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Friday Free-for-all!

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It’s that time of the week again…

Friday 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:

–What size house are you happy with?
–CMHC no longer loans for condo dev
–Bidding wars spread to suburbs
–Minimum loan payment reduced
–Low rates to save housing market?
–Shiller worried about canada prices
–

Thanks to southseacompany and everyone else for the links!

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

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Sam

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Slagathor

….I’m in Lynn Valley. It’s definitely not a Ham hot spot (something to do with bad feng shui on the side of a mtn I think)…

400 days of rain a year wouldn’t have anything to do with that.

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trackback

[…] to Joe Mainlander for pointing this out, original data source is Toronto Condo […]

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history

hey Ted, how is it going?
meet me in the alley, i*ve got a bottle of the Sherry you like!!
see you there in ten
http://www.picgifs.com/smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/coffee/smileys-coffee-663268.gif

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history

‘lower commodity prices pose a great threat to the Canadian economy, which heavily relies on energy-related exports’

no, this is impossible, Mark Carney said it isn’t like this in Canada, and he has an Order of Canada

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chinoria

Who do you think they are aiming this listing at in West Van?

House number can be changed at city to 4438. Public open 2-4 Sunday.

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southseacompany

Familiar headlines from Australia;

“What goes up… Rate cut reignites housing market, but economists warn of bubble”, Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/what-goes-up-rate-cut-reignites-housing-market-but-economists-warn-of-bubble-20150213-13dxas.html

“First home buyers have fled the market and investors are flooding in as Sydney’s median house price surges towards $1 million. But with ominous signals emerging in the economy, how long can it last?”

“the Reserve Bank’s decision last week to cut official interest rates to a 60-year low of 2.25 per cent appears to have reignited the market, especially investor demand”

“”The rate cut was almost a red rag to a bull for investors,” says Dr Andrew Wilson, senior economist at Domain Group, owned by Fairfax Media which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s just ticking all the boxes for them.” Some analysts are now saying prices could rise another 10 per cent this year, maybe more.”

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tedeastside

Metro Vancouver has a smaller population than Pittsburgh

but its ego exceeds any City in North America by leaps and bounds

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southseacompany

“A game of contagion: Competitive central banking” Nikkei Asian Reciew http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Competitive-central-banking “Call it beggar-thy-neighbor central banking. Interest rates around the world are coming down. The monetary authorities of emerging nations as well as those of countries that export a lot of natural resources are doing a lot of the pulling. No end is in sight. The result could be chaos in the global financial markets.” “Lower oil prices are a big factor behind the trend. In commodity exporting countries, central banks have reduced interest rates to stimulate domestic economies, which have started slowing due to the falling prices of their main export products.” “The economic impact lower oil prices are having is difficult to gauge, Stephen Poloz, governor of the Bank of Canada, noted in a speech on Tuesday. But lower commodity prices pose a great threat to the Canadian… Read more »

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chinoria

Larry has basically summed it on his web-site. Remember Larry Yatter is a realtor. There are some with integrity like Paul and Larry A more direct view is that this time of year coincides with a notable Chinese holiday during which many visitors hungry to park accumulated wealth. The goal – politically secure Canadian property. They arrive money in hand ready to pay any price. That price however, is beyond the imagination and capability of what locals can afford. The residual effect faced by local Vancouver home buyers is a real life problem. It precludes pretty formulas. Their hardship reality is simple – the playing field isn’t level and they cannot compete with the volume of individual wealth. Municipal leaders pontificate that they are doing something about affordability. It is their shield. Yet, based on the ever increasing average price… Read more »

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franko

@352 and #55

Went through a bunch of opens in North Van today, just for the entertainment.
Dunno if HAM is dead, but DAM sure isn’t (as in Dumb Asian Money). At least half of the people looking at the pricier places were Asian or Persian. The entry level places attracted by far the biggest crowds (mostly young Caucasians), especially if they included a suite or suite potential. By entry level I mean absolute shit boxes in the shoddiest areas of Lynn Valley. These places are teardowns that are obviously overpriced for builders.

