southseacompany pointed out this article in the financial post:
Canada’s banks are pushing back against taking on more mortgage risk
“Canada’s financial industry is urging the federal government to consider alternatives to proposals that could require them to take on a greater share of mortgage defaults through a deductible — calling it one of the biggest shakeups to hit housing finance in 50 years.”
Read the full article here.
[…] –empty dwellings […]
https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/03/03/Global-Elites-Profit-Unaffordability/
“How Global Elites Profit from Unaffordability
And why they make it harder to fix Vancouver’s housing crisis.”
Parents ‘devastated’ by lack of space in growing school district
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/parents-devastated-by-lack-of-space-in-growing-school-district-1.3309160
>>> more evidence that the central planners’ mandate revolves around nothing more than selling RE…build first, ask (or answer) questions later…
Island still a seller’s market
http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/business/415271674.html
Proposed lawsuit says B.C.’s foreign-buyer tax violates Canada’s Charter Sunny Dhillon VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Mar. 02, 2017 9:45PM EST Last updated Friday, Mar. 03, 2017 6:14AM EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/proposed-lawsuit-targets-british-columbias-home-buyer-tax/article34198016/ British Columbia’s 15-per-cent tax on foreign home buyers violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and “perpetuates prejudice and stereotyping on the basis of national origin,” says the plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit, which still must be certified, was first filed in September by Jing Li, a Chinese citizen who moved to Canada in 2013 and earned a master’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan. Ms. Li, who is not a permanent resident, later moved to the Lower Mainland and worked for a non-profit. She agreed to buy a townhouse in Langley, B.C., for $559,000 plus GST in mid-July – about a week before… Read more »
Should Vancouverites embrace the death of the single family home?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/should-vancouverites-embrace-the-death-of-the-single-family-home-1.4007441
Yes. It was dead long ago. Unless you want to live in Renfrew.
Where it survives it is now called th Chinese home.
Bye bye Seattle. I am sure many local commentators will blame locals on credit, lack of supply, blah blah blah blah blah… Seattle Real Estate Sees Surge In Chinese Interest After Vancouver Enacts 15% Tax https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellensheng/2017/03/02/seattle-real-estate-sees-surge-in-chinese-interest-after-vancouver-enacts-15-tax/#3194159965e1 “The higher the price point, the greater the percentage of Chinese buyers,” said Dean Jones, principal and owner of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle. Chinese buyers made up less than a quarter of buyers in 2014 but to about 35% of buyers in 2015 and now about 50% or more in 2016 in the most popular neighborhoods. Jones noted a sharp uptick in interest from Chinese buyers that started in 2014 when Canada abruptly reversed 60,000 applications for resident visas, mostly from Chinese applicants. At the same time, the Obama administration increased the multiple entry visa program from one year to 10 years… Read more »
This article contains a lot of sales talk but no hard information on % of buyers in metro Seattle – there’s talk about “most popular neighbourhoods” for specific brokerages which is self-selecting. Sounds like the realtors are taking a page from their counterparts in Vancouver.
That said I’m sure metro Seattle does have its share of offshore and rich immigrant buyers. One think to note – metro Seattle has far higher property taxes on a % of value basis which makes it a more costly place to park money than Vancouver.
What happened to the idea of the US being tough on illicit funds whilst the CRA is a pushover?
It is not an idea. It is a fact. If they catch you with money at the border, they keep it. Unlike Canada.
The Chinese know that better than anyone. They are probably a lot more careful in the US.
Yet they’re apparently rushing into Seattle? Make your mind up.
“Surging sales of Vancouver condos, townhomes edging up real estate prices”, CBC
“While sales are up sharply compared with last month, they are still well below last year’s highs”
Isn’t life sucked when the market isn’t crashed as the dumbass wish.
Try to use more English at home. Mandarin is not an official language (yet).
“Vancouver home sales plunge more than 40%, as new listings drop to 14-year low”, Financial Post
“There is a dearth of new sellers in the Vancouver housing market and the local real estate association says that is impacting activity in Canada’s most expensive market for existing housing.”
Meth,
There is no more room on that thread, so I’m moving up here. You misinterpreted me. The nuking China in the 50s made me laugh. I hope you were not serious. The rest I basically agreed with. And I agree that Communism has been one of the greatest sources of evil in the history of man. But we are getting off topic.
I was serious.
They should have been nuked.
Well, see, that’s where your evil disposition surfaces again. We’ve all got something, I guess. Did honestly make me laugh, though.
“The nuking China in the 50s made me laugh.”
Wow, for someone who lectures pretty much everyone about their comments on this blog that has to be one of the most offensive statements I have heard.
