It’s that time of the week again!
And yes, we’re a little slow on the draw this time..
This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.
-Links to be added later…
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
Can you tell us more about this? I’d love to find out some
additional information.
Have a look at my website: lead generation service
A bargain at 800k, compared to some places in Van. Listed at 649k.
http://themashcanada.blogspot.ca/2014/01/sold-145-galley-avenue-roncensvalles.html?m=1
Mac@139 “5-yr price appreciation for Westside condos has been calculated by a crackhead. There is no way prices have gone up 20%. Even the nicest high end units struggle to get 10%” Yes, kind of agree with both statements (yours and the report, albeit 20% is way too high) However, I think that you cant take that number and apply it to your condo and compute the appreciation of your condo. Your condo became 5 years older for that period. In the same period new builds entered the market, steering the indexed prices up. The way I interpret the index is the following: the prices for average, 3 years old 2 bdrm condo, went up for 20% (if you try to buy such today). Sadly, people compute this as “my condo is 20% up in the price, I am rich”…… Read more »
CTV: “Why renting a home instead of buying may boost your bottom line http://bc.ctvnews.ca/why-renting-a-home-instead-of-buying-may-boost-your-bottom-line-1.1668887#ixzz2sSnxIyL4” “With the average seasonally adjusted price of a home in Vancouver sitting at $825,000, many Vancouverites are turning away from the dream of home ownership and choosing to rent instead.” “Tom Davidoff, an economist at the University of B.C., did the same thing. He sold his Vancouver home and rented a property, and invested the equity in the stock market. “I think the safer play is perhaps not necessarily own the home. It’s a single asset and the one thing your mother also told you is don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” said Davidoff. Davidoff says the money tied up in a home is not earning the interest it could be and renting means you don’t have to pay property taxes, maintenance fees or… Read more »
vancouver`s national anthem…maybe someday we’ll have a head office or big company
The so-called foreign ownership restrictions in Australia are a myth, nothing more than removing a small loophole that was only in place for 18 months. Why does this continue to be brought up as some sort of massive crackdown?
Not only are foreigners allowed to buy as much new property as they want, in NSW the state government has just confirmed that they are giving them money to do so. There’s a $5000 grant for anyone purchasing new properties under $650K and even if you are an overseas investor you are eligible to receive this money. Pure madness!
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2014/02/foreigners-cashing-in-on-nsw-new-home-grant/
@142 England is trying to inflate their housing bubble, not deflate it. That’s why they brought in Carney. Any discussion on restricting foreign ownership in England to reduce housing costs is just political posturing. Foreign ownership restrictions in Australia had zero impact and since they brought in the restrictions prices in Australia have continued to go up. Australia did it to look like they are doing something to control housing costs knowing the foreign ownership restrictions would do nothing. If they want housing prices to go down in England or anywhere else all they need to do is tighten credit on mortgages.
Doesn’t matter if foreign buyers exist in significant numbers or not. Bubbles are psychological. If most people think that foreign buyers are driving up prices in Van, that can be be enough to add to the ‘buy now or be priced out’ psychology.
That’s why realtors like Cam Good and Mac Market try to pump that angle. Who do you think their aiming there fake asians at? Foreigners? They’re in China and don’t watch Global.
#142
no need to restrict foreign ownership.
Because according to the politically correct posters on this blog, it does not exist.
“England ready to restrict foreign ownership. Will Canada?” Douglas Todd in the Vancouver Sun
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/02/03/london-ready-to-restrict-foreign-ownership-will-vancouver/
high sales are proof of a crash.
low sales are proof of a crash.
bears and their bearlogic. SMH.
you have to be a special kind of irrational to be wrong for a decade. if you had a kid when this blog was started, they would be in grade 3 and would have the mental age required to make posts that get up-voted.
Still HAM buying on the North Shore. When the day comes and they have no buys, then I will know the tide has turned. Of course I may die of old age first.
5-yr price appreciation for Westside condos has been calculated by a crackhead. There is no way prices have gone up 20%. Even the nicest high end units struggle to get 10%.
Re 98: “I wonder if we will have a >500 listings day this spring?”
I was under the impression that some nice ladies at the Real Estate Board handle every single listing every single day. They do “magical” things like insert photos from previous listings if the current agent neglected to add a photo and reorder the images. I was led to believe that these NL@tREB can’t process 500 listing in a day so the best you would see is a few consecutive days of really high listings as they process as many listings as they can and roll over what they don’t do today into tomorrow.
They have to earn their 1% of the first 100,000 somehow.
The first month of 2014 saw home sale and listing totals outpace historical averages in the Greater Vancouver housing market.
http://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/files/REBGV%20Stats%20Package%2C%20January%202014.pdf
Looks like CNY brought out some sucker buyers…. Dummies
New Listings 265
Price Changes 78
Sold Listings 141
TI:13475
http://www.paulboenisch.com
https://twitter.com/BoenischPaul
@Son of Ponzi
I have more faith in McDonalds nutrional info than the RE boards HPI any day.
The Real Estate Board”s sales numbers are kinda like McDonalds sales numbers.
No idea if they are true or not.
None of them are independently verified.
“Usually when people use the term “sell-off” they mean aggressive selling that drives down prices” FWIW I’m not seeing a huge rush to liquidate foreign-held RE assets. Nationals could start fleeing their homelands with even more suitcases filled with cash as their economies start slowing down. Or said nationals could get a margin call and need to liquidate their foreign assets to avoid jail time. All depends on what the governments do to protect their citizens’ accrued savings. Could go either way. Could balance out. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t transactions occurring because of financial distress. If this is the way by which prices correct it will be nothing more than a curiosity; in my view if it’s not a mad scramble to repatriate private capital to once-surplus countries it will be something else. IMO there are better places to… Read more »
“This is the only stat that matters for those trying to predict future RE prices”
I don’t know any better, but I do know more than a few highly paid fixed income analysts would disagree with you.
Then there’s Rich Toscano:
http://piggington.com/shambling_towards_affordability_san_diego_housing_overpriced_but
Not that he’s right, but I thought I might highlight the “other side” of the trade.
Stuff will always sell.
Questions are what are the reference points and who keeps score.
You have to look at the mortgage payments over 25 years and you’ll see that we aren’t terrible overpriced.
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The realtors must love you.
““What evidence is there of a sell-off in Vancouver real estate similar to the EM sell-off”
What evidence is there that there isn’t a “sell-off”? January sales (ie people are S-E-L-L-I-N-G) are up over 30% year-on-year.”
Word games are pointless.
Do you believe that the stock market is “selling-off” every single day since every day there are sales because every day people are “S-E-L-L-I-N-G”.
I suppose that you also believe that any high volume market days are “sell-offs” because volume is high, regardless of price movemements.
Usually when people use the term “sell-off” they mean aggressive selling that drives down prices.
It’s a soft landing.
