How did prices respond to higher rates?
We’re over two years from a rise in rates that was in some ways unprecedented in Canada. It’s not that the magnitude of rates is unusual (they’ve been much higher in the past), but because we came from such a low level, the rate jump caused payments to rise substantially for many borrowers.
For many existing borrowers, that pain is not yet over. Despite rates dropping from peak, in 2025 we will enter peak renewal time for borrowers that got mortgages at the ultra-low post-pandemic rates. Both variable and fixed rates will very likely be lower then than now, but it will still be a big jump for borrowers currently riding rates at 2% or lower. The average fixed rate for outstanding mortgages is still only 3.12%, compared to current market rates around 4.5%.
That rate increase has pushed prices down in most of the country, with the average residential price down around 15% from the peak it reached in March of 2022 (MLS HPI).
But it’s not been an even decline across the country. Some cities have continued to appreciate since that time despite the rise in financing costs, while others have lost a fifth of their value. The prices in the chart below are the average transaction prices for all residential property types.
On the left, mostly cheaper cities that have seen an influx of residents from more expensive parts of Canada, and on the right, mostly second tier Ontario cities which saw prices shoot up post pandemic, only to fall back down to reality. Victoria – as it often is – is near the middle with a smaller change. Prices are down from peak, but not that much. Interestingly enough, the average residential price in Vancouver is essentially unchanged from the peak of the market.
Also the weekly numbers
| August 2024 |
August
2023
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | ||
| Sales | 70 | 172 | 292 | 439 | 544 |
| New Listings | 164 | 368 | 621 | 836 | 1095 |
| Active Listings | 3305 | 3287 | 3290 | 3232 | 2490 |
| Sales to New Listings | 43% | 47% | 47% | 53% | 50% |
| Sales YoY Change | — | +9% | 0% | +9% | +14% |
| New Lists YoY Change | — | +2% | +3% | -2% | +12% |
| Inventory YoY Change | +38% | +34% | +34% | +29% | +17% |
| Months of Inventory | 4.6 | ||||
A decent week for sales while new lists are coming in at roughly the same rate as last year. Looking at only residential new listings, we’ve actually been trailing the year-ago rate for most of August, and it doesn’t appear to be improving. Will the sellers come back for the fall market?
Last year’s rate of new listings was also completely average for this time of year: the time of high new lists is over.
Don’t look now, but the strengthening market is starting to look less like noise and more like the start of a trend. Months of inventory remains higher than this time last year(we’d have to crack 700 sales in August to match it), but conditions are warming up while they were cooling a year ago.
Meanwhile, the panic at the Liberal party over poor poll numbers continues, with a sudden swing to cracking down on the out of control temporary foreign worker program they themselves created. After dramatically loosening standards for businesses to bring in TFWs during the pandemic, they are now reversing most of those changes. Businesses can no longer hire TFWs if the regional unemployment rate is over 6% (it’s 6.4% nationally but only 3.6% in Victoria), TFW length of stays are reduced to 1 year, and they can only make up 10% of a company’s workforce. There’s also more changes coming.
While Ontario had a bigger issue with international students being brought in by diploma mills, the growth in BC’s population was driven more by TFWs. If they can pull these changes off, don’t underestimate the impact on housing. The only reason our population growth is higher than normal right now is because of non-permanent residents. Bring that back to normal, and BC’s population growth with just regular immigration is completely unremarkable, a bit low even at under 1%. And if there’s an outflow of non-permanent residents, that could drop even lower.
What’s the impact on housing prices? Nothing at first. Prices didn’t rise substantially because of non-permanent residents and they won’t budge much when they leave. Temporary residents don’t buy housing, so there isn’t a first-order effect on house prices. What it will help is the rental market, where record rental completions will meet sharply lower demand. We should see the rental vacancy rate increase fairly quickly, which will stabilize or drop rents. Eventually that does also filter into less demand pressure for purchased housing, both from investors and from renters no longer under as much pressure to get out of a nightmarish rental market, but that always happens on a lag.
New post: https://househuntvictoria.ca/2024/09/03/august-market-digests-lower-rates-but-no-great-change-yet/
Utility bills often include a fixed charge and a usage charge. You pay for infrastructure regardless of your usage.
What is wrong with this house?
https://realtor.ca/real-estate/27291752/1161-nature-park-pl-highlands-bear-mountain?utm_source=consumerapp&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialsharelisting
Market is not hot. Stable with potential to improve imo.
Ya marko is good for boots on the ground perspective, mine is just walking around the hood with the dog checking out whether stale listings have sold or not .
what mortgage rates are people currently seeing?
Market is up to 2 weeks ahead of the stats posted by Leo. Basically unless you don’t know what the market is doing unless you are plugged in with boots on the ground or have boots on the ground data
So the hot market in the last week of august wouldn’t show up till September, got it
That’s good to know thanks guys.
Actually two weeks is more realistic in a slow market like we are in (few unconditional offers). For example, I have three end of August accepted offers with conditions all to September 10th and then deposit is typically payable within 48 hrs of condition removal and we typically don’t report a sale as pending until the deposit is in place.
A few days for conditions wouldn’t make sense as the rescission period in itself is already three business days (5 days if crossing a weekend and 6 days if long weekend).
Yeah that’s about right, though in most cases I would say closer to a week. Offer accepted, a few days of conditions, then up to a couple days to report it to the board.
Ok, so usually there will be a lag of a week or two between when the offer was actually accepted to when it shows up in your updates?
Neither really. VREB sales counts are based on the day the sale was reported to the board which could be a couple days after the deal goes unconditional.
The counts of sales shown in VREB statistics reports are based on listings that are either:
And counted as below:
Sales: A sale is counted on the day it is reported as unconditionally sold, not the actual date the conditions were lifted (usually the sale is reported 0-3 days after the conditions are lifted). So for example if a property sells on February 28th (the buyer and seller reach an unconditional deal) but it is reported as sold on March 1st, it is a March sale).
Collapses: A collapse occurs when a listing’s status changes from Pending or Sold to something else. In VREB statistics reports, the number of collapses that occurred in a given month are subtracted from the number of sales reported during that month to arrive at the net sales counts that show in the various reports.
Leo can you remind me if you are counting sales on the day they become pending or the day the offer is accepted?
What would Mexico be without seasonal condo owners, vacationers, etc… A bigger mess than it is, I guess.
August numbers.
