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What’s March 18th Got to Do with It?

jesse — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:16:36 +0000

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) released its stats package for February and, as expected, it showed significant price and sales strength in February. Press package can be found here, also redistributed here.

The recent market strength has caught even some Realtors like AgentWill and YatterMatters by surprise.

Long-time real estate blogger (and owner) mohican makes note of a so-called “bifurcation” of the provincial market, noting flat to lower prices in the Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, Okanagan, Northern Interior, etc. Househuntvictoria describes Victoria’s February market as “frothy”, though prices in the region are down from their mid-2010 peak.

As for Vancouver (REBGV, which includes Sunshine Coast and Sea to Ski corridor), the following information is noted:

Vancouver West and Richmond, as reported as it happened by various online and mainstream media sources, showed significant sales and price strength.
Detached increased in price faster than attached/condo
Most areas, save Whistler and a few low-volume areas prone to more month-to-month variance, showed sales increases over February 2010

It helps to remember that real people are buying properties — in Vancouver in February in near-record numbers at record prices — and it’s worth asking exactly who is buying, why now, and how. Fish10 recently opined on a few ideas including the usual suspects: rich foreigners, black market activity, commodities, and an increase of investment scams perpetrated by locals. Here is a subset of some rationales for the market’s strength:

Foreign income. Simply this is the “Hot Asian Money” AKA “HAM” conjecture, that significant amounts of foreign capital are entering the province and causing ripples of cash to propagate in the local economy. (Remember all areas in the suburbs of Vancouver have shown price strength, not just areas with large immigrant activity, though this effect seems to diminish with distance from the city centre.) It need not necessarily take significant foreign income to drive prices higher, merely the belief there is foreign income to drive prices higher. Given the time to complete transactions and given those I know of personally involved in purchasing property in the current market, it’s not all foreigners buying.

Small uptick in mortgage rates. 3 month lockdown of low rates is soon coming to an end. A 0.5% increase in rates is about a 7% increase in monthly payments at current 5 year fixed rates of around 4%.

March 18th 35 year amortization CMHC mortgage insurance moratorium. If enough buyers are highly leveraged (greater than 5:1), the desire to get into a 35 year amortization term may be bringing forward some sales. The maths indicate a change from 35 to 30 years amortization is about a 7% increase in monthly payments. (February detached benchmark price was only up about 3.5% month-over-month…)

Pricedoutitis. If properties in desirable locales are truly “detached” from incomes, it may simply be another round of buying now before being forced to look in significantly less desirable areas. This may go to explain the urgency with which certain properties and neighbourhoods are moving, while others (even certain props embedded in the “hot” areas) linger.

Raw speculation. This can be construed as a symptom for local economic weakness: nobody has anything better to do but flip real estate. Turnover of certain properties seems short and the margins high, though it may just be these types of transactions are more a meme in the media, not that they are occurring with greater frequency. Builders may also be at play more recently than before. See “foreign income” as a reason why.

There are lots of other reasons of course, including simple banal randomness. In the end, does it really matter? The excuses given for market strengths and weaknesses are often symptoms rather than root causes. Nobody likes to hear they’re dumb. Just kidding. You’re not dumb.

© jesse for Vancouver Condo Info, 2011. | Permalink | 103 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: affordability, prices, rebgv, vancouver

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Who wants $75 bucks?

The Pope — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:23:33 +0000

Who wants free money?

..or a free barstool?

Ok.. so it’s credit actually and not entirely free – but it’s still a very good deal. We’ve been approached by CSNstores.com to give away a $75 gift code to use on any of their sites, including allmodern.com, cookware.com and everygameroom.com. Go ahead, treat yourself to a foosball table or an acid green bear lamp.

So how do you get the credit? Well we’re a random meritocracy sort of site, so here’s how it will work. Any registered member that submits a story within the next two weeks (or already has a published story) is entered to win the credit. We’ll take the total number of submissions and put them into the random number picker over at random.org to select the winner. The $75 gift code will then be emailed to the address associated with the winning members account and you can do whatever you want with it*.

Just a few simple rules: Add your article submissions at http://vancouvercondo.info/submit. you can submit as much as you want, but each submission must be original content. If you link to a current news story you must present your own opinion or analysis on it at the very least. Copy and paste content will not be accepted. Content must be submitted before midnight November 30th, but may not be published until after that date.

We’ve had a good run of community submitted comment lately and would love to see this continue. Thanks all!

