From Alex G. Tsakumis at his blog ‘Rebel With a Clause’ 2 Jun 2011 [hat-tip to ‘Nem’]-
“I have a friend who just last month made five million dollars (net) on a land flip in the Interior. He spent about ten years sucking wind–and I mean flat broke. The first thing he did was buy a $200,000 BMW, then a house on the water in West Van. He just dropped $10,000 at Harry Rosen. And he is at the bottom of the ‘Big Shot’ rung–there are some insanely wealthy people in this town. So… why are food banks empty? Why are the churches and halls on the DTES always in need? How come AIDS Vancouver is short? When I mentioned Covenant House to him, he balked and ordered us another round of martinis and yet another bottle of champagne. Shortly after, I left Hy’s bar for some fresh air–and sanity (I couldn’t take what he has become and if he’s reading this, tough). I couldn’t bear it. I walked past three of the living dead as I made it to my car. The contrast was hardly lost on me. We live in a strange world…very strange.”
Money from RE deals pushing up prices in West Van. On the way up, higher prices beget higher prices; the stuff of bubbles.
And, yes, the social implications of folks greedily pigging out on easy winnings are not good. Fast and loose; frontier-town economy. – vreaa
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 
$200,000 for a BMW? Buddy got hosed!
This is not surprising, at least to me, and likely the folks here at vreaa
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/06/03/ofsi-to-gauge-influence-of-foreign-investment-could-stress-test-banks/
OFSI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) is looking to determine how exposed certain banks are to local asset bubbles and, secondarily, whether or not capital flows are contributing to assets being overinflated. Carney has hinted at this in a recent speech, indication again that his influence extends broadly into the Department of Finance and likely OFSI. It is also likely that Big Banks LOATHE Carney. As it should be. He knows all their tricks from his days at GS.
So we can speculate on what OFSI might conclude from its inquiries. One it could conclude that foreign ownership is a problem and suggest methods of limiting ownership through temporary moratoria or perhaps legislation. Two it could find that foreign ownership isn’t that big a problem, as Rennie et al have suggested repeatedly, and it’s actually locals, part-time residents, or even non-resident Canadians who have larger parts to play in the recent price run ups. On this front OFSI could simply adjust the capital reserve requirements for banks (and other lenders too?) making loans into inflated markets like Vancouver. If they do this it would be a slamming of the door for many sales. But remember they probably don’t care what happens to Vancouver; it has the entire country’s taxpayers and economy to think about.
I’m not an expert in banking regulation, so maybe I’m off base here. But without knowing any better, I’d say the halcyon days of loosey-goosey lending in Vancouver is about to be drawn to an end.
Hey… ‘interesting’.
Let’s see where this goes.
At best, we’ll finally get some hard data about stuff everybody is guessing about… foreign investment: 1% or 80%… (or, (historical average?), 5%.)
Also, risk to borrowers of various price drop scenarios.
Tapping this out one character @ a time… Ergo, brevity assured. Re: Rennie – something of a ‘Janus’, Jesse – as regards prior remarks/disclosure on the ForeignOwnership topic. Best remembered – perhaps – for his allusions (to foreign clients, of course) to Vancouver as the “SwissBank” of GlobalRE.
can someone translate this for me? I don’t speak gibberish
lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus
believe it or not, nem is grammatically correct, with a few exceptions due to ‘tapping’..
you’re cute when you try
Rusty, nemesis made a typo. He meant rennie is an anus.
Of course there’s a third option, that despite Vancouver’s high prices it doesn’t pose a major systemic risk to bank and CMHC balance sheets. So they could come away and recommend to do nothing. After all, Vancouver isn’t that big a city.
VREAA, did you catch that article?
http://www.theprovince.com/business/hospice+approved+despite+residents+concerns/4884345/story.html
The comments section is worth reading…
Hadn’t yet seen it, thanks.
Sad. So many pathetic empty people, trying to fill up their heart with STUFF.
These kind of people, are the same morons that are taking the mainstream propaganda, whole cloth.
Don’t you realize what’s happened?
The Middle Class has been eviscerated.
The time of Austerity was kicked off in England – Librarians are sacked to be replaced by VOLUNTEERS.
Soon many jobs ( already most TV stations have a TON of unpaid serfs – trust me) will be Volunteer and the only pay will be a boxed lunch – and many will be thankful for it.
Reading on Greaterfool.ca – about Bank tellers talking about people cashing in coins, and paying one card with another card.
This in a era with nearly zero interest rates for Bank deposits and 19.0% for Credit cards = something sure stinks.
People – this blog is full of great advice. Don’t be a sucker.
Peace.