Kabloona pointed out this article about a vacant zombie neighborhood in West Van.
Nobody’s home except dust bunnies and racoons
In one of Canada’s most expensive neighbourhoods, in hilly West Vancouver, sits a row of seemingly abandoned mansions.
Not a single person can be found on the upper north side of Highview Place on a weekday midafternoon.
Read the full article here.
Little Fat Bear
[…] –Housing critic see not conflict in developer cash –Poor millionaire homeowners revolt –Canadians drive up prices, blame foreigners –Money laundering collective system failure […]
New
148
Price Change
81
Sold
90
TI:12642
As predicted. Peak reached. Because sales low, many people going to take homes off sale and wait for better times next spring.
Can’t believe the NDP didn’t bring in a more impactful 2nd home tax. Maybe tax homes behind that an even higher rate. That would have prompted forced selling from people that hoard.
But then again, the MLAs are heavily invested in real estate.
Oracle – personally know three people who are putting their places on the market. It always takes a few months for people to realize what’s happening. The smart ones have already gotten out.
“Gotten out” from where? People need a physical place to live.
From their second , third, or fourth houses…
June sales per day:
2018 – 120
2017 – 180
2016 – 208
2015 – 202
2014 – 165
2013 – 135
2012 – 115
2011 – 149
Our baseline expectation of a recession in the U.S. over our secular horizon makes for a concerning backdrop for Canada’s economy, but the rudest awakening facing Canada is likely a domestic one: Over-indebted consumers, no longer supported by ever-rising home prices, may cease to be the driver of real GDP growth.
“Consumption and residential investment have accounted for more than 92% of Canada’s real GDP growth since the global financial crisis (see Figure 1), against an average of approximately 80% for the previous 25 years. By borrowing more and more money at ever-lower interest rates, over-indebted consumers have propelled the Canadian economy forward.”
Why on earth would they over-extend themselves when it comes to debt? Oh that’s right, fear of foreigners and the expectation of easy profits.
Or do you think foreign money is driving GDP growth, too?
“Some readers may recall that we thought Canadian housing prices (see Figure 5) were close to peaking back in 2011. That is a fair point: Calling the top of a market is tough. The main factor upending our view then was that rates did not gently rise, as we had expected, but in fact fell 150 basis points over the subsequent five years. Meanwhile, in the past two years, five-year rates have risen over 150 basis points, which should start to influence consumers as they face higher monthly payments at first refinancing. Moreover, policymakers are now being more aggressive about tightening mortgage credit, with stress-test rules that have started to cut into the amount of borrowing in 2018.”
The Poloz effect on housing. Disaster.
If housing prices were simply an effect of interest rates we should be back at 2014 prices now so there must be other drivers at play (like wealthy Asians?).
Or Kelowna prices would match Vancouver’s.
Millionaire migrants leverage as much (or more) than everyone else. Just ask your bank manager, for fun.
What does Canada have now? A housing economy.
They will just increase immigration rates from ridiculous levels to utterly insane levels.
And trash the loonie while at it.
Fire-ravaged Shaughnessy mansion’s owners charged with failing to maintain the property
https://globalnews.ca/news/4305274/shaughnessy-mansion-fire-charges/
“After the fire, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said it believes there was one ignition point in the house, and that the blaze was set deliberately.
However, officials didn’t have enough evidence to recommend arson charges.”
How surprising. I wonder who these people are.
Money laundering fallout not expected to hurt former gaming minister
so the fat boy gets to walk away scott free …
Backroom deals. “Hey, let us feed for a few years now. Stay low and maybe move into munipcial politics.”
He might even get a juicy job on some corporate board, like his former boss Christy Clark.
Crime pays, after all.
I blame voters for putting such individuals in positions of power.
“I don’t think it’s going to torpedo his career. He’s liked by the people who like him and they really like him. Thirty per cent of American voters like [Donald] Trump, no matter what. There’s a certain percentage of voters in Surrey who are going to like Rich Coleman no matter what. That’s just baked in. That’s just part of politics.”
I see. You mean people like YVR, SIDA et co. ? People who cast their vote based on tribal belonging?
“Tribal belonging”? You’re an idiot.
And there we go again. Insulting for lack of arguments.
What counter-argument do you expect to your original statement, out of interest?
Troll.
