Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by geotag277

Houston is 5% Asian (all types). Toronto is 10%+ Chinese alone! Vancouver is 20%+ Chinese. Toronto and Vancouver have sizable Chinese communities that eclipse Houston.

Toronto 12.9% and Vancouver is 17.2%.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Problem Buildings
I don't know what the deal with these buildings are. But they tend to have very low prices, even for being older buildings. As well as bad reputations overall.

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Singl...rio-M9R1T3-Kingsview-Village-The-Westway

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Singl...rio-M9R1T1-Kingsview-Village-The-Westway

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Singl...rio-M9R1T4-Kingsview-Village-The-Westway

$708 monthly condo fee?!?!? Add property taxes on top of that and it seems you're getting pretty close to a monthly rent...

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Thanks!

I admit though that I was kinda joking. And I would never claim to be an expert on real estate investment, even though I am not totally clueless on the topic either.

FWIW, no one with enough real estate experience would ever claim to be an "expert" on the topic, they'd cap at considering themselves experienced-knowledgeable.

If you'll allow me a slightly exaggerated analogy, that would be like someone who's won the lottery a few times already... starting to consider themselves an "expert" at winning the lottery

In nearly all real estate success stories there's at least some component of being at the right place at the right time, and often the "advice" from those who "made it" can't be reproduced any more. Even on this forum sunsetmountainland is a good example of that; he started from nearly nothing in SW BC in the mid-1990s, but the bar to entry for a kid over there right now is much higher, and his template can't be followed anymore.

Even what I did to start can't be closely imitated anymore a decade later, too many things have changed since then. (Not that I'd ever give such dumb advice as "do like me, it worked".)

The only few things that don't change are general game rules like "try to correctly guess which currently cheap neighborhood is the next Plateau Mont-Royal and buy as much as you can over there", but that's not exactly sharing a precious nugget of wisdom.

Except for that, what someone with experience can do is review a bunch of properties that someone else would want to buy, and give specific advice based on that. But that's basically it.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Also in Toronto the city is much more vigilant about what can and cannot be torn down and what can take it's place.

That may be somewhat true for downtown and immediate surroundings, but as someone who lives about 12 km north of downtown in a postwar suburb (Armour Heights), I can wearily attest that the disgusting McMansioning of these areas continues unabated: Elderly empty-nesters move out. Developer buys their house for >$1 million, razes it, erects an enormous plywood and stucco cubeoid for as little cost as possible, and sells to profligate SUV-yuppies for an astronomical sum. There don't seem to be any real checks on this activity, and oddly, it has never been raised as a moral issue.
Some of these old suburban streets are so infested with McMansions that driving on them is like driving over constant speed bumps because of the one-after-another utility cuts.

[Prometheus]

$63.87 million

Chip Wilson’s Vancouver home still the most valuable property in B.C.

The Lululemon founder's home at 3085 Point Grey Rd. is valued at $63.87 million

By Bethany Lindsay, Vancouver Sun January 4, 2016

VANCOUVER — Chip Wilson may have taken a step back from the spotlight this past year, but his sprawling Kitsilano home is still front and centre as the most valuable property in B.C.

BC Assessment's 2016 numbers value the Lululemon founder's home at 3085 Point Grey Rd. at $63.87 million, a 10.9-per-cent increase over the 2015 assessed value. A 25,000-square-foot mansion at 4707 Belmont Ave. earns second place on the list, with an assessed value of $57.06 million.

Nine of the 10 most expensive properties in the province are also on the west side of Vancouver, according to BC Assessment.

The only outsider is James Island, a private landmass in the Gulf Islands owned by Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw. The island has previously been on the market at a price of $75 million, but its assessed value for 2016 is $51.62 million.

Otherwise, the most highly valued properties outside the City of Vancouver are in West Vancouver, led by a $29.66-million home at 3330 Radcliffe Ave. — the 12th most expensive property in the province.

The 10 most valuable properties in B.C. include:

1. 3085 Point Grey Rd., Vancouver: $63.87 million

2. 4707 Belmont Ave.,Vancouver: $57.06 million

3. James Island: $51.62 million

4. 4719 Belmont Ave., Vancouver: $37.09 million

5. 2815 Point Grey Rd., Vancouver: $34.68 million

6. 1388 The Crescent, Vancouver: $33.79 million

7. 4743 Belmont Ave.,Vancouver: $33.73 million

8. 4857 Belmont Ave., Vancouver: $31.81 million

9. 4773 Belmont Ave., Vancouver: $31.43 million

10. 5695 Newton Wynd, Vancouver: $29.79 million

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/c...st+valuable+property/11629896/story.html

[ssiguy]

Wilson's house is incredibly ugly and even looks like it's not kept up very well.

