BC, data, economy, humor, hype, prices

Housing costs in bc ‘pretty reasonable’

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The BC Housing Minister has clarified whether or not his ministry or the government will collect data on real estate buyers:

“I don’t believe we should be in the market place,” Coleman said, referring to his ministry, “and we have not had any request to go and do this work … There is no initiative at this time in government to go and interfere in the market place in regards to housing.”

The collecting of any data is not necessary because housing cost are actually pretty reasonable when you look at it right:

“I believe that the market place adjusts. If you notice over the years, it has fluctuations up and fluctuations down. If you look at the mean cost of housing across British Columbia and you compare it to other major cities worldwide, the reason it is attractive internationally is because it’s actually pretty reasonable compared to other cities like London, Singapore, Tokyo,” Coleman answered.

It’s actually a VERY favourable comparison. Initially we thought he was asking us to compare Vancouver housing prices to London house prices, but then we realized he was actually asking us to compare the mean cost of housing across the province of BC to a city like London.

Other than the differences those two things are very much alike.

Read the full article over at VanCity Buzz.

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BC = Tokyo?

Anyone else notice that BC got conflated with major metropolitan cities around the world?

Vancouver isn’t a major metro, but to compare the whole province to significant world cities is just a joke.

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ostritch

Holy Mother. Say goodbye to ever unearthing another Sino Forest.

“Huang was eventually tried and convicted of harming the business credibility of Silvercorp, in a hearing where Silvercorp’s lawyers “effectively acted as the prosecutor” according to Huang’s lawsuit.:

There’s a law against harming the credibility of a corporation that results in torture?

“I didn’t think the power of connections could come above everything else.”

OMG. Poor Vancouver. They know not what they have partnered with. Am I reading right, the BCSC is the BC Securities Commission is implicated? Wowee. Thanks B. I am going to follow this case.

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ostritch

Apologies BBB,

I’m just reading it now. I’m off point above. This is unbelievably interesting. Wow. And very scary. Like corporate justice. Mess with us, we get our buds in government to arrest and torture you over there, where no one asks questions.

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ostritch

BBB,

This is the unintended consequence behind Christy Clark’s education scheme. It is to intertwine BC with the young grads who ultimately return home to China to do business. The scheme, of course, is open to students from all over the (wealthy) world but it’s heavily pitched to China. Kindergarten to PhD. Seems she’s trying to create another natural resource out of education.

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ostritch

WSR,

New highs in 10 years or so? Haha. Or what basis can you make a prediction that far out? After you buy in the slump all will be well? Dude, I’m sorry you didn’t buy. I’m sure your wife is ready to kill you. I sympathize. Hopefully your family is still in tact. But this pretend realtor thing can’t possibly work. You get that, right?

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

vancouver and china. partners in crime.

Former UBC business grad once jailed in China now suing Vancouver-based Silvercorp Metals

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Former+business+grad+once+jailed+China+suing+Vancouver+based+Silvercorp+Metals/11066579/story.html

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southseacompany

In the US:

“US home buyers hit by higher mortgage rates”, CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102693113

“Another move higher in U.S. mortgage interest rates pushed weekly applications down.”

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Royce McCutcheon

“I’m not buying this “don’t believe the realtors” b.s. There is no way that all these realtors are just making this stuff up…”

MAC marketing says ‘sup.

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elvince

A petition won’t change squat. I’d say 50 peoples with signs in front of an empty house on a slow news day will generate more media coverage than 50k faceless signatures.

Nobody likes having 50 angry and vocal soccer moms in their street. Most neighbours might actually join them if they’re fed up with the empty houses though.

Another idea is to make a website with pictures and addresses of the empty houses. It would look like a restaurant menu for the average “breaker and enterer”. See how fast houses are being put on the market if they start getting cleaned once a month.

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southseacompany

“Oliver Says No Housing Bubble in Canada as Soft Landings Seen”, Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/oliver-says-no-housing-bubble-in-canada-as-soft-landings-seen

“Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver said he’s confident the country’s housing market isn’t in a bubble, setting aside any further action to curb activity.”

“The government, which has made four changes to housing finance rules since 2008 to cool booming sales and rising prices, is satisfied with market dynamics today and isn’t seeking further reform, Oliver said.”

“Home prices across the country continue to grow while a record number of multifamily units are under construction in Canada’s largest province, prompting renewed warnings of a bubble”

“Low interest rates and economic growth in major cities will help prop up “moderate growth” in home sales and prices while Toronto and Vancouver will stay strong, he said.”

