Vancouver Condo Info » rumor

Japanese buyers push up prices

The Pope — Thu, 12 May 2011 08:21:46 +0000

”We are in the beginning of an international movement of money of historic proportions, something on the scale of the Marshall Plan after World War II or the British influence after the First World War,” said Jon C. Minikes, a partner at Jones Lang Wootton, an international real estate consulting firm. Besides real estate, the Japanese have become major investors in stocks, bonds and artwork in the United States.

From the New York Times published December 15th, 1986

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Olympic Village condos at 25% off?

wreckonomics — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:57:41 +0000

Oh, looky! The Vancouver Olympic Village is in the news again, with the condo-king talking about the challenge of selling these units.

The troubled Olympic village will be back on the market Feb. 12, on the one-year anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympics, with significant price reductions.

Marketing specialist Bob Rennie said Monday in an interview he will begin to market about 150 units in two to three waterfront buildings, including the signature Building 4 on the waterfront that housed the Canadian Olympic team.

In what he said has become a “do-right or die” effort, Rennie believes the village has only one last opportunity to be successfully marketed if it is to escape its vexing image as a troubled neighbourhood.

“The word ‘Olympic’ is a really, really expensive word,” he said. “It is wrought with controversy. It can be seen as a weakness. But it can also be seen as a strength.”

When someone gets into a taxi at the airport and says “take me to the Olympic village” everyone knows where that is, he said. It’s not the same when someone says the name of a residential building downtown.

A cab driver will know where Main and Hastings is too, but that doesn’t mean I want to live there. The 25% price cuts show up further down the article:

“Everything is now on the table. These will be price-competitive to what is out on the market,” he said.

While he wouldn’t talk specific prices, Rennie said that last May he test-marketed units in Building 4 at around $1,400 a square foot. They didn’t move. At a reduction of 25 per cent — a figure being raised speculatively in the real estate industry — the price would be just over $1,000 a square foot or about $1 million per unit.

How pissed off would you be if you were a presales buyer and they ended dropping the prices on remaining units by 25%?

This post was submitted by wreckonomics.

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Mould risk at Olympic Village?

The Pope — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:15:35 +0000

Little posted a link to this Province newspaper story over the weekend. Subcontractors at the Vancouver Olympic Village are accused of taking shortcuts in its construction, including not insulating all in wall pipes. This brings a risk of mould problems 3 or 4 years down the road:

During the meeting, Loftus says, Jasper was shown photos of the uninsulated pipes in various buildings on the site and said he would get back to the insulators union, but Loftus said he’s still waiting. A second visit to the site weeks after the meeting found the drywall still in place with the pipes now hidden behind it.

“I don’t think they can fix it on time,” Loftus said. “They would have to take the walls down, inspect all the piping and then do it right. It would certainly be cheaper to do it now rather than later, but I’m guessing it would cost millions.

“And if they found mould, it would be even worse.”

Ballem said she wasn’t told about any specific problems with the construction of the Olympic Village, only that a union had some concerns about quality control.

“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Ballem said when contacted by The Province. “If the concerns are true — and I have no evidence of whether they are or not — and they not being paid attention to, that’s a concern for the city.”

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Is Vancouver the new Fortress?

The Pope — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:49:09 +0000

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that the City of Vancouver is expected to buy out Fortress Investment Groups financing of the $1 billion Olympic Village:

Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem is meeting with council Wednesday morning to tell them arrangements have been made to assume the $750 million loan Fortress made to Millennium Developments.

In its place, the city is expected to sign a financing deal with a consortium of Canadian financial institutions.

In October Fortress stopped advancing money to Millennium for its monthy construction draws after it claimed the developer was “out of balance” on its loan requirements. That forced the city to borrow $100 million from itself to pay the monthly draws and provoked the council into asking the provincial government for special legislation allowing it to borrow an unlimited amount of money in order to consider removing Fortress as the lender.

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How solid is the Olympic Village foundation?

The Pope — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:11:35 +0000

We try to keep our reporting of rumours to a minimum here, but Jesse has been a reliable source before. Here’s his comment from the previous thread.

Of course you don’t need to delve into second hand rumors to find problems with this projects financial foundation. The front page of the Sun today reveals that the development was financed with currency swaps when the Loonies was flying high:

Just when you thought you’ve computed all the risks from the Olympic village crisis, here’s another. The $1.2-billion development has been financed using international “currency swaps,” one of the riskiest ways to borrow.

Read the full article here.

UPDATE: Mayor Robertson says the city is in process of negotiating a ‘much better deal‘ for the financing and doesn’t believe the city is at such a risk.

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Onni to liquidate 375 condo units

The Pope — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:06:33 +0000

Over the last week or two on this site readers A1 and Macchiato have posted rumors that a local developer was getting ready to announce big price cuts to clear out unsold condo units.. According to the CBC it looks like those rumors may be coming true. Developer Onni has 375 condo’s that aren’t selling and the CBC is reporting that they will be liquidating these units in a ‘dutch auction’, which could potentially set a new low price point for the thousands of condo units still to be completed over the next couple of years.

The CBC is reporting that Onni will be holding a media event on Thursday to announce details. If you find a link to more information on this story, please post it in the comments section.

update: Lilypad posted a link to this PDF advertising the sale, it does not appear to be a ‘dutch auction’ as CBC radio reported, but the PDF does not include a lot of detail. It does include the following as part of a FAQ:

Is it auction??
No. It is a bulk purchase. There is no extra contract work of any kind required.

What are the homes being discounted??
Aggressive speculators lined up overnight at launches to scoop up prime units and then could not ﬂip them before completion. Many could not afford to complete and lost 15% deposits. Much of the available inventory is made up of these homes. They are 375 completed, fully warranted, brand new, never occupied homes featuring the latest ﬁnishings and amenities.

Where??
Spread over seven projects located across the Lower Mainland.

They also include the following comments on prices:

How inexpensive will they be??
These homes will sell under assessed values, current comparables and independent market appraisals at prices that get buyers very, very excited.

Why is the developer selling for such low prices??
These homes are standing inventory and costing the developer strata fees, property taxes, capital carrying cost and other costs. Also, many of these homes have been partially paid for by the abandoned deposits of speculators.

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