The crazy part is that he would probably get that price if he sold it as I'm sure he was smart enough to make the entire house feng shui positive before it was built because he knows if it wasn't then he wouldn't get half that price.

[Prometheus]

Obviously, his house is lot nicer than that, which you would know if you actually knew anything about Vancouver:


http://postimg.org/image/5a6skyrz1/


http://postimg.org/image/l9u1i9del/

[ssiguy]

It still looks like a bunker. I don't think it has any redeeming qualities.

[mistercorporate]

While I have nothing but the upmost respect for the man who made yoga pants (and yoga bums) a delectable part of every man's daily experience, i'Il have to seriously question his architectural taste. That's one hideous piece of brutalist and quasi modernist crap.

[Berklon]

Well it's big... I guess we can give him that much. Other than that - it's pretty damn ugly.

[ssiguy]

The house beside it looks quite nice but I'm sure it will be torn down shortly.

[dleung]

Not a fan of Chip's house either (poor use of concrete) but still better than the nostalgic heritage replicas built in Shaughnessy and elsewhere. The only reason you like the old one beside it is because red-china-money-launderers-pricing-you-out-of-the-market, etc, the usual spiel, lol.

Interestingly, the lot isn't that big - about 1/3 the size of a typical lot in Bridle Path. A 20' wide house by Patkau a few doors down is worth about $25 million.

[esquire]

Wilson's residence may be the greatest house I have ever seen in Canada. That is completely spectacular. Clearly not meant to be a crowd pleaser, but absolutely flawless in design, at least from the pics we've seen.

[TorontoDrew]

5 reasons Toronto house prices won't crash in 2016


The naysayers insist the bubble has to burst sometime, but no signs indicate it'll happen this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/topstori...use-prices-won-t-crash-in-2016-1.3393299

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

While I have nothing but the upmost respect for the man who made yoga pants (and yoga bums) a delectable part of every man's daily experience, i'Il have to seriously question his architectural taste. That's one hideous piece of brutalist and quasi modernist crap.

That's the houses bunker backside. It's all about the views on the other side.

[TorontoDrew]

Read the posts on the first page. Really entertaining how wrong they all ended up being. To be fair back then those predictions seemed plausible. Even the opening post blaming high price commodities as a reason for a recession are no longer an issue. This thread was created when oil was at $100 a barrel and now it's struggling to hit $20. Our weak dollar will continue to drive the investment market in cities like Vancouver and Toronto. This is great news for sky scraper geeks. Watch the boom continue outside of the oil patch.

[dleung]

Bad news for anyone wanting a usable layout for a new condo. I've been looking in the Toronto/Vancouver market for over a year and haven't found a new building I even want to buy in, let alone afford.

The bunker photo is just guest-house and underground parking entrance I believe (the smaller structure on right side of the satellite photo).

[TorontoDrew]

Is this why you're looking at Hamilton?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by dleung

Not a fan of Chip's house either (poor use of concrete) but still better than the nostalgic heritage replicas built in Shaughnessy and elsewhere. The only reason you like the old one beside it is because red-china-money-launderers-pricing-you-out-of-the-market, etc, the usual spiel, lol.

Interestingly, the lot isn't that big - about 1/3 the size of a typical lot in Bridle Path. A 20' wide house by Patkau a few doors down is worth about $25 million.

What makes it better than houses that mimic the character of the neighbourhood they are in? Wilson's house does everything "urbanists" are supposed to hate, most notably putting forward a cold blank face on the streetscape. Plus bare concrete is always a gloomy choice for a city with dark, wet winters.

[whatnext]

...Pundits can bicker over the differences between the U.S. and Canadian housing booms or whether we are indeed experiencing a bubble, but one simple parallel points to a startling problem: We are building a lot more houses than we really need. From 2006 to 2011, Canada’s population grew by 3 per cent while housing stock grew by 7.1 per cent...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...g-on-oil-and-the-loonie/article28083772/