Tag Archives: downturn

advice, Canada, hype, opinion, predictions, prices, renting

Harper: No Bubble in Canada

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43 Comments

Getting tired of the word ‘bubble’ yet?

With all the news stories and predictions of an Canadian real estate market crash, it’s time for the leader of this great nation to chime in with his opinion:

…Harper told a New York business audience that he did not anticipate a housing crisis in Canada, and that that there was no comparison between the Canadian housing market now and the U.S. market before the crash of 2008.

He said only  small percentage of Canadian households would be vulnerable to interest rate hikes or a downturn in prices.

On the flipside of the argument is a securities analyst with a book to sell and a negative message:

In an interview published in the Globe and Mail today, MacBeth predicts a serious crash in house prices as soon as this coming spring, and advises people with large mortgages to sell, and rent.. His book, When the Bubble Bursts, forecasts a drop of up to 50 per cent in housing prices.

Read the full article here.

BC, Budget, data, debt, economy, prices, retirement, supply

Should you just move to an island?

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144 Comments

Skook has a post over at VancouverPeak.com about an island dream gone sour.

A BC couple purchased land on Mayne island and started building their dream home only to run into a confluence of cost overruns and real estate market downturn.

Today, their house is only a wood frame shell that looks out over one of B.C.’s most dramatic views, with the Lower Mainland in the distance, and regular sightings of ferries, whales and seals. The tiered wooded lot is only a five-minute drive to the ferry.
It is the idyllic best that B.C. has to offer, and yet the Klingsats won’t even break even on the near $1-million they spent on the property and construction. They have relisted it for $539,000, after previous listings at $649,000 and $699,000 didn’t get any offers. “Everybody loves the place, but the people don’t want a house that’s not finished,” says Mr. Klingsat, who gave up on the project six months ago. “And I can’t do it. I haven’t got any more money to put into it. “The whole economy everywhere is lousy – nothing is gangbusters. There are places for rent all over here on Vancouver island.”

The original article in over at the Globe and Mail. Skook adds some extra thoughts and information.

RFM has also added some information summarizing other properties in that particular island market.  There are 113 properties for sale on an island with a population of 900.

Open Topic, prices

Great Time To Buy Real Estate In Vancouver

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79 Comments

The following was submitted by a local realtor, we have removed identifying information because we have a policy against using story submission as a promotional tool, but their post is the flipside opinion of what is normally covered here.

The realtor is welcome to identify themselves in the comment section below, but before they do they should understand that this site is visited by a few thousand people a day who believe that now is one of the worst times to buy real estate and there is no active policing of comments on this site. All comments are self moderated by the readership of this blog.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver released its new numbers suggesting that sales are down 28.6 per cent since November 2011 and down 12.7 compared to October 2012.

Some may view this as a negative thing, others, the bargain hunters view it as a positive. Its a buyers market where where a buyer could save thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands on a property that just six months ago was selling at a substantially higher amount. Real estate operates on cycles, this is a rare time when prices are going down rather than up. Last down turn I personally know many people that bought at a low price and sold for a high price and made more money in just one transaction than they could in 3-5 years working their day job.

I strongly believe that this is the opportunity that many people have been waiting for. We can sit on the sideline and a few years from know talk about the opportunity that was missed, or buy now and profit from the downturn.

Many visitors here will likely have opinions on timing this particular market cycle so we won’t opine on that, but this comment from Best Place on Meth points out that at the current rate of decline the benchmark price of a REBGV home is falling at $300 per day. So if you’re paying less than $300/day or $9000 per month for your housing in Vancouver you’re doing ok.