dbd33

Meh, there's still a huge price differential between Kits and North Van. Each week I get an email about a house my child has seen in Kits and another wistful one showing how much more house one can get for the same money in that suburb. Same in all cities, of course, that's how people end up in Oakville.

Piff Poff

I keep a loose eye on the markets for Ontario because as you know a move there is on the cards. We do wish we had bought to rent out 5 years ago. I have started looking further out of our preferred areas now and I think we might be able to afford a caravan, mind you by the time we get our sh1t together we might be in a tent. The move is still 5 years out so I'm not panicking, but for the 1st time since moving to Canada, UK homes seem to be more affordable.

beckiwoo

We just brought a townhome out Surrey area.
(I still prefer what we got over those ranchers).

We lucked out big time on our purchase but prices are insane and the fact a lot of properties are going for over asking price and subject free is crazy

scrubbedexpat091

Seems to be the way it goes, prices go up faster than people can keep up with, they save, but their down payment is always a little short, or their income doesn't go up quite enough, and so on.

CanadaJimmy

Ditto, we got very lucky as well, me and my wife bought our first townhouse in 2013 during a dip in the market, then we sold our townhouse at the end of 2019 and rented for a bit to wait for the right house to come along. The pandemic hit and we were able to snatch up a detached house for a great price last spring during the dip. We were watching all the sales in our desired area on Zealty like a hawk though, not relying on a realtor to keep us informed, and I think that really helped us recognize the opportunity. Still massively lucky though.

scrubbedexpat091

It's always been income for me, even back when Chilliwack was cheap, I still couldn't afford 200,000 on my income, and now with houses there in the 400k+ range, I still can't afford anything and never will, so I gave up on that dream, its so far out of reach now there isn't any hope.

beckiwoo

You did well.

I wish we could afford the house but sadly with small detached homes going for $1.2million + that’s not happening right now - maybe for retirement in 30 years lol.

We have kept the downtown apartment on as a rental so in theory we could sell both and get the house later on but who knows what will occur in 10 or 20 years time from now. Other half didn’t want to part with it so a townhome was the compromise.

CanadaJimmy

That's not a bad strategy to have. Personally I think more action needs to be taken by the government, I'd be OK with our house becoming worth 50% of it's current value for the greater good of affordability. However the government has only really introduced demand-side measures, and that's not enough without more housing supply in the pipeline. It takes forever and is just too difficult to build more housing.

scrubbedexpat091

The more I read about the red tape involved in building in many city's, and zoning issues and its a wonder anything gets built.

CanadaJimmy

Yep, a lot of people like to blame foreign investment for high prices, and while I'm not opposed to the taxes that were put in place, a bigger culprit is supply limited by a variety of factors. Former Mayor of Vancouver Sam Sullivan has a video all about it on his channel:

Low interest rates and generous financing from banks and other lenders pours fuel on the flames as well of course.

scrubbedexpat091

And on almost every news article or reddit discussion on housing majority of the comments are still those foreign buyers jacking up prices so people are still using foreign buyers as their scapegoat.

Maybe once COVID is a bit less an issue and border reopens, maybe Pt. Robert's would be a good compromise, work in BC and live in the US.

scrubbedexpat091

Fancy a 5 bedroom, 7 bath condo with 6 parking spaces in Downtown Vancouver, 4,000 some square feet.

Only $12 million. Apparently customized for an unnamed Hollywood action star.

$2,904 monthly strata fees and 20,000 a year in taxes, 19 years old, I believe the building is also a hotel on some floors.

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-new...-video-3568017

Jean Claude Van Damme apparently the one is was built for, combining several units into 1 big unit, looks like it was listed 6 years ago for a little over $5 million.

https://www.bcbusiness.ca/big-fat-de...n-damme-photos

beckiwoo

I agree there is a massive supply issue with housing - our realtor said the same thing.

Right now there is much more demand then supply hence all the bidding wars and going in offering subject free

dbd33

I understand that there's a new freeze on rents in Vancouver, for two years, that's a serious disincentive to buy especially if you think it allows you to save more quickly than house prices will rise in that period. It's also a disincentive to people who might buy to let. .

scrubbedexpat091

Rent control brought in back in the 70's screwed up the BC rental market and does make it unattractive to build dedicated rental buildings. Landlord-Tenant rules are provincial so the no allowable rent increases on existing tenants is applicable province wide.

Rent control is the reason you say drive around Vancouver and you see lots of rental apartment buildings from the 1960's to 1970's, but then you start around the 80's and now its condos and very little apartments being built, same into the 90's and 2000's and 2010's, very little incentive to build rental apartments due to rent control, its frankly not a good investment and its what has led us to now where there is a severe shortage of rentals and jacked up rent even in small towns and city's, population kept growing but rental units did not get built at the same pace and supply got smaller and smaller and rents went up and up and up.

Federal government also in that span of time stopped funding social housing and downloaded much of it onto provinces but forgot to download the funds needed, which is existing social rentals tend to be buildings from the 70's and 80's and then not much and why for example it takes eons in BC to get into social housing if ever, people waiting over 10 years is not uncommon, we are over 7 years on the list which isn't far off from 10 years.