Sales: 545 (unchanged from 544 last year, but we had one fewer business day so sales rate is actually up 5%)
New lists: 1043 (down 4% or unchanged accounting for the days)
Inventory: 3191 (up 29%)
I’ve been thinking about something similar. While we want people to be housed and houses to be affordable, owners with income earned elsewhere may be an overall economic plus for a community in Canada – not sure about Croatia. It would be interesting to see the calculation that took all the variables into account such as:
And then if these same owners rent out for 10 months instead of leaving it vacant you have the taxes on rental income and the shelter provided at likely lower cost than market given the owner use.
Contrast this with a local owner who gets the capital gains tax exemption, possibly a discount on the property transfer tax, can defer their property taxes in many cases, gets the homeowner grant, and uses the services paid for with taxes year-round. And they may generate no rental income to pay taxes on.
I guess the converse on this is that out of province owners don’t pay provincial income taxes – but nor do they use the majority of services paid for with provincial income taxes.
I think if we had the math we’d find that it makes way more sense for the local economy and government tax revenues to keep and encourage secondary home owners in the economy but get them to rent out at least six months of the year as now is required in markets with low vacancy rates.
I do worry about places like the Okanagan where this source of income has been heavily impacted – along with fires and agricultural impacts. I think we could some serious economic fall out in the next couple years.
I am quite surprised to hear the condo market moving here in Vic, in Toronto it is carnage in that space…
Good to hear you f the condo market heating up , gotta get a lil fomo out there . Let’s see what the fall market brings
Interesting, guess we will find out the sale price when it goes pending. Interested in what the downtown one went for as that seems to be where all the inventory is. Can you tell us if it was the one on Johnson or the one on herald?
Downtown, Esquimalt, Uptown…..all very reasonable offers. Definitively no low-balls.
It’s not surprising that the Croatian public is opposed. For two reasons.
– its described it as a “tiny tax” so it won’t raise much money.
– Instead, the intention of it is to lower (“dents”) the re-sale value of all property prices.
Trouble with “lowering property prices” is Croatia already has close to the highest home ownership rate in Europe (91%). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/housing/bloc-1a.html#:~:text=In%20the%20EU%20in%202020,and%20Hungary%20(both%2091%20%25).
And most homeowners want to see their property values rise, not fall.
If that’s not clear, Croat government should simply ask Croat homeowners if they want to see their property prices fall, and by how much.
Where abouts? Did they just take low-ball offers?
Condo market starting to show a bit of life, three of my condo listings with accepted offers over the weekend.
My yearly property tax is $800. Ridiculously low. No sewer or water, you can drill your own well and install a holding tank. Gravel roads, no police service (and little crime) no homeless people to support.
I think the difference is property tax in Canada so those cottages sitting vacant are contributing taxes to infrastructure.
Don’t know what made me search this, but there are over 100 nude beaches in Croatia. No wonder it’s so popular.
My hydro bill at my cottage is $125 for the year. There are thousands of cottages in Manitoba. Many are rarely used at all. I remember when we got electricity in the 1960’s, it changed life out there. No more need for a wood stove, oil lamps, etc… My grandfather built the cottage without any power tools, basically a saw and hammer. Unheard of today. Stores could have coolers instead of relying on ice. Electricity is a luxury that a progressive country needs to provide for its citizens. Parts of many countries, such as India, do not have electricity, that’s one reason people want to leave. We are spoiled, and expect cheap power 24/7. From the sounds of it, Croatia is a Mecca for wealthy Europeans. What would it be like without them? Better or worse.
There has been so much push back over a small vacant property tax in Croatia that the government has already cancelled a press conference to go over further details, crazy.
One of my many arguments is using the example of a rich foreign German buying a vila on the coast of Croatia and paying zero tax of any sort. I am trying to convey that with him or her only using that Vila two months’ a year the population has to subsidize the cost of infrastructure for the vila (water, electricity, roads, etc.) and the reply every is giving me “No that is wrong, he pays his electrical bill so foreigners pay for infrastructure.”
Is my line of thinking correct that someone living in a place for two months a year and paying only two months of electricity is subsidized by the rest of the electrical grid users as the grid has to be in function year around and two months of electrical use wouldn’t support the capital expenditures required to maintain an electrical grid?
LMAO, told you all to stay away from the westshore….
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/gunshots-fired-into-colwood-home-of-rising-punjabi-music-star-ap-dhillon-9465162
This is pretty obvious if you just look at compensation, probably a $200k delta between what an appraiser gets paid vs what real institutional RE professionals gets paid at the mid level, at higher levels that delta can be 7 figures.
Westerly, I am not implying that Marko is a bad real estate agent. I’ve never found anything suspicious in any of the properties he has sold or listed. But I read all of the Contracts of Purchase and Sales, and disclosure statements to see if there are any terms or conditions that would effect value. If I find any, I am obligated to comment on them in the report.
The ones I’ve seen of Marko’s haven’t had any issues. No cars, furniture, home based businesses, long closing dates, or subject to rezoning approvals. The major one for Victoria are pre-construction purchases as the initial offer could have been a year or two earlier. Then the current market value would be different from the sale price.
Out of the tens of thousands of mortgage reports I have done, the vast vast majority are straight forward uncomplicated deals.
However, I have come across an instance where the the agent provided a CMA for a divorce settlement and it was found out that the agent was having an affair with the spouse. If he had gone to court, I suspect the judge would not have been amused.
So it isn’t so much mortgages but that an agent may be thinking they are doing a favor for a friend.
I had a similar instance in a condo complex in Rockland. One of the owner’s was litigious and filed dozens and dozens of complaints about her neighbors. That scared off prospective purchasers from making an offer. In this case there wasn’t anything about the physical or locational aspects of the property that was effecting the value of the condos. An appraiser would not have known about this and would have valued the complex at a higher value. In my case I suspected there was something and interviewed some of the home owners and agents that had been unsuccessful in selling units in the complex. That information was presented in the body of the report.
This is why it is absolutely necessary to read the appraisal report and not think that appraisal is just a number.
Once she died, the home owners didn’t have any problems selling their properties.
https://youtu.be/OwYH_j7c9gE?si=7FCLZb6XX2wgjNTR
Whatever you lost me entirely here, “Personally, I find the vast, vast majority of real estate agent are honest professional interlocuters.” My experience, maybe 1 in 10. Regardless that they may say you can trust them several times, most Realtors have only 1 priority. Out of maybe 10-12 transactions I’ve been part of, the ones I’ve felt the most confident in were private deals. That said, a Realtor like Marco who has been around long enough and is not relying on your deal to pay their mortgage this month is way more likely to be the 1 in 10.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/condo-lawsuits-noise-strata-1.7309800
As for Marko’s post.
