Iain Mc

I finished my last day's skiing at Whistler for the season yesterday, put the boots and skis in the garage and retrieved my sailing gear.

Sailing starts again for me next week. I also have to get my bike tuned up for the summer. So yes, sad to put away the skis, but we're hardly short of options here for the summer

JonboyE

That is the problem with summer in Vancouver for me. Between now and the middle of October there is just not enough time to do all the things I want to do.

JonboyE

<Impressed>

Alan2005

I rent - not nearly wealthy enough to actually buy in nice areas.

JonboyE

This is a conundrum. Real estate in Vancouver is horribly expensive. It can only be this expensive if people are prepared to pay these prices. There must be more people wanting to live in the Vancouver area than there are homes for them to live in.

dboy

I'm of those cops - believe me we need every advantage to get what ever we can. I plan on taking up scuba again this summer and mountain biking is awesome, but last i went i busted three ribs and sprained my wrist and was stranded in the middle of nowhere on my tod. Scared the shit out of me. Kayaking might be worth a try also.

babycart

Prices are high because there was cheap credit, people lying about there income, 40 year mortgages (which thankfully have stopped), developers who overpriced their inventory (now Omni have reduced their stock prices by 20-40%) and a phenomenal quite unique to this area lots of illegal suits. All these factors came together to create an obscene price level which is slowly coming down. Oh yes I forgot, flippers who bought only to try and sell before the development was completed, who our now realising that the developer will enforce their contracts and they have now choice but to buy these overpriced properties.

Once confident drained out of the market then all of a sudden the fixer upper in East Hasting for $800,000 didn't look so appealing. I don't think demand or shortage of housing is a reason for house prices. Metro Vancouver has more than enough space to accommodate twice the current population.

dboy

At last, someone with some common sense. I'm getting roasted by someone on the following thread:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...85#post7471985

about Canadian house prices.

Refugee from Happyland

The murder of the jogger on the West Side appears to have caused more consternation on a the personal safety level . Vancouver has been through this before, and the police are quite frankly wasting their resources.
The recent moves for criminalisation of body armour appear to be putting the cart before the horse.
The observations about the real estate boom seem to miss the chronology of Vancouver's arrival on the world stage after expo and the influx of Chinese investors some 10 years later.
Overpriced, maybe, but units were selling.
The fixer upper really has no bearing on the market, and illegal suites??
The Vancouver market has been fuelled by immigration and world markets have impacted here as well,
As for being plenty of space Have you ever looked at a map??. Vancouver has finite land outside the ALR, and quite simply the road infra structure can not take much more activity in the Valley.

dboy

Not only do you perceive yourself as an expert on re but now policing? How exactly are we wasting our resources? Gangs are shooting each other in public, what should we do? Write parking tickets?

And illegal suites do factor in. I was once offered a mortgage with rental potential from an illegal suite factored in to the approval. You play the same tired rant as everyone else:

Its different here, the rich Asians, the lack of land, immigration, etc etc.

Its been cheap money, liars loans and hype that has fueled this market.

babycart

Maybe have a look at this graph and before you say it I know this is not all housing types as it refers to detached properties. Your timelines are out of sync. As Expo was in 1986- Hong Kong handed back to China in 1997- and the influx of wealthy Hong residents occurred in the early 1980's when discussion started on returning Hong Kong back.

City planners in the late 1950s and 1960s deliberately encouraged the development of high-rise residential towers in Vancouver's West End of downtown, resulting in a compact urban core amenable to public transit, cycling, and pedestrian traffic. Vancouver's population density on the downtown peninsula is 121 people per hectare (or 49 people per acre), according to the 2001 census. The city continues to pursue policies intended to increase density as an alternative to sprawl.

ALR is politically motivated- if the money is spent on improving the infrastructure then lots of areas in Vancouver could be opened up.

Suits are relevant as they pay for peoples mortgages when they don't have the requisite income. Income multiples should be the only way to determine if you can afford mortgage payments. Majority of rental suits are illegal and a risk to the tenant. I think this is a very relevant point.


http://www.canadian-housing-price-ch...rice_chart.htm

JonboyE

Supply and demand are the ONLY determinants of house prices. The other factors you cite will skew the demand and supply curves but a price is set when what someone is willing to sell for equals a price someone is prepared to pay.

Alan2005

And have the finance to do so. Buying in Vancouver went beyond stupid to out-right insanity in 2006 - seems the city is full of 'greater fools'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory

JonboyE

The availability of finance will change the demand curve, but it does not invalidate the fundamental rules of supply vs demand.

There is quite bit of truth in the greater fools theory.

Refugee from Happyland

Not an expert on either, but you are dressing up a very simple problem with real estate. Vancouver does pose a unique set of inputs that have driven the market, but it is basically supply and demand as JonboyE cited.
We would not be having this discussion if the US meltdown had not happened, so the factors cited are pretty irrelevant in the bigger picture.
Really no point whining about it, choices....800sq Ft Condo downtown or a house in the Valley, simple
Don't get me going about policing, and no I am not an expert.
If I was a Vancouver cop I would not be advertising the fact with the recent cock ups
Your tone is pretty patronizing, good for you if you are in the service, but its just the job you chose to do.
Your record on major crime is appalling, and yes maybe you guys should stick to something you are good at like handing out driving tickets.
Even top cops, mayors etc in the states acknowledge the "war against drugs" is futile, and forgive me if I am wrong we are talking about predominately drug gangs here? Do you really think a few busts are going to change the mentality that gets involved in this stuff.
Your force sat back and watched the BC HA become the RICHEST chapter in the world.