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The Fall Listing Avalanche

Avalanchero — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:49:02 +0000

Huh. A strange thing is happening in the back-to-school season. Lots of people are putting houses up for sale, but the buyers aren’t springing up in the same numbers.

Best Place on Meth points out where we are this month:

Sept. is on pace for 6008 listings, 2286 sales and 38% ratio.

Yep, that’s right. A 38% sales to list ratio.

Paulb says total number of listings available for sale has hit 16,775. We just might see inventory hit 17k this month.

Inventory shared numbers by area- the north shore numbers are tiny. There were 3 sales in North Van yesterday, and only a single sale in West Van.

This post was submitted by Avalanchero.

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Global Price to Rent Ratio

Starving Artist — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:19:29 +0000

According to fundamentals, Canadian RE ownership continues to be significantly overvalued compared to rental cashflow. Even the bubbly Australian market has started to correct, but with interest rates low for at least 2 more years, who can predict how long the plates can continue spinning?

You can play with The Economist’s house prices chart yourself here:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/03/global_house_prices

© Starving Artist for Vancouver Condo Info, 2011. | Permalink | 111 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canada, compare

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The Best Blog EVAR.

wreckonomics — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:23:11 +0000

Paulb, that friendly local realtor who provides daily sales stats on this blog points out that it’s that time of year again: the last couple of days of voting in the Georgia Straight Best of Vancouver Contest.

This blog has been voted as the readers choice for best local blog before, and Paul Boenisch took home the readers choice as best local realtor that year. Paul suggests we repeat that this year, so lets see if we can.

You can vote here, and we’re humbly suggesting you vote for http://VancouverCondo.Info as the ‘Best Local Blogger’ and Paul Boenisch as the ‘Best Local Realtor’.

It’s a way to thank Paul for all the market data he’s provided here, a way to draw new voices to argue with and a way of saying thanks to all the good people that make this site go. You’ll have to fill in an answer to at least 25 of the questions, so it’s your chance to speak out about other opinions you have on Vancouver as well.

Feel free to make your case for any other votes in the comments below.. who is the Vancouverite closest to hell and whats the best example of local city planning?

Thanks!

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Friday free-for-all!

The Pope — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:43:11 +0000

it’s the end of the week and that means its time for our regular weekend news round-up and open topic discussion thread. Here are a few recent links to kick things off:

-Bubble talk reignites debate on house prices
-Collapsed US housing bubble doesn’t destroy demand
-Vancouver housing market set to underperform?
-BC prices set to rise?
-Pizza delivery guy with real estate advice
-The HST referendum numbers game
-

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

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Crying Wolf: Whither Higher Mortgage Rates

jesse — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:25:18 +0000

So where are these higher interest rates anyways?

Here was Mark Carney in December 2009 (ht “Anonymous”):

The governor of the Bank of Canada warned Wednesday [Dec 18 2009] that consumers and banks should not be lulled into a false sense of security because of low interest rates.

In a speech in Toronto, Mark Carney, said both parties have a responsibility not to take risks that could derail the recovery.

Consumers are helping Canada’s economic recovery outpace that of its G7 partners, Carney said, but that the recovery remains vulnerable to over-indulgence.

“When risks are still manageable is precisely the best time to act,” Carney told a business audience. “We must be vigilant, and all parties must fulfill their responsibilities.”

And here he is last week:

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is again urging homebuyers and banks to be prudent warning that not only will interest rates rise, but over the life of any mortgage, rates could be “much higher” than they are now.

“With monetary policy continuing to be set to achieve the inflation target, our institutions should not be lulled into a false sense of security by low interest rates,” he said in the speech Wednesday to the Vancouver Board of Trade. “Similarly, households will need to be prudent in their borrowing, recognizing that over the life of a mortgage, interest rates will often be much higher.”

And don’t bank on housing prices rising much further, he added, noting that Canadian home prices as a share of income have climbed well above their historical average and that investment in residential real estate has reached what in the past have been peaks.

“The average level of housing prices nationally now stands at nearly four-and-a-half times average household disposable income,” he said. “This compares with an average ratio of three-and-a-half over the past quarter century.

I’m sure rates will rise but from what I see there is

a lack of private investment
a looming house price bubble in Canada and parts of Asia
chronically high unemployment
an environment where all levels of government seem focused on balancing budgets.