On relocations the company will get two appraisals performed. If there is a discrepancy within a couple of percent between the appraisals then the relocation company will order a third. What we don’t know is if the agent is embellishing to make a good story until one reads the reports.
Personally, I find the vast, vast majority of real estate agent are honest professional interlocuters. There are of course some home owners that are dissatisfied with an agent and paint them all with the same ugly brush. Those are the stories that most people hear because the good ones rarely get the recognition they deserve.
I can’t comment on an appraisal until I have read the report and performed a technical and market review. To not do so would be unprofessional conduct and I could face disciplinary action from my governing body for slandering someone’s reputation.
If you feel that you have been wronged by an appraiser. You may send the report to their governing body’s Professional Practice Committee. It doesn’t cost you anything. They will do reviews and send you the findings as well as the penalties and sanctions they have levied against the appraiser. I have had one appraisal that was sent on to the PPC and I can tell you it is a grueling process for an appraiser because the PPC reviews every minute detail of the report not just what is in the original claim. Some appraisers chose to quit rather than go through the process. Depending on the severity of the claim, their names are published to the general public. If the appraiser does not comply with the PPC then they will be expelled from the institute.
If Marko feels he has been wronged, then he should send that report on to the PPC rather than use a public forum for whatever axe he has to grind. He doesn’t have to testify in front of the review board and it costs him nothing. If you go onto their institutes national web site right on the front page in plain big letters in the center of the page, it will tell you how to lodge a complaint.
Never change, Thursty.
1 more sleep till a interest rate cut . Will Tiff deliver 50 points , sure would be sweet if he did
We should send our homeless to Croatia. Problem solved.
After years of lobbying on my part Croatian government announced this week they are bringing in vacant property tax next year (context, there is no property tax at all), but it is super small. 1 to 10 euros per m2 per year as determined by local municipality so at the highest level of 10 euros per m2 a 100 m2 condo (1,100 sq.ft.) you would pay 1000 euros per year if keeping the property vacant.
Online people are freaking out, not sure if government will actually follow through with it as in the last 20 years two other governments tried some sort of property tax and eventually didn’t follow thru due to public pushback.
595,280 vacant residential housing units in Croatia or 29.8% of all residential housing stock.
Assuming tax goes through will be interesting to see if it dents the rental or re-sale market.
Good snippet of real life on the Tom Story Show today -> https://youtu.be/A81JIrJAUn8?feature=shared&t=2730
Appraiser appraises property at $1,150,000 (I believe in Surrey somewhere). Agent goes and looks at the property and doesn’t think it is worth more than 900k. Seller agrees to list 899k, crickets. Price lowered to $799k – still nothing. Lowers to $749k and then it goes in multiple offers and sells for 775k in relation to appraisal of 1,150k. This is inline with what I’ve been saying for 10+ years on HHV re appraisals. Unless you have real life experience you would read a lot of things on HHV and take them at face value unfortunately.
muted
Let me show you why you get little respect from the folks on here who are accomplished in RE or any other type of business/career. When I first read your posts I was a little bit fooled and thought you actually knew a thing or two but the more I read the more I realized that you only know what was taught in a text book, lack critical thinking abilities just do not know much about how things work in real life.
Anyhow, that link you posted above was commissioned by Saanich to review their golf operations at cedar hill which the district itself was managing at the time with their staff. As we all know one can have a wonderful business but a shitty management and ops can still run it into the ground. What you failed to google was that there was also a phase 2 of that report (which should have been pretty obvious to even the average person as the title of the report said “phase 1…”).:
https://www.saanich.ca/assets/Parks~Recreation~and~Community~Services/Documents/CH~Golf~Course/CHGC-%20Recommendations%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
One glance at the executive summary should tell you that there is nothing wrong with the golf course or the game of golf but rather how the golf course was ran/managed. Since then Saanich has outsourced management of the golf course to Lakeland Golf Management. I am not intimately familiar with the economics of Golf courses as I’ve never done a golf course deal but normal business sense tells me that golf course is a business with high fixed costs and high operating leverage, that means variable costs are not very sensitive to increased demand/revenue which can make it a cash cow if demand and revenue does increase. So you can decide for yourself how cedar hill golf course is doing with the following disclosed information from Saanich.
My issue with you is that you portray yourself as some sort of expert with your textbook b.s. when in reality you actually have very little clue/insights. So why don’t you just relax with that online encyclopedia thing you do.
Are you going to tell on me?
Not sure why anyone would want to respond to any post from vicRE. He is an accomplished troll, manipulator and baiter. Blighting this blog, if I recall correctly, for his “own amusement”
Dr Seuss, pretty sure retarded is a learning disability . Never heard it used for dementia. We would call that just bad luck
There are people here who feel this way for sure. But I’d say that’s changing as the realization dawns that affordable housing is a problem pretty much everywhere.
What is clinically retarded @VicREanalyst? Do you mean someone who’s suffered a brain injury? Someone who has a developmental disability? Someone officially diagnosed with dementia? I have no idea why such a derogatory comment would be tolerated here.
Peter, I think the people of North Saanich consider the lack of affordable housing to be a Victoria and Oak Bay problem not theirs. Why should they diminish their semi-rural life styles with urban sprawl because Oak Bay and Victoria can’t solve their own problems first.
As for the Lansdowne site, I can see the developers point of asking for 13 townhomes. They likely know the number of units will be cut down, but if you don’t ask then you don’t get. Better to ask for 13 and get cut down to seven than to ask for seven and get cut down to four.
If it is the one, then this 132 acre property isn’t zoned for residential and couldn’t be developed except for possibly two lots that in the parking area as the parking area is zoned for residential at the time of sale.
Yes, that’s the one, I’ve now googled it. And what I’m thinking is:
Seems to me if we’re going to move the needle on housing, there are no sacred cows, and rezoning land out of the ALR that wasn’t even used for farming should be something that can be done. I mean look, there was this whole discussion here just recently about a developer wanting to build some 12 or 13 unit monstrosity on a residential lot zoned for 4 or 6 units (?), seems to me if “that’s ok”, then why not this?
Can’t speak for the current owners, but I’m guessing they might be delighted if they could have it rezoned and repriced this way.
It’s interesting, when googling this Glen Meadows thing, it seems in 2015, the then-current owners asked North Saanich to approve a plan where they would be allowed to develop 35 lots plus put in place a community farm AND donate 100 remaining acres (!!) to North Saanich for parks or whatever. And they were of course turned down….
Let’s do low-hanging fruit like this before we get all upset that people in a normal residential neighbourhood don’t want to see a 13-unit behemoth next to them on a lot zoned for 4 or 6 units?