How ironic. He calls me a troll. We live in strange times.
The lowlifes on the left have no arguments anymore, just rage
Trump gets blamed for some psycho carrying out a personal vendetta against a local newspaper that goes back many years.
Definitely these are strange times, and we’ll need to defend ourselves against these vermin using lethal force.
Just another Friday night preaching hate and inciting violence. Isn’t this the eighth in a row for you? I’ve lost count!
You must be saving for a downpayment or something.
“Strategically, it’s often pretty sound. In fact, one of the smarter things to do in politics is if you can wait for it to go away, then wait for it to go away and I think that’s probably what he’s doing and… ethically, it’s super dubious, dodgy but politically, probably the smart thing to do. Incidentally by the way, it also makes him guilty as sin.”
Love the sentence so much I will write it again: “Incidentally, by the way, it also makes him guilty as sin.” So, Coleman was fully complicit in the crimes. He wanted them to happen: he did not simply turn a blind eye, he actively encouraged them by removing critical police funding and support.
BC has been run by a band of crooks in the past 10 years.
How Canucks draft pick Jett Woo could be ‘trailblazer’ for players of Chinese descent
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/how-canucks-draft-pick-jett-woo-could-be-trailblazer-for-players-of-chinese-descent-1.4721891
>>> and so it goes (finally) that Canuck’s mgmt draft for business and marketing reasons (as opposed to hockey ones), a move that will effectively be the final nail in the coffin for the current administration and may spark a forced retreat by the Aquilini’s from the Vancouver sports scene as old school hockey fans flee for the exits
He’s a Canadian from Winnipeg. But of course the usual clowns will try and find a way to try and undermine his sporting abilities. Good riddance to any so-called fans who “flee for the exits” because of this.
I personally think it is great they got a player of Chinese descent. Long overdue, and might actually energize the franchise!
Moreover, Jett Woo is actually a Canadian dude and will be a role model for new generations.
the problem we have is not with race and local guys like Jett Woo. The problem is with corrupt millionaires moving their money into Vancouver real estate and with equally corrupt locals who don’t want these money flows to ever stop.
I think he has a cool name. Lots of good merchandising potential.
the problem is that they drafted this guy to attract the corrupt millionaires to the rink (seeing as the old school fan has tuned out the team now) just like CEOs, politicians and other officials seem to do when conducting their various activities and business ventures
Why should anyone care what race this player belongs to?
Why do people even bring it up?
Lower Mainland real estate ‘refugees’ head to Vancouver Island for better home values, quality of life
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/lower-mainlanders-moving-to-central-vancouver-island-en-masse
Hafta agree with this from the comments section…. 🙂 “What a puff piece by the real estate industry – these stories come around every few years about how great Island life is, especially when prices and sales are softening like they are now. What this article fails to mention is that Victoria and all the surrounding communities have some of the highest priced real estate in Canada and a few cheap houses does not make a life. Realtors fail to mention that most ‘refugees’ in these areas – whether families or retirees – last only a few years before packing up and heading back home. Islanders are nice but they don’t care for lower mainlanders, which prevents ties to communities; there are no restaurants in most of these small towns; nature becomes boring after a few years; health facilities are… Read more »
Look at all the smiling happy faces… it’s awesome.
“We’re living in paradise,” he said. “All the villages, the oceanfront, rivers, parks, so much. It’s awesome.”
The Cowichan Valley boasts about 60 wineries and small farms, selling honey, Saskatoon berries, chili peppers, herbs and much more. The Duncan Farmers Market is every Saturday year round. “We eat healthier and the stress level is so much lower,” he said.
“The valley’s biggest industrial employer is the Catalyst Paper pulp mill in Crofton, a straight-line distance of about 10 kilometres. The fumes are only occasionally noticeable in Duncan.”
Great. They can eat berries and the pulp mill fumes are only occasionally noticeable. LOL.
And good luck in trying to find a doctor…
Christy Clark is now sitting on the board of Shaw Communications.
She is definitely raking it in. Her pension is dwarfed by the advisory roles she is taking on. Obviously a very cunning woman. And voters fell for her.
YVR still loves her.
Feds to offer up to $2 billion to metal, manufacturing industries
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-to-offer-up-to-2-billion-to-metal-manufacturing-industries-1.3994300
>>> so, are they in effect conceding defeat on this issue? and how do they plan “fight back” if a mutually beneficial agreement on NAFTA can’t be reached?
