– from ‘Sticker shock: Cost of living varies widely’, Mercer, 9 July 2012 [hat-tip clive]
Vancouver rents are pretty much in line with incomes; RE prices aren’t, yet.
– vreaa
Most Recent Comments:
- Keith on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- Judy Green on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- space889 on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- Seeking Knowledge on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- vreaa on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- space889 on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- space889 on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- Conflarian on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- Conflarian on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- space889 on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- Bull! Bull! Bull! on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- murt on “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
-
Type of Anecdote
- 01. He Said, She Said (248)
- 02. Profiting from the Boom (446)
- 03. Changed my Life (106)
- 04. Changed my Career (39)
- 05. Where do Buyers get the money? (1,111)
- 06. Held my Nose and Leapt (97)
- 07. Avoiding Vancouver (378)
- 08. Overextended Buyers (1,198)
- 09. Delaying Buying (316)
- 10. Demoralized Renters? (367)
- 11. Regrets about Investing in RE (417)
- 12. Effects of Development (279)
- 13. 2010 Olympics Related (74)
- 14. Social Effects of the Boom (1,266)
- 15. Misallocation of Resources (967)
- 16. Missed The Boat? (237)
- 17. The Froogle Scott Chronicles (27)
- 18. Spot The Speculator (174)
- 19. BlastRadiusPostCards (17)
- 20. The Limitless Demand Argument For Ongoing Market Strength (70)
- 21. Vancouver RE-Verse [Found Poems] (8)
- 22. RE References In Popular Culture (45)
- 23. Jumping The Shark (1)
- 24. Policies On Housing (11)
- 25. Epigrams For The Bubble (1)
- 26. Premature Calls Of "Bottom" (3)
- 27. Seller Panic (3)
- 28. Erroneous Causation Theories For Falling Prices (7)
- 29. Bubblespeak (1)
- Uncategorized (177)
Blogroll
- 01 Vancouver Condo Info
- 02 AmericaCanada [retired, no archive]
- 03 Housing Analysis
- 04 RealEstateTalks BC
- 05 Vancouver RE and then some
- 06 Whispers from the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest
- 07 Greater Fool
- 08 Canada Bubble
- 09 Rob Chipman's blog
- 10 YatterMatters
- 11 condohype [retired; archives available]
- 12 vancouver (un)real estate
- 13 Agent Will's Stats [retired]
- 14 Landlord Rescue
- 15 The Economic Analyst
- 16 Canadian Housing Price Charts
- 17 Hoodsurf [retired Jun 2011]
- 18 World Housing Bubble
- 19 Vancouver Price Drop
- 20 North American Economics
-
Latest Anecdotes:
- “I’m surprised that everyone else is so surprised to hear anyone talk about a housing bubble” – “Canadian RE 2021 worse than U.S. bubble at 2006 peak” – David Rosenburg
- “Always the Right Time to Buy!” – Cheap Rope For Vancouver RE Buyers
- Mortgage Squeeze Anecdotes – “Two days ago my mortgage holder called and told me that, after 22 years, they would not renew my mortgage.”
- Wow! – CMHC CEO Evan Siddall Points To Unsustainable Debt & Calls For 18% Drop In Housing Prices – [which of course would mean a lot more off]
- Prediction: Vancouver RE Prices Will Not Crash… Unless They Crash
- Pre-Existing Disease – COVID Economic Stress Uncovers Longstanding Vulnerability in Vancouver RE Market
- COVID-19 the Pin for the Highly Debt-Leveraged Vancouver RE Bubble?
- Vancouver Sun Headline – ‘Five more Metro Vancouver homeowners hosed in a falling market’
- Vancouver RE Prices – Where is the Support?
- Money Laundering & Vancouver Home Prices
- “Psychologically, They’re Ill-Prepared” – “Canadian Chaos Looms”
- Keeping Up With Other Bubbles – Australia Suddenly Not Running Out Of Land Anymore – “Aussie House Prices Could Halve”
- Watershed? or Dam-Collapsing? – Mainstream Media Quoting Vancouver RE Bear-Tweets, and Predicting Shrinking Realtor Numbers – “What they’re used to is not what real estate is typically like.”
- “Within artistic communities in Vancouver it’s hard to spend more than 15 minutes at a social gathering without talking about the cost of rent or knowing of someone who is being evicted.”
- Macleans Wakes Up – ‘This is how Canada’s housing correction begins’ – “We’re not ready for what happens next”
- Vancouver Detached – Sales Down, Prices Down
- Bloomberg Calls Vancouver ‘The City That Had Too Much Money’
- “Our family loves Vancouver, but we’re leaving because the struggle to live here is simply too hard”
- Tendency Towards Corruption Is Inevitable – How Do We Minimize Its Existence?
- Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- “You know your real estate is in bad shape when there is a game app that displays Vancouver’s Science World and teaches you how to be a money hungry real estate developer.”
- “It’s sinking in that Vancouver is sinking” – “Westside prices have fallen 17% from 2016 & 11% this year; sales volumes down by 80%; 3 years worth of >$3 Million inventory”
- The Carrion Have The Carcass – “I’ve lived in Vancouver since 1968; my wife was born here; we are about to leave; this town has priced us out. All that is left are the investors and the very rich visitors.”
- All Time High, And Climbing… $251 Billion Personal Debt Borrowed Against Canadian Homes
- “I asked a group of young people how many of them thought they’d be in Vancouver in two years, and 17 out of 18 said that they would be moving.” – Mayoral Candidate Shauna Sylvester
- Off-The-Charts Unaffordable – Greater Vancouver Price-To-Income Ratio 28 (average home price: $1,071,800, median one-person income: $38,164)
- Conflicts of Interest – BC MLAs Heavily Invested In RE Making Laws About RE
- File Under Tags: ‘Tolerant Vancouver Renter’ and ‘YouGottaBeKiddinMe’
- Vancouver “an international housing-affordability basket case” with “RE bubble risk the worst in the world” – Maclean’s
- Vancouver Economy Over-Dependent On Debt Spending
- Vancouver City Councillors Wake Up To ‘Fierce Speculative Demand’ – “There is significant evidence speculative investment has the biggest impact on housing costs in the city.”
- The Dance Around Foreign Ownership of Vancouver RE
- Information From Outside The Vancouver RE Bubble – U.S. Senator Lives In (don’t laugh) $500K Home
- “The Position Remains Unfilled”
- Jessica Barrett – ‘I Left Vancouver Because Vancouver Left Me’ – “Like Living On An Abandoned Film Set.”
- “I’ve thought since early 2010 that Vancouver housing was in a bubble, and have refused to buy a house for this reason. I’ve felt that the risk of mean-reversion was far higher than the risk of missing the upside.”
- “It is very difficult to live here.”
- “We want young people to buy Real Estate.” – Vancouver’s Mayor
- “Vancouver RE Balloon Pricked; Median Price Detached Home Down >$500,000 to $1.7 million; Prices Need To Be Slashed”
- Detached Price Trend Remains Up, For Now. Speculators Hold Their Breath?
Follow vreaa on twitter
Tweets by vreaa
VREAArchives
- March 2021
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- December 2019
- July 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- December 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- October 2008
- September 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
Tags
affordability Alberta Anecdotes Asia Audio anecdote Australia Bailout Banks Bears blogs British Columbia Bubble Bulls buyers Canada Capitulation Caveat Children China CMHC Construction Crime Debt Densification Developers Dreams Earthquake Economy Edmonton Employment Fear Foreclosure Foreign buyers FTBs Fundamentals Government Housing Incomes Interest Rates Ireland Landlords Life Market_Timing Media Mortgage brokers Okanagan Olympics ontario opinion Ottawa Ownership Prediction Rain Real Estate Realtors Relationships Renos Rent Retirement RE_ATM Seattle sellers Sentiment Speculators Stories Tax Technical Analysis Toronto UBC UK US Vancouver Victoria Visual Anecdote Whistler
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 
Hmm…I was going through Craigslist rentals yesterday, and although you can get an OK 2-bedroom in Yaletown with $2,200, I don’t think it is considered luxury accommodation. I think it depends on what you call luxury. Anyway, when median income is around $70,000, then $2,200 rent will be slightly more than half of median disposable income.
I thought the median income is much lower than $70K? That sounds really high, especially when the average 2 income household total pre-tax income is only $67K or so?
Q: How will we “Redefine how you live”? A: Incorrectly spell the city name where your new condos are located.
http://www.anony.ws/WXW
This developer has placed ads for over a month with the same typo. Today it has gone full page, and the typo is still there. The page beside it spells the city name correctly.
Oh by the way, that was the Metro News. They also have banners in the Skytrain stations with the same misspelling.
Whew, for a second I thought it said “New Westminster”. I’d never buy there.
Key Marketing – – sound familiar?
Why should they spell the city name correctly when 80%? of the buyers will never bother to learn English. And in Canada to insist they do…. is racist
You should check out San Francisco. My inlaws (when their ex landlord kicked them out) could barely find a 2 br in the city for under 3k, unless you went to Bayview/hunters point, the ghetto areas of the city.