Not exactly what one would call an environment for positive real rates. At some point in the future, when unemployment drops and the economy is running on all cylinders again, interest rates will rise, but it doesn’t look like it’s today. So when Carney barks at people for taking on too much debt and worrying households about rates going up, does he not think that people read Aesop’s Fables as children?

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A ‘Severe’ Housing Correction?

The Ant — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:01:09 +0000

Are they allowed to print stuff like this in the Globe and Mail?

The current consensus is that Canada’s real estate market has achieved a “soft” landing and that prices will flat line but not decline substantially over the next several years. I disagree. The housing market in Canada is already in bubble territory. Average house prices have doubled in the last 10 years, while rents have risen by only about 30 per cent. The ratio of house prices to rent is now higher in Canada than in any other developed country.

An even more powerful indicator also points to a severe housing correction in Canada. Residential housing investment as a percentage of GDP was 6.48 per cent in 2009, down slightly from 6.76 per cent in 2008, after peaking at 7.13 per cent in 2007. The previous peaks were at 7.26 per cent in 1976 and 7.18 per cent in 1989 – and we know what happened to the housing market in Canada in the early 1980s and early 1990s. After residential housing investment as a percentage of GDP peaked in the previous two cycles, the housing market crashed within a few years.

I believe we are running out of time. By way of a comparison, this ratio peaked at about 6.1 per cent in the U.S. in the mid-2000s at the height of its housing bubble, and toward the end of the 1980s in Japan, when that country was nearing the end of its own property boom. Both countries experienced sharp declines in housing prices soon afterward. (I should mention that the ratio stands at 6.0 per cent in China at the end of 2010 – no wonder there is talk of a bubble in the Chinese housing market.)

Huh. I’m guessing this message wasn’t approved by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

This post was submitted by The Ant.

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Divergence

jesse — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:21:39 +0000

Stories abound of weakening housing markets. Except Vancouver. Here are some examples, some a bit closer to home than you might think:

fishyre: periphery not selling

househuntvictoria: staleness in the spring air

worldhousingbubble: Oz not strong

huffpo: new record prices in US cities (the percentages cited are DECREASES, not increases, just to be clear.)

The Vancouver market, otoh, is hot, unfortunately the “frenzy” quickly fades to a state of ennui as we move farther away from the “core”.

It’s probably nothing…

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The Village Selling Well

jesse — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:00:16 +0000

This blog has highlighted many of the stories surrounding the Vancouver housing market with a bearish tinge. But often I find myself cheering for the other side, most notably with the sad state of affairs over at the Millennium Water Village at False Creek development, where thaumaturgist Bob Rennie and a maniple of marketeers have been tasked with selling the remaining units to recoup some of the money the City borrowed to complete the project. I provided some estimates of projected losses a few months ago, based on average price per square foot. Hoodsurf provides the quicksheet of the approximate pricing.

Well wonder of wonders, it looks like the opening weekend was a stupendous success. The BC forum/Gong Show Realestatetalks has filled in some anecdotes from the front lines. Apparently over 70% sold over the weekend with an additional waiting list of 100.

Is this a bullish sign for Vancouver? Well I don’t know about that. A look across the water from the development yields well over 1000 condo units for sale. Here’s a map search of a small smidgen of the downtown core courtesy MLS map search:

Why aren’t these units selling? Was the Village at False Creek well-priced, or was it simply the red “30% off” stickers on the unit doors? What we do know is that there are now over 100 fewer people who will be available to buy these units already for sale. The weekend was marvelous for showing, a crisp sunny weekend, and that couldn’t have hurt.

It’s useful to pay attention to the tactics employed by Mr. Rennie, including

Withholding specific price information, only ranges
Pre-selling certain units to “insiders”, giving the pricing some semblance of acceptability
Blitzing the print and TV media in the week leading up to the event
Telling City Hall to go into a room and talk to nobody

Heavens knows what went on behind closed doors…

I commend Bob Rennie for ostensibly pulling this matzo ball out of the fire, at least in part. The discounts were significant and apparently “aggressively priced” compared to comps. That certainly helped, along with his ability to tap into the local media and his many years of experience punting real estate. In my view, based on cap rates alone, even at current price the development is significantly overpriced, as are most if not all condos in Vancouver these days.

