Real Estate discussions - Page 6

whatnext · #**101** Posted **May 27, 2025, 8:47 PM**

Realtors now turning down listing from sellers wanting unrealistic prices.

Vancouver realtors turning down unrealistic clients as home sales lowest since 2020
By Amy Judd & Sarah MacDonald Global News
Posted May 26, 2025 6:17 pm

Real estate experts say there is another indication that the real estate market in Greater Vancouver is changing.

Vancouver realtor and investor, Steve Saretsky, says the market is becoming so saturated that realtors are turning down listings.

“The inventory is stacking up, it’s not selling,” he said.

“Which is to say, there are a lot of realtors out there working for free.”

Home sales in Greater Vancouver are at their lowest since 2020 and Saretsky said sellers’ expectations in a buyers’ market are not always aligned with reality.

This means that listings that may have sold fast and over the asking price now might take more resources and time to close the deal — if at all...

https://globalnews.ca/news/11197655/vancouver-realtors-unrealistic-clients-home-sales-lowest-2020/

whatnext · #**102** Posted **Dec 17, 2025, 8:58 PM**

This is what happens when prices get out of reach of local incomes.

Bryan Yu: Metro Vancouver home sales sink to near 25-year low
Apartment and townhouse prices see deepest annual declines
Bryan Yu
about 8 hours ago

Metro Vancouver’s regional housing market looks to be ending off on a weak note with few signs of momentum heading into 2026. MLS sales in the region reached only 2,738 units in November, according to local real estate board data. This was 16 per cent lower than the prior year and compared to a 15 per cent year-over-year decline in October. Seasonally adjusted sales were up by our estimate on a month-over-month basis by three per cent but remained low. And while same-month sales were still higher than 2022 and 2023, this was the fourth fewest November sales since 2013. Save for a holiday miracle, the region is on track with the fewest annual sales since 2000 as year-to-date sales fell 13 per cent....

https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/brya...-sales-sink-to-near-25-year-low-11613044

Changing City · #**103** Posted **Dec 17, 2025, 10:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatnext

This is what happens when prices get out of reach of local incomes.

Incomes have increased over the past three and a half years, and home prices have fallen since they peaked in spring 2022. (In the Vancouver Real Estate Board area, detached are down 11% and condos 16% in that period). The housing market is stalling, in terms of sales, because prices are falling, and many potential buyers are unwilling to buy an expensive asset that's likely to be worth less next year than they would have to pay for it this year. And many potential sellers aren't currently desperate enough to lower their expectations of value, and aren't facing higher mortgage payments that they can't afford.

SpongeG · #**104** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 2:33 AM**

I missed the discussion on CKNW thias afternoon but the federal gov't is looking into possibly ending the foreign ownership rule in 20027 when it runs out, I heard the voice messages that were played and people were 100% against that happening.

Posthaste: Two signs foreign investors are making their way back to Canada, just in the nick of time
After a two-quarter hiatus, foreigners snapped up $25 billion of federal government debt

Author of the article:By Pamela Heaven
Published Dec 22, 2025

https://financialpost.com/news/two-signs-foreign-investors-returning-canada

this bloomberg is behind a paywall
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-housing-market-to-more-foreign-capital

whatnext · #**105** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 3:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I missed the discussion on CKNW thias afternoon but the federal gov't is looking into possibly ending the foreign ownership rule in 20027 when it runs out, I heard the voice messages that were played and people were 100% against that happening.

Posthaste: Two signs foreign investors are making their way back to Canada, just in the nick of time
After a two-quarter hiatus, foreigners snapped up $25 billion of federal government debt

Author of the article:By Pamela Heaven
Published Dec 22, 2025

https://financialpost.com/news/two-signs-foreign-investors-returning-canada

this bloomberg is behind a paywall
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-housing-market-to-more-foreign-capital

“In the Nick of Time”? To what, f*ck over working Canadians again?

Hopefully the Conservatives get their act together and beat Carney and his idiot housing minister with it before it gets implemented.

jollyburger · #**106** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 4:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I missed the discussion on CKNW thias afternoon but the federal gov't is looking into possibly ending the foreign ownership rule in 20027 when it runs out, I heard the voice messages that were played and people were 100% against that happening.

Posthaste: Two signs foreign investors are making their way back to Canada, just in the nick of time
After a two-quarter hiatus, foreigners snapped up $25 billion of federal government debt

Author of the article:By Pamela Heaven
Published Dec 22, 2025

https://financialpost.com/news/two-signs-foreign-investors-returning-canada

this bloomberg is behind a paywall
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-housing-market-to-more-foreign-capital

Might be more about getting institutional investors incentives to start new projects. Article about that here:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10526378&postcount=2487

Quote:

Under Australia’s rules, set to expire in April 2027, foreigners are generally banned from buying existing homes but can purchase new units, as well as vacant land for construction. The rules are meant to keep a lid on prices while boosting supply. Recent data has shown housing starts trending upward in the country, though its government has struggled to reach its homebuilding goals.

Ana Bailao, chief executive officer of Canada’s new homebuilding agency, Build Canada Homes, has called for tax code changes to attract foreign investment. But Robertson said it was “premature” to discuss specifics. The government will make its decision “based on where the housing market’s at a year from now.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-housing-market-to-more-foreign-capital

whatnext · #**107** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 5:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Might be more about getting institutional investors incentives to start new projects. Article about that here:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10526378&postcount=2487

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-housing-market-to-more-foreign-capital

There’s nothing stopping foreign investors from buying into residential builders and developers or backing projects. Therefore there’s zero rationale for letting them buy individual units again. That just sets them up as middlemen that add another layer of cost to the project.