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vangrl

I don’t find the 50% of all money in detached houses a stretch at all. My bet is that so far in 2015 it’s probably more than that. The “vancouver” area that I’d say this is true is East, West and North Vancouver. I’m not sure if that article is referencing Greater Vancouver. They are buying in our most expensive areas and the most expensive houses in those areas, sometimes entire blocks of homes. Seems like a no-brainer that it’s at least 50% I’m not buying this “don’t believe the realtors” b.s. There is no way that all these realtors are just making this stuff up, we’ve even heard Paul say they are dominating the West Side. Who are we supposed to believe when there is no hard data? I kind of think the Realtors would know better than anybody,… Read more »

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Royce McCutcheon

@59: Interesting. Will talk to people who can actually read that to learn more.

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Royce McCutcheon

@49: 80%? I’ll happily read any article people post related to the topic of foreign ownership in this region (or elsewhere), particularly where someone has attempted to measure it. I recall Sotheby’s citing 40% of luxury sales to foreigners (mostly Chinese) not too long ago (with luxury, I think, defined as a sale exceeding $2M). That received a lot of attention. Just to be clear: I believe that foreign buyers are a significant contributing factor to high real estate prices in this region. That doesn’t mean I can’t question the hyperbolic upward march in the numbers attributed to foreign buyers over the last 6-9 months as this concept has (finally) spilled into the media. I don’t think it’s credible to make arguments from flawed numbers and then tell people who question them to find that data for themselves. Since when… Read more »

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Wearehere

The time has come to post this on other sites too.

Anything to do with our city. vancouver sun or CBC comments sections.

Lets get over 25,000 that would be a great achievement and keep the pressure on Christy Clark, Gregor Robertson, Rich Coleman and the other pathetic enablers.

https://www.change.org/p/premier-christy-clark-mayor-gregor-robertson-mayors-and-city-councillors-of-the-gvrd-restrict-foreign-investment-in-greater-vancouver-s-residential-real-estate-market

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George

More shameful conduct from a realtor on display in the news. What also stands out in this story, is the realtor’s lack of remorse, he keeps trying to justify it. From CBC: “Jim Parsons, a veteran Victoria Realtor who helped a mentally ill client buy a leaky condo listed by his son, is facing a five-year licence cancellation by the Real Estate Council of B.C. The Realtor claims a tent will be the only property he can afford if he loses his appeal of one of the longest suspensions ever ordered by the real estate council: five years for conduct unbecoming… According to the decision, she didn’t receive documents that might have indicated she was buying a leaky condo before removing the subjects on her offer. The council found Parsons had read the reports, but didn’t share their contents with… Read more »

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@#48

The attached info-graphic depicts “China hot money rushing out to grab overseas real estate”.
Total cash outflow for the year 2014 amounted to US$16.5 billion, a 46% increase from 2013 at US$11.3 billion.
The numbers are from the horse’s mouth, and refer to China’s bonafide entities specifically, who invested overseas.

http://img.caixin.com/2015-01-29/1422522335249735.png

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Shlomo

I mean, there is another way to vote, and that is by simply leaving.

The wife and I both work as senior engineers, but we will never make enough to beat the oligarchs buying RE in Van. We talk about moving to another province, or the States, or the land of our ancestors (Europe -> Scandinavia) almost every week.

It’s a big decision and not an easy one to make, but all the revelations this week really disgusted us.

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UBC in crisis mode

Not sure if all of you have read this:
http://sofard.tumblr.com/post/117352176556/how-to-stop-the-decline-of-vancouver

None of the federal leaders want to touch this topic.
Minority Harper government after Election 2015.

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Westside Realtor

Or they are BSing you, trying to convince you that the onslaught of buying continues.

Keeps E Van hot.

Until it all comes apart.

WSR

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vanlurker

@33,34

I suspect another elephant is H E L O C S …

Having witnessed some recent divorces it didn’t go like:

“Let’s sell the house, split, live as millionaires ! ”

but:

“So, honey, are you trying to tell me that all the trips to Hawaii and Maui in the last years, plus the club fees, spas, resorts, plus our lifestyle didn’t come out of your salary ? And that we need to split the debt you went into and only be left with $100 K after selling ?”

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Shut It Down Already

49, so some unidentified realtors with an agenda are guessing the demographics of the market participants and you verified their baseless assertions by looking at some sales data that you won’t share with us. Sounds legit.

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vanlurker

Vancouver: 2 Mill / 70 000 = 28 x salary.

Calgary: 475 000 / 98 500 = 4.8 x salary.

Clearly cheap credit is the only factor.

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Jed Clampet

Oil that is.
Black gold.
Texas tea.

And it’s gone down.

Haven’t you heard?

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vanlurker

How come Calgary is having trouble (median income $98,500, median house price $475,000), while Vancouver is sailing with $70,000 median income and $2 Million houses ? Ain’t they using the same cheap credit ?

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w

HSBC to charge for holding deposits

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ad3f99a-fe16-11e4-8efb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3aeSxcmXt

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