Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

[misher]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

When did I say there were never any tensions? I just merely said they're not as dire as some people would like you to believe.

Oh no...Hong Kongers are not identifying as "Chinese-Canadians". Dialectical differences and misunderstandings at the local T&T!! It won't be long before Vancouver becomes sectarian Beirut now!!

Remember that HK only became part of China in 1991, until then it was a colony of Britain. So many of the HK in Canada were never Chinese and don't hold a Chinese passport. Just like people from Tibet before it was taken over call themselves Tibetans not Chinese.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by misher

Remember that HK only became part of China in 1991, until then it was a colony of Britain. So many of the HK in Canada were never Chinese and don't hold a Chinese passport. Just like people from Tibet before it was taken over call themselves Tibetans not Chinese.

Err, you mean 1997. And prior to 1842 it was most definitely part of Qing China. And I'm not talking about nationality here, rather ethnicity. Hong Kongers have always called themselves "Chinese" because well, they are. Along with some citizens of Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Canada, etc. it's referred to the Chinese diaspora. Being Chinese has nothing to do with pledging allegiance to the CCP as some here would have you believe. That being said, it's only a minority of people that claim that "Hong Konger" is it's own separate ethnicity.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Err, you mean 1997. And prior to 1842 it was most definitely part of Qing China. And I'm not talking about nationality here, rather ethnicity. Hong Kongers have always called themselves "Chinese" because well, they are. Along with some citizens of Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Canada, etc. it's referred to the Chinese diaspora. Being Chinese has nothing to do with pledging allegiance to the CCP as some here would have you believe. That being said, it's only a minority of people that claim that "Hong Konger" is it's own separate ethnicity.

That's like saying Canadians in 1971 should have called themselves "British" because we were technically ruled from Britain until the Statute of Westminster just 40 years before.

Almost everyone I've met from Taiwan refer to themselves as Taiwanese. Similarly when I've met people from KL, they say "I'm from Malaysia", not "I'm Chinese".

Another article, this time from the Globe & Mail yesterday:
...Mr. Chiu said he started to feel strongly about his Hong Konger identity in 2011, when the Hong Kong government tried to adopt a moral and national curriculum. He said such curriculum was trying to instill “nationalistic” ideas in young minds that many Hong Kongers opposed.

“So at that time, a lot of Hong Kongers started to think if that’s what it means to be a Chinese, maybe I am not a Chinese.”

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under the one-country, two-systems formula. Mr. Chiu said even though the city is under Chinese sovereignty, it has its own unique identity with its own currency, passport and language...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/b...-kongers-in-canada-proud-of-their-roots/

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by whatnext

That's like saying Canadians in 1971 should have called themselves "British" because we were technically ruled from Britain until the Statute of Westminster just 40 years before.

Almost everyone I've met from Taiwan refer to themselves as Taiwanese. Similarly when I've met people from KL, they say "I'm from Malaysia", not "I'm Chinese".

Another article, this time from the Globe & Mail yesterday:
...Mr. Chiu said he started to feel strongly about his Hong Konger identity in 2011, when the Hong Kong government tried to adopt a moral and national curriculum. He said such curriculum was trying to instill “nationalistic” ideas in young minds that many Hong Kongers opposed.

“So at that time, a lot of Hong Kongers started to think if that’s what it means to be a Chinese, maybe I am not a Chinese.”

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under the one-country, two-systems formula. Mr. Chiu said even though the city is under Chinese sovereignty, it has its own unique identity with its own currency, passport and language...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/b...-kongers-in-canada-proud-of-their-roots/

Ethnicity =/= Nationality. Ask your Malaysian friend what language he speaks at home, what food he cooks, and how he identifies himself when in a mixed-race crowd back at hom.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Ethnicity =/= Nationality. Ask your Malaysian friend what language he speaks at home, what food he cooks, and how he identifies himself when in a mixed-race crowd back at hom.

"Home" is now Canada.

