“In fact, sky-high Vancouver housing prices were one of the reasons why my son, a young engineer, and his wife chose to move to Montreal, where they were able to buy a townhouse for half what they’d have to pay here.
They miss Vancouver terribly, and we miss them and our little granddaughter. But we realize the vast distance separating us is the penalty we pay for living in Lotusland, and my son pays for having a real job.”
- from ‘We need to look at a greater variety of housing options’, Jon Ferry, The Province, 27 Jan 2012
Hat-tip to Patiently Waiting, at vancouvercondo.info 27 Jan 2012 2:44pm, who also adds:
“A smug Boomer newspaper columnist is suddenly concerned about housing affordability. Why?
He’s only concerned now that it affects him personally.”
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- Advice Regarding Renting In Vancouver, Please – “Unfortunately, the Vancouver rental stock is absolutely atrocious. It just seems like every landlord is looking for someone to pay 100% of their mortgage on a crappy place through rental income.”
- “I just visited Manhattan for a week, and happened to snap some real estate ads on both the Upper West and Upper East sides of the island. Compare to Vancouver. It simply doesn’t compute.”
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- “The mortgage company told me they were calling in my 40-year, 0-down mortgage. I have paid nearly sixty thousand dollars towards it, but, nearly five years in, I have yet to touch the principal.”
- ‘Vancouver City Hall: Housing Report Card 2012′; Plus Revised Version
- “My folks find themselves at 65 still owing half the value of their home and recreation property to the bank. After almost 30 years of ownership in the BPOE and a number of boom markets, they have very little to show for it.”
- “Rent for $2,200 a month or buy and have a mortgage of $4,310 per month. Why would anyone buy?”
- “They were talking about two couples they knew who had recently bought a lot and planned to each build a house on it and live as neighbours.”
- Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association Annual First-Time Buyer Seminar Attendance Plummets
- Mom and Pop Get It Wrong In All Markets, Time And Again
- The average British Columbian homeowner is not going to pay off their mortgage by the time they retire.
- “He’s sold all his properties except his current one, which is now for sale. He explained that the market’s currently in crash mode, worst that he’s ever seen.”
- “One of my old high school buddies finally got her mother to sell the family home in Kitsilano – sold for over $1M, monies realized after debt paid off $185K.”
- “I know someone who just declared bankruptcy because her condo was assessed at $150k and she bought it presale north of $250k in 2005 or 2006.”
- Sturdy, With Views – “Calling Froogle Scott!… Is Dr. Scott ‘In The House’?” [Not In This One, Certainly]
- “She said the market was dead in Victoria and that it would remain so for a very long time. I asked how she knew. Her answer was fascinating and should scare the pants off the real estate crowd.”
- Kits Notes – “I’m pretty sure that this is the first 3+ bedroom property of any type that I’ve seen in the 5 years I’ve lived here that is priced below $700K.”
- “A beautiful Belfast home, in the equivalent of 1st Shaughnessy, bought at their RE peak in 2007 for £3.5 million, has now sold for £800K, almost 80%-off. The market didn’t suffer any significant economic shocks. Rates & unemployment didn’t skyrocket. They didn’t build more land. Sentiment just changed and the prices fell and fell.”
- “Two family members of hers are trapped, underwater, in condos on the East Side.”
- “Interprovincial migration is not saying good things about BC’s economy.”
- Vancouver RE: Not As Expensive Provided You Don’t Think – “It’s clear that our perception of affordability has been coloured by living on a continent where housing is unusually inexpensive.”
- More Undisclosed RE Industry Insiders Publicized As Clients – “In 1995, Allan and Karin Hoegg were mortgage-free. But no more. Today their Vancouver home is a valuable source of income as they plan for full retirement.”
- Rumor that some OV units will be reduced by 20%.
- Downside Weights On The Vancouver RE Market – “One of the older guys (over 60) mention to the guy beside him that he and his wife were thinking about selling their family home, and renting, in order to get some of the money that was locked up in the house.”
- “My buddy was looking to upgrade to a house in the Coquitlam area. With 200k extra for a home, that’s half of lifetime saving between him and his wife.”
- “I was walking in the Fraser neighborhood yesterday, I noticed that the population, on average, seem to be composed of workers. I belong to the top 5 percent in terms of income. Nevertheless, I cannot afford any of the houses for sale in that neighbourhood.”
- “Vancouver is an urban resort whose value mostly resides in its real estate and not much else.”
- “Rogers Communications is expanding into RE; aiming to relaunch website; providing critical data that can help potential buyers assess the value of a property from the comfort of their home computer.”
