Real Estate Talks

Friend of my shot these photos yesterday from her bedroom. Houses on the street are in 3 million range. I can't think of any other city in the world where house like this can be so easily trashed. CMHC, mortgage tightening? LOL, the Westside of Vancouver is awashed with offshore cash. Utill that is stopped, there will be no crash regardless what CMHC or Bank of Canada does.

Just amazed.beyond.words.. We are turning more like London every year..

Holy smokes!
Rentah has to move again!

I've been hearing that a lot of banks won't lend mortgages to a lot of homes in vancouver that are extremely overvalued. Unless you have 60% down payment then mind as well forget about it. So unless the chinese buy with all cash the r/e market is doomed and can't sustain any more increases. Nobody will buy the 3 or 4 million dollar homes that are out of reach for Canadians. So prices will have to come down or houses will sit unsold or empty.

I've been hearing that a lot of banks won't lend mortgages to a lot of homes in vancouver that are extremely overvalued. Unless you have 60% down payment then mind as well forget about it. So unless the chinese buy with all cash the r/e market is doomed and can't sustain any more increases. Nobody will buy the 3 or 4 million dollar homes that are out of reach for Canadians. So prices will have to come down or houses will sit unsold or empty.

Don't hold your breath!

We are turning more like London every year

I think there's a ways to go. They have a 600 year head start, after all.

Evidence of bubble proves it's not a bubble. It's different this time.

I've been hearing that a lot of banks won't lend mortgages to a lot of homes in vancouver that are extremely overvalued. Unless you have 60% down payment then mind as well forget about it. So unless the chinese buy with all cash the r/e market is doomed and can't sustain any more increases. Nobody will buy the 3 or 4 million dollar homes that are out of reach for Canadians. So prices will have to come down or houses will sit unsold or empty.

Respectfully, this is incorrect information. Banks won't lend money to people who, in their eyes, won't qualify. Banks do not consider homes 'overvalued' in Vancouver or they wouldn't lend money on ANY of them.

Think about it, if the banks comletely stopped lending on these properties, they would kill the market.... and kill themselves.

They have a 600 year head start, after all.

And triple the population. Centuries of appreciation, a bubble and the average house price is still £500,000. Might be one of the few times unicass is being honest.

One more note:

Last September we went to a house near UBC. Priced at $17 million. It got 4 offers. And was torn down.

most shoddy built, poorly insulated rat infested death traps built before 1980 deserve to get torn down.

I would argue that its one of the few places in the world where that lot will be used to build another house.

Not necessarily uncommon in densifying cities to see staggering prices on houses close to the city core, whats peculiar about Vancouver is that these lots remain as houses even after millions are spent developing them.

At this point I think its also a little naive to think that all this has to do with is a little bit of loose lending. What will be built on there will have a price tag of 5million+, many rich people can't afford homes that expensive.

That being said, expensive homes can fall in value just as much as cheap homes. Mortgage or no mortgage.

I've been hearing that a lot of banks won't lend mortgages to a lot of homes in vancouver that are extremely overvalued. Unless you have 60% down payment then mind as well forget about it. So unless the chinese buy with all cash the r/e market is doomed and can't sustain any more increases. Nobody will buy the 3 or 4 million dollar homes that are out of reach for Canadians. So prices will have to come down or houses will sit unsold or empty.

Respectfully, this is incorrect information. Banks won't lend money to people who, in their eyes, won't qualify. Banks do not consider homes 'overvalued' in Vancouver or they wouldn't lend money on ANY of them.

Think about it, if the banks comletely stopped lending on these properties, they would kill the market.... and kill themselves.

Oh how I would love to know how any local qualifies for a 1.5million+ purchase.

The wealthiest local money couple I know earn around $300,000 annually pre-tax. They are shopping up to the 1.2 range, and already own on the East Side so presumably some equity will be used in the process of acquiring the new home.

How many local couples make that much? Income stats say very, very few. Most of the people that I know make 100-150k between the 2 incomes.

The wealthiest local money couple I know earn around $300,000 annually pre-tax

- Resident doctors and lawyers make more than that.
- Others have made their "fortunes" elsewhere (including some immigrants) and, I presume, have repatriated their spoils to raise a family in BC.
- Still others have "traded up" over time (ask one of Realestatetalk's denizen Realtors about this opportunity), so are at least partially immune to price rises over the past decade, though the divergence of properties on the westside is notable.
- Many professions have had EXTREMELY favourable incorporated tax treatments and raises since the early 2000s, in part to "bring their salaries in line with North American standards", and resultant effective incomes in many areas have far outpaced the median.

I don't disagree prices might be "crazy" -- I am concerned that nobody really knows how deep the waters run -- but there are some legitimate reasons why prices in some areas have become "detached". This is a similar refrain in other parts of the world and not unique to Vancouver.

I'd like to know who buys these hot properties and who the HAMS are (male or female for that matter..i dont care) and let''s that I can hook up with them get hitched and take them for their $$$ in the divorce!!!
Let the gold digging begin!!!