It made me laugh because it was a ridiculous. Forgive my naivety. I have never met people who seriously argue for mass murder. That’s the nice thing about the Internet. You get to meet a wide variety of people.
And, once again, I lecture a small select group of people who need lecturing. It’s not indiscriminate.
Why would you want to nuke your grandparents?
Summary of Feb price stats:
Detached no change
Condos +2.7%
Overall +1.2%
Biggest winners in condos:
Poco +3.9%
Van west +3.9%
Richmond +3.3%
Coq +3.1%
Biggest losers in detached:
Ladner -2.1%
Twass -2.1%
Van east -2.1%
N Van -0.5%
Correction:
Van east/Twass were both -1.0%
Is it time to count you life savings stuffed in your piggy bank to see if you can come up with the 2.5% to qualify for a Surrey Condo? Nope not yet.
Is it time to stop making shitloads of childish assumptions and acting like a worthless cunt?
Nope, you don’t have it in you.
Sorry I didn’t mean to make you cry. Had I known your piggy bank was such a touchy subject I would have never brought it up. Now back to you racist rants.
What do you actually know about me, space?
I haven’t seen you get one thing right, ever.
YVR, did you take your meds tonight? You seem especially irritable. Maybe you need a change of adult nappies and the nurse forgot to check on you?
Just me we went a whole 3 hours without one of your retarded comments for the first time in months. I thought you got a job or found a friend. I guess not.
I see the problem….nurse! Nurse! He needs his meds and a change of nappies!
New
147
Price Change
36
Sold
159
TI:8059
🙂
Wow. Four options to explain these numbers:
(1) Christy’s loans to first time buyers, all sales are cheap (below 700k) condos .
(2) People know something I don’t.
(3) People have gone mental.
(4) Chinese millionaire migrants are back in the market.
How would you rank these alternative explanations?
I vote number 2.
I picked #5, you are just plain dumb.
and a pain in the ass
It always makes me proud when you disagree with me. It means I must be doing something right!
Go cast your vote for Christy Clark now, she might give you a biscuit or something….
All of the above
4519 Culloden Sold
https://www.zolo.ca/vancouver-real-estate/4519-culloden-street
My agent won’t return my calls anymore so I don’t know the sale price…
1.24
“China struggles to plug its capital drain. Continued intervention in question as foreign reserves dip below $3 trillion” http://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/China-s-annual-congress/China-struggles-to-plug-its-capital-drain On a drizzly, chilly day in early February, several black-market money changers were looking for customers outside of Bank of China, a major commercial lender on West Nanjing Road, the main street in Shanghai. One of them, wearing a black jacket and carrying a shoulder bag, asked passersby in English and Chinese whether they wanted to exchange money. The money changers were looking for people who wanted to convert a large amount of yuan into dollars. The annual upper limit on currency exchanges for individuals is set at $50,000. But a growing number of citizens want to exchange higher amounts and take it out of the country. The money changer offered a rate of seven yuan to the dollar, about 2%… Read more »
Not surprising…..the banks don’t want to taste their own cooking.
Because it’s a gigantic shi+ sandwich.
Angry British Columbians threaten to vote NDP over Clark’s home loans scheme.
http://thebreaker.news/news/premiers-office-flooded-with-email-opposing-government-backed-home-loans-plan/
Goodbye Krusty! I am voting NDP!
Great link. Glad to see I am not alone in despising the current government’s behavior.
Related to this, look what the realtors’ group had to say about the government subsidized loans to first time buyers: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/low-supply-and-snow-limit-vancouver-area-home-sales-in-february The stories are different in the upper end and the lower end of the market, however. The board says the benchmark price for detached properties was about $1.47 million, down 6.5 per cent over the previous six months. The benchmark price for condominiums was $526,300, a 2.3-per-cent jump over the previous six months. Morrison said demand for condominiums was “huge,” but it was unclear how much of an effect government policies were having. The provincial government has introduced an initiative that gives first-time buyers a maximum $37,500 loan toward a down payment on a property that costs up to $750,000. Is he seriously trying to insinuate that the extra money to buy condos is not responsible for the runup… Read more »
“I have always been a Liberal/Social Credit voter. The program makes me consider whether I can vote Liberal in the next election,” said a Dec. 19, 10:49 a.m. message. “The person who has been making the most intelligent sense regarding real estate is David Eby. The NDP critic. It is a sad state when I am agreeing with an NDP person. Sigh.”
Way to go YVR – nice e-mail!
Apologies if this has been posted previously. From the HALT facebook page. A fascinating analysis of Vancouver empty dwellings.