VicREanalyst, you can’t alter the posts 11 hours later. It isn’t possible. You treat a lot of people like crap on this blog and now you want to whine to Leo that it isn’t fair? That’s irony.
LMAO you’re a clown, why would I post something like that?
I am sure Leo can pull the logs if you really want to get to the bottom of it 🙂
VicREanalyst, I can’t edit a post that was 11 hours before your post. You’re just lazy and don’t check your sources.
Nope that’s the one you provided but you deleted your previous post after I called out out on it and you realized you got the wrong cedar hill LMAO.
I assume you mean Royal Ardmore. The native band purchased the property from the Du Temple family for 2.9 million in 2020. Pauquachin First Nation marks that community’s first business venture as it seeks to develop economically.
How about the other municipal parks and recreation facilities?
Is the Cedar Hill rec centre profitable?
Is the income from Mount Doug covering the expenses?
Glen meadows which is across the road from Royal Anmore is owned by the native band . They also own Royal anmore and do a great job and are nice peeps . In any conversation I’ve had with them they are in no rush to do anything with the old golf course as there was some speculation on whether they would include those lands in with the anmore course and expand
VicREanalyst that link you provided is to a different golf course in the states.
If you want to live the life of a troll, then expect to be played like one.
You might be thinking of Glen Meadows along McTavish. The initial sale on the property, an 18-hole golf course collapsed after the foreign investor failed to make the final payment on the sale of 4.8 million in 2019 and then disappeared. The original owner foreclosed and re-listed. The property resold in 2021 for 5.4 million.
If it is the one, then this 132 acre property isn’t zoned for residential and couldn’t be developed except for possibly two lots that in the parking area as the parking area is zoned for residential at the time of sale.
LMAO are you clinically retarded?
LMAO, I’ll give you another day to do some more due diligence before I blow you up again.
There is some kind of abandoned golf course in North Saanich (off McTavish?). Probably in the ALR currently, but as it’s not functionally used for farming anyways, seems like a decent prospect for a major residential development?
Cedar Hill Income and Expenses. The golf course loses money. It would make more profit if it grew blueberries
https://www.saanich.ca/assets/Parks~Recreation~and~Community~Services/Documents/CH~Golf~Course/CHGC_Phase%20One%20Research%20Report%20-%2004%2027%2021.pdf
LMAO maybe in brampton and Surrey
In the future, golf courses will be converted to cricket fields.
COVID was a huge boost to the golf business, anyone who is a member or plays often knows. I love it when someone who knows nothing about a subject tries to pretend they are an expert on the Internet.
Don’t be a b!t¢π and change the subject, share some more made up facts about the economics of the golf business in Victoria!
Good piece today from RBC on mortgage wars . Fun times ahead with crashing interest rates
Nothing lately, but a number of golf courses in Vancouver bit the dust in past decades.
The old Shaughnessy Golf Course was owned by the CPR which wanted to develop it, a compromise with the City was reached where part was developed and part became Van Dusen Gardens. It was relocated to land leased from the Musqueam which later became the subject of high profile legal disputes.
The Quelchena Golf Course at 33rd and Arbutus was relocated to Richmond and the old property developed
The Jericho Lands were originally a golf course but were taken over by the feds during WWII as a military base and are now under development.
Probably not Bobby K. We would have to be in a real housing crisis for this to happen.
There was a proposal for housing in Vancouver on the Langara Golf Course but the Vancouver Park Board shot it down.
https://www.langaravoice.ca/city-golf-greens-could-be-key-to-solving-housing-crisis-experts-say/
Golf course conversion to housing is not gonna happen for at least a few generations as there is too many powerful groups that like golf.
I’m not the only one of the opinion that public golf courses are a thing of the past. And I believe private courses could also be part of a solution to sever off some small parts of their courses to provide PBRs. That would make these courses profitable and diversifying their income from non golf related uses. Such as building PBR’s along the north side of Lansdowne. Diversify rather than keeping all of their golf balls in one basket.
https://www.cheknews.ca/housing-advocates-say-developing-on-golf-courses-could-address-housing-crisis-1171658/
Not sure I get the golf course thing. Nowadays aren’t golf courses built as an amenity to sell real estate that is adjacent to them? If someone wants to spend the money to do it, the more power to them. People more need to get out of the mindset of someone else having something is an act of depriving it from someone else. It’s highly unlikely that turning golf courses into homes or stopping them from being built will end in more homes or affordable housing. Like the foolish wars on short term rentals and SFD, it will just end in less overall investment and fewer homes being built in the end. Banning spending options typically ends with the money going away and not to where some command economy fool thinks it should be spent. The problem is that we make it too difficult and costly to build anything anywhere. Just remember the people that messed up your healthcare are the ones leaning into housing now.
Tangerine pays 6% for 5 months.
https://www.tangerine.ca/en/offers/save-faster?offer_id=000003282&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACRKT-x95yLsfEpR0DxPt1MenE0W6&gclid=Cj0KCQjw28W2BhC7ARIsAPerrcLFKO5kR53SFURxmvLbv1x4XPN55WIeRNtEBd-tEWcXx-tvyj0M-8caAh7eEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
You do realize that all the private golf courses in Victoria have multi year waits for members right? My course has something like a 3 year wait. Did you also realize that Cedar Hill is the busiest municipal golf course in the country?
Now I am going to teach you something they didn’t teach you at AIC, the reason why golf courses do well in Victoria/Vancouver is because you can golf all year around, unlike the rest of Canada. See below, they even mentioned that in the link you posted which happened to be authored by a fairly shitty accounting /advisory firm (widely known in the industry). In addition, of course you didn’t read the entire article because you are busy googling some random crap to support your thesis but don’t have the necessary attention to detail or familiar the concept of due diligence to actually read it first.
You are punching well above your weight getting into these debates with me, so you need to keep quiet and pay attention and then maybe you can learn a thing or two.
The high cost of real estate commissions
Agents will say people can negotiate but there is a major power imbalance between the agent, who handles deals all the time, and a buyer or seller for whom such an event is rare, never mind the emotional or financial stress involved. There’s a disincentive to bargain over the fee when clinching a deal is at stake. “Agents have such great advantages over consumers in any negotiation,” the Consumer Federation of America has said.
https://archive.ph/D5DCl
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-the-high-cost-of-real-estate-commissions/
I can’t help but feed the troll
https://mnpdebt.ca/en/corporate/resources/blog/considerations-for-a-golf-course-insolvency
So what value are they adding to the current flip? Did they do the demo atleast?