This development was facing off the taxpayers of Vancouver — and the public services it offers — versus individuals who can afford to buy expensive real estate. In speculative bubbles like this one, for me it’s not about who wins and who loses, it’s the depraved entertainment of seeing wild animals fight over scraps of meat. But on this specific occasion, I was rooting for Bob from day one and, for today, to him I tip my hat. Well done.

Sincerely,

A bearish blogger

© jesse for Vancouver Condo Info, 2011. | Permalink | 96 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: condo, hype, millennium, rennie, vancouver

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Friday Free-for-all!

The Pope — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:12:59 +0000

It’s the end of the week, so lets do our economic news round up and open topic discussion. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:

-September new home prices up more than expected
-Canada vs. USA – the new realty
-Putting all your retirement money into your house?
-Home improvement stores fear end of tax credit
-Metro builders ease off discounts in hot market
-Olympic rental scams on the rise
-Canadians are slaves to credit
-Canada Line on track to lose millions over next 15 years
-Conference Board: BC to get gold in 2010.
-The Conference Board prediction from 2008 is here.
-Critics blast condo / stadium mix
-Limp demand will create weak Canadian market
-The carry trade and ‘bubble like conditions’
-only 5% of Americans plan to buy a home in 2010

So what are you seeing out there? A boom reborn or a double dip recession? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

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Friday Free-for-all

The Pope — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:43:16 +0000

It’s open topic time! Every Friday we do a round up of recent economic and housing related news stories and discuss these topics through the weekend. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately to kick off the discussion:

- A Canadian CMHC driven housing bubble?
- Canadian Gov now the biggest subprime lender?
- The growth of Canadian mortgage debt loads
- BOC expresses ‘some concern’ over housing boom
- Canadians would sacrifice vacations to buy home
- US commercial real estate bust looming?
-

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

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Secondary suites the way to affordability

The Pope — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:20:41 +0000

No longer looking shared a link to this story in the Vancouver Sun over the weekend – The Bank of Montreal has just discovered the secret to affordable real estate in Vancouver: secondary suites. Simply rent out parts of your home to others to help cover the mortgage. You may have to wait to use the bathroom, but you’ll have enough money left over at the end of the month to buy some groceries!

Heaney said that on a $580,000 mortgage, which is fairly typical for Vancouver, a buyer would need a family income of around $100,000 a year to carry the payments.

However, throw in rental income of about $1,500 for a suite, and Heaney said the employment income a family would need to support that mortgage would drop below $60,000.

Ulsterman asks the obvious question:

BOM will lend almost 6 times family income? Is this normal?

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Jackbooted thug conspiracy thread

The Pope — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:05 +0000

Are they watching you? Have you seen the black helicopters? Are we moments away from bayonet wielding thugs with barking dogs on every street corner? Really? Well ok, better warn the world and here’s the thread to do it in.

Over the weekend it seems like concerns over civil rights and law enforcement took over the discussion thread. We’ve strayed pretty far from the real estate topic, and some posters are unhappy, while others really want to talk about this topic. So go ahead. I’ll be removing comments on this topic from the next conversation to keep it more real estate focused. More proof that the freedom of speech is slowly being taken away!

Just remember, you’re still responsible for what you say – the normal rule of law for libel applies.

If you want to control the conversation you can easily start up your own blog on any subject you like. I recommend either wordpress.com or blogger.com as a simple and quick way to start a blog.

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Friday Free-for-all!

The Pope — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:24:31 +0000

It’s the end of the work week, so let’s do our weekend round up and open topic discussion post. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:

-Our foresty industry worlds worst performer in 2008
-Real estate market tanking or taking off?
-Riding the real estate roller coaster
-Pamela Anderson: Real estate investment mogul
-Millionaires club sees record drop
-No limit for absurd Realtor ads
-Canadian banks edge won’t last long
-Canadian payrolls continue to decline
-Unemployed? More like Funemployed!

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

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Leaky condo loans dry up

The Pope — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:44:01 +0000

From the boom/bust irony department: It appears that the slow down in hectic condo construction means less money to fund the leaky condo repair loan program from the Homeowner Protection Office. It’s apparently gotten so bad that the HPO is no longer funding leaky condo repair loans.

…Soloshy added that some residents are having extra problems because the HPO has not officially turned them down, but instead is keeping their applications in limbo.

She said this makes it difficult to re-approach other lenders, who will generally consider helping only after someone has been officially turned down by the HPO.

