Vancouver Condo Info

The vacant remand center in the downtown eastside is going to see new life as affordable and low income housing.

In a $13 million dollar project, the former jail cells are being converted into homes.

In addition to the residential units, the development will include the conversion of the existing jail gymnasium to a multi-purpose room, a community garden in the courtyard, a communal lounge and a bicycle storage facility.

“By combining affordable housing with support services and job training opportunities, we’re providing quality housing and strengthening the Downtown Eastside economy at the same time,” said Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.

The remand centre functioned as a jail for those not yet convicted of crimes, including the Air India bombing suspects, for 30 years before closing in 2002. The property has sat vacant ever since, prompting Vision Vancouver to recommend repurposing the space in 2006.

Read the full article over at Global News.

Hey, you made it to the end of another work week, congratulations!

And here at VCI, that means it’s time for another Friday Free-for-all!

This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.  Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

-Wish I never downsized to a condo
-Mortgage changes in 2014 budget
-Wealthy moving to Vancouver
-Ooops, maybe not
-Every city is just like Vancouver
-Consumer debt keeps swelling
-25 cent Crack pipe vending machine
-Next crisis not from emerging markets
-Craigslist aids crackdown on illegal suites
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So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have a great weekend!

A new report from CIBC is warning of an excess of rental units in Toronto and Vancouver.

They are basing this outlook on the large number of condos being built in both cities and predict a less than half point rise in vacancy rates, so ‘warning’ sounds a bit strong.

The concern is that increased competition for good renters could drive owners to sell their condos, leading to a further downturn in the condo resales market.

Economists and policy makers have worried that an “increased supply of rental units will flood the market and will lead to a wave of sales by disappointed investors with no bargaining power,” Mr. Tal writes in the report. The Bank of Canada highlighted concerns about the condo market in December when it outlined the key risks to the economy.

“A sharp correction in the condominium market could spread to other segments of the housing market with stretched valuations, as buyers and sellers adjust their expectations of the future path of house prices,” the central bank warned. “Such a correction could also have significant repercussions on the real economy, since the construction sector is an important component of economic activity.”

Read the full article here.

The federal government has announced that they are closing the immigrant investor program.

So how does this wash out with Vancouver HAM-hype?

If prices crash now does that mean that all the salespeople that used ‘foreign money’ instead of ‘in debt locals’ as a justification for high prices were correct?

A source said the government is acting based on data that show that, 20 years after arriving in Canada, an immigrant investor has paid about $200,000 less in taxes than a newcomer who came in under the federal skilled worker program, and almost $100,000 less than one who was a live-in caregiver.

In the past 28 years, more than 130,000 people have come to Canada under the investor program, including applicants and their families.

And what about those ‘in debt locals’?

Turkey shared some interesting numbers on the sheer size of Canadian debt growth:

Let’s start with non-mortgage debt:

Equifax said Monday that its figures show that consumer debt, excluding mortgages, rose to $518.3-billion through the end of November 2013. That was up 4.2 per cent from $497.4-billion a year earlier.

Up 20 billion dollars in a year; the total is 520 billion. That works out to about $15k per Canadian man, woman, and child.

Meanwhile, overall consumer debt, including mortgages, also continues to rise — up 9.1 per cent to $1.422-trillion from $1.303-trillion a year earlier.

Up 120 billion dollars in a year; the total is 1.42 billion. That’s about $41k per Canadian man, woman, and child.

Now the editorializing bit.

High debt levels are not a big concern in current conditions, which signal a stabilizing economy, improvement in the unemployment rate and an anticipated gradual increase in interest rates.

An increase in debt, by itself and without context, is not a troubling sign in an improving economy. It’s the friggin’ size of the thing that’s a catastrophe! These numbers are absurd. Plus, BC’s numbers have traditionally been worse.

It’s that time of the week again!  Free-for-all time!

This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

-Vancouver bubble does its own thing
-VancouverPriceDrop is back
-Buy or Rent?
-A Vancouver Calculator
-Locals bid up prices, blame outsiders
-Latest stats, 21 months since peak?
-Singapore headed for Iceland style meltdown?
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So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have a great weekend!

*The blog doesn’t think. The blog is made up of comments from thousands of different people, some of whom agree with one another, some who don’t.   

Somebody over at TD bank looked in their crystal ball and saw interest rates rising.

They say that a combination of factors including increasing supply, softening demand and the expectation of rising interest rates mean that home price across the nation are overvalued by about 10%.

It says markets such as Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa are likely more overvalued than markets in the Prairie and Atlantic regions, and will likely see more of an impact.

The national housing market and worries about a real estate bubble have been key concerns for policy-makers for several years.

Recent indicators have suggested the market may be headed for a soft landing instead of a bubble bursting, but concerns have persisted.

Full article here.

It’s that time of the week again!

And yes, we’re a little slow on the draw this time..

This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

-Links to be added later…

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

VMD pointed out this interesting zoomable map of assessed property value changes over the last year in Vancouver.

Anthony Smith at HealthyCityMaps created this map using BC assessment data.

At his site you can click and zoom in to see whats happened to values in different neighbourhoods.

Interesting to see how tax assessments vary from micro area to micro area.

Dark purple represents a large increase, yellow is neutral and dark orange is a large decrease from 2013 to 2014.

View the full map here.

People aren’t buying condos like they used to and that means marketers have to get creative.

For instance, how would you get first time buyers without much savings to buy in a new building with no parking available?

Trade their old car in for a 2% down payment!

Car for a Condo lets car owners trade in their vehicles towards a condo unit in the gritty but fast-gentrifying neighbourhood just west of Main.

“Cars are a terrible asset,” said Cam Good, president of real estate marketing firm Key Marketing.

“For someone trying to get started in life and wanting to become a homeowner, taking a depreciating asset and literally turning it into an appreciating asset is a life-changing decision.”

The low buy-in of $5,400 is possible thanks to a two-per-cent down payment program offered by Vancity.

It allows qualified buyers to shell out only two per cent of, say, a $269,800 one-bedroom, 519-square-foot unit — although monthly payments will be required over the next 16 months of construction to get the buyer to at least a five-per-cent deposit before the building is completed in 2016.

We’re still waiting for the offer that lets you trade in your used helicopter as a down payment on a new condo in Whiterock or the one that lets you trade in your imaginary foreign investor parents on a new unit in the gritty but fast-gentrifying neighbourhood downtown near the Granville street bridge.

It’s that time of the week again!

Its Friday Free-for-all time!

This is when we do our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend, here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

-City employees low on morale
-Canada Bubble about to burst?
-Too late for warnings?
-Harpers investment advice
-Interprovincial migration by age
-You need $2.3 million to retire
-One persons move away experience
-Advertorial brings back helicopter meme
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So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!