BC, Canada, debt, economy, equity, hype, opinion, predictions, prices, renting

Mayor: city is at a ‘breaking point’

When it comes to housing affordability Mayor Robertson says that Vancouver is at a breaking point:

“The conditions and the context keep getting tougher and tougher in Vancouver as the city gets more and more expensive and more desirable to people all over the world to invest in and move into. We’re basically at a breaking point where we need interventions in the market to ensure that people who live and work and grow up here in Vancouver have the opportunity to stay in the city and to keep being part of it and contributing.”

You may recall the Mayor wrote a letter to the BC Premier supporting the idea of speculation tax. The response from the Premier was based around the fact that such a tax would risk driving down house prices.

The Mayor responds to that idea in this interview at the Tyee:

“I think it’s completely wrong. It’s a totally different subject. What we’re talking about is taking some of the profit out of flipping and speculation, which doesn’t have to do necessarily with foreign ownership or homeownership or the value of homes. This is a business activity that’s taking place every day here in Vancouver where there’s a lot of profit, and it’s an option to transfer some of that profit so people can afford to live in the city. They went off on a completely different tangent in their response at the provincial level, and that’s unfortunate. The premier has said that affordable housing in Vancouver is a problem. Well, we need some action to deal with that.”

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[…] of mortgages –5 booming markets not VAN or TO –Don’t hurt property values! –Do retirees really want to move here? –Shadow lender feast on subprime […]

Guest

I’m looking at the June package right now.

HPI for detached in Richmond up 16.5% in one year.

Van East detached up 19.2% in one year, 2.2 % in a month.

Very sobering numbers.

Member

Best place on meth

We need to get about 500,000 of these signs distributed around Vancouver ASAP.

http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2015/07/30/rtx1lm27.jpg

Guest

Mortgage fraud is nothing new. For some reason a lot seem to happen in Alberta.

What % of buyers in Canada go to alternative lenders? I don’t know a single person who’s done that.

Kingpin in $30M fraud jailed

EDMONTON – The kingpin of a $30-million mortgage fraud believed to be the largest in Alberta history was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=1f6699af-9dfc-46e0-b3b7-5bd3e1a4682a

Anyone bother posting REBGV stats packages anymore?

Guest

Corrupt in Canada

Fuckkkk another 100%+ sales ratio day.

Guest

George

@49

I’ve never spent any time in Oregon, just driven through down the I5 on the way to California. Unfortunately, I don’t know what there is to do in Oregon. I’ve heard the drive down the coast is beautiful.

Guest

crikey

Even though he is still ignorant, at least New Zealand’s prime minister discusses the foreign non-resident buyer problem to some extent…

“At a press conference today in Wellington, John Key discussed the foreign buyers register as well as the TPP and Serco….Key said he would not support a ban on foreign buyers.“It is not justified nor terribly effective.”If New Zealand really wanted to stop non-tax residents buying property, Key said a far more effective way of implementing this would be to put an ongoing tax into action.“Bans are very inefficient things. Taxes are easier to apply and they’re actually a bit more coherent”

WTF? How are bans inefficient things? many countries have full or partial bans and ban very efficiently. You’d think he was talking about marijuana use, not foreign non-resident property purchases!

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1507/S00159/post-cab-presser-foreign-buyers-register-tpp-and-serco.htm

Member

vangrl

“The big closing sums, all the realtors said, were handled by lawyers and notary publics. Due to a Supreme Court decision earlier this year, however, lawyers were ruled exempt from Fintrac reporting on the grounds it violated solicitor-client privilege.”