That is $2 billion of your tax dollars so we can protect a few thousand wealthy mosty Quebec dairy farmers. Note the $2 billion is a drop in the bucket to what this will cost. The tariffs, which are just a tax on Canadian consumers, start next week. Should we have expected more from a drama teacher.
ya, but…but…don’t budgets balance themselves???
Minimum wage hikes mean San Francisco restaurants can’t afford waiters, so they’ve put diners to work
https://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/minimum-wage-hikes-mean-san-francisco-restaurants-cant-afford-waiters-so-theyve-put-diners-to-work
B.C. welfare payments unaccounted for in Sahota hotel records
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-bc-welfare-payments-unaccounted-for-in-sahota-hotel-records/
Tenants and landlords spitball ways to fix the Residential Tenancy Act
http://www.vancourier.com/real-estate/tenants-and-landlords-spitball-ways-to-fix-the-residential-tenancy-act-1.23352743
Residents speak up at Vancouver City Hall over proposed changes to Chinatown
https://globalnews.ca/news/4304196/residents-speak-up-at-vancouver-city-hall-over-proposed-changes-to-chinatown/
“Right now, Chinatown is under threat from real estate pressures who are seeing the changes happen and they are negative and they impact people’s lives,”
“It’s displacing residents, it’s causing people to lose their food sources, their businesses, their community in Chinatown.”
The man imprisoned for committing the biggest immigration scam in Canadian history was released on early parole even though he had not paid more than $900,000 in fines and “minimized his criminal behaviour”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/xun-sunny-want-release-fines-immigration-1.4727253?cmp=rss
“The board also noted Xun (Sunny) Wang had transferred all of his assets to his spouse “to avoid the Canada Revenue Agency fines.”
Despite “concerns,” the parole board was compelled to free Wang after he served one-third of his 7-year sentence, because he’s not at risk of committing a violent offence and his behaviour behind bars was “appropriate.”
Wang, 49, was convicted of bringing more than 1,000 people illegally into Canada by falsifying passport entries, faking job offers and supplying them with bogus Canadian home addresses, to thwart immigration requirements.
The tactics made it appear his clients had spent the required two years out of every five in Canada to maintain their permanent residency status.
Instead, many spent most of their time living in China. ”
“At his trial in 2015, the court heard Wang made $10 million through his two immigration-consulting companies, New Can Consulting and Wellong International Investments Ltd.” “Wang was sentenced to seven years behind bars minus time served in custody and ordered to pay two fines: $730,837 to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for tax evasion and $187,901.24 for defrauding the federal government — a total of almost $920,000.” “In reviewing his pending release in November, the parole board admonished Wang, stating “you have indicated you do not believe you owe the CRA any money.” But it noted that when “confronted” on his defiant attitude, Wang indicated he would pay the fines by having his home mortgaged. Seven months later, a check of Wang’s Richmond, B.C., residence on the province’s land registry website shows no mortgage listed. The Canada Revenue Agency declined… Read more »
“Wong maintains many of Wang’s clients are innocent victims.
He’s launched a proposed class action lawsuit in Federal Court — not against Wang, but against the minister responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency.
Wong alleges the CBSA has unfairly targeted Wang’s clients.
“The consequences could be devastating as many of these clients have Canadian spouses or Canadian born children,” states his lawsuit.
The federal government has responded, arguing the ex-clients were “clearly complicit in the fraud … and do not come to this court with clean hands.”
and to think that many here believe I just make this stuff up. here we have one guy responsible for all this. who knows, maybe the “victims” win this class action case too and everyone gets off scott free and is granted permission to roam this great country as they please. only a naive fool would think Wang is the only person involved in this racket just in Richmond let alone the rest of BC and all of Canada for that matter. this could easily translate into 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of sketchy individuals that managed to scam their way into the country and/or manipulate the system for some other benefit
An essential locust’s modus operandi. Now queue up the usual prick to ask “Do you have evidence or link?”.
Why ask for those? I know you have neither, just toxic opinions and little to no education.
The only thing I can ever comment you on, you worthless piece of shit, is that you always answer to your name like the dog you are.
