Start Of Return To Market Driven By Housing Needs - "Speculators are now outnumbered even more by those shopping for a place to live."

We disagree with realtor Darryl Sjerven when he says that “Speculators never made up a huge portion of Vancouver’s buyer’s market”. We maintain that speculators were a massive part of this bubble, especially when you take into account the covert speculation that contributed to the majority of apparently ‘normal’ buying activity. But we do agree that there is less speculation now. This is one of the factors that has initiated price drops. As prices descend further, the absence of new speculation, and the increasing sales by distressed speculative holders, will add momentum to the coming price crash. We’ll head back to a time when RE is no longer a speculative vehicle, and where it will be priced according to its value as housing. -vreaa

Darryl Sjerven, Vancouver realtor, reconstructed from cbc.ca 5 Aug 2010 -

“You don’t see people going down and waiting in line and picking up six condos in the same building, for example, because they want to flip them and sell them down the road. There simply does not appear to be as much speculation in the real estate market as in past years. People have less cash at hand and many are finding it harder to borrow money from the banks. Developers have changed tactics to address the shifting condo market. You would see buildings where 90 per cent of the building was sold at the initial release — they’re not doing that now. They’re doing it more in stages, or phases … so that’s why you see the Phase A is sold out, Phase B is now selling. Speculators never made up a huge portion of Vancouver’s buyer’s market, but now they’re outnumbered even more by those shopping for a place to live.”