Friday Free-for-all! March 10th 2016

March 11, 2016 VCI Admin

Another grand week in paradise draws to a close, the weekend awaits.

And you know what that means? That means it’s Free-for-all time, our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

Here are a few links to kick off the chat:

–Bank of Canada good on rates
–We’re building lots of condos
–Who’s doing what
–We’re not realtors
–Think of the children
–Local demand irrelevant?
–Empty homes are low
–

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

newest oldest most voted

Guest

bullwhip29

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well, it would seem the data and info are not that hard to find and analyse after all (that is, if one really wants to spend two minutes and look)
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/immigrants+help+drive+metro+vancouver+housing+market+study/11782608/story.html

Guest

bullwhip29

CMHC hits roadblocks in review of foreign owners

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/the-real-estate-beat/cmhcs-efforts-to-collect-data-on-foreign-investors-met-with-resistance/article29203103/

Guest

bullwhip29

LOL… forget about unlicenced “wholesalers” dropping off leaflets in your mailboxes, shadow flipping and RE drones doing fly-bys above your house. now at any given moment a noisy, disruptive helicopter filled with HAM could land in your backyard, on your roof or in the middle of traffic without notice. this is complete and utter BS which needs to stop. i guess when big money is involved, noise bylaws, privacy, safety etc take a back seat to basic common sense.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/high+metro+vancouver+real+estate+buyers+commuting+helicopter/11782670/story.html

Member

southseacompany

“Will Canada join the negative interest rate club?”, Financial Post

http://business.financialpost.com/investing/trading-desk/will-canada-join-the-negative-interest-rate-club?__lsa=5411-11e9

“There are currently five countries or regions in the negative rate club, and Citigroup expects more will join the fray. Perhaps even Canada.”

Member

southseacompany

“Millennials fleeing Vancouver for cities with more affordable housing, threatening city’s tech economy”, Financial Post

http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/mortgages-real-estate/millennials-fleeing-vancouver-for-cities-with-more-affordable-housing-threatening-citys-tech-economy

“As housing costs have risen, so have the number of people in their twenties and thirties leaving the city. The net number of people age 18 to 24 added to Vancouver’s population was the lowest ever last year, at 884, and the number of 25-to-44-year-olds decreased by about 1,300, the biggest decline since 2007, according to Statistics Canada.”

Guest

bullwhip29

shades of the 1980’s Japanese buying frenzy. we all know how well that ended…

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/13/blackstone-to-sell-strategic-hotels-resorts-to-anbang-sources.html

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/14/starwood-gets-takeover-bid-of-76-a-share.html

Member

tedeastside

Today in SoCal……hows Vancouver
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6137/5966472158_0b6d4f0605_b.jpg

Guest

Bestplaceonearth

Windy for sure. Are you there, or here in your mama basement sucking a pacifier!

Guest

Null

HAM doesn’t like sunshine; dont want to get dakr. so the weather here is perfect.

Guest

voter

Yeah you see them waling around town in the summer with umbrella’s. If they did that in L.A they’d probably call the men with the white coats.

Member

southseacompany

“Central banks lurch from topsy-turvy 1970s to helicopter money”, Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e9334e48-e53e-11e5-a09b-1f8b0d268c39.html#axzz42oaDZuNZ

“Consumers and businesses have not responded to (central banks’) policy measure. In fact, some households may be saving more because rock-bottom nominal interest rates make it harder to meet savings targets for pensions and so forth. This is curiously like the topsy-turvy habits of the 1970s when inflation produced very negative real interest rates, yet people saved more to plug the hole that real losses on savings left in their finances”

“The reality is that central banks’ policies are failing. In desperation they will no doubt turn to helicopter money next, which means overt monetary financing of government deficits. It is hard to believe that this will be any more successful. Expect more unintended consequences.”

Member

southseacompany

“Back From the Dead: Interest-Rate Hikes Are on the Radar Again”, Wall Street Journal

http://www.wsj.com/articles/back-from-the-dead-interest-rate-hikes-are-on-the-radar-again-1457894871

“The U.S. bond market is starting to think about something it hasn’t considered for months: rate increases”

“There is little expectation the Fed will raise rates when it announces its next policy decision on Wednesday. But the odds of an increase by June have jumped to 43%, and the odds of one by December are now 75%, based on the price of interest-rate futures on Friday. That is a sharp turnaround from early February, when the market was estimating the chance of a rate increase at either point at zero.”

Guest

The Lowdown

Was at a post NDP gathering last nite. New proposal coming out from them is a 2% tax on a purchased house. Rebatable after 1 year if you are a PR or Citizen.

I objected. Said only Citizens should be allowed to purchase Canadian REsidential RE. But the participants have skin in the game.

Oh, de-ban ChinaOne. He tell truth.