I suppose unions are a bit better? If you work hard the worst that can happen is you get the same raise as the lazy person, but not less…..
Thats it? My parents got 5.5% out of CIBC this week in a promo high interest savings account, granted they have a lot of assets with them.
Nothing says about golf courses going broke…. hope you don’t do appraisals on that asset class LMAO.
“It’s like a three year process just to break ground on something that doesn’t require rezoning”.
If it doesn’t require rezoning or subdivision then local governments are limited in what they can require developers to pay for ie. constructing sidewalks that don’t currently exist, road alignment changes, sewer, water and storm drain upgrades.
Agreed, I just put some money last week in a 90 day GIC promo with TD at 4.2%.
The property was purchased more than a year ago and in the description they still don’t have the DP. Then who knows how long for the BP….the one my friend is going through right now is just absolute insanity – burning cash with consultants like crazy. Every time he re-summits to address all the comments there is a new slate of comments. Not to mention 700k of civil costs for the corner lot the COV is offloading on him.
It’s like a three year process just to break ground on something that doesn’t require rezoning.
Study on Golf Course and housing shortages in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19406940.2022.2161601#abstract
Income taxes work like that too. If you work hard you “pay more taxes as a result than the person next door” who is lazy.
Minister of finance in Croatia yesterday announced vacancy tax is coming Croatia next year, but on a per square meter basis (1 to 10 euros per square meters per year which is nothing). I started commenting online what a stupid way to administer the tax as a 100 m2 condo in Zagreb could be worth 1 million euros while two hours outside of Zagreb in a smaller city it could literally be worth 50,000 euros for the a same size condo and that the vacancy tax should be based on the value of the property. I received a lot of interesting comments/perspectives I haven’t thought about before, for example
“The proposal you propose is nothing more than punishing good owners who take care, invest into and maintain their real estate, and those who do not take care of your own real estate and allow it to deteriorate are reward, that makes no sense.”
Kind of an interesting way of thinking about it. If you have a SFH and you update the windows, put in heat pump, add solar panels, etc., and maintain it will in theory your assessment should go up and you pay more tax as a result than the person next door letting their place deteriorate (should be assessed less; therefore, less tax).
Obviously not financially feasible. Sellers are cutting their losses. Real estate is not a great investment anywhere due to the massive permitting and construction costs. Better places to put your money, for those who have money.
A missing middle site I made an offer on last year, unsuccessfully, is up for sale with some renderings -> https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/27346258/1606-bank-st-victoria-jubilee
Exactly, so no idea wtf the “appraiser” is talking about. Royal Colwood did have to get a new GM recently because the old one wasn’t running it well.
.
I used to tune in frequently for market updates and read the debates but the typical discussions nowadays have turned more often to personal attacks and insanely arrogant responses.
Everyone needs to relax, isn’t that the environment that Victory is meant to be known for?
For those who missed on the early gains, your time will come, just keep at it. For those who benefited from the gains and now act like you’re a real estate rockstar investor multi millionaire, stay humble.
Private golf clubs in town have very long wait lists and healthly surpluses.
Poor Marko. Trying to preserve the HHV glory days of 10+ years ago, by reminding us that he’s ‘muting’ everyone that doesn’t agree with him. This just seems to be more HHV “junior high” sillyness, leading nowhere.
With the collapse of the BC Liberals yesterday, – a party that led BC for most of this century – I am reminded of a famous, relevant 1991 remark about similar bickering by then BC Liberal leader Gordon Wilson… “This reminds me of a couple of kids in a sandbox. I’m not interested in what happened 10 years ago; I’m interested in what happens tomorrow.”
Same applies to this HHV comment section. If you are a “lurker”, and unhappy with the HHV comment section, and you’re most interested in improving what happens tomorrow… remember that the best cure for inane, argumentative posts is to post something interesting, relevant and non-argumentative yourself!
Over to you lurkers….
Leo, many have already weighed in on one of Barrister’s idiotic remarks, but could you please elaborate on this “East Germain” vision of yours that he alluded to? Does it include schnitzels or accordion music? If so, will there be franchising opportunities?
which golf course?
Golf Courses are going broke and there is a shortage of land for housing.
-Do the math.
Court to hear Bear Mountain receivership request
@Leo – maybe you already knew this, but looks like single stair up to 6 storeys:
Although there will be some housing to be gained by filling in 20,000 sq foot lots with 13 townhouses, this approach and all the delays and fighting associated with it is not how the majority of housing was built in Victoria. When it became clear there was a need for housing in the 60’s they didn’t start planning to put 6 plexes in Fairfield, but started planning Gordon Head and Broadmead. It worked.
Why don’t we just find some empty land and build houses on it? There is a ton of forested or empty ALR land. I have heard the argument that the ALR land is to save good agricultural land for some future dystopian scenario. Imagine what Victoria housing would be like if they had arbitrarily decided that Gordon Head and Broadmead should also have been hobby acreages in the ALR.
Marko , key word there is “Ever” sad eh
Unfortunately that is the truth. Delays drive up cost of housing and we end up with less housing while demand for both rentals and ownership doesn’t ever subside.
Ya nothing sinister going on here . I like that they are wanting to build townhouses , as I’m a fan of that form of housing . But people have a right to have their voices to be heard . Wanting to silence people , be it nimbys or other advocates will not achieve consensus. Right or wrong Leo’s is just one more voice in many. I for one enjoy all the turmoil as it’s good for business
Congratulations Barrister, you may just had the worst comment on this blog. It’s so crazy that Leo wants an ample supply of housing especially given that he has young kids.
Barrister,
Good grief. Leo doesn’t get paid by developers or anyone else. He has answered your same question previously. He works tirelessly for free for housing advocacy. Hopefully you’ll apologize for making your ridiculous accusation.
Holy crap, I can’t agree with folks like Sahtlam SEEKER more. Leo, thank you so much for all the free work and analysis you do here. It is so appreciated by so many. I admire your reasonable responses to the weirdos criticizing you too, I would not be as patient.
Leo is just racking it in from developers. So much that he was able to buy a generator for his 12 year old Nissan Leaf finally achieving his dream of having a long range EV. and the heatpump on his 70s box, questionable who paid for that install – probably a developer that is greasing Leo.
This is just beyond idiotic…..another one added to mute. Thnx for the mute button Leo otherwise I would have abandoned HHV a year ago.