“The probable causes of Vancouver’s high vacancy rates (empty dwellings) are: speculation on future price gains, foreign capital looking for a place to hide where few questions are asked as well as short term rentals.”
“The progression Vancouver’s vacant units over time also suggest that the same factors which drive Vancouver’s housing prices are driving Vancouver’s vacancy rate”
“The better the Vancouver real estate market is to capital, the worse it is to people.”
Also, my boss recently hired like 10 new foreign students “salesperson” this month and as customary with new hires, we took them out to lunch. Except, those existing slutty foreign students we hired before convinced the boss to go to Chinese dimsum for new experience. Arrrr….I have never seen such artery clogging, heart attack inducing, oily soaked & MSG loaded unhealthy garbage food. Eating McDonald afterwards would be a detox. But that’s not even the worst of it. We actually ended up even dog meat buns! Yeap, they ordered this “specialty” buns called Oblivious Dog Buns that’s supposed to be a specialty of some Chinese city and it’s famous at the restaurant cuz they imported the buns from China, unlike other places. Guess what? It’s made with dog meat, but just labeled as pork. When I pointed out how disgusting… Read more »
Pope, why do you allow this?
i called your stories hog shite. dog meat labelled as pork in Vancouver? get a life! If you know it for sure, why you didnt report it to the health authority? stupid bears are just full of it.
So the latest way to get $$$ out of China scam by those foreign students. Fake vacation! Yeap! So apparently what these students do now is open up a fake travel company bank account with one of those Chinese banks around town. Then their parents in China find people in China, give them wads of cash to buy “all inclusive vacation package” in Canada from the fake travel company here and priced in RMB. These new mules deposit the money in the Chinese bank branches in China to be wired over here. Voila! Money out of China and these students then take the RMB and wire to other banks or take it out In cash and exchange for CAD / USD. Off course, no taxes are even paid and no vacations are ever taken.
you can already do this with a unionpay card
A scamnome, scam as a genome.
Pope?
I guess you would be delighted if I called those particular students and their parents, who are supposed to provide them with some decent upbringing rather than scam-training, geniuses for being so smart and able to screw us all up while taking advantage of everything possible for personal gains. Unbelievable…
The issue at hand is that you are claiming that a group of people are genetically predisposed to bad behavior. This is the very essence of racism. Do you understand why racism is wrong and cannot be tolerated, even when intended to be humorous, and even in a faceless environment like a blog, or would you like me to point you to some material discussing racism?
Group of people consisting of parents and children, two generations, both prone to a criminal act. I don’t understand what that has to do with the race but with genetics possibly? To be clear, the statement would apply to any parents and children no matter what their background is. As much as you try hard to direct others to educate themselves, read more and become knowledgeable about topics they write maybe you should step back and think about yourself and your capacity to make those calls and judgments. Also, I told you the other day that I am quite perplexed with your ability to cope with figurative language, irony, sarcasm, etc. while trying to act as a well-educated intellectual.
Btw. you might look here if you didn’t understand what I have pointed out.
You comment was not directed to individual sets of parents and children. You are, once again, being dishonest. That’s not a good habit to fall into. It leads to a lot of stress.
Superb conclusion although not much to discuss further given your rightness where my comment was directed and lament about my honesty (again?). By all means, I am impressed how quickly you nudged Pope to act on your sound judgment.
CR, it’s not genetic, it’s cultural.
You take any small child out of the PRC and put them in nearly any other country, they’re going to grow up with those values and be just like everyone else.
Communist china’s corrupt culture is so toxic and diseased after 70 years of gangster rule that they’ve produced a nation of hustlers, cheaters and scammers.
Now they’re running amok all over the planet and are threatening all of humanity, environment, animal species and resources.
The biggest mistake the US ever made was deciding not to nuke them in 1950.
One of the rare occasions that I get to use LOL, literally. Thanks for the chuckle.
But yes, I generally agree, communism does awful things to culture and any successful communist is, more or less by definition, a criminal.
Yes it’s very LOL, just ask the Camobodians who wouldn’t have been subjected to auto-genocide to the tune of 2 million murdered had it not been for the support of the commie scum next door.
There would be no North Korea today were it not for the vermin our politicians kiss up to – those psychos are LOL squared. Fat Kim could level Seoul in minutes. Pretty fucking funny and made in china.
The 50 million killed in china by Mao, so fucking LOL. Starvation, torture, murder, terrorism….high-larious!
Go back to race baiting, funny boy.
KickThemOut = Oracle
Just ignore
Yes, that’s what I guessed.