Guest

voter

He and cousin probably at local Chinese restaurant learning new scheme to defraud Canadian out of anything they can.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

So the locals get to borrow even more so they can lend to the government for a year at 0%?

Guest

voter

Do you mean when Christy and her crew go to China on hands and knees begging for Chinese to buy bonds and real estate.

Guest

wwwww

International students ballooning in Richmond

2016 marks a record year as close to one in 20 students are non-residents in the Richmond School District

http://www.richmond-news.com/news/international-students-ballooning-in-richmond-1.2196290#sthash.l5ZoBGaY.dpuf

Member

patriotz

How to exit the housing market without exiting your house

It’s called a sale and leaseback and now a group of Toronto realtors, who say they are specialists in dealing with seniors, are bringing the concept to the residential market. The group says they have already structured 15 deals with hopes of more to come.

So someone has come up with another scheme to get people to sell below market, plus take a bigger cut of the proceeds.

To get the market price for a property you have to list it publicly and sell to the highest bidder. Is having to move such a bad thing? You can easily afford to rent a place just as nice as the old one.

Member

Newcomer

After ten years renting to us, our landlady has decided to sell this 1.1 M shack (it’s not that’s it’s awful, it’s just that I couldn’t imagine a millionaire wanting to live here). Does anyone have any suggestions about where to look for new digs. Are there some property management companies out there that specialize in larger places (we really need at least three bedrooms).?

Guest

crazy

Yes Troll prices are very good in Prince Rupert

Member

Newcomer

Are you saying that you think I am a Troll? How could that be a trolling post? FWIW, I’ve been on this site and the ones that preceded this one for the past 10 years, but I don’t know who you are.

Guest

Bestplaceonearth

In case you don’t know, it’s the land.

Guest

Mark Etting

Can you blame her? I’m guessing that cash in hand is probably worth more than she could get from it in rent over the next many years.

What part of town are you looking in?

As I’m sure you already know, craigslist has a lot of garbage but you can occasionally find something good there.

Oddly enough I’ve found my best rentals in vancouver by looking in less widely used places, like the courier classifieds, etc.

Member

Newcomer

Thanks. I certainly can’t blame her. I would have sold basically every year that I’ve been there. It’s not that I’m a perma-bear but the fundamentals have been screaming sell for ten years. For all I know they may go on screaming sell while prices go up for another ten, or twenty or a hundred years. I am no longer capable of surprise.

We are hoping to find something in the East Village/Sunrise/Drive area.

I never thought of the Courier. Good idea.

Guest

null

This year:

Passengers on Air China flight 991 to Vancouver at risk of measles – Mar 11, 2016

And last yer:
Measles found in 2 passengers on Air China flight CA991 to Vancouver – Mar 23, 2015

Second flight from China to Vancouver has brought threat of measles to Canada – Apr 08 2015

Could be more. I stopped looking.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Get vaccinated rather than being a hippy and/or conspiracy theorist. Problem solved.

Guest

null

Measles makes a comeback in China as vaccination falters among migrant workers

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1548296/measles-makes-comeback-china-vaccination-falters-among-migrant-workers

Guest

bestplaceonearth

wow, this news is so important…measles bust the re buuble !

Guest

null

I didn’t say it’s “so important” or that it would bust any bubble.

Member

Best place on meth

The real news is that this the best thing to come out of china in the last 60 years.

Guest

OpenCourse

Buy shares with their ill-gotten money in two western mining companies before announcing their billion-dollar takeover bids. After the news of the bids were made public and the share prices soared, then quickly dumped the shares for a A$1.7 million profit.
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/1923122/australia-jails-chinese-ex-hanlong-mining-boss-steven-xiao

Guest

Yikes

Market is being engineered as a pump n dump. .
I overhead yesterday 2 agents taking about there latest pump on Grant Street in Vancouver sure enough I live in that area and dug up a few off the chart sales their current pump is 2796 Grant which just sold last month for 1.5 ..the other 2722 Grant is being sold as a assignment on Craigslist by New Coast. ..and the suckered who bought 2710 Kitchner a block away just got bent over. .they talked about bag holder’s and making quick cash saying that they only have a few more months before it busts. …Wow man..Beware

Guest

bestplaceonearth

and i supposed these two agents know the market would bust in a few months?

Guest

p123

I agree just wishful thinking, if it hasn’t busted in 10 years what are the chances of it happening in a few months.

Guest

wwwww

Measles risk at Vancouver Airport

Vancouver Coastal Health is warning passengers on a flight from Beijing to Vancouver that they could be at risk of getting measles.

http://www.cknw.com/2016/03/11/measles-risk-at-vancouver-airport/?sc_ref=twitter

Guest

Bestplaceonearth

And this would bring in the van re correction?

Guest

wwwww

No.