*What you do in the privacy of your own home is up to you. Promo Codes can cover domestic shipping costs within the US, but there are some International Shipping taxes and duties that it will be unable to cover, but hey.. $75 bucks.

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Site seeks feedback on Vancouver rental situation

The Pope — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 08:03:30 +0000

Metro Vancouver bureaucrat Don Littleford has put together a web site seeking personal stories and anecdotes about a perceived ‘Vancouver rental crisis’. The site is at http://RentersSpeakUp.org and is now starting to collect feedback. Their estimates are that there are 80,000 families here who spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and 30,000 households who spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent.

Vancouver falls behind most other Canadian cities when it comes to wages, so it’s not a surprise that financial pressure is put on many household even with our relatively low rents compared to sales price. Here’s a news story about the site with more information, and here’s the site itself if you feel like commenting on the rental situation in Vancouver.

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Crackshack or Mansion? The Answers.

The Pope — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:05:27 +0000

A week ago we had a community driven interview of Petr and Ola, creators of the instant classic Vancouver Real Estate quiz “Crackshack or Mansion?”. You asked your questions and voted up the comments you wanted to hear answers to. Well we’ve sent the highest rated questions on to Petr and Ola and here are their answers:

How long have they lived in Vancouver?
PETR: I have lived here since 2002 and Ola has lived here since she was about 10 years old.

Do they rent or own? (wouldn’t want to presume even the obvious!)
PETR: haha. We rent.
OLA: …one of these “special” 1950’s bungalows.

If they rent, have they been tempted to buy?
PETR: Ola had considered buying a place with her friend in about 2007. I thought the bubble was pretty much at its peak back then and strongly encouraged her to wait. A lot of her friends were getting into the housing market (or thinking about it) and I think the mob mentality almost got the best of her. It didn’t take long to convince it’s a crazy idea (to buy with a friend, and at these prices).
OLA: I shudder when I think about it now. Even if prices kept going up and interest rates stayed low, it’s insane to tie yourself down with other people like that.

Have they considered leaving Vancouver because of RE prices?
PETR: Even though we are convinced this is a bubble that will have a severe correction, the prices will probably still be too high for us. I wouldn’t pay 200,000 for most of those million dollar mansions. The city is nice but it has a lot of competition for the pretty city of the month award. The bubble will pop everywhere so the interior of BC will look pretty good.
OLA: I must admit, owning my dream home has been a fantasy since I was 8. However, my dreams are extensive and require many acres and handcrafted woodwork. It would be a trophy for career success. It would be a frivolous indulgence when I have excess cash flow. Enslaving myself to a peach-coloured 80’s built condo isn’t really a replacement for that.

(...)
Read the rest of Crackshack or Mansion? The Answers. (1,221 words)

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Crackshack or Mansion?

The Pope — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:38:42 +0000

Here’s the challenge: Can you tell the difference between a crack shack and a million dollar Vancouver mansion? PetrP created a website quiz where you can test your real estate acumen at crackshackormansion.com. Being a consumate proffesional I only missed one. Can you beat my score cold?

Give it a shot.

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Vancouver welcomes the world

The Pope — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:13:30 +0000

You know how when company is coming you shove everything into closets and close the door, pretending that the mess doesn’t exist? Well some busybodies have been opening up our closed doors instead of just enjoying the fruit punch:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Five blocks away from the venue for Vancouver’s Olympic opening ceremonies, four grizzled addicts huddle in the rain, injecting themselves with heroin behind a trash bin.

Welcome to Downtown Eastside. Here, life is gritty, volatile and the slightest misstep can invite brutal retaliation.

“It’s a jungle,” said Glen, a 49-year-old heroin addict who goes by the street name Trouble. “You want to get out of here.”

That’s from an article over at MSNBC, and it doesn’t really improve after that:

As Vancouver prepares for the Olympics and the descent of the world’s media, the Downtown Eastside remains a huge problem — 15 square blocks of despair, squalid rooming houses and alleys populated by thousands of addicts, the homeless, the mentally ill and the drug dealers who prey on them.

This neighborhood is the most concentrated drug and poverty ghetto in North America, with high use of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, according to criminologist Benedikt Fischer of Simon Fraser University. It’s also the only place in North America where drug addicts can shoot heroin into their veins at an officially sanctioned injection site.

