Vancouver Condo Info

Several people have posted a link to this article on the German news site Bild.com: Some athletes and coaches have complained about accomodations at the Vancouver Olympic Village, which is pertinent for this site since those units are set to be sold by the city after the games are over.

One of the complaints is that the walls of the rooms are so thin that the athletes are struggling to fall asleep – not a good time to have snorers nearby…

Ski jumping trainer Werner Schuster compared the Olympic Village with a boy scout camp. The 41-year-old said: “The living standard is very poor. Five, six people have to share a bathroom and the walls are as thin as curtains.”

I wonder if the complaints regard temporary walls or actual walls between units?

The size the accommodation has also been criticised. A particularly sore point is that there isn’t enough space for athletes to dry their clothes.

Don’t they know this is Vancouver?  We pioneered the art of small living in North America.  They should just be glad we didn’t stick them six to a room in a 270 square foot micro condo in the Downtown eastside.

A German functionary said: “The Village is good for summer. But now in winter with this weather it’s a problem.

“The German team have especially bought heaters to dry their things which are always getting wet due to the relentless sleet.”

It’s all about location, location, location.  That’s why we located the Athletes village walking distance from Canadian Tire, where they can buy heaters to dry their clothes.

UPDATE: Nope. We didn’t locate it near a Canadian Tire. Many people pointed out that this is about the Whistler Olympic Village, NOT the Vancouver Olympic Village.

Now that the W has revitalized the Downtown Eastside, eliminating the scourge of homeless, drug addicts, panhandlers and prostitutes there’s just one more bold step to complete this neighborhoods transformation: 270 sq foot micro condos.

For those keeping track, that’s the size of two parking spots.  You can tell your grandkids about the good ol’ days when your family lived in a spacious 450sq foot condo.

John Stovell, general manager of Reliance Properties, said there’s a strong need for more affordable rental units in the downtown area.

“So many people contact us, not with a specific size they want, or specific amenities, but they tell us where they want to be in the neighbourhood and how much they can pay. So often that amount is just not achievable for anything but a very specialized product like this,” he said.

“By cutting away the non-essentials, that is the only way to get to that price-point in Vancouver,” he said.

City council unanimously endorsed a plan Tuesday night to create a high-density, mixed-use neighbourhood of about 7,000 people around BC Place Stadium and GM Place on the final undeveloped section of the former Expo lands.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=99d209cf-02b9-4a4f-aca4-4abc8f7fb86a

The controversial concept includes a new civic plaza plus four million square feet of residential space and 1.8 million square feet of office space.

What it doesn’t include is the 2.75 acres of park space per 1,000 people that city council holds as a goal.

So less parkland, but parks are green right, and city council wants Vancouver to be the “greenest city” right?  …few parks in this development sadly.

As proposed, densities in northeast False Creek will be among the highest in the downtown peninsula, the report said, noting the high-density push is being driven by the city’s goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020.

Will this be a success?  Will it result in a Vancouver’s first ghetto thus making us truly an international city complete with concrete all rental ghetto?

With the current condo construction boom displacing rental stock some people are getting very frustrated with the state of housing in this city. Despite statistics of declining population growth and record levels of condo construction the rental market appears to be tight right now. I received this letter of frustration from Colleen last week, which with her permission I reprint here:

As a long time renter in the city I am very concerned about the possible changes to the moratorium on condo development at the expense of existing rental units downtown. The affordability of buying a condo is out of reach for most people in Vancouver. The rental costs for many of the condo’s recently built is extreme, given the ridiculous size of new apartments. Less than 550 square feet for two people isn’t living, no matter how small your murphy bed is. Accommodating desired population density in the city is not a justifiable issue-considering that the West End is all ready one of the {if not THE}most densely populated neighbourhoods in North America.

The developers who are concerned about accommodating population density do not live downtown in a 450 sq ft apartment. Nor are they likely to have an average combined family income of less than $80,000 annually.
Many of the owners of these new micro condos have 30 year mortages. Do you really think that these young, new owners are going to stay in their units longer than 5 years? Where will they go? After all, moving “out and up” to the suburbs in BC is not in the same league as moving from TO to Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Pt Credit, Guelph, Aurora, Kitchener, Paris, Ancaster, Waterloo, Waterdown, Dundas, Do I really need to go on??…….people require change to reflect their growth and development and their need for change and growth doesn’t change. Mountains or no mountains. Lets compare Ancaster, Ontario to Langley, BC..PLEASE!!

One bedroom rental units are averaging rents over $1000./mth with restrictions on storage, balcony use, pets, smoking, decorating , barbequing, feeding birds, children and subletting.
There seems to be two types of people in this city:
Those who invest and develop at a large scale and those who are forced to pay them at an alarming rate.

This is a case of the ridiculously rich and the rest of us. Why are we not considering the quality of life in Vancouver for its citizens as well as its development? Where are our elected, well paid politicians? We do not live in London, New York, Tokyo or Hong Kong. This is not Europe. We are Canadians-with our own histories, roots and expectations about how we live. This is what makes Vancouver such a beautiful and special place.

Sincerely,
Colleen

There’s an interesting article in the Financial Post about a recent survey of Condo buyers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal Calgary and Halifax. Amongst other things, the TD Canada Trust survey found that an increasing number of buyers are willing to raise a family in a condo:

The proportion who would consider raising a family in a condominium has increased significantly to 30 per cent from 20 per cent a year ago, TD Canada Trust said in releasing the results Wednesday.

However, it noted that 46 per cent also said too many children in a building would cause them not to buy a condo unit in it, while just five per cent said not enough children would be a reason not to buy.

While the vast majority of potential buyers also said living in an environmentally friendly building is an important factor, the results suggest having parking is even more important.

I think it’s been fairly common for people to raise families in the downtown core here for a while – perhaps those other cities are just catching up? Are you raising a family in a condo? What are some of the pros and cons of living with children in a condo?

..So who wants to live in luxury?

Everyone apparently. Just take a look around Vancouver at the thousands of new condo units currently under construction – its getting harder and harder to find housing that isn’t marketed as
‘luxurious’. From ‘luxury’ basement suites to 400 square foot ‘luxury’ condos in the downtown core, we must live in the most luxurious city on earth!