Hey! Welcome back!
Its that time of the week again, Friday free-for-all time!
Time to do our end of the week news roundup and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.
-we need to add links here.
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
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[…] M- and MarKoz brought up this topic – Vancouver seems to be seriously lacking in affordable family housing. […]
Sounds like Robin just interviewed his realtor buddy.
Or watched property virgins.
@patriotz #81
“Right Robin. So how do mortgage costs compare to rents and incomes in Vancouver and other major Canadian markets today? ”
And don’t forget to ask her what will happen to mortgage costs, and ergo housing prices, once interest rates head up from current historical lows (esp. given that they have very little room to move further down).
I love this part the best:
“homeowners will continue to believe that increased home equity is a faster highway to creating wealth than accumulating wealth by working for a living.”
Elevator to the sky, baby! No-one needs to work, as Martians will come and buy it off you at ever increasing prices.
And the added electricity to power the artificial lights and filtration pumps will result in a need for more coal burning power stations, which in turn will blacken the skies even darker with soot…. resulting in increased need of artificial lighting and filtration systems, resulting in even more electricity generation, and so on.
Real estate investment firms should stick to their areas of “expertise” when making investment predictions.
more priceless commentary:
” …a long term investment opportunity, such as taking advantage of high pollution in China, according to LaSalle Investment Management, a $47.6 billion real estate investment firm.
“Although China will be switching over to renewables by 2039, concerns about unhealthy air will be so intense after two decades of respiratory diseases that they could likely pioneer buildings with filtered air, oxygen supplements and artificial light to replace lost sunlight,” said Jacques Gordon, LaSalle’s head of global research and strategy.”
Meanwhile, in other “news”: The next 25 years bullish for all real estate, in India, China, the West, Africa… “The big money sees China, India and other Asian markets as drivers of real estate growth—and investment opportunities. “Asia will be the future of real estate over the next 25 years,” said Jonathan Gray, who manages about $79 billion for clients as global head of real estate for the Blackstone Group. “The largest investment markets will be in China, India and other countries in the region given their rate of growth. Both public and private real estate markets will be much, much bigger.” “Generally, investors are confident that real estate will continue to offer attractive investment opportunities in 25 years. “High quality, reasonably leveraged real estate is a capital preservation proxy in every cycle,” said Barrack. In the U.S., he said,… Read more »
Chinese developers cut prices by 20%; previous purchasers storm sales office and smash displays. “We aren’t speculators… return us our hard earned money… this is very unfair.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-24/furious-chinese-demand-money-back-housing-bubble-pops
That’s some top-notch work, Conference Board:
But at current low rates, the typical homeowner on a posted five-year rate will have paid down $42,104 principal on a $100,000 in mortgage debt, so affordability won’t be seriously affected once it comes time to renew at a higher rate.
The national average is significantly above $100,000 per mortgageholder, never mind Vancouver’s numbers. Regardless, in no universe near this one does it prove that affordability won’t be seriously affected. This isn’t even coherent enough to be a straw man argument.
Forget about a crash, Conference Board gives housing market clean bill of health
@ patriotz #57 Re: higher taxes on $2M+ properties ” In fact the NDP of the 1990’s proposed just this (with a lower threshold, but the properties would be $2M+ today) but backed off ” Backed off is right, just ahead of the lynchmob from the entire political spectrum. That was Glen Clark’s first ill fated foray as employment/investment minister under Harcourt. He wanted to cut off the homeowners grant for properties that he had had been envious of, and it appeared to be nothing more than revenge against the system that he blamed for supressing his family during childhood. C’mon patriotz, most of your comments are thoughtful and appreciated but would it be too much too much to try and tone down your relentless socialist posturing and “Con” bashing? I know it’s mostly about votes from Canadians with Ukrainian… Read more »
Wow, this is just brilliant.
“according to a new report by the Conference Board of Canada”.
If most of houses in Vancouver bought with case, no mortgage, then no bubble here, moving on.
Canadian real estate’s next worry: commercial property
Why worry? Just turn them into condos.
#80 “We went through years and years when my clients who were self-employed could get a mortgage if their credit score was 680 or higher, with next to no documentation,” Broker Presentation – XCEED Mortgage Corporation PDF Here are just a few examples of the clients we can offers solutions to, who might otherwise be excluded by other other lenders: Client #1, who is gainfully employed with verifiable income, yet has damaged credit due to a major life event and a Beacon score in the 500-575 range. XCEED can offer this client a refinance or purchase deal to 80% LTV. Client #2, who is self-employed and unable to confirm income via traditional means. He has a Beacon score between 525 and 625. XCEED can offer this client a refinance deal to 75% or a purchase deal to 80%. Client #3,… Read more »
@78:
“Mortgage costs, not just house prices, are the principal deciding factor for potential home buyers,” according to Robin Wiebe, senior economist at the Conference Board’s Centre for Municipal Studies and author of the report.
Right Robin. So how do mortgage costs compare to rents and incomes in Vancouver and other major Canadian markets today?
You didn’t notice they are at historic highs?
Meanwhile, people who are self-employed are finding it harder to qualify for mortgages due to OSFI changes. From Globe and Mail: “We went through years and years when my clients who were self-employed could get a mortgage if their credit score was 680 or higher, with next to no documentation,” says Ms. Green, director and broker at Concierge Mortgage Group, based in Mississauga. “Today I’ve got clients going in to their bank for mortgage refinancing and they’re shocked because suddenly they’re no longer approvable.”… The more information a bank has, the better it can help self-employed borrowers qualify for the mortgage they want, says Ms. Green, whose client base is made up largely of self-employed workers. “Certain lenders allow add backs of things like car expenses, capital cost allowance or housing expenses,” Ms. Green says. “These add backs then enable… Read more »
So the Conference Board of Canada is saying price to income ratios don’t matter as long as people can afford the monthly payments because of low interest rates.
From CBC: “Fears that a housing bubble is brewing in Canada are overblown, according to a new report by the Conference Board of Canada. While house prices may be headed for a modest decline in some markets, there is no bubble to pop, the report says… The report says those calling it a bubble are looking at the wrong statistics — by focusing on the ratio of house prices to incomes and the ratio of house prices to rents. Instead, the report looks at the ratio of principal and interest costs to incomes and to rents, and finds that they are in the same range they have been in for the past 20 years. “Mortgage costs, not just house prices, are the principal deciding factor for potential home buyers,” according to Robin Wiebe, senior economist at the Conference Board’s Centre… Read more »
no Chinese in America period…..the main reason no free healthcare
Let the “schadenfreude” continue (or maybe, pick up a bit of steam):
Food for thought, especially if you’re a “naked official”:
Hard to find snow tire for Lamborghini, plus no congee in Whistler, all English speaking, lotsa Aussie accent
#72
they are afraid to drive their Lambos up to Whistler with their learner’s licenses.
Much safer to drive up and down #3 Rd in Richmond at 30 km/h.
Arrived to Whistler today. No Chinese in flashy cars here. What a refreshment, reminiscence of some Vancouver’s past days when city was cool.