What’s going on with condo affordability?
We know that single detached affordability will get worse and worse over the long run simply because houses will get more and more rare as a percentage of available homes. That means the remaining houses...
Category: Statistics
More on westshore weakness
Last week I mentioned that despite the overall market remaining in a mild sellers market territory, market strength depends on where you’re looking. Rising rates sideline buyers, but only if those buyers are dependent on...
September: It’s all about them rates
September is a wrap, and it’s clear that rising rates are putting a damper on the market, at least in terms of activity. Though the headline numbers look ok (reported sales at 493 are up...
What happened to those rental-restricted condos?
Just under a year ago, the BC government abolished rental restrictions in BC condos. As a reminder, at the time the landscape of condos looked like the chart below, with the majority of condos built...
Feds panic on housing, will it help?
We’re 2 years into the current term of the federal government, and back when they were campaigning for the election, none of the parties had a particularly compelling housing policy. Many of the promised policies...
Fall market arrives early
Victoria saw a strong week for new listings to start off the fall market. There were 35% more new resale listings in metro Victoria last week than the same week a year ago, and that...
August: Market stall continues
August ended with 544 sales, up 14% from last year’s total, and 21% below the 10 year average. Weak sales activity no doubt, though also a remarkable display of resilience given that mortgage rates haven’t...
Priced out forever?
I’ve spilled a lot of virtual ink on affordability on this blog and why I believe it matters. In short, there are generally two affordability stories: For condos, affordability has oscillated between bad and good...
Mortgage rates are up, does it make sense to pay it down?
Two years ago the average Canadian borrower was paying just under 2% for a new mortgage while bank accounts were paying near zero interest and GICs were in the 1% range. Convential wisdom was that...
Suites and home values
Suites are extremely common in Victoria. With a stagnation in purpose built rental construction (until recent years), chronically low rental vacancy rates driving rents up, and high house prices that drive many people to mortgage...