Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Were you heating with forced air gas furnace before installing heat pumps?
I don't know if certain prior setups, but I was told if I switched from hydronic radiant floor gas heating to electric heat pumps, my heating bill would go up by a lot during the winter months.

I have hydronic baseboards. Temperature regulation as an absolute bitch the year before (winter 2021) on top of the fact that it was having a hard time keeping up with the deep freeze. It didn't help that it was 2 adults, a toddler and 2 cats that year in a large house. My parents have moved into the basement since and having more people in the house helped this winter. This past winter we just turned everything on. When the heat pump isn't warming the room enough the hydronics open and supplement. My parents in the basement doesn't have heatpumps install so the hydronics are active regardless, it just doesn't have to run as hard and it's lowered my bill considerably, to the point that it was saving me $100/month when the heat is on.

If I upgraded my boiler to a newer one (it's still on the same 33 year old one from when the house was built) I can eke out some more efficiency, but maybe only to the tune of $100/m in the winter months. I've decided to just let the thing run and die before swapping it cause the payoff period is so damn long. The guy we brought in to clean it also said the same thing as they don't make it like they used to and that 33yr old lump may last for another decade easy.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Were you heating with forced air gas furnace before installing heat pumps?
I don't know if certain prior setups, but I was told if I switched from hydronic radiant floor gas heating to electric heat pumps, my heating bill would go up by a lot during the winter months.

There's a lot of details in these sort of statements that need to be added to make sure the comparison is apples to apples.

Was whoever told you that thinking Air to Water Heat pump (retaining hydronic floor), or like a multi-split heat pump?

Gas energy cost is definately much cheaper than energy costs for resistive electric heat (IE electric baseboards).
But heat pumps average about 3 times the efficiency of energy usage. IE: for one unit electrical energy use, you move 3 units of heat.
In our climate (south west coast) it makes energy cost about on par with gas.

[SSM_DC5]

Ah, so in my case, the statement came up in a discussion of replacing an old boiler and my response was to just run it to the ground cuz I rather put in heat pumps to get AC too. It was at that point where it suggested to have both systems running. Heart pump majority of the year and in winter months use the hydronic radiant floor heating to supplement for heat or else the electric bill from the heat pump will be really high.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Ah, so in my case, the statement came up in a discussion of replacing an old boiler and my response was to just run it to the ground cuz I rather put in heat pumps to get AC too. It was at that point where it suggested to have both systems running. Heart pump majority of the year and in winter months use the hydronic radiant floor heating to supplement for heat or else the electric bill from the heat pump will be really high.

You case is almost exactly like mine, you might end up saving money if you run the heatpumps instead of hydronic, cause I did.

[JDMStyo]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Feel like with Rev’s as with Excalibur and other bowling alleys before it, they knew they were sitting on a golf mine and did very little to keep it going or even promote it

also the property taxes on higher property value is killing the business into losses likely making it unsustainable

[JDMStyo]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

If they do a blanket rezoning to allow four/six units per lot that would definitely add a lot of housing quickly... Parking would be a nightmare though.

If you follow some of the densified areas in Vancouver East/West they're starting to petition residents (COV) into buying parking passes.

Shrewd home owners are thinking WTF why am I now having to pay $55/year just to freaking park on public streets...while newer home owners like Resident Only parking.

RS.net guys - many of which have a weekend sports cars now have to fork out more just to park their spare cars on the street. Lame.

End of the day, another cashgrab longterm for government.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by JDMStyo

If you follow some of the densified areas in Vancouver East/West they're starting to petition residents (COV) into buying parking passes.

Shrewd home owners are thinking WTF why am I now having to pay $55/year just to freaking park on public streets...while newer home owners like Resident Only parking.

RS.net guys - many of which have a weekend sports cars now have to fork out more just to park their spare cars on the street. Lame.

End of the day, another cashgrab longterm for government.

Great. That'll drive up the rent for extra my parking spaces

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by supafamous

https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2763897/9...-Vancouver-BC/

$2.8m for a 46 year old renovated house with just 2300sf in East Van. Damn. Looks like a pretty solid reno though but still.

Took a little while but they got 2.75m!

[Alpine]

These 2 shocked me.

Sold for 2.1M. Clean but original 40 year old condition:
https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2773874/5...-Coquitlam-BC/



Sold for 1.85m. No updates since it was last purchased for 1.135m in 2020 (with the possible exception of a simple basement kitchen).
https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2771431/9...-Coquitlam-BC/

[Special K]

Originally Posted by Alpine

Took a little while but they got 2.75m!

I saw 949 E29th pre-reno in Fall 2021. It was an old red house with a limo parked in the back. The house was first listed for $2.1M. Nice reno and flip.

Hope the long term tenant downstairs got a place to live.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Alpine

Took a little while but they got 2.75m!

That's both unsurprising and crazy. 2 years ago when I was trying to buy a lot to build a house it was possible to buy and build 3400sf on a standard lot in East Van for around $2.6-2.7m with a good builder.

The Bank of Canada has increased interest rates 18x in a year and half and we're still seeing prices go up.