Now why would a US news outlet want to make our city look bad? I have a theory. MSNBC is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC. I suspect that Bill Gates is jealous of our property values, particularly since the Seattle market has dropped so much, and he’s pulling some strings to make us look bad. Everyone who lives here knows you don’t go down to Main and Hastings unless you want to score some junk or catch a hot new disease, so what’s the big deal?

Well that theory explains the yanks anyways, but what’s with the British? They’re taking their potshots too, and we’re supposed to be on the same side! We’re part of the commonwealth! We’ve got the queen on our currency!

Conservative estimates now speculate that the games will cost upwards of $6bn, with little chance of a return. This titanic act of fiscal malfeasance includes a security force that was originally budgeted at $175m, but has since inflated to $900m. With more than 15,000 members, it’s the largest military presence seen in western Canada since the end of the second world war, an appropriate measure only if one imagines al-Qaida are set to descend from the slopes on C2-strapped snowboards. With a police officer on every corner and military helicopters buzzing overhead, Vancouver looks more like post-war Berlin than an Olympic wonderland.

That’s from the Guardian article Vancouver’s Olympics are heading for disaster. You know what I think? I think everybody is just jealous.

Thanks to G and jjss for the links!

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Froogle Scott buys a Vancouver house

The Pope — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:11:46 +0000

The Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive (VREAA) has been doing a great job of collecting anecdotes from the great Vancouver housing bubble for a while now, and many reader here will be familiar with that site. VREAA is now running a series called Froogle Scott that follows along the experience of one local homebuyer who bought early in the run-up.

September 2003
My wife and I, first time buyers, purchase a 1940s stucco bungalow in the Grandview area of East Vancouver for the asking price of $355,000. This is about a year and a half into the current eight-year real estate boom/bubble. The lot size is 33 x 117, just slightly smaller than standard. The MLS listing gives the square footage of the house as 1860, which later turns out to be a 20% exaggeration. The house is only about 1550 square feet, split over two levels — the main floor, and a two-bedroom, ground-level rental suite. The rental suite is tenanted — a quiet single mum with stable employment and her teenaged son, who look at us with a certain amount of trepidation when we first tour the house. They needn’t worry. We’re happy to inherit good tenants, and do not increase their rent ($560 a month, plus 40% of the utilities) for the year and a half that they continue to live in the suite.
……. We avoid a bidding war because of the listing agent’s greed. She wants to sell the house to her own clients and pocket both ends of the commission (“double-ending”). So she doesn’t have an open house. And the home owners perhaps aren’t savvy enough to demand that she have one.

Read the whole first installment at the VREAA site.

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Fast meets slow: Two markets collide

The Pope — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:10:34 +0000

There’s a strange thing happening in the Vancouver real estate market right now. Even as some rush to buy while interest rates are at rock bottom, others are trying to figure out how to get out of a presales purchase agreement they may have rushed into.

At least one local law firm is marketing themselves as condo presales litigation specialists. Harper Grey represents clients that are being sued or fear being sued by a developer. From their site:

Harper Grey LLP represents individuals and groups of pre-sale purchasers who signed contracts for major lower mainland condo projects including:

33 Pender – Vancouver
Aria 2 – Port Moody
Aura Townhomes – Surrey
Axis – Burnaby
Cosmo – Vancouver
Donovan – Vancouver
Espana – Vancouver
Esprit 2 – Burnaby
Fairmont Pacific Rim – Vancouver
First on First – Vancouver
Fitzsimmons Walk – Whistler
Ginger – Vancouver
H & H – Vancouver
INvue – Kelowna
Mariner – Vancouver
Millennium Waters – Vancouver
Patina – Vancouver
Quattro – Surrey
Silhouette – Burnaby
Sophia – Vancouver
Tangiers Townhouses – Revelstoke
The Breeze at Airdrie – Calgary
The Exchange – Vancouver
Three Harbour Green – Vancouver
TV Towers – Vancouver
Watermark – South Surrey
Watermark Beach Resort – Osoyoos
Westwood Village Edgemont – Coquitlam
Whitetale Lane – Coquitlam
Woodwards District – Vancouver

That’s quite the list. It’s fascinating that even with the recent rebound in the market developers are still finding it easier to sue pre-sales buyers rather than release the unit back to the market to find a new buyer. Do we have more inventory that buyers out there? I’m guessing no one told those rushing to buy that homes are a place to live first, a source of wealth second.

Thanks to Stanislav and Arit for pointing out the links.