- I’m only 50 and I can just about retire if I want to, all because of a single simple decision – “When prices rebounded to their former highs, then rocketed another 30% higher to what I considered to be totally unsustainable levels, I decided that only a fool would pass up a second opportunity to harvest such a massive non-taxable capital gain, and in 2011 I sold my place.”
- The Vacant Lot of Versailles, Richmond.
- “I don’t think that most people think things are going to crash, just that there is going to be a slight correction, but it was amazing to me how sentiment has changed, and the fact Vancouver RE is too high was just understood.”
- “The ‘investor’ who purchased our house put it up for sale two months later, in January 1981, but the bubble had burst.”
- For A City To Have That Kind Of Vacancy, It’s Like Cancer – “Downtown, the vacant unit rate is so high that it’s as though there were 35 towers at 20 storeys apiece – all empty.”
- “What’s the worst that can happen? You can’t pay your mortgage, so sell your house! No fear.”
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The article and the comments are amusing, same old, same old. All those darn rich Chinese buying up precious BC. Guess in their mind it now means Be Chinese.
On a different note: I noted a lot of furniture stores apparently going out of business, that’s what happened back in 2008 as well. Guess when you’re afraid of going broke you don’t buy overpriced cardboard furniture.
@Michael — I read the article but not the comments. So I can’t speak about the comments, but the article actually insists that blame not be directed at wealthy Asian buyers. It suggests among other things that local governments move to help create more affordable housing options.
There is nothing the local governments can do to create more affordable housing. Unless you want taxpayer sponsored ghettos.
This bubble needs to pop by itself and then the governments (local and federal) should stay out of the way until we reach the bottom.
No the article didn’t, but it also didn’t point out that a lot of personal greed is involved. That he suggests that current prices need to be preserved because so many people have banked on being house rich just adds to this in my opinion.
The comments of course are the usual “The Chinese are coming!” BS.
As for the local Government to create more affordable housing: That’s a nice idea. That would require to allow higher density (good luck with the NIMBYs), though probably more importantly to get more rental units build, something that developers aren’t really interested in as they can’t make as much money from it as with Condos.
They won’t and can’t. The Federal Government can’t because of CHMC and the provincial and local Government can’t because they know full well how many people are in way over their head.
They can, they should, but they won’t.
Agreed, a lot of people can’t even consider buying even after a crash and the private market does a poor job of providing certain types of housing.
I live in a very large apartment that’s big enough for a family with children. Even though this probably was family housing at one time, the investor landlord doesn’t want to deal with renting to a family. Kinda sad really. I’m getting a great deal because I’m easier to deal with, and will cause less wear-and-tear, since I don’t have children or pets.
Vancouver is notorious for its lack of suitable family housing for all but the rich. Market failure, bubble or not. Government-subsidized townhouses is the only realistic answer.
Local governments to create more affordable housing….
How exactly? What mechanism? I thought the olympic athletes village was affordable housing, how’s that working out?
Please don’t let the government try to make housing “more affordable.”
Mouse, there is massive governmentintervention, but is one of the purestforms of a democratic checkwe have. Developers decry regulations allowing more supply via rezoning yet powerful neighbourhood groups run ragged over any suggestionsto change hood’s character.
Perhaps governments are to blamebut IMO real estateis one of the purestexamples of how fearfulofficials are of the next election.
from the article:
“Forget caviar dreams on a Costco budget. Reduce your housing expectations. Think Kia rather than BMW, and Arborite rather than granite”
or, rather than try to move the mountain…start climbing
Who has “caviar dreams on a Costco budget”?
Only the completely deluded.
The problem is that in Vancouver, you have to forget caviar dreams on a caviar budget, and forget Costco dreams on a Costco budget.
In Vancouver, to realize Costco dreams, you have to have a caviar budget.
“In Vancouver, to realize Costco dreams, you have to have a caviar budget.”
Well said!
Touche!
“In Vancouver, to realize Costco dreams, you have to have a caviar budget”
only 30% of all properties are detached with land running close to 1M each in Vancouver proper. I’d wouldn’t describe this as a costco dream. Try a condo.
Most of those detached properties are Costco quality at caviar prices.
Actually, that’s an unnecessary insult to Costco. Most of those properties are below Costco quality, at caviar prices. Seriously, not joking here.
or crack-shack dreams on a caviar budget.
or condo-crap on a caviar budget?
And, to argue that, if one “starts climbing”, you, too will be able to afford a Costco lifestyle on a caviar budget, is… silly.
This is not a Race Issue a Globalization Issue. We need to protect our Canadian Citizens and make it affordable to bring up a family in this city. Otherwise we erode it away entirely.
Foreign TAX!!! Perhaps limits on ownership.