– See more at: http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Pete+McMartin+Real+estate+laundered+money+prevalent/11255739/story.html#sthash.pwKmstGa.4prCdrMH.dpuf

Guest

TransUnion Study: Negative Credit Impact From Plunge in Oil Prices May Have Only Begun in Alberta and Saskatchewan

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/transunion-study-negative-credit-impact-100000498.html

Guest

Girlbear

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-30/714-sq-foot-hovel-la-can-be-yours-just-11-million

Look at first comment in comments section. It’s everywhere. We are not “special” 😉

Member

Best place on meth

Aaand, we’re off!

https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/gettyimages-474923382.jpg?quality=80&w=840&h=485&crop=1

Guest

Egg Hunt

HCG-T
Income confirmation fraud is very serious on insured mortgage.

It is not easy to manupulate credit score, nor the property value,
especially on purchase.

Easiest thing to do is to fabricate income, as someome said before, how employment letter and talk to HR is credible these days?
Unlike famous Equity Take out loan, where non CMHC insurance involved, stated income is okay, considering leding qualification is more towards the equity than income, insured mortgage (CMHS) is granted largely based on income.

Banks are quiet on this issue, I smell funny…

Member

Best place on meth

@67

“I thought Larry Wang is a Chinese porn star.”

You’re thinking of Harry Wang.

@88

“China doesn’t export anything that the West can’t buy from somewhere else.”

Right, but it would take years to teach another country how to make things as poorly as the Chinese, and that’s only if you can convince them to completely suspend their ethics.

No, I think we’re stuck with these assholes for at least a few more years – a truly special country like this is hard to find.

Member

vangrl

No, by local, I mean everyone except Mainland Chinese that own but don’t actually live here, or have one foot in and the other foot working in China.

Member

paulb

New Listings 148
Price Changes 60
Sold Listings 179
TI:12596

http://www.paulboenisch.com

Guest

space889

@vangrl – I guess by locals you mean only those good white Caucasians, not the yellow or brown skinned peoples who’s only been here for a few decades or was born here to immigrant parents.

Member

vangrl

#89

they’d have a hard time selling here, locals aren’t going to be interested in buying those ugly monster houses that replaced all our adorable Character houses.

Member

patriotz

@85: “does New York run the risk of becoming too dependent on capital from investors who could flee in an instant if the political landscape changes at home?”

They can’t take the RE with them. The best they can do is sell to someone else, at a price someone else is willing to pay. Just like the Japanese.

Member

patriotz

@70: “also, i think that if things in china get bad enough they will make their move in the south china sea with a “now or never” mindset.”

More or less the same M.O. as Putin in Crimea. The difference being that Russia exports oil and gas that Europe needs to keep buying, and which they can also sell to China. China doesn’t export anything that the West can’t buy from somewhere else.

China needs the West a lot more than the West needs China, and both sides know it.

Guest

StupidityCheck

Paul B. – Sand dunes south of Florence are great for dune buggies and quads.

Guest

reasonfirst

PaulB:

Cape Blanco to go up into a lighthouse:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Cape+Blanco

Member

vangrl

But is this unprecedented wave of Chinese investment a good thing for the New York economy or does New York run the risk of becoming too dependent on capital from investors who could flee in an instant if the political landscape changes at home?

After all, the Japanese investors who stoked the New York market by paying top dollar for trophy properties such as Rockefeller Center in the 1980s and early 1990s soon crashed and burned amid a weak economy at home and a recession in the U.S. They sold of most of their assets at a loss in the mid-1990S, sending ripples through the real estate world.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/chinese-flooding-nyc-market-article-1.2309896

Member

franko

@82
*I think he means people*

Good, because none of the companies mentioned are drillers.

Now, back to RE.

Guest

mls watch

To Paul B: our kids enjoyed Crater lake and the Seals Cove.

Member

vangrl

I think he means “people”

I own all 4 of those stocks. Keyera being the best performer in my entire portfolio. Up a whopping 276% since Jan 2009, and yield on cost now 11.9%.

It’s held up better than PPL and IPL in this oil debacle, but I understand your logic with PPL & IPL

Not bragging, cuz trust me I’ve also got hammered on a few other Oil holdings (Surge, Torc)

Vancouver Condo Info

Mayor: city is at a ‘breaking point’

Bubble? What Bubble?