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Odd Gmail Spam

The Pope — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:12:34 +0000

This is off topic, but I’d be interested if other bloggers have been getting these odd spam messages. For the last couple of months I’ve been receiving questions like the following:

Do you pay property tax on condo california?
Before I go ahead, is there any pointers you might have?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much. Thanks,
Tony

These questions almost make sense, but they seem to be auto-generated based on the blog topic. I’ve gotten several similar messages from the following addresses, always signed with a different name than the return address:

teronspoons@gmail.com
mike.power200@gmail.com
winstonfinancial@gmail.com
andri.manager@gmail.com
petrov.gazprom@gmail.com
iris.accountants@gmail.com

Now normally spam is trying to get you to buy something or visit a website. The odd thing about these is they seem to just want answers to questions. What could be the motivation for this?

My theory is that they’re looking for unique content from bloggers to put on a website. Scrapers generally just steal material from existing websites and republish it, but search engines will penalize duplicate content. This would be a way for them to harvest unique content that hasn’t been published before, so it wouldn’t suffer the same search penalty. If that is what they’re up to its kind of clever actually – get people that are interested in a topic to answer general questions about it.

One way to check this theory is to reply to them with with somewhat reasonable nonsense, and then do a web search on your reply a month or so later to see if it shows up online.

The following question made such little sense, I couldn’t help but reply with a helpful answer:

How much cost water for a condo in canada?
Your insight into what would be the best way to proceed would be much appreciated.
Any help appreciated. Thank you in advance. yours truly, Tim

Hi Tim,

Condos with running water are the latest trend in Canada and have recently grown in popularity. Water can increase the value of a condo tremendously. In the Major cities (Vancouver, Montreal, Moosejaw) running water is highly prized and can lead to bidding wars on a property, even when mixed with a small amount of urine. If both hot and cold running water are available in a residence (particularly if delivered via pipes), the sky’s the limit. Expect to pay at least $140,000 pgm (Per Gallon Per Minute).

Thanks for writing, I hope this helps!
-T

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Paul of Green Gables

The Pope — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:51:01 +0000

Regular readers will recognize the name Paul Boenisch as the North Vancouver realtor who provided daily market stats on his blog. As many of you know, Paul and his family moved to to the other coast recently, and he now has a new blog focusing on the Prince Edward Island real estate market.

It’s an interesting contrast to our market- check out the average sales price chart he’s posted that covers the last four years. They started 2006 with an average residential sales price of $120k, and peaked just above $160k.

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Have we hit bottom yet?

The Pope — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:18:44 +0000

I don’t know if the real estate market in Vancouver has ever only declined for one year, particularly at the beginning of a global recession, and I know what most of you think about that question anyways, so I won’t ask if you think we’ve hit the bottom of the real estate correction..

I am however seeing encouraging signs that we’ve hit bottom of the bursting real estate bubble blog bubble though, despite the disappointing news yesterday of Condohypes closure. We originally called this bubble at the beginning of 2007, and at the start of this year we reported on the apparent bursting of the bubble blog bubble. Now however, we get news that Fish is back. That link has been updated on the links to the right, along with a belated correction of the link to Housing Analysis.

Is this just a spring bounce or the return of the Vancouver bubble blog bubble? Either way we’re always like to see new independent sources of information and opinion on the Vancouver real estate market, even if they’re old sources.

So when you change your mind Condohype, we’ll be happy to welcome you back.

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“Vancouver’s Best Realtor” leaving town

The Pope — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:12:40 +0000

Local Realtor Paul Boenische has been providing daily statistics for the lower mainland market since the end of 2007. In 2008 he won the Georgia Straights reader choice award for “Best Realtor”. Many of you have read his blog and seen his comments on other sites (like this one) under the name PaulB, so it is sad to see that he is leaving Vancouver for the improved quality of life in PEI.

We initially were interested in Charlottetown because we have some family there, and after researching it and visiting PEI, the vastly improved quality of life is what convinced us. Sandra and I want to have the time to be very involved in the lives of our children, and PEI is affordable as well as being beautiful.

I will miss the opportunity to work with many of you. I always got a kick out of meeting the person behind the avatar. However, I look forward to selling real estate in a market where I can more easily see value for the dollar. Selling first-time home buyers into a 200k house will feel good compared to the recent speculative mania that has infested BC real estate. And when you toss in beautiful beaches and the best golf in Canada it all made a tough decision a little easier.

You can read the rest of his farewell message on his blog.