Okay, I am not crazy then – despite a wide array of opinions the comments section was such a gem on HHV 10+ year ago and unfortunately it has turned into vastly garbage only manageable with multiple people on mute 🙂
lol
You’re right, you asked and I answered in the past. So why continue to assert things that you full well know aren’t true? Pretty shitty thing to do to be honest. I have a day job unrelated to housing and do some software development / data analysis contract work as the fancy strikes me. I don’t do any work for developers.
Listed on https://www.homesforliving.ca/about-us
I realize as a lawyer the concept of doing work for free because it aligns with your values is a foreign concept.
I am certain you have a logical reason for this, but its not clear to me how building more homes will moderate housing but reducing population won’t. It seems like two sides of the same coin to me. Curious how you reconcile that. I realize our population will have to grow at some point so more homes are needed but i still think reduction in immigration helps us dig out of that housing hole much more quickly.
LOL doesn’t Leo work in education in one form or another? You guys are nuts on this forum. Leo does amazing work putting these analysis together and providing valuable insight to our local market. Calls for a full disclosure of income is uncalled for and a disproportionate ask for the conversations that are had here. Honestly, as a long time lurker, the rest of you could take a breather too and stop sniping each other with insults every chance you get. A lot of great posters here but so many of you people are exhausting. Try having a decent conversation without all of the bile.
Well Leo, do you collect a pay cheque (or any other form of compensation) and who pays you (if anyone) and if it is some form of non profit exactly who are the contributors to that organization. I have asked this before but since you brought it up again maybe full disclosure of your income might go a long way to establishing your independence.
If you are not drawing any income from any organization and are just happily retired then fair enough.
If the zoning is approved, it could lead to more interest in developing along the north side of Lansdowne. A lot of these properties are mostly land value or golf course.
You’re putting none of the blame on the developer. The developer, who is allowed to put 4 townhouses on a single (upzoned) SFH lot as a right. And doesn’t apply for 4 townhouses, instead wants 13 townhouses.
Don’t they share some of the responsibility for why projects get delayed?
What exactly do you want the council and the neighbours to do? And how will this differ from what is actually happening?
It must be incredibly irritating to you that I don’t actually work for any developers
LeoS just thinks everything should be approved. He has an East Germain vision of what Victoria should be. Leo basically just fronts for Developers and that is fair enough.
Strawman.
And that’s why we have a housing shortage. Look hard enough and you can find a hundred issues with every project. That’s why Oak Bay hasn’t built any housing in 30 years.
The main effect will be long delays and much more expensive housing when they eventually get approved. The purpose of a system is what it does.
The last multi family application took 10 years. All that time for feedback im sure it will be the most amazing housing in the world and not at all a completely normal 4 story building indistinguishable from what would have been built if it was approved immediately.
And did the 10 years of consultation appease the neighbours of the Quest? Nope. They hated it just as much on day 3650 as on day 1.
3111 woodburn should be pissed!
Have I understood this correctly? It’s a single (big) SFH lot (20,000 sq ft), that has been up zoned to allow 4 units. And the proposal is for 13 ! townhouses?
And the public are correctly allowed to comment, and the HHV outrage is that neighbours are complaining which immediately makes them unreasonable NIMBYS? What’s the council supposed to do, just approve the zoning variances without input?
Isn’t the idea with the upzoning that they could put 4 units there by right, but if they want more, they need to go through this process? Seems to me there could be a lot of issues cramming 13 townhouses on a single lot, so public input is worthwhile, and they’ll probably end up with some good amendments to mitigate the effect of 13 townhouses on neighbours.
LMAO you can’t read, Marko’s original comment was that townhomes provide people the SFH feel that condos don’t, which is what I agreed with.
You need to be asking yourself who in their right mind other than you would choose a condo over a townhouse and why is that.
If that person lives next door then this development would effectively changes the product owns. In real life, almost everyone would be pissed off.
From the article:
Honestly what in the world is “gentle densification” if 13 units of townhomes are not part of it? Literally the lowest rung on the ladder of development.
This is NIMBY code for do not build in my neighbourhood because I live here and F everyone else.
The conservatives were ahead in one recent poll, though they may well be ahead in all the polls after today’s announcement.
Conservatives are ahead in the polls currently.
Now you are comparing condos outdoor space to SFHs? I guess you knew I was right and that’s why you did a troll move and switched to comparing a condo to an SFH. Besides my original post said everything else being equal I would prefer living on one level not two or three.
I’ve seen condos with large patio areas, and huge outdoor area decks they don’t always have to be penthouses. You’re just trolling now.
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=BurViboqs7S
https://youtu.be/_isNS3P6pbo
Live press conference with BC Conservative Leader John Rustad, and BC United’s Kevin Falcon
https://www.youtube.com/live/CVu9rO4fOrI?si=bBVRUPUeSBp6aasx
It looks like a much closer race than many imagined. The NDP are no longer a sure thing.
That was widely expected…
Ok…. how about with a condo you have zero probability of getting private outdoor space similar to a SFH until you get to the penthouse level whereas in a townhouse that probability increases dramatically?
BC election just got verrry interesting!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-united-suspends-campaign-to-merge-with-b-c-conservatives-1.7307302
B.C. United suspends campaign to merge with B.C. Conservatives
“The B.C. United Party is suspending its campaign and joining forces with the surging Conservative Party of B.C. in a move intended to unite the right-of-centre vote ahead of the October 19th provincial election.
B.C. United campaign manager Mark Werner confirmed that Kevin Falcon will step down and the party will merge with the B.C Conservatives.
It’s unclear how many B.C. United candidates will run under the Conservative banner.
Under leader John Rustad, the B.C. Conservatives have been climbing in the polls and raking in donations. Rustad has scheduled a news conference for 2:40 p.m. PT.
Last week, a survey from Mainstreet Research put the B.C. Conservatives in the lead in terms of voting intention at 36 per cent support, ahead of the governing B.C. NDP at 33 per cent.”
That’s not always true. The difference between a condo and a townhouse can be fuzzy but it has little to do with the amount of outdoor private space.
https://www.manchesterliving.ca/
I definitely would not want that. You also forget that with townhouses you usually have much more private outdoor space than condos.
I don’t agree. Everything else being equal, I would prefer a three bedroom condo on one level than a townhouse of the same square footage broken up onto two or three floors.
The older complexes have large 3-bedroom suites and are generally located in the better neighborhoods. I can change the interior. I just can’t change the location and size.
https://app.standardres.ca/400-630-montreal-st/
I do agree, but what is the margin on a 3 bed condo vs a 3 bed townhome in Langford?
Are these mostly POS houses with tenants?