“I had a lot of difficulty proving to the military that HPO wasn’t returning my calls,” Barnes said of getting his military distress loan.

“All I needed was something saying they had run out of funding,” he said. “They wouldn’t even get back to me regarding that.”

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Putting off the Ritz

The Pope — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:45:40 +0000

The Ritz Carlton work stoppage we reported on last October has been confirmed as a complete project cancelation. The developer is blaming the ‘global recession:

The half-billion-dollar Ritz-Carlton hotel-condo project in downtown Vancouver is officially dead — a victim of the global recession.

Buyers who purchased luxury condos in the 60-storey tower that was supposed to be built at 1155 West Georgia are getting a letter this week telling them the project has been cancelled.

The letter from lawyers representing developer Holborn Group states that “worldwide economic turmoil” has had a significant negative impact on the sale of units in the project, as it has with most other Metro Vancouver developments.

“As a result, sales have not met the developer’s expectations,” the letter states. ” … We hereby give you notice that the vendor cancels and terminates the contract due to the fact that the vendor has not entered into binding contracts of purchase and sale for at least 75 strata lots in the development.

“As a result of this termination, the contract is now at an end.”

Full article in the Sun.

photo-illustration by reader moldcity.

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Friday Free-for-all: stormclouds & rainbows

The Pope — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:22:17 +0000

It’s Friday and if you’ve been here before you know what that means, it’s time for our end of the week news round up post and open topic weekend discussion. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:

STORMCLOUDS:

-Developer sues condo buyers who try to back out of contracts
-Canadian retail sales see biggest drop since 1998
-Ottawa to run huge deficits for next two years
-US jobless claims hit 26 year high
-Is this a recession or another great depression?

RAINBOWS!

-Optomistic central bank expects speedy rebound
-Vanoc believes unsold olympic village condos will be snapped up
-Why a buyers market is a first timers market
-CREA: Your home may be worth more than you thought!

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

note: any conversation on Vancouver, real estate or economics is allowed, please keep it civilized. When posting articles please only quote pertinent points and link to the original instead of pasting the entire article here. Pasting a link into your comment will automatically create a clickable hot-link. Linking to more than one external link within a single comment may cause your submission to get held up in the spam filter.

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Happy $104,725 Holidays!

The Pope — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:35:36 +0000

As we wrap up 2008, I would like to wish you all a wonderful winter and a Happy $104,725.00 Holiday. If you went shopping for a house in Vancouver last May but haven’t yet bought, that’s how much you’ve saved so far according to local real estate board statistics.

That’s enough to buy a small house or condo outright in one of the US housing bubble markets of California, Arizona or Florida.

Of course those markets have been falling for the last three years, our prices have been dropping for less than six months. What will Decembers stats show? What about the New Year?

At this point some people are very concerned about the state of the economy, both globally and locally. I do believe we’re headed for some leaner economic times, but it’s worth keeping perspective. If you’re reading this website from a warm dry location with a comfortable place to sleep and food to eat, you’re doing ok. You don’t have to go far in Vancouver to see people that are doing a lot worse.

Enjoy your extra $104,725 and have an excellent New Year, I have a feeling that 2009 is going to be very interesting.

CZ suggests the following poll:

[poll id="32"]

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Friday Free-for-all! (spooky edition)

The Pope — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:41:40 +0000

Alright, you made it to the end of the week. Here’s our news round-up to kick off the discussion:

-Vancouver Condo Info Wiki!
-Falling BC house prices a reality check
-CBC map of halted Vancouver condo projects
-Vancouver: Cracks appearing in condo land
-Mish: An American view of the Vancouver Market
-BC retail sales continue downward trend
-Don’t worry, be happy!
-Positive news alleviates housing market fear
-Signs of a US housing market bottom?
-Fed rate cut may have little impact

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

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Friday Free-for-all!

