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Very surprised Bloomberg would put out such a fluff piece about the Vancouver Real Estate market. There are very serious issues in Vancouver, and some suspect

Very surprised Bloomberg would put out such a fluff piece about the Vancouver Real Estate market. There are very serious issues in Vancouver, and some suspect Canada is in for a ruder awakening than the US. http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/meet-the-wall-street-short-seller-betting-against-canadian-real-estate http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/meet-the-wall-street-short-se... 1) Canadian Real Estate is being used as a money laundering facility http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ike-awgu/canadian-real-estate-foreign-buyers_b_10329000.html http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ike-awgu/canadian-real-estate-f... . 2) Canada also has a healthy (well, actually unhealthy) sub-prime lending market http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/18/subprime-lending-canada-transunion_n_10011578.html http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/18/subprime-lending-can... 3) Then there is the issue of occupancy. The reason the 15% tax was brought in is because money was coming in to purchase houses which then sat empty. Many have become derelict. When I lived in Vancouver, Yaletown was full of apartment towers, but where were all the people (I believe occupancy in that area has improved). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/poking-holes-in-vancouvers-housing-vacancy-study/article29181730/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/poking-... 4) Lastly, the shadow flipping, again, mentioned in the article, but didn't get the attention it deserved http://bc.ctvnews.ca/house-flipping-concerns-as-368-vancouver-homes-sold-at-least-twice-since-2014-1.2769801 http://bc.ctvnews.ca/house-flipping-concerns-as-368-vancouve... Don't worry if you don't want to read the articles, it will be a movie in a few years along the lines of The Big Short.

linkregister 10y ago
Fluff piece? Did we read the same article? It covered at length the issue of the young couple essentially trapped in Surrey, unable to get enough space to have a child. The author really went out of the way to emphasize the wealth of the investors, describing the buyer wanting a nonexistent car. The only remotely fluffy portion was describing the ecosystem of luxury services associated with the lavish spending. I think the article did a good job of conveying the huge negative effect to the Vancouver economy and way of life.
- tener 10y ago
  The requirements this young couple have is mind boggling. The have 111 sq meters and think they cannot have a kid in this space? A lot of my friends live in ~40 sq meters and are happy to have their own place at all. With a kid, even two. Surely they would like to move to a bigger places, but this isn't a showstopper. They would love to have 111 sq meters place. Rising prices of properties is a real issue, but this particular couple is way above the standards I am used to. What is the socially accepted minimal living standard for a couple with kids in the US / Canada?
  - linkregister 10y ago
    Fair enough, it's more space than I have for two children. It's a bad example that trivializes the actual extreme difficulty Vancouver families face getting affordable housing.
  - thatfrenchguy 10y ago
    Where I'm from 111 sq meters condo is a "you have a really high income and three kids but will never be able to buy it" kind of thing.
  - xemdetia 10y ago
    > What is the socially accepted minimal living standard for a couple with kids in the US / Canada? A lot of this comes from the expectation of what you had growing up versus what is available in your current situation, and how much you actually want kids. Do you want to bring up kids from 0 to 18+ in that same 111 sq meter space? The answer can be no for a few people, and people aren't seeing that they can move to something bigger even if it becomes necessary. It's also not a good idea to compare floor space 1:1 across regions, floor layouts and building structure can have big impacts. 40 sq m used well can have the same level of comfort as 111 sq m used poorly, but because of various property restrictions (since it's not detached) they might not be able to modify the 111 sq m space in a meaningful way. The main thing here in this case is that the couple represented have the choice of whether or not to have kids and they see the environment as not good for it. This is the sort of thing that happens when educated people sit down and consider whether or not having kids is the right plan for the moment.
Fifer82 10y ago
Carney's ability to stoke a housing bubble was what got him the job in the Bank of England.
- mrec 10y ago
  Absolutely this. Please, please take him back. Seriously, we'll pay you, just take him back.
  - branchless 10y ago
    Please do not give Carnage back. We need him to implode The City.
    - mrec 10y ago
      How and why would he do that? By throwing vast sums of money at them at the drop of a hat?
guardiangod 10y ago
(I live in Vancouver.) You really should include a link to this as well- Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Home Price Index http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&date=2016-06-01 http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&da... This shows the the price trend of Detached, Townhouse, and Apartment up to the last 11 years, broken by individual cities in Greater Vancouver. But it is misleading. If you look at Metro Vancouver's trend, all 3 types of housing have gone up in prices. But if you look at the surrounding cities, only the Detached and Townhouse prices have gone up. Apartment pricing have remain relatively flat until 15 months ago. Since then Apartment price have gone up as well. This is probably because 15 months ago, the Detached/Apartment pricing have increased to the point where buyers started to consider Apartment as a viable resident. PS. If you look at the graph, you will notice that the prices have gone up so much it broke the graphing software.