You would do the bare minimum you can get away with and still be a realtor in your spare time 😉
As in terms of house or neighborhood? If I was in trades like you I would seriously consider buying a lot and build your own as what you are looking for is too custom. I may do that for my next residence
Townhouses in Oak Bay facing the usual complaints. https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/neighbours-object-to-13-unit-townhouse-proposal-in-oak-bay-9443680
Objection to housing has nothing to do with the size of the housing. Family-sized housing will be just as fiercely opposed as small units. Townhouses will be just as fiercely opposed as apartments.
True, but part of it is zero sum thinking caused by restrictive rules about height and floor area ratio. If you have permission to build a hard max of 20,000 sqft, then it makes more sense to maximize your unit count within that restriction. But what if that limit didn’t exist or was much higher? Now you have additional construction costs for those additional square feet, but the marginal cost to add a bedroom is much lower than to add a bathroom or kitchen, so turning a 2 bed into a 3 bed is not that much extra cost.
There’s a lot that government could be doing if we wanted more 3 bed condos. The fact they aren’t doing those things shows that they care more about keeping building heights and footprints smaller than providing apartments for families
Small uptick in SFH core inventory below $1 million; up to 51 active listings as of this morning.
Even thought there are few three bedroom options when they are available often I find them to be a great value for those who would prefer not to spend all their time commuting for 10′ of yard space.
Maybe Uplands fits. I was looking for a rancher and gave up.
Unfortunately if developers built 3-bedroom family friend condos they would go bankrupt. I have a very nice near new three bedroom condo (floorplan below) listed right now for $779,900. If you split the square footage of that condo exactly in half and had two one bedroom units you would easily clear $1 million (>$500k each).
Culturally a 3-bed condo cannot compete with a townhome in Langford. The vast majority of buyers will take townhome in happy valley versus 3-bed condo in town, just so they can be closer to that SFH feel.
Government would have to heavily subsidize three bedroom condos for them to be built.
yup that is what I’ve seen units at the Janion going for.
We don’t have 150 sqft units.
But it’s absolutely possible to rent small units in the 300-400sqft range. They’re going for about $1800/month in our market.
Of course if we had more housing they’d be cheaper. About $300 for 250sqft in Tokyo. Great for singles. https://x.com/shaunonsite_/status/1762845593494331824
I don’t have an issue with the individual government worker. If BC Housing phoned me and said hey we want you to manage the owner builder department, a 110% useless regulation/policy, and will give you 250k/year of course I would take the job and continue to run a department overseeing a useless policy. I am not going to lie and say that I would take the moral high ground and say “no” because the department is complete non-sense.
When I worked for VIHA I strategically picked up shifts so I could get into overtime pay, etc., and guess what if I worked for the municipal government and turnaround time for garden suite permits was 12 months of course I would prioritize my flex Friday versus working longer hours to get the permits out to home owners. I am not better than any government worker and I would behave the same way. Take my flexes, take my family days, take my moving day, take my whatever day. I would take everything I was entitled too.
The problem is the system in itself. You can’t have 10 people working in an office writing policy on how to swing a hammer, for the one person actually swinging a hammer. It doesn’t add up.
and yes I realize more than 50% of my transactions involve at least one salary supported by tax dollars. Also currently all my tenants are navy, island health, bc gov, or Uvic employed.
Why do most HHV discussions about RE investors fail to mention PBR investors? By numbers, they are currently the elephant in the “new rental units” investor room. And they are way up.
There’s a huge number of PBR units being built. And those are “investors” (aka landlords). So while we may be losing condo mom-n-pop investors, we are gaining the PBR investors, which are landlords providing long term, stable rentals. This adds up to a net gain of investors, assuming we include PBR landlords as investors (which they are of course).
This should be obvious, but typically all we hear about is the condo investors that may be leaving. When in reality it is just changing the type of investors to long-term, stable PBR rentals, which is a good thing,
This helps the housing crisis, because…
A tenant who signs up for a PBR rental can very likely stay in as long as they want. Just pay rent and abide by the rules and no worry of eviction for landlord use. That’s a big deal and will help the housing crisis a lot IMO. Fear of eviction pressures renters into buying.
If some tenant has a PBR rental, but wants to buy a home, that’s fine, but that “want” it isn’t a “crisis” for them or society, as they have secure long-term accommodation either way.
Totoro , looking to stay in the hood , would settle for a master on the main , but still need a big main floor . I also have a double garage and would still require a place for the cars
Vicre, house is nice as it’s been renovated top to bottom , been here for ( years and would be nice for a change . Looking to buy up in the market
Leo, “the only reason much of that supply was built is because of the presence of those investors”. This is so true and a lot of those investors bought hotel size units with the legal right to rent short term- hard to long term rent 150 Sq’. I think the BC NDP gov has shot everyone in the foot and elsewhere and those investors supporting required presales will disappear. I wouldn’t be signing up for one at the moment.
Hard to find in these areas. Maybe impossible except for the Landsdowne slope area. Parksville/Qualicum/Nanoose have loads – including waterfront – for less than your current home most likely.
The folks that thought low rates was the entirety of the problem were disappointed when raising them didn’t fix it
The people who believe high immigration is the cause of high prices will be similarly disappointed
True, and this is a short term problem with high condo inventory in Toronto, but don’t forget that the only reason much of that supply was built is because of the presence of those investors to start with. If they are absent, there will be much fewer condo starts
The millions of new immigrants that have entered the country in the last decade will be contributing millions of newborns that will keep population levels ever increasing. They like large families.
I really think it’s important not to get too caught up in the first order effects of population growth on rents (which is, of course, important for renters), when we are talking about housing prices.
We have seen high housing prices in the country for the simple reason that international and domestic investors have bet on the belief that Canadian land prices will continue to rise faster than incomes and the economy, due to low property taxes, high population growth and consistently too little housing supply being built relative to demand.
This has been a really good bet over the past decade and a half.
The real question is whether this consensus is going to break. If population growth crashes due to Canadians turning heavily against immigration, and interest rates fail to fall, there’s going to be a weaker and weaker investment case.
This is very impactful as investors take up close to 50% of the condo market in Vancouver and Toronto, and these are the majority of new supply built over the past decade (and likely this will be the majority of new supply built into the future).
If investor sentiment fouls, then expect to see land prices fall.
Otherwise if the bulls get excited by falling interest rates, and if the Canadian government continues to fail to cut back on population growth, then we should expect more land value increases and a more pricy housing market in the future.
It’s anyone’s guess what happens.
What you mean? Sick of the house or does the house need work that you don’t want to do?
Well if that’s the case the pre-sale buyers of two years ago have lost the gamble, big time.