I skipped town during the ‘Best of Vancouver’ awards party, so I never got to meet you Paul. Best of luck with your move, I hope that you will keep us updated on how you and your family are enjoying your new home.

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New Site: CondoAdvisory.com

The Pope — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:39:45 +0000

Keith sent in a notice that CondoAdvisory.com is online and seeking reviews of condo units – the site looks like it’s got a lot of promise and if widely used could become a useful community resource for condo buyers and renters. I like the tag line too: “Take the ummm…out of condominiummmm…”

Here’s their Vancouver Condo reviews page, they’ve started adding video of many units, and like any self-respecting real estate site they also have a blog.

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Life in a leaky condo

The Pope — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:49:19 +0000

You’ve seen them all over Vancouver, from green mesh covered buildings in fairview to plastic shrouded condo towers downtown. But what’s it like to actually live in leaky condo thats being repaired?

A renter in Yaletown has started blogging about life in the green mesh: The Leaky Condo Chronicles is an interesting read about the inconvenience and frustration of living in an active repair zone:

Buzzing, vibrating, grinding noise jolted me awake at 8 AM. It’s really too bad that earplugs can’t block out the vibrations — they’re worse than the noise…

I think today is worse than ever before. They’re grinding down the concrete of the balcony right next door to us.

Mondays tend to be particularly bad anyway, probably because weekends are so nice and quiet, but I do think it’s true — it can’t get any worse than this — can it? Can it?

I need to run away.

You can find more misery at leakycondolife.blogspot.com

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Timeshare buyer beware

The Pope — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:42:46 +0000

With more and more noise in the media about Vancouver real estate being overpriced you may be surprised to find a local real estate investment that appears quite inexpensive by comparison – The Timeshare. Vlad writes in to share his experience:

I’ve made a costly mistake – I bought a timeshare from Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare) in Vancouver, BC and I regret it ever since. Check the facts before you buy a timeshare from any company to avoid making the same mistake I did.
I posted my experience and facts on this web site: TimeshareRevealed.com Please go to the “Investment Calculator” page, it is more than just a calculator. There I share facts about the following:

•    Real cost of timeshare comparing to an investment.
•    Examples from eBay about resell value.
•    How it can be cheaper to buy for cash.
•    Maintenance fees of a timeshare comparing to a condo.
•    Transaction and other fees.
•    Assets value of the company comparing to the cost of the shares.
•    Using points for car rentals, cruises, airline tickets, entertainment and so on.
•    Limitations of booking timeframe.
•    Unused points taken away while maintenance fees not refunded.
•    Deed and title.
•    Using RCI membership for home resorts.
•    Collections practices.
•    The right of first refusal.
•    How much of your money paid to sales representatives.
•    PROFIT 100 guide compared to audited financial statements.
•    Lack of warranties or guarantees.

I wish someone explained this to me before I bought my timeshare from Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare) in Vancouver, BC. During sales presentation I understood some of it much differently and I do not remember other important things mentioned at all. If I knew all this I would never buy it to begin with. I hope these facts will help you make your own decision.

Vlads website is at www.TimeshareRevealed.com

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Best of Vancouver 2008

The Pope — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:45:28 +0000

It’s that time of year again – The Georgia Straight is asking for your votes on the ‘Best of Vancouver’ and our friend CondoHype has a great idea: Why not vote for your favorite real estate blog?

There are 238 questions on this years ballot – the one that interests us is in the section for “Media, Arts and Culture” and the category is “Best Local Blog Page“, although there’s also a spot for “Best Local Realtor” (Hi Paul!).

You have to answer a minimum of 25 questions out of the 238 for your vote to be counted and the the voting page can be found here: http://www.straight.com/bov

You’ve got a lot of good options, so I won’t try to influence your vote other than to say these are a few of my favorites:

http://vancouvercondo.info – you are here and I want your vote
http://condohype.wordpress.com – exposing the ‘con’ in ‘condo’
http://langley-financial-planning.blogspot.com – best charts around
http://vancouverunrealestate.blogspot.com - blogging the disbelief

Did I miss one? Feel free to argue for your favorite or advocate for votes in any of the other categories in the comment section below!

Once again the voting page is at http://www.straight.com/bov

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GreaterFool.ca -predictions of a canadian RE crash

The Pope — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:53:52 +0000

MP Garth Turner has a new book out called “Greater Fool – the troubled future of real estate“. He argues that the Canadian real estate market is due for a collapse similar to the one currently happening in the US.