Member

patriotz

No honour among thieves, it seems.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-realty-withholding-commissions-from-sale-of-luxury-homes-agents-say/article29198578/

Member

Best place on meth

Sounds like standard locust business practices to me: “The agents involved said the owner of New Coast Realty, Ze Yu Wu, required them to sign a contract when they were hired, written in Chinese. Each contract has a set term – nine years for example – that agents must work for the company to fulfill the terms. They all said they weren’t allowed to have a copy of what they signed. The Globe and Mail obtained one of those contracts. The translation reveals a clause that says any agent who goes to another firm will lose all outstanding commissions. The contract reads: “Important item. If Party B [the realtor] terminates the cooperation agreement and joins another real estate agency, all the commissions from all the property sales by Party B belongs to Party A [New Coast]. Party B cannot communicate… Read more »

Member

franko

It must suck for locusts having to learn enough English to pass the 4 week real estate entry course.
Just a matter of time until they force the GVRA to offer the course in Chinese as they surely hold the majority in membership by now.
Might have to wait a few years for them to monopolize the industry enough to change the course to Chinese only.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

No Canadian companies or individuals would act that way. That’s why courts and lawyers didn’t even exist until recently.

Member

patriotz

Um, the article is about a Canadian company.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Um, you know what I meant Mr Nitpicker.

Member

patriotz

Sure did, Donald.

Guest

ChinaOne Swallows Dicks

GVRD = Greater Vancouver Realturd Douchbags.

Guest

NorthVan56

Does anyone know what 4282 Mountain Highway sold for?

Guest

voter

An arm and and a leg.

Guest

GreenSalad

http://57.media.tumblr.com/b151e16140e06d99d610e619c82f46c1/tumblr_mmqmp0dqOx1qa4w2ho2_250.gif

Member

paulb

New
208
Sold
206

TI:8060

For weekly sales and/or new listings info on a specific neighbourhood/city of your interest, email me and I will customize a weekly update for you. The daily sales numbers only mean so much. Each neighbourhood and market segment can be quite different.
http://www.paulboenisch.com

Guest

Shut It Down Already

If listings keep piling up like this I predict we’ll have 8.5K by July!!

Member

Best place on meth

You’re not the only worthless. traitorous cunt who’s giddy about record low inventory and skyrocketing prices.

Krusty and De Jong are beside themselves with glee.

Mike even attempted his first ever e-mail to celebrate.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Napoleon complex? Has to be.

Guest

Confucius

Gotta keep up with the foreign buyers by going deep into debt.

http://www.valuewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Canadian-Housing-Mortgage-Investment-Corporations-4.jpg

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Funny, for all that foreign money “trickling down” people don’t seem to be getting any richer….

Guest

Brian Ripley

re: “We’re building lots of condos”
I have added city housing starts data to my provincial housing starts chart page:

http://www.chpc.biz/housing-starts.html

CITY MONTHLY
Housing Starts FEB 29, 2016
Toronto +85% M/M
Montreal +30 M/M
Vancouver +72 M/M
Calgary +4 M/M

CITY ANNUALIZED
Housing Starts FEB 29, 2016
Toronto +107% Y/Y
Montreal +34% Y/Y
Vancouver +313% Y/Y
Calgary +80% Y/Y

Member

Active Member

Many Franks

Kerry Gold goes looking for problems with the housing vacancy report:

Poking holes in Vancouver’s housing vacancy study

There’s an interesting comment from Tom Davidoff buried near the end:

He’s had recent discussions with the province that look promising.
“I am quite optimistic that something will happen,” he says.

I’ll believe it when I see it, but that’s already more than I would have expected.

Guest

Zero Down Forty

Considering that, in the last decade, housing starts outpaced household growth 17to13 in Metro, it’s not surprising that there are empty homes. More homes have been built than are needed. Overbuilding is typical of a bubble.

Empty homes… whether there are a lot of them or a few… are not the cause of high home prices, but the result of speculative frenzy.

Once again, the media is chasing after the effect not the cause.

Member

ostritch

A 1.5% tax on foreign owners. I actually laughed out loud.

Member

Doomcouver

Surprised this hasn’t been posted yet:

http://www.moneysense.ca/save/debt/canadian-household-debt-rises-to-a-record-high/

Household debt is now at 165.4% in Q4 2015 compared to 164.5 in Q3. This is a disaster waiting to happen. BoC should have raised rates despite anemic economic growth ages ago. Canadian businesses are hoarding cash, so access to cheap credit does almost nothing to stimulate growth anyways.

Member

patriotz

Sure it does, which is why both the federal and provincial governments (the latter via property tax deferral) keep it going. For the short run, anyway, but that’s what politicians are interested in.

Vancouver Condo Info

Friday Free-for-all! March 10th 2016

Bubble? What Bubble?