Whether the call goes out to AIDS, or usual prick, or something else that describes you perfectly, you always answer.
Well done, scum.
Honor, and yet that lowlife walks free and continues to coexist around. What country is this???
Typo, although honor or horror, does it matter here?
A REQUEST:
To all the people here. Get involved in the YES to PR campaign by helping out. Organize and then to the apartments and basement suites and help people get the vote out. Big money will be doing it for the no side.
This is a hope going forward. If the NDP and Greens refuse to go with the will of the people afterwards, a new party can quickly rise and take 5% of the vote. A beachhead for bigger things.
Spend less time posting here and volunteer. Campaign starts July 1st. Let’s get this done and send the developer shills to an early grave.
Awesome idea… Will you lead by example and spend less time posting here?
I’m already on it.
I may sound rough when posting but this is a one shot opportunity.
Let’s get PR passed and we can fight afterwards.
Injunction sought to halt B.C. proportional representation vote
In a 49-page request for an injunction, filed on Thursday, the Independent Contractors and Business Association, the Canada West Construction Union and its director of labour relations, Kenneth Baerg, argue the NDP cabinet approved a process that violates preconditions set out in law, is illegitimate, and violates the Canadian Constitution.
The Independent Contractors, a lobby group representing about 2,300 companies across B.C., said it launched the lawsuit because it believes its right to free expression was being curtailed.
“Baerg said he and his union, which represents hundreds of workers primarily in Alberta and B.C., joined in because they have a direct interest in the result of the referendum and their rights to participate fully in the debate are being limited by the cabinet regulation.”
Seriously..do people want PR…..????
It basically supports losers….
NDP has certainly done a mighty fine job so far(coUgh cough barf barf)
……I can see Dr. Evil Math Guy Green Weaver creating some wicked algorithm that Keg Waiter is forced to support which gets passed” first passed the post” that is then tweaked to the point that Spuzzum ultimately decides BC’s fate.
Norway.
It’s easy.
NDP needed to rally the troops with bold action. He failed his base.
Good luck with PR then.
Norway is a shithole just like the other European countries that have PR. Look at Germany and Sweden. Open borders for a few years have set them up for failure. It will be worse here. With PR there will be a Sino party that will hold the balance of power in BC.
Norway is a shithole? You ever been there? Any idea what their Sovereign wealth fund looks like?
I am NOT a fan of PR… BUT saying Norway is a shithole just makes you a moron
He was a moron before he said it. Being a moron made hime say it 🙂
(nit = picked)
Stay pedantic my friends
Yes I have been there many times. I used to work for a multi nation company with a major interest there. Many of my cowokers lived there for long durations. How about you?
Norway has a similar property bubble as here. The sovergn wealth fund is due to 10 times per capita of oil reserves compared to Canada. Should we call some middle eastern dictatorship countries well governed due to oil reserves?
“With PR there will be a Sino party that will hold the balance of power in BC.”
Why start a new one when you already have one.
You mean the premier?
LOL what a tool.
“Norway is a shithole”.
Don’t ever post here again, that was stupid beyond belief.
“Seriously..do people want PR…..???? It basically supports losers….”
The people that want PR are losers. They think it will make them winners of something. It won’t. If you want to be a winner you need to win. Participation trophy’s are for losers. PR hands out participation trophy’s to everyone.
Wow. This might be over before it starts. Looks like the unions are against it as well.
NDP doesn’t want it.
Mason’s take https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-bc-became-a-gangsters-paradise-who-will-take-the-blame/
“Responding to the report’s release, the B.C. Liberals had the audacity to accuse Attorney-General David Eby of “sensationalizing” its contents. Sensationalizing? If anything, members of the former government on whose watch this all happened should be thankful Mr. German was not more merciless about their role in all this. ”
Indeed…..
Douglas Todd: B.C. Liberal housing critic sees no conflict over developers’ cash
The B.C. Liberal’s housing critic, Sam Sullivan, sees no conflict of interest in accepting large political donations from major players in the real estate business.
“Developers that contributed to Sullivan’s leadership campaign were Canadian Metropolitan Properties ($10,000), Concord Pacific ($5,000), Polygon Homes ($5,000), Bruno Wall ($7,500), GIH Properties ($5,000), Benson Lee ($5,000) and Delta Land Development ($5,000).”