[EvoFire]

^ Everyone is pricing in a rate drop already, just look at the bank rates for the next 5 years, all the fixed rates trend downwards if you lock it in longer. For a lot of ppl it's now or never cause they are expecting prices to start shooting up again. With companies starting to mandate in office days I'm expecting prices to go nuts again in munis that are closer to city center as people that have moved out to the boonies start regretting their decisions.
We know two families that moved to Burke Mountain that are considering moving back into Van/Burnaby because the commute is getting to them.


The one thing that has gone away are no subject offers. A few friends have accepted offers pending sale and pending inspection. I am willing to bet that some of the sellers are in the hurt are trying to get more money right now and willing to put up with subjects. $50k is $50k.

[van_driver]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

^ Everyone is pricing in a rate drop already, just look at the bank rates for the next 5 years, all the fixed rates trend downwards if you lock it in longer. For a lot of ppl it's now or never cause they are expecting prices to start shooting up again. With companies starting to mandate in office days I'm expecting prices to go nuts again in munis that are closer to city center as people that have moved out to the boonies start regretting their decisions.
We know two families that moved to Burke Mountain that are considering moving back into Van/Burnaby because the commute is getting to them.


The one thing that has gone away are no subject offers. A few friends have accepted offers pending sale and pending inspection. I am willing to bet that some of the sellers are in the hurt are trying to get more money right now and willing to put up with subjects. $50k is $50k.

I thought companies had started mandating office days a year ago? Downtown prices haven't really changed last 3 years whereas the same priced homes in the suburbs have went up 30%+. Wonder if downtown will go up like the suburbs did in the next year or so

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by van_driver

I thought companies had started mandating office days a year ago? Downtown prices haven't really changed last 3 years whereas the same priced homes in the suburbs have went up 30%+. Wonder if downtown will go up like the suburbs did in the next year or so

I feel like it in office really kicked off the last few months. Traffic has increased noticeably when I head into downtown during the week. Big tech have all mandated in office work (Apple, MS, Amazon, that's a lot of ppl) starting last month.

The more tenured buyers who can afford a larger/nicer place have all grown out of living in downtown proper I think. Lots of those have kids or are having kids and downtown living just doesn't make sense anymore. Not saying people don't want downtown anymore but the reality is, many couples/families my age who I've talked to, who are still in downtown are all actively looking to leave.

[JDMDreams]

^^ nothing like free homeless people keeping property prices high

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I feel like it in office really kicked off the last few months. Traffic has increased noticeably when I head into downtown during the week. Big tech have all mandated in office work (Apple, MS, Amazon, that's a lot of ppl) starting last month.

A lot of leverage went the employers way the past 6 months as everyone was losing their jobs in tech. Companies could start demanding things of staff without fear that people would leave cause people are just happy to have a job and don't want any trouble.

I've heard lots of reports of companies being surprised at how few people are leaving their jobs. It's normally common that after a round of layoffs that another 5-10% of people choose to leave but that's not been happening - people are only leaving now cause they really, really hate their jobs otherwise they're sucking it up till the market gets better.

[EvoFire]

I'm not a huge fan of my job right now cause the team I'm with can be a bit of shit show. Alas the job market is kind of shit and all the employers are lowballing. We are talking about job postings that are $50-70k less than before, which is easily 1/3 less.

Something has got to break as once the layoffs stop, no one will bite at these listings and it'll quickly rachet up again.

[bcrdukes]

Whatever it is that you're doing is pretty sweet because you still have that blue white grey M3.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Alas the job market is kind of shit and all the employers are lowballing.

Some of the postings I've seen are hilarious. I just got contacted by a recruiter about a job in North Van that pays 25% less than my current gig. Lol no thanks.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by underscore

Some of the postings I've seen are hilarious. I just got contacted by a recruiter about a job in North Van that pays 25% less than my current gig. Lol no thanks.

Arcteryx? Had a chat with someone from there. Great work culture but pay is shit. Unfortunately pay is culture for me lol. I need a minimum monthly cashflow to make things run at home.

[underscore]

They didn't say who the company was but I'm in industrial automation so probably not them. But if they want someone in an office in North Van they'd need to at least double if not triple what they're offering.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by underscore

Some of the postings I've seen are hilarious. I just got contacted by a recruiter about a job in North Van that pays 25% less than my current gig. Lol no thanks.

That sounds like every offer I get from recruiters.

Are you interested in going from working from home to a 1 hour commute and a paycut? No? Oh, well let me know if you change your mind.

[Badhobz]

We just had a big conference between all the port authorities last week and volumes are down ~35% since last year.

"Peak" season might not even happen this year as most warehouses are still full inventory bought during the pandemic and consumers have lost the appetite to purchase crap. We can thank inflation and high interest rates for this lack of demand.. now people are too worried to go into debt.

Shippers/importers and even carriers are talking layoffs if this trend continues.

What doesnt bode well for shipping, means the economy is stagnating and the jobs market is shrinking.

[GLOW]

that would be job market for certain industries right?

seems hard to still find good people (or even people) in architecture/engineering/construction

[Badhobz]

trades will always be in demand as skilled labor is hard to come by. But retail, manufacturing, agriculture are all seeing downward trends for job prospects. Anything that we export, or import related fields arent doing so great vs last few years.