UN observer: "Massive crisis" in Vancouver

Mike sends in this link to an interview in the Tyee with Miloon Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur for Housing who recently visited Canada (including Vancouver). Here's what he had to say about our town:

There is a deep homelessness problem here. I must say I was taken aback by the scale of the crisis here in the Downtown Eastside.

It's glaringly apparent in Vancouver that for quite some time... successive governments have failed to create the housing that is necessary. You have a legacy of misguided government policy that has led to this massive crisis in housing and homelessness.

We didn't hear this in other places. The decrepit nature of SROs, the conditions of the buildings that people are living in, very poor health...I was repeatedly struck by the contrast that I see because it is such a beautiful city, because there has been so much investment. It is striking that a few blocks from million-dollar condominiums, that there is such immense poverty.

Brand new bullet proof pants.

After a number of the things that are meant to protect the Vancouver real estate market from ever going down turned out to be not so effective in some big US markets I've been a touch worried about our local market. What if it's not different this time? What if rich foreigners, drug dealers and wealthy boomers were to one day just not show up to buy at ever increasing prices?

Well my worry is gone today after good news from the Globe and Mail: Wealthy athletes want your condo!

Ross Rebagliati may be known as the first snowboarder to win Olympic gold, but his real estate investments have put him at the top of his game.

Mr. Rebagliati made his first purchase at 20, when he bought a Whistler, B.C., home for $200,000, using racing prize money as a small down payment. He later sold the property for $385,000 and that's when, he says, a "light bulb went off." He realized that real estate could be more lucrative than the $50,000 a year he was making as a professional snowboarder.

Why do I know this is a good sign for our own local market? Because "as an athlete, failure is not an option."

friday free for all!

Friday free for all time:

-Why is Vancouver eating its young?
-A good time to lock in a mortgage.
-US home sales fall by largest amount on record.
-Bank of America dropping wholesale mortgages.
-Countrywide posts 1.2b$ loss.
-US home sales worse than they seem.

What are you seeing out there? post your news, links and theories here!

Friday free-for-all

It's Friday and that means its open-topic time here at VancouverCondo.info - here's a few stories I've noticed this week:

- Maybe don't invest in "construction loans"
- Canadian economy losing steam?
- Bank of Canada: Credit crunch taking its toll.
- Mish Shedlock picks on Vancouver property values
- Housing market "the most significant risk" to US economy
- Could the crash of '87 happen again?

What are you seeing out there? Post your news, links and anecdotes here!

Alberta: New listings dramatically outpacings sales

Marco sent in this link to a Globe and Mail story about the Alberta housing market where a flood of new listings from owners trying to cash in on high prices is shifting the dynamics of the market in Calgary and Edmonton.

In Calgary, 5,330 residences hit the market last month, an 11 per cent increase from the year before. But sales for the month fell by 11 per cent year-over-year to 1,935 units.

“Momentum is fading fast in the Alberta housing market,” said Robert Kavcic, economic analyst at BMO Capital Markets, in a research note. In September, sales in Edmonton had their sharpest decline since the early 1980s, Mr. Kavcic said.

While soaring prices are drawing sellers in droves, it also means potential buyers in Alberta are waiting or being priced out of the market.

No better time to buy.. in the US?

A dropping US dollar, a credit crunch and a US housing market collapse. Does it all add up to a buying opportunity for Canadians in the US?

Just a short drive south of the Washington State-B.C. border sits the Horizon at Semiahmoo Resort community, a 650-home development spanning 200 acres nestled on the shores of the Strait of Georgia. When the developers began planning the project, they figured that about half the homes would be snapped up by residents of nearby Seattle, and the other half by Canadians.

That was before parity became a buzzword. Now it appears as though more than 85 per cent of the residences will be sold to Canadian buyers, according to Vince Taylor of Pilothouse Real Estate Inc. in New Westminster, B.C.

"When the magic parity hit the other day, our phones started to ring," he says. "Everybody wants to find U.S. real estate. The Canadians are coming over the wall. They didn't build the wall big enough."

With "nothing more than the pesky border" separating Semiahmoo from Canadians looking for an attractive "green" community for a summer home, Horizon has become coveted real estate. The average price of a house in Semiahmoo is about 50 to 60 per cent less than a similar home in nearby White Rock, B.C., Mr. Taylor says.

My favorite quote from the story: "We always put down 20 per cent in Canada, so what do we care?" Mr. Taylor says.

Uh.. been to Vancouver Mr. Taylor?

World Class

1: So where are you from?
2: Vancouver, BC
1: That's in Canada right? Do you guys have the really tall tower?
2: You mean the CN tower? no, thats Toronto.
1: Oh.
1: Which is taller that one or the one in Seattle?

Friday free-for-all

Its free-for-all time! Here's your open topic post for Friday October 12th. A few random stories to kick off the discussion:

-High prices spur condo construction
-Buying at the right time makes money
-Erasing Vancouvers architectural history
-Cultus cottages snapped up by retirees
-US Foreclosures not over yet.

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news, links and anecdotes here!

Condo Pre-sale agreements get extra warnings

Anyone familiar with CB developments Riverbend pre-sale cancellation fiasco won't be suprised by this news: the BC Financial Institutions Commission has ordered that extra warnings be placed on condominium pre-sale agreements to more fully disclose provisions in the contract relating to terminating, extending or assigning purchase agreements.

Buyers will be required to initial the cover page of disclosure statements to confirm the provisions were drawn to their attention.

Pertinent information must also appear in "conspicuous type" on the statement's cover page.

The rules also provide for more disclosure of developers' background, including:
-- Their experience in the development industry.
-- Whether they have been bankrupt in the past five years or been disciplined in the past 10 years for matters relating to real estate, mortgages of land, securities, theft or fraud.
-- Whether any conflict of interest exists that could affect a buyer's purchase decision.

Failure to comply with the disclosure requirements could result in the issuance of cease-marketing orders or "administrative penalties" of up to $50,000.

Seattle treading water?

I've seen Seattle held up as an example of how the west coast is immune to the housing downturn in the US, which means that our own west-coast city is immune to any housing downturn as well.. unfortunately for that example, house prices in Seattle have been dropping just recently falling lower that the previous year for the first time since 2002:

Geoff Pfander put his Wedgwood house on the market in mid-September.

"I'm trying to have faith in Seattle," he said at an open house last weekend. "I think (buyers) just have more choices now so they get to look around more."

To stand out in a market with more and more homes for fewer and fewer buyers, home sellers are reducing list prices, offering special financing and entering potential buyers into drawings for a bottle of champagne if they'll say what they think of a house.

Teri Daligney held open houses last Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a West Seattle home she and a partner remodeled and put on the market at the end of July.

"I live three hours away, and I want to stop driving," she said, noting that they had only just finished renovations.

"We get tons of people coming in and looking, but nobody who's serious," Daligney said. "I just think they're scared."

Real estate professionals said some potential buyers are jittery, while some sellers have unrealistic expectations for prices.