They can’t do it anymore. Ha ha. Plutocrats be gone!
Never ceases to amaze me how cheap a politicians soul can be bought for.
……developers are sure cheap c*nts….especially SIDA
“In his 2013 provincial election campaign, Sullivan accepted more than $23,000 from developers, including Concord Pacific’s Terry Hui, Wesbild, Bosa Developments and members of the Wall family of developers.”
“Sullivan, who was appointed housing critic in 2017, came in sixth in this year’s B.C. Liberal leadership race, which was won by Andrew Wilkinson, who also accepted substantial donations from property developers.”
Along with all the usual bullshit about more building is the only solution, blaming chinese for high prices is racist, the foreign buyer tax should be scrapped because it’s not helping with affordability (fuck, these parrots are tedious, even more so when they’re rolling around) but this is the most hilarious part from the corrupt piece of shit:
“Responding to Postmedia questions about whether he is in a conflict of interest, Sullivan said, “Fundraising is a necessary and important part of any campaign. I only accept funding from individuals who have integrity and high ethical standards.”
Even Jas Johal would not be able to say that with a straight face.
Sam Sullivan was a back bencher with no power. Eby on the other hand is the number 2 guy in the NDP. Now what should we do about the Eby and the NDP taking $500K from developers in the past 12 months? Do you think the decision by Eby to renege on the foreign buyers tax for presales had anything to do with this $500K payoff? After all according to Eby the only reason the Liberals didn’t implement the foreign buyers tax on presales was for pay back for political donations from developers. Eby sold the whole province out for $500K. If people focused more on the corruption going on right now you would be better served.
any of your so-called “corruption” pales in comparison to what we lived under for the past 16 years.
Gas in Vancouver sounds like housing in Vancouver, the same BS.
“McTeague said that the prices are a result of “the market digesting higher oil and gasoline prices due to heavy demand and limited supply.”
File this under the Big Squeeze.
Relax. We need due process. Let study this for a few more years.
I agree. I’d like to see a very long public trial.
Krusty and Fat Bastard should hang for this.
After a very long public trail, of course.
Like ride sharing.
F*ck all of them…mostly Coleman and de Jong,..both lawyers and more proof lawyers should be banned from elected office( as they once were ).
No coincidence River Rock has Canada Line feeding it from (3) juncture points…one of which is YVR..and we have this mess..
The whole thing reeks of people in power that cannot deny that what occurred was at minimum predictable…a plot in a cheap crime novel..versus accusations they were “in on it”.
If BCLC would immmediately deny Local Gov’ts a % of casino revenue( ie 10%), this would be a major step towards fixing the current mess…as opposed to the 3 blind mice jury status quo currently in place (ie see/hear/speak no evil)
Still a long way to go, but we have come a long way. For those with short memories, this is where we were.
http://www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1832804158
Absolutely jaw-dropping. Coleman needs to be punished. He’s a fucking menace to the people of this province.
He knew exactly what was happening and swept it under the carpet. He and Christy Clark should be brought up on charges of aiding and abetting criminal activity. They are just as guilty as the actual money launderers and they have blood on their hands from all the related drug deaths.
Many of the 500,000 Chinese can accept payment for business services done here in China. The local whites who seem to be clueless have no idea what’s going on.
Why would they pay a higher tax rate here? Doesn’t bode well for he future of healthcare and pensions here.
The local suckers can pay for the infrastructure, healthcare, and education.
slavery
The continuous process of feeding cancer with the live matter, sickening.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/odds-of-july-rate-hike-rise-as-bank-of-canada-decision-looms-1.1098861
70% probability for July rate hike
guys, i think chinese money may be hurting affordability in our real estate market, anyone one else also think so?
You’d be surprised how many people (for self-interest, mostly, but also for sheer stubbornness) still question that statement.
Apparently, even facts are up for debate in 2018. Some even argue that facts can be “racist”.
Strawman.
I’m not sure, but the statistics say that AIDS is a fucking asshole.
Yep the most one sided unless person on this site this side of Oracle.
I’m happy to be on whichever side opposes toxic moronic racists.
The RACE CARD! Ding ding ding!
Anyone who says anything negative about China is a racist right?
People are sick of the situation they find themselves in and are speaking up.
The race card has silenced proper discussion for a long time but those days are over pal.
+/- 100%