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Divine

Harpo should just sell the whole country and move to the caymans

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Itiswhatitis

The same Off shore Chinese family just bought two houses $2 million each within two days of each other
In caulfield west van
Not sure if they will rent out or leave empty
Actually one was only 1.98 million

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southseacompany

“Will the Bank of Canada cut rates again? Markets to focus on announcement”, CTV News

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/will-the-bank-of-canada-cut-rates-again-markets-to-focus-on-announcement-1.2258856

“Traders are looking to the central bank’s rate announcement on Wednesday to see if it will again surprise markets with a cut as it did in January. At that time, the bank decided to take a pre-emptive move to support the economy to deal with the economic effects of the collapse in oil prices, cutting its key rate a quarter point to 0.75 per cent.”

“”The big story is the (U.S.) job market has turned for real over the last year and will just strengthen the case that the Federal Reserve will raise rates later this year,” added Porter.”

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88

Lynn Valley is one of the few places that young non-HAM families can afford and they are flocking their in droves as they are pushed out of other parts of the city.

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Guy Smiley

@52 I’m in Lynn Valley. It’s definitely not a Ham hot spot (something to do with bad feng shui on the side of a mtn I think) but nothing but sold signs everywhere. It’s depressing the shit outta me.

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Oracle

Why do you guys listen to a guy in Ottawa who owns a house there and works for Immigration Canada?

Stupidity has no bounds.

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Oracle

That GT guy denying HAM exists and that recent immigrants don’t push up value of housing.

What kind of moron would lie like that? 40% of metro is Asian and this hasn’t pushed the price of land up?

lies lies and more lies.

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space889

@StupidityCheck – North Vancouver is apparently hot hot hot hot and relatively HAM free.

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space889

@StupidityCheck – Really?? And what BPOM is just a model citizen?? Or an innocent victim??

Geez….maybe you should consider that not everyone thinks alike and *gasp* people are allowed to have different opinion on Vancouver and RE than you, and you know still actually be good people? Unlike some bear that perpetuate hate and encourage violence against a certain group of people??

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space889

– your report use data from 2004?? MoneySense mag is using data from 2011 or 2012 I think. The 20% cutoff for families Canada wide is about $125K.

@EngineerWhoRents – As one comment pointed out on the link, they didn’t say the number is average or median. A lot of vital stats data is missing. The Canada wide top 20% family income cutoff is around $125K which would still make $1M – $1.2M house purchase with 20% down doable.

So my point is that it is not unreasonable for the under $2M housing market to be driven by locals rather than hot foreign money.

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Shut It Down Already

44, Vancouver’s crime stats have been posted and discussed here many times before. Feel free to look them up. Personal/violent crime is incredibly low. Property crime is quite high. So it really depends on your definition of “safety”.

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Joe Mainlander

Check out all 26 major Canadian cities. All have seen prices double to triple in last 15 years;

http://www.torontocondobubble.com/p/canadas-housing-bubble.html

Calgary
Winnipeg
Edmonton
Gatineau
Halifax
Hamilton
Oshawa
Montreal
London
Kitchener
Kingston
Ottawa
Quebec
Regina
Saguenay
Saint John
Sudbury
St.John’s
St. Catharines
Sherbrooke
Saskatoon
Thunder Bay
Toronto
Trois Rivieres
Vancouver
Victoria

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StupidityCheck

Here’s some stats for you:

http://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/files/REBGV%20Stats%20Package%2C%20January%202015.pdf

Check out HAMs favourite areas – Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond – all up big the last 5 years. Now check out the HAM free zones – Whistler, Ladner, Sunshine Coast – down or barely up. Just like (HAM free) Victoria.

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kabloona

#43 – One swallow does not a Summer make….

Stats, man….we need stats!!

😉

Garth gave you stats – admittedly, from Victoria – but stats nevertheless…

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