The Pope — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:54:36 +0000

It’s Friday and we’re going into a long weekend! Lets do our end of the week news round-up and open topic discussion thing. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed recently:

-Falling Van house prices bad for both sides
-Paying a price for houses that aren’t homes
-Translink: $11 million surplus actually $3 million deficit
-Flocks of speculators & presales vanish
-Vancouver: We’re still building lots of condos
-RBC: BC economic picture darkens
-Banks only pass on half of rate cut to customers
-Flaherty: No bailouts for Canadian banks
-Carlton’s Nick Rowe on Canadian housing market
-Washington Mutual Exec predicted collapse

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

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Soft landing seen for housing market

The Pope — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:54:23 +0000

The Bank of Canada is predicting a ‘soft landing’ for the Canadian housing market as the national real estate boom cools. The central banks deputy governor Sheryl Kennedy gave a speech yesterday in Banf Alberta where she referred to the cooling trend in the Canadian real estate market as both ‘expected and welcome’.

As one of the country’s largest housing booms loses steam, most economists are forecasting a small increase in prices this year that will keep pace with the central bank’s 2-per-cent target for inflation.

In similar news Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is predicting a soft landing for the US market as well:

“Our assessment at this point … is that this looks to be a very orderly and moderate kind of cooling,” Bernanke said.

Though it is a minor concern, both the Bank of Canada and the Fed see potential problems when it comes to new mortgage products:

Despite her fairly positive outlook, Ms. Kennedy cautioned that Canada can’t afford to become complacent about the real estate market, noting it took a decade for prices and sales to rebound after the bust of the late 1980s.

To that end, the central bank is keeping an eye on “challenges,” including ensuring that mortgage innovations, including 40-year amortization products and “near-prime” mortgages, don’t detract from prudent lending practices.

While Bernanke had this to say on the topic:

On the issue of risky home mortgages, Bernanke pointed out that the Fed has issued some guidance for lenders and he underscored the importance of borrowers making sure they understand how interest-only and other non-traditional mortgages work.

“We’re not saying you shouldn’t make these loans. What we’re saying is that they be done the right way,” Bernanke told the banking conference.

Wait a minute.. I just noticed that US article is a bit out of date – it’s actually from 2006, sorry about that. Here’s a more recent article on the US market:

Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in April by the most on record, signaling the housing recession is far from over, a private survey showed today.

The Case-Shiller home-price index dropped 15.3 percent from a year earlier, less than forecast, after a 14.3 percent decline in March. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007. The group began keeping year-over-year records in 2001.

Mortgage defaults and foreclosures are adding to the glut of properties on the market, while stricter loan rules are making it more difficult for prospective buyers to get financing. The prolonged real-estate slump, along with higher fuel prices and a shrinking job market, is taking a toll on consumers and the economy.

Thank goodness it’s different here eh?

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CMHC expands insurance options

The Pope — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:56:01 +0000

According to an article in the Globe and Mail the CMHC is partnering with Genworth and US based Countrywide financial to offer innovative new insurance products in Canada:

The new insurance products offer coverage for a range of situations beyond the current batch of taxpayer based financial products that cover zero down and 40 year mortgage terms.

“The CMHC is proud to be able to offer these new products to help to fulfill our mandate of ensuring every Canadian can buy their own home” says Chuck U. Farley, VP of marketing “Where ever there are markets with affordability concerns the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation will be there to lend a hand.”

Along with the new products the CMHC will relax limitations further when it comes to down payments and mortgage approvals.

“Today’s sophisticated investors know that credit is the best way to acquire the ‘pride of ownership’ without paying in advance. This is an obvious improvement over the inefficient older style of ‘saving’ to pay for a major purchase. For this reason we will now permit down payments to be made on credit cards and we are excited to announce a new CMHC ‘buyers pride card’. These ‘scratch and win’ style cards will not only give buyers a chance to save on mortgage interest rate, they will also give buyers a chance to win loan approval without the the lengthy and demeaning traditional process of a credit check.”

Chuck U. Farley points out that this will be a positive boon to hot western housing markets where ‘unaffordability has reached record levels’.

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That wasn’t the market crashing.

The Pope — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:17:08 +0000

The site was down for most of the day, perhaps in sympathy with world markets. I’ve got it mostly restored, but lost a fair amount of comments and a few posts. Let me know if you find anything not working, other than that its back to normal.

I’ll try restoring the market prediction thread comments soon, but they come from individual email backups so its a time consuming hassle. I’m working on a more consistent automated backup system. Just goes to show, the crash can come out of nowhere!

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predictions on prices after the olympics

The Pope — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:31:35 +0000

How much will a house or condo in Vancouver cost after the winter Olympics? Will prices crash or increase forever? Who knows. I’m not going to predict where Vancouver real estate prices will go in the next few years, but I did find some interesting info about one prior host city.

