Inventory Up A Lot, In Some Areas. And Kids Are Uninformed – “Ask any kid who bought their downtown box in the past 2-3 years how they’re doing with their fantastic ‘Equity Building’ exercise. Many wish they were still renters. Most of my friends in that position do.”

“Inventory stats on the Vancouver Market
Overall, starting the year much over last year – however – almost all of this is concentrated in 4 areas.
1.) Richmond Detached – up close to 100% over last year – Epicenter of the crash.
2.) Vancouver West Detached – up 70%. Not too far behind.
3.) Richmond Attached and Apartments – Up 25%. This is also a major problem area with close to 1,000 units for sale already at this early start to the year. This is pretty much 10 months of inventory and we have not even seen the listings flood yet.
4.) Coquitlam attached and apartments – up 20%.
Other than these four areas, inventory is at a normal opening level. There are no other detached areas which are really significantly changed..
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The big chunk of the market which is Vancouver attached and apartments is pretty much starting even with last year – – showing that government policy of low interest rates and easy credit access to the banks has continued to fuel the number of first time buyers coming into the condo market. Kids are so uninformed. I feel sorry for this generation that may never see their property worth more than what it is today; it is likely to fall. Ask any kid who bought their downtown box in the past 2-3 years how they’re doing with their fantastic ‘Equity Building’ exercise. Many wish they were still renters… most of my friends in that position do.”
– posted at greaterfool.ca and forwarded to VREAA by ‘ZRH2YVR’, 9 Dec 2012