Tag Archives: west van

BC, opinion, prices, west side

West Van debates pros and cons of Monster Homes

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96 Comments

West Vancouver is considering limiting the size of ‘Monster Homes‘ and that’s got both sides of the issue up in arms. The primary concern from some residents is that a proposed size limit would bring down property values:

“At first glance, this is flawed, to say the least,” said Russell Lane, who said he and his wife were “one of the owners of one of the larger properties and our house is on it. It’s not a ‘monster property,’ or whatever the description is, but a house that was built appropriate to current regulations.”

He said it would be unfortunate if the municipal government created, in effect, two classes of properties, where older houses that were built to code would be more attractive to buyers than homes built after a policy change.

Meanwhile North Delta brought in similar limits several years ago:

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said her community limited the size of new North Delta homes to 3,552 square feet several years ago and feels the policy has worked well, with few complaints from builders or owners of would-be monster homes.

“We were having problems with some very large homes being built, some as large as 9,000 square feet or bigger,” she said. “Allowing an unlimited amount of square feet in new homes was not taking the community in the direction it wanted to go.”

Read the full article in the Vancouver Sun.

BC, data, predictions, prices, supply

Summer sales fail on a streak

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105 Comments

According to Paulb tuesday saw only 66 properties sold in Vancouver.

VHB says that makes a record 11 days in a row with double digit sales.

We haven’t broken more than 100 sales in a day for more than two weeks.

As VHB points out:

I have PaulB’s daily numbers for 2010 to now. The current streak of 11 straight double digit sales days is now a record.

You might think you could see this kind of streak in December or January. But August? This is nutty low sales.

Yesterday was Wednesday and we saw 71 sales.  That means we’re now on the 12th day of an unbroken chain.

Even if this record holds up through the end of the month it will likely be broken on Tuesday as sales made over the long weekend will add two days into one.

But what we also might expect to see next week is a flood of listings.  Here’s VHB again:

In past years, the September listings surge begins precisely on the Tuesday right after Labour Day. Last year, we had 356 listings on that Tuesday. In 2010, it was 282.

So, it would be a surprise if there are fewer than 1000 new listings hitting the books during the four days next week. Good chance to get over 1200.

And finally ZRH2YVR left a wrap up of what this market is looking like in a few select areas. We’re approaching a MOI of 20 (!) in some areas:

1.) SFH in West Vancouver will end the month with approx 1 sale per day. Down 50% from last month and down 70% from last year. MOI will now be over 20 and up from 5 last year. Inventory is near record at 530 units.

2.) Richmond SFH. July repeat. Same sales level, same inventory. I would say prices have to be down. MOI close to 20. The month had a blip in the first half with the first 10 sales days coming at 33 sales but the next 10 days being 21 sales. Quite a different second half.

3.) Van-West Attached (Appartment/Townhouse). This is a big big market so it’s tough to have it stop completely. It is the centre of the uninformed buyer especially young people with parents money. This month will be 15% below last month, 30% below last year and pretty much on par with 2008. Many sources have indicated prices are down but maybe about 5%. So many units are available. MOI in this large market will end the month close to 9, up from 5 last year and 8 last month. The sales pace in first 10 days and second 10 days were constant.

Read his full comment for the low down on other areas including East Van, North Van and Burnaby.

Open Topic

Friday Free-for-all!

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Yeah! It’s friday and that means it’s time for the sun to shine and for us to do our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread. Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Updated inventory graph, still climbing!
–2 experts debate the bubble
–Blame Canada? Blame Europe!
–Nokia shutting down Burnaby
–Why low and stable prices are good
–Will sunshine bring a tear of joy?
–‘Rodeo drive north’ going south
–Van West tilting at windmills
–West Van sales party over
–OECD: Canada suffering Dutch Disease
–Bubble fears a boon to alternative lenders

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

prices

Housing Market Stats March 2012

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78 Comments

The official REBGV housing market stats are now out. I’ll link to the version on the Paulb facebook page since he’s been so consistent with providing us the daily stats.

Get the REBGV full stats release here.

The funny thing about stats is that you can take the same data and spin it either way. GVREB has been doing a bang-up job of posting end of the month news releases in the style of the REBGV, but with a reverse spin. These use factual numbers and quotes, but come across quite different in tone from the official news releases. Here’s an archive thread at Vancouverpeak.com with the most recent one.

Get the GVREB news release here.

And some of you pointed out a few surprising stats. It looks like the most desirable areas are showing the most weakness right now.

VMD pointed out the following:

Disaster zones:
– despite Greater Vancouver area having a 12.9% increase in sales in Mar/12 vs Feb/12, the following areas showed Declines in sales MoM.

1. Richmond SFH – down 60% YoY
Y/M Sales %change
12/3 104 n/a
12/2 119 -13%
11/3 262 -60%
2. Van West SFH – down 46% YoY
Y/M Sales %change
12/3 152 n/a
12/2 177 -14%
11/3 279 -46%
3. Burnaby SFH – down 40% YoY
Y/M Sales %change
12/3 95 n/a
12/2 105 -10%
11/3 160 -40%

And Best Place on Meth pointed out the median prices have taken a month over month dive in those areas:

Median detached prices in the 3 bubbliest areas took a hit last month.

Van West: -$245,000 (-10.7%)
Richman: -$72,000 (-7.1%)
West Van: -$70,000 (-3.6%)

Honourable mention to Burnaby: -$27,000 (-3.0%)

Looks like a HAMPLOSION.

Spring is normally when the market swings into gear and sales and prices start to rise. Have these hot areas burnt themselves out?