Meanwhile...the lengths people will go to get them some Vancouver real estate:

American medical device firm claims West Vancouver couple used ‘illicit profits’ from counterfeiting scheme to buy B.C. real estate

Ohio-based medical device company AtriCure Inc. is suing West Vancouver-based businessman Jian Meng and his homemaker wife Xi Ren, claiming the pair used illicit profits from an intellectual property theft scheme to buy British Columbia real estate.

AtriCure filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on June 11 naming Jian Meng, also known as Larry Meng, and his wife, Xi Ren, as defendants. According to the lawsuit, the Mason, Ohio-based company was seeking to expand into the Chinese market with its “technologically advanced surgical devices to treat arterial fibrillation,” a degenerative heart condition...

...From 2005 to 2017, Meng and his company, non-party Beijing ZenoMed Scientific Co. Ltd., acted as exclusive distributor of AtriCure products in China. Part of the distribution arrangement involved AtriCure sharing confidential information with Meng’s firm, the claim states.


“Unbeknownst to AtriCure, instead of causing ZenoMed to assist in the distribution of, and securing of regulatory approvals for AtriCure products, Meng embarked on a scheme to steal AtriCure’s confidential information to profit from this theft by causing the production and sale of counterfeit AtriCure products derived entirely from this theft, and to hide the proceeds of this theft in real property in British Columbia,” AtriCure’s lawsuit states. “Ren assisted Meng with the Meng Scheme through the laundering of money derived from it in real property in British Columbia.”

AtriCure claims the couple owns properties in Vancouver, Surrey, Port Coquitlam and Powell River, while residing at their West Vancouver home at 2345 Orchard Lane, currently assessed at nearly $4.7 million....

https://biv.com/article/2019/06/american...st-vancouver-couple-used-illicit-profits

[whatnext]

A nice graphic reminder of how out of touch with reality Canada's major market housing markets became over the last decade:

[IMG]better-dwelling-vancouver-prices-versus-north-american-cities by whatnextyvr, on Flickr[/IMG]

From Business in Vancouver

[TorontoDrew]

This thread will be 8 years old on Saturday and I'm still waiting for this bubble to burst LOL.

I kind of wish it would or that it had but the reality is prices keep going up, demand keeps growing, and housing stock can't keep up with the growth.

Toronto update – expect higher house prices and a slowdown in office construction

John Clinkard June 26, 2019

Driven by a stronger pattern of demand over the past several months, house prices in the GTA have started to move higher after remaining essentially flat during 2018. Factors contributing to this solid increase in demand include the above-noted strong growth of full-time employment and net migration together with persisting relatively low mortgage rates.


full article: https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/...ouse-prices-slowdown-office-construction

[someone123]

Originally Posted by whatnext

A nice graphic reminder of how out of touch with reality Canada's major market housing markets became over the last decade

It's worse than it seems for Vancouver because these are percentage changes and Vancouver was already starting from an expensive baseline.

Montreal on the other hand is tracking in the middle of the pack there but has the cheapest real estate of the bunch, likely still by a wide margin. It's fairly natural that prices there would catch up a bit given how the economy there used to be relatively weak.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by whatnext

"Home" is now Canada.

Yes, I meant home as in the abode he currently resides in. But don't let that distract you from posting more junk about Chinese people in Canada.

[SignalHillHiker]

Market is definitely rebounding.

There is not a single thing in this house that wouldn't have to be replaced unless you're a 1970s Newfoundland grandmother. And it's on the busiest street in a bad neighbourhood. It's $100K more than I paid nearby.

[whatnext]

Definitely not the case in Vancouver. We're a textbook case of a housing bubble bursting:

Greater Vancouver New Home Sales Drop Nearly 90%

Greater Vancouver real estate sales are dropping incredibly fast these days. Data from MLA Canada, a notable pre-sale marketing firm, shows a big drop in sales in May. Developers are responding to the decline by cancelling or delaying many projects.