linkregister 10y ago

Fluff piece? Did we read the same article? It covered at length the issue of the young couple essentially trapped in Surrey, unable to get enough space to have a child. The author really went out of the way to emphasize the wealth of the investors, describing the buyer wanting a nonexistent car. The only remotely fluffy portion was describing the ecosystem of luxury services associated with the lavish spending. I think the article did a good job of conveying the huge negative effect to the Vancouver economy and way of life.

tener 10y ago
The requirements this young couple have is mind boggling. The have 111 sq meters and think they cannot have a kid in this space? A lot of my friends live in ~40 sq meters and are happy to have their own place at all. With a kid, even two. Surely they would like to move to a bigger places, but this isn't a showstopper. They would love to have 111 sq meters place. Rising prices of properties is a real issue, but this particular couple is way above the standards I am used to. What is the socially accepted minimal living standard for a couple with kids in the US / Canada?
- linkregister 10y ago
  Fair enough, it's more space than I have for two children. It's a bad example that trivializes the actual extreme difficulty Vancouver families face getting affordable housing.
- thatfrenchguy 10y ago
  Where I'm from 111 sq meters condo is a "you have a really high income and three kids but will never be able to buy it" kind of thing.
- xemdetia 10y ago
  > What is the socially accepted minimal living standard for a couple with kids in the US / Canada? A lot of this comes from the expectation of what you had growing up versus what is available in your current situation, and how much you actually want kids. Do you want to bring up kids from 0 to 18+ in that same 111 sq meter space? The answer can be no for a few people, and people aren't seeing that they can move to something bigger even if it becomes necessary. It's also not a good idea to compare floor space 1:1 across regions, floor layouts and building structure can have big impacts. 40 sq m used well can have the same level of comfort as 111 sq m used poorly, but because of various property restrictions (since it's not detached) they might not be able to modify the 111 sq m space in a meaningful way. The main thing here in this case is that the couple represented have the choice of whether or not to have kids and they see the environment as not good for it. This is the sort of thing that happens when educated people sit down and consider whether or not having kids is the right plan for the moment.

Fifer82 10y ago

Carney's ability to stoke a housing bubble was what got him the job in the Bank of England.

mrec 10y ago
Absolutely this. Please, please take him back. Seriously, we'll pay you, just take him back.
- branchless 10y ago
  Please do not give Carnage back. We need him to implode The City.
  - mrec 10y ago
    How and why would he do that? By throwing vast sums of money at them at the drop of a hat?

guardiangod 10y ago

(I live in Vancouver.) You really should include a link to this as well- Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Home Price Index http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&date=2016-06-01 http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&da... This shows the the price trend of Detached, Townhouse, and Apartment up to the last 11 years, broken by individual cities in Greater Vancouver. But it is misleading. If you look at Metro Vancouver's trend, all 3 types of housing have gone up in prices. But if you look at the surrounding cities, only the Detached and Townhouse prices have gone up. Apartment pricing have remain relatively flat until 15 months ago. Since then Apartment price have gone up as well. This is probably because 15 months ago, the Detached/Apartment pricing have increased to the point where buyers started to consider Apartment as a viable resident. PS. If you look at the graph, you will notice that the prices have gone up so much it broke the graphing software.