta harvest when the crops are ready

wouldn’t want local populations to benefit from their labours or anything

0
0
Best place on meth

“Many migrants,” Dang says, “do not plan to stay in Canada but rather invest in themselves for later movement” from country to country.”

Sounds exactly like what locusts do.

0
0
Naked Official #9000

http://www.theage.com.au/business/chinese-entrepreneur-allegedly-bringing-in-cashfilled-suitcases-20131103-2wuv3.html

obviously, this journalist and this paper are racists

0
0
Son of Ponzi

VMD #123
That’s why the crash will be so hard.
Two generations’ wealth wiped out.

0
0
Harvey

@123
WoW, so old white folks are contributing to RE bubble. Hmmm reading regular armchair PRCphobes i would thing it is foreigners with barbaric customs of helping children that drive RE bubble.

0
0
kabloona

I like Tal’s comment at the end of the Star piece, too….

“Although many parents can help, they cannot help at a rate that is keeping up with the rate of increases in house prices.”

😀

0
0
kabloona

VMD – nice catch…. I was just gonna post that!

😉

0
0
VMD

Bank of Mom and Dad helping prop up housing market
“For almost a decade now, Abramowicz has specialized in helping first-time buyers get mortgages. During that time he’s seen house prices soar, lending rules tighten and more buyers — now at least 75% of his younger clients — armed with “gift letters” or tens of thousands of dollars from their baby boomer parents.”

“CIBC economist Benjamin Tal believes that backstopping by Mom and Dad, coupled with low interest rates, has kept the first-time buying market far more buoyant than many experts had expected in the wake of the tougher mortgage lending rules imposed by Ottawa over the last four years.”

0
0
VMD

Canada ranks in top 10 but is “not destination of choice” for Chinese investment: Asia Pacific Foundation
Canada is China’s ninth choice when it comes to investing in foreign markets, according to the results of an Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada survey released November 4.

In a survey of approximately 1,000 Chinese companies, 6% chose Canada as country of choice for outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). The United States was in first place with 35% and Germany was in second place at 16%.

0
0
fixie guy

@115 George: An alternate perspective: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/05/18/hong-kong-immigrants-streaming-out-of-canada/

“…the most common reason many Hong Kong residents have returned to their homeland from Canada is they have obtained what they believe is the “safety” of a foreign passport.”

“The Metropolis papers reveal a large portion of ethnic Chinese immigrants talk about being in “immigration prison” while in Vancouver, Toronto and elsewhere – enduring the three-year residency required to obtain a Canadian passport.”

Immigration is one of this country’s greatest assets but I don’t see any logic granting voting rights to those who treat citizenship as a punishment.

0
0
RFM

The VANCOUVER REALTOR HUNGER INDEX for October 2013 was 60%.

Details and comparison data for 16 years at: http://vancouverpeak.com/Thread-Vancouver-Realtor-Hunger-Index

0
0
Son of Ponzi

# 118 @N
Why do you hate David Suzuki so much and why is he relevant to RE in Vancouver?

0
0
N

@109

David Suzuki is a mostly harmless entertainer, but you should not base decisions on entertainment.

0
0
VMD

October REGBV Stats Package just out.

0
0
patriotz

@115:

Saunders is one of the Globe’s resident idiots. This column is full of logical fallacies, such as:

Voting should be granted by residency, not citizenship. (Elections Canada understands this, and rightly denies Canadian citizens the right to vote once they’ve been away five years)

Of course Elections Canada “understands” no such thing. They are making the right to vote contingent on citizenship PLUS residency within the last 5 years.

He also seems think that the growing numbers of temporary foreign workers is a reason to extend voting to non-citizens. How about just getting rid of the TFW program?

Thankfully the comment section abounds with common sense responses to this nonsense.

0
0
George

Globe and Mail article arguing that we should extend voting rights to non-citizen residents. Toronto wants to do that in civic elections. So now these part-time Canadians who come here just to buy a house and check in on it once in a while and send their family here to take advantage of services available, now these people are going to be able to vote if this comes to pass. One of the justifications given in the article is that voting rights will encourage non-citizen residents to invest in Canadian real estate (like we really need to be encouraging more of that!). From the Globe and Mail: “First and foremost, democracy is about making decisions on how one’s tax revenues should be used; these residents have been paying taxes for years but have no representation. Worse, when countries pretend that… Read more »

0
0
frank

Hey Surrey and BS-Frank, nothing comes close to the commercialization of Christmas. So no need to sow fear amongst the population.

As for Surrey the Median price is running at the rate of inflation, even with October’s boost in sales and will probable show a nice drop now that pre-approvals are out of the way

http://www.fvreb.bc.ca/statistics/Package%20201309.pdf

0
0
Frank

It’s Diwali,

Triumph of good over evil…This holiday will rival Christmas in Canada in due time. Maybe should become a holiday here!

0
0
Surrey

If you live in Surrey…Go outside right now.

Smell and see the smoke outside. Listen to the awesome display of fireworks. More than Canada Day…more than Halloween, More than any other time of the year.

Vanouver is going to become a Asian and South Asian City within the next few decades whether any one likes it or not.

this is why the single detached house will be going to be worth 1 million dollars in Surrey. Incomes will have nothing to do with it.

Again, if you’re in Surrey…go outside and see for yourself.

0
0