Greater Vancouver Pre-Sale Listings Decline Over 65%
Greater Vancouver pre-sale listings for real estate made a large decline. Only 539 new pre-sale units launched in May, down 37.98% from the month before. This represents a decline of 65.44% from last year. The number launched in May is 23% lower than MLA had anticipated a month before. Developers are responding to softening sales by cancelling or delaying projects. Presumably they’re waiting for demand to return, or the cost of holding underdeveloped property gives them incentive to build.

Greater Vancouver Sales Of New Construction Drops Nearly 90%
Sales of new construction dropped by an even larger number. There were 119 pre-sales made in May, down 31.21% from the month before. This represents a decline of 89.10% from last year. The sales are the fewest monthly sales in at least two years, for any month – not just May. Things are really slow across Vancouver these days....

https://betterdwelling.com/city/vancouver/greater-vancouver-new-home-sales-drop-nearly-90/

[ssiguy]

^ Foreign buyers tax and government finally going after money laundering and tax evasion and then all of a sudden Vancouver enters a housing collapse...........who would have believed it?

I thought the reason for the housing price explosion was due to !) We are running out of land 2} "Everybody" wants to live here 3} It's the "Best place on Earth" 4} The population is growing so fast? I always thought that it had nothing to do with dirty Chinese money because that's what the real estate companies and the politicians they bribe always said and people saying otherwise were just a bunch of racists.

I don't believe this for a second, it just that everyone is leaving, the city has become a hell-hole, nobody wants to live here, and the city suddenly found 50% more land to devleope because the mountains disappeared and they lowered the US boundary down to Bellingham but just didn't tell anybody.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Market is definitely rebounding.

There is not a single thing in this house that wouldn't have to be replaced unless you're a 1970s Newfoundland grandmother. And it's on the busiest street in a bad neighbourhood. It's $100K more than I paid nearby.

Reminds me a bit of this perfectly preserved, classic Italian nonna's house I found recently on Realtor: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/20852...5a-harrison-st-toronto-trinity-bellwoods











(except that this one costs four times as much)

[esquire]

I get a kick out of those types of time capsule houses.

Here's one that caught my eye in Winnipeg recently, the theme is 'successful 1970s businessman and family'... owned by the same family since it was built in 1974. $689K takes it... although I suspect whoever buys it is probably bringing in the wrecking crews.












Sidenote: there are few things more gross than wall to wall carpeting in a bathroom

[Nashe]

That kitchen is epic.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Market is definitely rebounding.

There is not a single thing in this house that wouldn't have to be replaced unless you're a 1970s Newfoundland grandmother. And it's on the busiest street in a bad neighbourhood. It's $100K more than I paid nearby.

My parents just bought a house like that in NB, with an acre of land serviced by the city, with a triple-car garage for 35k$. I was like WTF.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

I get a kick out of those types of time capsule houses.

Here's one that caught my eye in Winnipeg recently, the theme is 'successful 1970s businessman and family'... owned by the same family since it was built in 1974. $689K takes it... although I suspect whoever buys it is probably bringing in the wrecking crews.


Sidenote: there are few things more gross than wall to wall carpeting in a bathroom

The Brady Bunch reboot now has a set to work with. Go Winnipeg!

[wave46]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Market is definitely rebounding.

There is not a single thing in this house that wouldn't have to be replaced unless you're a 1970s Newfoundland grandmother. And it's on the busiest street in a bad neighbourhood. It's $100K more than I paid nearby.

I didn't think the market was that strong in St. John's given the downturn. Or is the city still drawing people in from the rest of the province?

Big cities I get for being expensive. It's small cities with ample land around them that confuse me.

[ssiguy]

You could get that house in Vancouver for $679.........but only if you put a 2 infront of it.

[rousseau]

I'm old enough to remember those stylistic flourishes from the 1970s, but that kitchen goes above and beyond anything I ever saw. I'd have thought that that shade of green would be a nausea hazard.