Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by someone123

That's how you know a city's really world class; people are literally willing to prostitute themselves to live there!

To be fair, it's mostly desperate guys advertising their requests for live in cook/cleaner with 'benefits' for free rent. Not like women are offering it up overtly.

[gentlepuppies]

Originally Posted by dleung

April 2016 average house price by municipality

http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&date=2016-04-01

I posted some maps by BTA works to that effect a few pages back. If it were here, it would be as if half of the 416 had a $3 million average price.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by someone123

That's how you know a city's really world class; people are literally willing to prostitute themselves to live there!

Strikes me as more "Third World class" than anything else.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Strikes me as more "Third World class" than anything else.

I wouldn't want to live in a city that would have me as a prostitute.

Apologies to WC Fields.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I wouldn't want to live in a city that would have me as a prostitute.

Apologies to WC Fields.

You should be apologizing to Groucho Marks. On the whole W.C. Fields would rather have been in Philadelphia!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

You should be apologizing to Groucho Marks. On the whole W.C. Fields would rather have been in Philadelphia!

Good eye!

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by dleung

April 2016 average house price by municipality

http://www.rebgv.org/home-price-index?region=all&type=all&date=2016-04-01

The strangest thing to me is the rise of areas that have no real tangible value going way up. Like Richmond is not nice at all IMO but is now one of the most expensive areas, just because it has "rich" in the name and looks like it's the "mouth of the dragon."

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by Pinion

The strangest thing to me is the rise of areas that have no real tangible value going way up. Like Richmond is not nice at all IMO but is now one of the most expensive areas, just because it has "rich" in the name and looks like it's the "mouth of the dragon."

Actually I quite like richmond, less visible poverty there and rather dense along the skytrain lines.

[Pinion]

Oh ya so dense, much nice https://goo.gl/maps/QLcMrT114zw

Steveston is pretty great I'll admit.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Oh ya so dense, much nice https://goo.gl/maps/QLcMrT114zw

Steveston is pretty great I'll admit.

Outside of Steveston, Richmond is just one big ghetto only with fancy cars.

[SpongeG]

richmond has really grown on me over the years, i used to dislike it but it's actually quite nice, i even thought i wouldn't mind living there but never would cause of the earthquake factor

[vanman]

You guys are out to lunch. Richmond is actually really scenic in a lot of places. Especially around the dyke. I also like most of their new developments. They're usually at the right scale and well intergrated into the urban fabric with either street fronting retail or townhouses.

My pics from a few weeks back.

[Stingray2004]

Originally Posted by vanman

You guys are out to lunch. Richmond is actually really scenic in a lot of places.

Hey. I have always been of fan of Richmond. Grew up with it as my northern neighbour. Prefer it much more over the rest of the inner 'burbs... East Van, Burnaby, New West, northern Surrey, etc.

[Stryker]

I love this thread, Vancouver is literally the text book definition of a housing bubble.

Only on SSP can this be a point of debate.

[edm_guy]

I was staying at my friends condo in Coal Harbour over the weekend.

Decided to see what the prices were like in the area...The cheapest property I could find was $279,900. It was a small boat docked in the harbour!

[someone123]

Here's a new report on Vancouver's housing market from the Centre for Public Policy Research at SFU. It contends that foreign buyers are the primary cause of high housing prices in the region:

http://www.sfu.ca/mpp/centre_for_public_policy_research/cppr.html

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's a new report on Vancouver's housing market from the Centre for Public Policy Research at SFU. It contends that foreign buyers are the primary cause of high housing prices in the region:

http://www.sfu.ca/mpp/centre_for_public_policy_research/cppr.html

I read that report. I was struck by the colloquial tone of the writing (which the author admits in the Intro), which is good for the media, but can come back to bite you in the arse as an academic where every line should be judiciously chosen by evidence (e.g. "There is little doubt that the people who are bearing the biggest brunt of the crisis are millennials" (p. 25), is probably a sentence that may have warranted some editing). If you're a retired professor emeritus you might be able to get away with this, but if you're an Assistant Prof at the beginning of TT, it may be wise to tone it down a notch.

Anyway, that aside, I think the author has some good ideas. The tiered property tax is something I've long advocated, although I don't know how you can easily apply it to foreign owners.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I read that report. I was struck by the colloquial tone of the writing (which the author admits in the Intro), which is good for the media, but can come back to bite you in the arse as an academic where every line should be judiciously chosen by evidence (e.g. "There is little doubt that the people who are bearing the biggest brunt of the crisis are millennials" (p. 25), is probably a sentence that may have warranted some editing). If you're a retired professor emeritus you might be able to get away with this, but if you're an Assistant Prof at the beginning of TT, it may be wise to tone it down a notch.

Anyway, that aside, I think the author has some good ideas. The tiered property tax is something I've long advocated, although I don't know how you can easily apply it to foreign owners.

Shouldn't be hard to adjust the property purchase tax based on price point. There's very few locals playing at more than $3 million, and those that are can afford the tax hike.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's a new report on Vancouver's housing market from the Centre for Public Policy Research at SFU. It contends that foreign buyers are the primary cause of high housing prices in the region:

http://www.sfu.ca/mpp/centre_for_public_policy_research/cppr.html

Very limited supply of land and poor land use policy are the primary cause of high housing prices in the region.

[logan5]

I just did a semi accurate measurement (using Planimeter) of the undevelopable mountain region that is included in the Metro Vancouver's land area. That measurement came out to 500 sq miles. Subtract that from the 1100 sq miles that make up the total for Metro Vancouver, and you are left with 600 sq miles of potentially developable land. Then subtract the ALR and Burns Bog and you're left with around 400 sq miles to develop. What major city has these kinds of land constraints? Hong Kong for sure, but who else?

High growth rate/no land. How does this bubble burst?