Tag Archives: waterfront

Canada, debt, economy, equity, opinion, presales, prices, supply, west side

Taxpayers funding condo flippers?

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By now everyone knows about the high cost of the Olympic Village project.

Current estimates are that it will cost taxpayers between $400 – $600 million to pay this off.

There are 68 units still left unsold over the last six years, but over at the ‘Canada House’ building it looks like a number of units have been bought and flipped, at least one for more than $400k profit in a month.

Hat tip to Mac who pointed out this article in the Province.

So whats going on here? Should these units have been priced higher or considering the tough sales across this project were they right to unload them quickly even if there were buyers willing to pay more?

BC, data, Europe, hype, opinion, prices, supply, west side

Ridiculous prices welcome ridiculous comparisons

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Did you know you could buy nine mansions in France for the price of one boarded up Vancouver tear down?

Of course you might have to live in closer proximity to fresh baked croissants if you choose the French route, but at least one of them comes with 400 acres of land which should give you some buffer if you find that scent offensive.

PriceyPads ran this comparison and includes some beautiful pictures in their post.

Of course this is Vancouver so that’s an ‘asking price’, which may or may not bear some some relation to reality.

Just like craigslist rents, sometimes we get carried away with our asking prices.

You might remember the story of the extremely expensive listing in West Van with pictures of an imaginary house in the listing.

The asking price on that one was just south of $38 million.  That was the asking price.  The selling price was a bit less, well nearly $30 million less actually.

Canada, hype, supply

They’re not making more land…

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..But they are making more condos.

LOTS more condos.

In addition to all the run-of-the-mill condo towers in Canada there’s this plan:

Pinnacle International has plans to build the tallest building in Canada, a five building condo compilation on Torontos waterfront that would include a 92 and 98 storey building.

The tallest building in Canada today is the 72-storey First Bank Tower at 100 King Street West in Toronto, according to the Skyscraper Center, a database of the world’s tallest buildings.

Pinnacle bought the Toronto Star Tower, on the Toronto waterfront at the corner of Yonge Street and Queen’s Quay, this summer. The parcel of land is now home to a parking lot and a low-rise building, but that may soon change.

No one was available to speak about the project at Vancouver’s Pinnacle International head office on Monday.

The conceptual drawing posted on the Urban Toronto site shows the 25-storey Toronto Star Tower in the lower left corner, with another tower beside it. A road separates those two smaller towers from four much taller towers behind the first two. The Toronto Star report said the four taller towers are residential towers, while the smaller new tower would be an office tower.

Can anybody tell me how many more homes can be provided in a condo tower like this compared to single family homes on equivalent lot space?  Because I’m guessing it’s a lot.