I think the bottom line is simply price.
Gambling on lower rates when they close.
I am not a realtor though, LMAO believe it or not in a way I work for you union peeps
How big?
You’re the one getting your coffers filled when those “drones” with their stable T4 earnings and decent credit ratings apply to banks for mortgages for properties you take a commission on. Its an interesting observation that realtors love it when a government worker comes along to buy a house because the banks love to lend to them, but how at the same time realtors can hold such disparaging views about what it is their clients do for a living.
and a similar size one bedroom just sold now at my favorite building in Victoria, the Bayview One, for 590k.
speaking of One Bear Mountain the first successful flip has gone well. One bedroom purchased for $465k+GST pre-sale and re-sold today for 626k.
What does that even mean? stable incomes and decent credit rating? LMAO are you a corporation? And how does getting a mortgage fill your coffers?
There was a nice rancher in Cordova Bay with ocean views that sold for 1.8ish couple months ago. IMO ranchers will appreciate in value more than other SFH types as they are just not built anymore, old retirees usually have money and they love ranchers
Vicre, ya not going to happen , guest suite is on the bottom of the list . In north Van , lots of larger ranchers . Don’t really want to move away from where I am so not going to be easy to find everything on the list . What I have is very close just time to move it along
That sounds rare in those areas, you’ll have better luck in broadmead, cordova bay etc. but that is a pretty big rancher still. How are you getting a guest suite on another floor if it’s a rancher though?
Vicre, 2500 sq rancher , oak bay Fairfield . Not wanting stairs or a master on a top floor . Would like a guest suite on another floor so that they will go away . I’m over by the Ob hotel with 1700 up and 1700 down on a 11000 sq lot . Upstairs to small downstairs never go there .
What do you want?
Having been through the 1981 recession , the 90s funk and the gfc. Swinging a hammer with all of them . This is the strangest real estate downturn I’ve been through .
Yup.
The government just needs to get back to committing to a formula. Used to be CPI + 2%. If they want to make it just CPI fine, but commit to it. This whole “every year we’ll pick a random number based on how we feel” is bad policy.
I agree. If borrowers were under widespread stress to the point that it is causing them to be forced to sell we would have seen it by now. People are generally handling the increases
US home prices at record highs, up 6% YOY, despite the high rates (near 7%). Expected to continue if they drop their rates and there’s no recession.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/27/home-prices-hit-record-high-in-june-on-sp-case-shiller-index.html
Vicre, I’m actively looking now but not finding what I want , mrs thursty is becoming increasingly difficult. I have planned to list sometime next year , market is slower on the upper end . But I’m getting a whiff of opportunity coming
Typical union drone eh. Tell us high and mighty oh wise tiny buddha what is the free world like? Do you have color out there? Vicreanalyst sniffing his own farts – “Pathetic union drones with their stable incomes and decent credit rating, please get a mortgage so you can fill my coffers.”
When do most units close?
Doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore as most were stress tested at atleast 4.79%. Add that to the wage gains of like 12% since 2020 for the typical union drone and higher for those that got promotions I think as long as people didn’t go on a spending spree or got laid off then they should be ok.
Volume or commission or both?
A bit for sure. Also, I think lack of nearby amenities for the condo owners doesn’t help either but will see how these re-sales go. If Bosa can’t move units in Tower II @ Dockside (have 19 left) I am curious where the demand will come for One Bear Mountain. I am guessing within 60 days we are up to 30 to 40 re-sales in the building before they start being cancelled and rented out.
As for the homes on BM a lot of them are now 15 years old +/- and the trends in cabinets/tiles/colours have completely shifted which is making those homes a difficult sell.
Interesting to see a big price difference like that. I’ll guess it’s people wanting “brand new never lived in”, though seems to me they’re overpaying for that.
Right. In Japan that also applies to furniture, musical instruments etc. A lot of used items from Japan end up selling in North America because they’re hard to sell in Japan.
Marko, is there there any talk of this issue when it comes to Bear Mountain? This is an article from a few months ago, I wonder if the possibility of instability at the golf course could be effecting how people are behaving WRT real estate in that area.
https://www.cheknews.ca/bear-mountain-creditor-seeks-owners-to-enter-receivership-amid-unpaid-62m-loan-1206568/#:~:text=Bear%20Mountain%20owners%20owe%20%2462,says%20in%20a%20court%20filing.
I have heard in the past that Asian buyers are generally looking for new builds as buildings with previous tenants are bad luck?
Of note, it is interesting the very few condo pre-sales that are selling how much of a massive premium they are demanding versus near new re-sale (this has been the case in Vancouver for the last 8 years were pre-sales were at times 20% more than equivalent tangible re-sales, but starting to see it in Victoria now).
Abstract pre-sale on Shelbourne sold today for $599,900+GST at 562 sq.ft.
Abstract yr 2020 built re-sale on North Dairy (a few blocks away from Shelbourne project) sold two weeks ago at $527,000 (no GST) at 568 sq.ft.
Wonder if buyers are gambling in appreciation during the two year build period or they just want brand new never lived in?
14 new condo flip listings at One Bear Mountain and climbing….every other one on my end of the system notes “seller is licensed REALTOR.” Looks like a ton of agents piled into pre-sale purchases here.
Stupid question I should probably know but I’ve never given a tenant a rent increase in my life, but I have decided will start now as I don’t trust the government going forward not to bring in more stupid tenancy measures.
If I give a tenant a rent increase notice between now and December I can do 3.5% but if I give it in January it can only be 3.0%? correct?
So far September is looking slow for me personally in terms of new listings; one condo and one SFH in Fairfield on the slate as of right now. Interestingly enough had my best August ever, by far, possibly the best month of my career – I think just random probability.
All in all, inventory has peaked and I think and will start coming down.
Not sure about the trend of more buyers. Buyers will only start to pile in when it is obvious that the market has shifted. I think there might be a good buying opportunity in the fall where you are buying in an environment where rates are coming down slowly, but the market is still sluggish and there are deal to be had.
I know its Vancouver, but Steve Saretsky was saying that there are a lot of people looking to list in September as they believe dropping rates will entice buyers (or allow them) to come off the sidelines to start purchasing again. He is saying that the pent up demand will be met with pent up sellers and believes it won’t move the market much either way. I was wondering if Marko or any realtors here have gotten a sense that this might be a busier September for listings due to the same reasoning? or are we expecting the trend of more buyers than sellers to continue as rates decline throughout this year?
Perhaps you should buy now and sell later?
Good to c the market is heating up , I’m noticing some solds on stale listings . The Dow is killing it too