There are bidding wars in San Fran for rentals. That’s because people actually want to live there.
Renting…FTW!
Someone clearly has no idea what goes on out in the ‘burbs:
“At the same time, the number of kids running around on Halloween night can also tell you something. Kids are often said to be an “indicator species” for great neighbourhoods.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/brent-toderian/neighbourhood-trick-or-treat-halloween-community-design_b_2012797.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-british-columbia
Yea, too bad a good number of the walk ups in Van are empty specuvestors and another good bunch are from different cultures that have no concept of Halloween let alone English!
Never was a problem when I grew up in East Van, and it was as asian as it is now.
I blame hyper parenting and the internet.
Kids do not play on the street anymore.
$1,600 in Calgary per month for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, large balcony, U/G parking, fireplace, 2 walk in closets, kitchen island, 9′ floor to ceiling windows…….etc……..etc…………in MIssion (one of the trendiest DT areas) and in the one of “the” nicest purpose built luxury rentals in the city IMHO, all professionally managed by a large national company. A 7 year old high rise beside the river with stunning views in ll 4 directions and 2 blocks from the LRt line.
The wife and I lived there for 2 years……….want to buy the same thing on the same street ? $500K+ and $500+ a month condo fees plus $150 a month taxes………
Do the math and don’t forget the lost opportunity cost on your down payment as well………….
The Rouleau? Do you still live there now? Because I do. They just jacked the rent up on everybody. My 1 bedroom <700 sq. ft apartment with a view of 3 other apartment buildings (only about half of the units actually have a view, don't lie), went from $1325 to $1740. For a 1 bedroom! They slipped the new lease for the guy coming in under my door early for some reason…
A $400+ rent increase, and that's with the new mega rich condo building going up across the street. http://www.therivercalgary.com So they want to increase rents with construction right next door for the next 2 years? HAH! I gave them notice a month ago and found a nice bungalow in south Calgary for $1400 with twice the space. I heard that a 2 bedroom with a view of the city was going up to $2000+. I don't know where you're getting $1600 from. Did you not get the rent increase? Or are you living in the ugly Boardwalk building across the street. But that's older than 7 years.
Can't say I blame them though. Had a hell of a time trying to find another place to rent in Calgary. Vacancy rates are super low and all the management companies know it. THey know people are desperate and have to take whatever they can get, and whatever rate they are charging. Meant to check to see if RealStar is a publically traded company. Wouldn't be a bad idea to buy some shares. I went to numerous open houses which were mass showings. Filled out applications next to other equally desperate people.
Now that I reread your post it sounds like you don't live there any more. Just wanted to point out that the bargain you had is no longer available.
Do landlords charge extra for expats or something?
Also, the median salary in London is about the same as Vancouver (the guardian says £27560), yet the rents there are double in that chart.
Median income earners don’t rent luxury apartments.
As for the price. $2,200 will not get you what I call luxury. However, looking at the foreign cities, those prices would not get you “Luxury” either. At least you are comparing apples to apples somewhat. I would say in Vancouver you need to spend close to $3,000 to get a great luxury apartment. In many foreign cities you would need $6,000 and I would say New York would be closer to 8K. In any case- it just goes to show how rediculour or price/rent is.
Price-rent. All’s I see these days are yield chasers.
In terms of negative real rates, corporations must be loving this. They can juice their earnings by recasting their capital structures. They don’t do anything more than hire a couple of dozen accountants and — presto! — earnings forecast upgrade!
Update from “da stream”, apparently Dunbar put on a town hall meeting about the “D” word. (There are actually a few “D” words.) Ironic… it was standing room only!
On a related note, the other day I was stuck in traffic going out to UBC. I thought to myself how nice it would be if we didn’t have to gum up the entire west side getting there. I’m starting to like the “low density tax” idea, though that’s already here, in a way, through higher property value assessments on standard lots compared to condos that will be occurring over the next couple of years. I hope residents understand the externalities associated with “maintaining neighbourhood character”. I know my view isn’t popular but there she be.
“apparently Dunbar put on a town hall meeting about the “D” word… Ironic… it was standing room only!”
…
hahahahaha
You lost me. Which “D” word are we discussing?
Densification.
Having a blond moment here.
Another “D” word:
Wife was watching love it or list it.
The realtor guy showed a couple a condo, list price 499k.
Condo fees 800/month.
Wtf.
HGTV should be placed beside the Playboy Channel.
Utter madness. Only a fool would buy that.
I don’t think it’s fair to stack Vancouver up against these “desirable, high-income cities” for Vancouver does not fulfill the entire requirements of both. Desirable, yes. High-income, no.