Apparently Salt Lake City Utah is a tremendous ground floor investment opportunity, currently undervalued compared to other US real estate. You may want to cash in on the ‘Olympic effect’ and the great exchange rate by buying property there now. According to this article in the Salt Lake Tribune (pdf) their housing market had a post games slump, but in 2006 they started to see price appreciation again.

Four years after the slopes around Park City attracted international attention for hosting many of Salt Lake City’s Olympic events, the area has shaken off the financial curse that has often hit host cities following the Games and is undergoing a real-estate boom.

So why won’t I predict where Vancouver prices are going and when? Because its too tough to get the timing right, and sometimes you get the timing dead wrong. Then you get quotes like this one from Bruce Benham, Chief Operating Officer of RE/MAX international posted on realestatevancouver2010.com:

We’re all aware of the dramatic headlines proclaiming the inevitable “housing bubble” that will reportedly cripple the real estate industry, and the entire U.S. economy, when it eventually bursts. But you know better. And I hope your clients do too.

That article was from july 29th, 2005. Anyone know how their market has done since then? hint: not great.

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CMHC on leaky condos: no ‘duty of care’

The Pope — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:29:00 +0000

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is facing a class-action lawsuit from leaky condo owners in the lower mainland and has a message for the people who suffered from this billion dollar debacle: F##k Off, its not our problem.

The lawyer for the CMHC argued on monday that his client shouldnâ€™t be on the hook for the leaky condo crisis since it owes no “statutory duty of care” to homeowners.

Lawyer Ross Clark argued in B.C. Supreme Court Monday that the housing department is under no statutory obligation to Canadians in the wake of the billion-dollar housing construction disaster that first surfaced in the early 1990s.

Many families were left in financial ruin, forced either into bankruptcy or saddled with repair bills ranging from $25,000 to more than $250,000 per household.

Clark urged Supreme Court Justice L. Smith to dismiss the latest effort to certify a class-action lawsuit against the housing agency. The same court denied an effort for certification in 2002.

Why yes, now that you mention it, this is the same CMHC that claims on its website to be â€œcommitted to helping Canadiansâ€ by improving â€œbuilding standards and housing constructionâ€ and providing â€œpolicymakers with the information and analysis they need to sustain a vibrant housing market in Canada.â€ It just so happens that this is also the same CMHC that was made aware of concerns about housing construction practices in coastal Canadian climates in the early eighties.

The CMHC isnâ€™t to blame, Clark said, for the water-logged walls and mould-infested interiors of condominiums and townhomes built during the 1980s and 1990s. That responsibility rests with those behind the â€œpoor design and construction.â€

Peter Simpson, of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association, said he was puzzled by the CMHCâ€™s arguments in court. â€œI think it was an unfortunate comment to place the blame squarely at the feet of two members of the whole building community.â€

Simpson said the leaky condo crisis was a â€œsystemic problem and so thereâ€™s no shortage of blame to go around.â€

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Condo-mania spreading like fungus!

The Pope — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:34:00 +0000

Have you got your inoculation? Article in todays Vancouver Sun: Condo fever predicted to spread.

The Lower Mainland’s seeming addiction to condominium living will continue to spread to other desirable regions of the province, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports in its latest British Columbia forecasts.

We just can’t get enough of ‘em! Its the lifestyle!

However, on cost, Frketich added that keeping housing “at a price that people will buy is the main motivator behind that move to multi-unit starts.”

“There is no sense in building housing that people can’t buy, and this is a response on the builders’ side to bring forward product that people can buy.”

In Kamloops, for instance, the average home price will climb 17.2 per cent to $305,587 in 2007 compared with 2006.

And what about mortgage rates? They’ve got a prediction for everything!

Frketich said she expects mortgage rates to edge up in 2008. Rates will remain historically low, but she expects they will put a dent in housing resales, which will spill over into less demand for new homes.

She added that for the past few years, B.C. has been building new housing faster than its population growth warrants. And as employment growth slows, Frketich expects new housing construction to remain at a still relatively high 30,000 units per year over the next five years.

Thank goodness housing prices can’t actually go down or we might really have a problem with the combination of high prices, all that supply and slow population growth.

So what are the symptoms of condo fever? I feel a bit dizzy, but maybe its just the spin.

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