B.C. Liberals’ balanced budget claims are fraudulent deceits
http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=20742
Clark must stop secret recording
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-clark-must-stop-secret-recording-1.10739852
“The B.C. Liberals should not have sent operatives to secretly record video of a small group discussing housing with NDP MLA David Eby. And they should certainly not be making taxpayers foot the bill for such a partisan and dubious activity…”
Ironworkers’ union backs B.C. Liberals
http://www.vancourier.com/opinion/ironworkers-union-backs-b-c-liberals-1.10778397
>>> with behind closed doors promises made on yet to be announced mega projects including a number of new bridges, tunnels and transit arteries (among other pet projects), should this be any surprise?
Oh noes! That’s 1800 votes lost for the NDP or a couple of dozen per riding.
And that’s if the membership even follows the lead of the bosses.
NDP should ask every renter in the province to vote for them, that will be more than enough.
“That’s 1800 votes lost for the NDP…”
The union vote is all they have. They need someone to vote for them other than a few misfits from this blog.
Chinese land-bankers hollow out Sydney housing supply
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/03/chinese-land-bankers-hollow-sydney-housing-supply/
“We reported recently that Vancouver has a staggering 70k residences now sitting empty thanks to Chinese land-bankers, even as young folks struggle to get into the housing market. Now it appears the problem is worse in Sydney, from the Daily Mail:
There are 200,000 homes on prime Sydney real estate sitting empty because foreign investors have bought them with no intention of living in them or renting them out, a leading real estate expert claims.”
Locusts gonna locust.
Something has got to give, these vermin are ruining entire cities.
B.C. MP introduces private member’s bill to protect landlords whose tenants grow medical marijuana
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-mp-introduces-private-member-s-bill-to-protect-landlords-whose-tenants-grow-medical-marijuana-1.4005143
>>> as much as many of you despise landlords, I don’t think any sensible person out there wholeheartedly believes allowing a tenant to pursue such activities completely unchecked is a good idea.
Might be easier just to add “no growing marijuana” to the lease if the landlord cares about it but I understand this is just “a fiend of landlords” optics as the law already makes the tenant responsible for damage.
right, but a tenant (with advice from lawyer) could play the privacy card and opt to not complete that part of the rental agreement. once the damage is done, the owner is up $hit creek with the banks and insurance co’s
There is absolutely NO PROTECTION at all for landlords in this province. This is partly why the rental supply is low. Being a landlord here is just asking to be taken advantage of. Heads up renters win, tails up you lose.
Also, why we have so many bad renters in this province. They can get away with anything and everything and they don’t there is not a thing the landlords can do to them.
That is one of the reasons that ordinary punters should not get into the landlord business. The reason rental supply is so low in this province is that it is too easy for people to become amateur landlords, so there is too much competition crowding out professional developers. The policies we need should make it harder, not easier, to turn a SFH into a tiny apartment building.
well it all boils down to policies that have and always will support the RE industry. this said, regular buyers need a source of cash to make the mortgage payment and pay off all the other associated bills that go along with it. there was a time when an illegal bsmt suite was frowned upon and never openly discussed. now, many homes must contain one or more suites to make the math work for prospective buyers. no one gives a crap about potential tax evasion and the breaking of other rules.
Yup.
if fixed term leases get axed entirely then the problem just gets worse.
Or better, depending on how you see things. Amateur landloarding is yet another factor in stupid housing prices.
I don’t think so. Leases can contain lots of additional terms, such as no putting hooks in the walls, or not having more than one person living there, and if you don’t like the terms, you don’t sign the lease. These are not questions, they are terms. There is no way to avoid terms you don’t like due to privacy.
does a landlord have the right to screen prospective tenant for “medical” condition or have them disclose which “medications” they plan to use while living in the home? that’s a huge can of worms imho…
That does not change the fact that they landlord does have the right to make no growing pot (or for that matter, anything) a term of the lease. As for smoking the pot, most of the leases out there have a no smoking clause. Hell, lots have no-bbq clauses. And you think we need a special law explicitly banning grow ops.
It is impossible to evict someone for simply smoking pot in their apartment. The RTB wants nothing to do with it. I was told this by a former manager of BC Housing buildings.
If they have a non-smoking clause in the lease?
Good luck trying to enforce it. You’d need evidence, even if the RTB would care at all. If a tenant fought an eviction over this, the landlord would have to prove the tenant is doing this. There is legal help for the tenant, especially for someone who claims a medical need.
Honestly, the best thing to do for a landlord faced with this is to try to resolve it with the tenant. Encourage them to vape, and not bother others with the smoke. Make sure they have a fire extinguisher.
It comes down to the RTB having more serious, more clear-cut issues to deal with.
Amazing.