Migrant_Coconut · #**108** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 6:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatnext

Hopefully the Conservatives get their act together and beat Carney and his idiot housing minister with it before it gets implemented.

Don't hold your breath - the Con candidate in my riding wants to end BC's ownership restrictions.

whatnext · #**109** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Don't hold your breath - the Con candidate in my riding wants to end BC's ownership restrictions.

Bizarre for a supposedly "populist" party, though I doubt the BC Cons will get their act together and be in a position to do anything.

kikin · #**110** Posted **Dec 24, 2025, 8:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I missed the discussion on CKNW thias afternoon but the federal gov't is looking into possibly ending the foreign ownership rule in 20027 when it runs out, I heard the voice messages that were played and people were 100% against that happening.

The average Canadian is not economically realistic about anything.

SpongeG · #**111** Posted **Dec 25, 2025, 2:16 AM**

about 1/3 of the messages were saying keep their dirty money laundering out of Canada we don't want criminals buying houses here basically.

The host was saying that so many developments have stalled or just not happening these days and maybe this would help create much needed housing with proper rules etc.

Migrant_Coconut · #**112** Posted **Dec 25, 2025, 2:54 AM**

Emphasis on "proper rules" if that goes ahead. Unregulated laissez faire is a large part of how we got a housing crisis in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatnext

Bizarre for a supposedly "populist" party, though I doubt the BC Cons will get their act together and be in a position to do anything.

Both the ex-United and fed Cons support neolib Darwinian free markets. It's perfectly in-character.

chowhou · #**113** Posted **Dec 27, 2025, 11:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Unregulated laissez faire is a large part of how we got a housing crisis in the first place.

Was the municipal government banning new apartments, down-zoning large swaths of the city, and locking in enforced government decided building zones in the 1970s an example of this so-called "unregulated laissez faire"?

jollyburger · #**114** Posted **Dec 27, 2025, 4:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

Was the municipal government banning new apartments, down-zoning large swaths of the city, and locking in enforced government decided building zones in the 1970s an example of this so-called "unregulated laissez faire"?

More likely the blame is on "unregulated laissez faire" immigration policy (from Asia).

2016

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columni...ing,the%20New%20York%20Times%20Crossword.

whatnext · #**115** Posted **Dec 27, 2025, 4:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyburger

More likely the blame is on "unregulated laissez faire" immigration policy (from Asia).

2016

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columni...ing,the%20New%20York%20Times%20Crossword.

So they had the right idea back in the day but they stepped on the gas anyway.

Migrant_Coconut · #**116** Posted **Dec 27, 2025, 10:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

Was the municipal government banning new apartments, down-zoning large swaths of the city, and locking in enforced government decided building zones in the 1970s an example of this so-called "unregulated laissez faire"?

There was a housing crisis in the 70s? Caused by one single zoning freeze in the West End?

No, I'm talking about the housing crisis in the 2010s caused by mass demovictions, a lack of tenant protections, uncontrolled speculation and flipping, and development focused exclusively on catering to the global investor class at the expense of all other potential owners or renters.

We've just finished solving the artificially-high demand problem and can now focus on the artificially-low supply problem... unless the feds reintroduce the former and we end up with two problems at once again.

chowhou · #**117** Posted **Dec 28, 2025, 1:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

There was a housing crisis in the 70s? Caused by one single zoning freeze in the West End?

Why do you act as though these problems just appear overnight? When you constrain future supply the issue compounds over time.

You're telling me the housing crisis began around that 2010 point?

And to say there was one single zoning freeze in the West End must be a joke. Yes, I'm sure Strathcona is very naturally zoned and would never have naturally grown if the prohibitive zoning wasn't there.

Migrant_Coconut · #**118** Posted **Dec 28, 2025, 1:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

Why do you act as though these problems just appear overnight? When you constrain future supply the issue compounds over time.

And when you add artificial demand, that pressure accelerates. We can build our way out of the problem, but only if we're building for people who want to live here, not flippers or investors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

You're telling me the housing crisis began around that 2010 point?

And to say there was one single zoning freeze in the West End must be a joke. Yes, I'm sure Strathcona is very naturally zoned and would never have naturally grown if the prohibitive zoning wasn't there.

That's an income-price graph. Even you can't blame the wage-inflation gap on restrictive zoning.

You said "downzoning large swaths of the city," but the only area that actually applies to was the West End; everything else was already capped at low-density under the interwar period Bartholomew Plan.

whatnext · #**119** Posted **Dec 28, 2025, 3:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

Why do you act as though these problems just appear overnight? When you constrain future supply the issue compounds over time.

You're telling me the housing crisis began around that 2010 point?

And to say there was one single zoning freeze in the West End must be a joke. Yes, I'm sure Strathcona is very naturally zoned and would never have naturally grown if the prohibitive zoning wasn't there.

Interesting that some see this a constrained supply rather than carelessly induced demand thanks to the Feds.

whatnext · #**120** Posted **Dec 29, 2025, 1:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowhou

Why do you act as though these problems just appear overnight? When you constrain future supply the issue compounds over time.

You're telling me the housing crisis began around that 2010 point?...

Looking at your graph it is clear prices took off around 2001-2003. Hmm, now what happened in the Vancouver market around that time? I certainly don’t recall any massive wage increases for working locals. What could it have been..Anyone, anyone???