He recently started a blog at greaterfool.ca that looks like yet another source of negative news about real estate markets in North America.

The following is an excerpt from his book blurb:

The timing couldn’t be better for Garth Turner’s newest book on real estate and its impact on personal finances. At a time when the US is clearly heading for recession, stock markets roil, a global credit crunch overwhelms banks and a climate crisis lurks, can the Canadian real estate market withstand the threat? Do we really think we’re immune?

More than 400,000 US families lost their homes last year and more than a million more are threatened. House prices have collapsed as much as 30% in some markets, amid predictions of another 25% slide. New home sales are down over 40%. There are 20,000 new, empty houses for sale in Phoenix, streets of foreclosures in California and desperation in Florida. What happened? Will it hit here?

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New REBGV stats website.

The Pope — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:45:00 +0000

Paul has given us a gift that keeps on giving with his new web site. If you haven’t seen it yet do yourself a favor and check it out – there’s an incredible treasure trove of information he’s made available including up to date statistics on details like average selling prices and days on market. He’s also sharing inventory charts for all sub-areas of Greater Vancouver going back 3 years. This will be an ideal resource for watching the market in detail. Go check it out and say hello on his new blog.

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New source for current GVRD real estate stats

The Pope — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:20:00 +0000

REsteven has just started a blog to track current market stats for the GVRD and FV – this is similar to Rob Chipmans numbers blog (rireb), but REsteven is breaking the stats down by area. I’m looking forward to seeing how the inventory issue plays out with rising rates.

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San Diego foreclosures drive down prices

The Pope — Mon, 14 May 2007 17:30:00 +0000

Heres a link to a link of a story – Calculated Risk has a post about an article in the Wall St. Journal about foreclosures in San Diego.

A surge of foreclosures over the past year or so has left lenders struggling to sell a growing backlog of homes.
…
At the San Diego sale, houses and condos typically sold for about 30% below the previous sale or appraisal prices. In a few cases, the discounts were around 50%.

… A glut of condominiums also is weighing on the market. Peter Dennehy, a senior vice president at Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, a research firm here, estimates that at the current sales rate there are enough condos on the market to last about 29 months.

I’m posting the link to Calculated Risk instead of the WSJ because there are some reader comments attached to the story about BC and Alberta markets that some of you may find interesting.

BC’s #1 industry is forestry which is in serious trouble. Population growth is the slowest in decades. The economy is being kept growing by real estate investment. “Everyone wants to live here” (note contradiction) and “This time it’s different” (2010 Winter Olympics) are religious creeds in BC. I don’t think I have to explain what that portends for the future.

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US housing market as a rollercoaster

The Pope — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Spark posted this link in an earlier thread. If you havent seen this yet its worth watching: the US housing market from 1890 to the present rendered as a rollercoaster ride. You really get a visceral feel from the peaks and dips.

This video was created by the fine folks at speculativebubble.com

.. so who wants to make one of these for the GVRD? I bet the 1980-82 section would be particularly exciting.

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Condo Hype!

The Pope — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:26:00 +0000

I just discovered condohype – It looks like the latest addition to the Vancouver/ condo/ real estate blogs with a focus on condo marketing. Very funny writing with a heavily sarcastic bent and a solid focus – their tagline is ‘disown the lifestyle’.

Check it out, they’re off to a great start!

..now where’s my latte?

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Priced out forever!

The Pope — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:45:00 +0000

The guys behind seattlebubble.com and socalbubble.com have put together a new site that addresses housing market issues, particularly the fear-inducing ‘Priced Out Forever!‘ myth.

have you ever thought through what it would really mean if across the country, hundreds of thousands of people just like you really were being priced out forever? Who would buy homes? What would happen to the housing market as a whole? These are questions that are frequently ignored.
…
The absolute worst reason to buy a home is “I’m afraid that if I don’t buy now I’ll be priced out forever! The biggest financial decision in your life should be based on reason, logic, and sound financial planning, not fear.

Check it out at the easy to remember URL: pricedoutforever.com

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New Lower Mainland real estate blog

The Pope — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:03:00 +0000

‘Mohican’, a financial planner in the Fraser Valley has started a new blog graphing and analyzing some of the quirks of the lower mainland real estate market. Financial Planning and Personal Sanity looks to be off to a great start with a look at fvreb statistics and an exploration of the correlation between rental vacancy rates and price growth.

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