Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[GLOW]

20% not surprised

[VR6GTI]

i assume everyone with larger than 10% increases are detached homes?

[lowside67]

Our Port Moody apartment went up 10.3%.

Mark

[ilovebacon]

Yeah my parent house went up by 20% too.
What are the pros and con for this type of outcome. As a young adult, I don't really have much assets beside a vhiecle and going to school, so I wouldn't understand much about this market.

Here's an article I also found on the Internet.
Vancouver senior calls rising property assessment ?rope on my neck? | Globalnews.ca

[quasi]

^

If I was a retired person on a fixed income I would defer my property taxes. Yes you pay a little bit of interest (less then 1%) but the taxes don't have to be paid from your estate until you die. It's not the best case scenario but if you're struggling it's better then having to pack up your life and move.

Defer Your Taxes - Province of British Columbia

[4444]

Originally Posted by quasi

^ It's not the best case scenario but if you're struggling it's better then having to pack up your life and move.

Defer Your Taxes - Province of British Columbia

Au contraire, it's the best thing ever. 1% nominal is basically free money in real terms (is the interest rate really that low?).

i'd say fuck it, let my estate pay for it. if you own a home you'll be leaving assets to your family, so why not use this to utilize some value from your home whilst you are still alive at the cheapest rate (cheaper than a mortgage or a HELOC).

even if i were rich as fuck, i'd still do this. 1% money is the BEST money!

edit: damn, rate is 0.85%!! FUCKING DO IT!

[winson604]

Originally Posted by UFO

Because the increases were only minimal over the past few yrs as op mentioned, when the overall Vancouver area values for detached have been going up by double digits over at least the past several years.

Exactly, that was the big shock for my dad. The increase in values has been going up for quite a few years now and while my parents house is in a fairly decent neighbourhood his value during this entire boom has been going up just slightly in the past 5 years and actually about 2-3 years ago it even went down one year. So to see a single sudden jump of 30% was a big shocking. I know there are factors to your value going up, there has been non stop houses being torn down and resold for crazy money around us while my parents house at times seem like one of the only houses that are old but damn. Like many retired folks he decided to start deferring his taxes this past year, no way my parents can sustain paying the taxes plus living and all that on retirement income.

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by quasi

^

If I was a retired person on a fixed income I would defer my property taxes. Yes you pay a little bit of interest (less then 1%) but the taxes don't have to be paid from your estate until you die. It's not the best case scenario but if you're struggling it's better then having to pack up your life and move.

Defer Your Taxes - Province of British Columbia

Ideally, one would defer their taxes and shortly before they die, sell the property to their main beneficiary (they'd have to pay the lien first, obviously), to avoid getting raped on inheritance tax.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by fliptuner

Ideally, one would defer their taxes and shortly before they die, sell the property to their main beneficiary (they'd have to pay the lien first, obviously), to avoid getting raped on inheritance tax.

That or the beneficiaries can take out a term life insurance policy on the parents and have it insured enough only to cover the inheritance tax but I think your option is the better one.

[iEatClams]

Originally Posted by 4444

Au contraire, it's the best thing ever. 1% nominal is basically free money in real terms (is the interest rate really that low?).

i'd say fuck it, let my estate pay for it. if you own a home you'll be leaving assets to your family, so why not use this to utilize some value from your home whilst you are still alive at the cheapest rate (cheaper than a mortgage or a HELOC).

even if i were rich as fuck, i'd still do this. 1% money is the BEST money!

edit: damn, rate is 0.85%!! FUCKING DO IT!

you know what else is crazy? it's not even compound interest!
yup its straight simple interest!

government is basically giving you money!

[iEatClams]

Originally Posted by winson604

Exactly, that was the big shock for my dad. The increase in values has been going up for quite a few years now and while my parents house is in a fairly decent neighbourhood his value during this entire boom has been going up just slightly in the past 5 years and actually about 2-3 years ago it even went down one year. So to see a single sudden jump of 30% was a big shocking. I know there are factors to your value going up, there has been non stop houses being torn down and resold for crazy money around us while my parents house at times seem like one of the only houses that are old but damn. Like many retired folks he decided to start deferring his taxes this past year, no way my parents can sustain paying the taxes plus living and all that on retirement income.

on the plus side, if he chooses to sell his home, you just pocketed like a $200-300K increase in the last year alone (assuming you guys are in Vancouver).

Would take an average person over a decade to save that much money up, but he did it in one year. Many would love to have held an asset that appreciates like that and pay a little bit of tax (or defer it)

[winson604]

Originally Posted by iEatClams

on the plus side, if he chooses to sell his home, you just pocketed like a $200-300K increase in the last year alone (assuming you guys are in Vancouver).

Would take an average person over a decade to save that much money up, but he did it in one year. Many would love to have held an asset that appreciates like that and pay a little bit of tax (or defer it)

Yes in Vancouver and it's true that if my parents decided to sell they would cash in hard not like they wouldn't have cashed in otherwise but sadly like a lot of retired folks they are not looking to sell and are faced with the same scenario. Fixed income, rising taxes etc. Another blow people are taking now is they can't even claim their grants any more and or have them reduced because their assessment values are going into or over the threshold. So that's potentially another $800 + dollars they have to now pay vs getting for free.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by ilovebacon

Yeah my parent house went up by 20% too.
What are the pros and con for this type of outcome. As a young adult, I don't really have much assets beside a vhiecle and going to school, so I wouldn't understand much about this market.

As far as pros and cons go, I see absolutely no benefit to the home owner if the RE property is his primary residence, and he has no desire to sell / move in the foreseeable future. With an ever climbing RE assessment value, the only outcome for this type of people is they have to pay higher taxes.

The assessment value of my parents place fxxking went up by a whooping 30%, and I am estimating that their property tax will go up by $1k+ in 2016. Between me and them, I am not sure how we can suddenly / magically pull an extra $1k out of our a$$es.

As far as I am concerned, all 3 levels of governments are only interested in looking after their own coffers. Bike Boy only cares to keep the RE $$$ flowing, so that he can pave everything in Vancouver as bike lanes. Crusty doesn't want the foreign hot money to stop either, because she needs to keep up the facade that the BC economy is still going strong, and that we continue to run a budget surplus so that the idiots in the province can keep voting her in -- nevermind that the hard working BC residents are getting pushed out from their homes because they can't afford living in their hometown anymore. Pretty Boy needs the foreign hot money too, so that he can continue with his international charity work at Canadians' expense.

Damn... just since when have I become so jaded and cynical?

/rantover

[VR6GTI]

$1000 a year is $83 a month if they cant afford an $83 a month increase then they shouldn't be home owners

[ImportPsycho]

i checked Brentwood condo we sold back in 2012
it hasn't changed at all or barely any since 2011

[Traum]

Originally Posted by VR6GTI

$1000 a year is $83 a month if they cant afford an $83 a month increase then they shouldn't be home owners

It isn't as simple as a $1000 a year. It's an extra $1000 a year on top of a whole battery of other price hikes, usage fee increases, etc.

Case in point -- when was the last time you saw a fxxking head of cauliflower selling for $7.50, and a $4.99 for a hunk of brocili? It was only $1.49 for a hunk of brocoli last year.

[iEatClams]

Originally Posted by Traum

The assessment value of my parents place fxxking went up by a whooping 30%, and I am estimating that their property tax will go up by $1k+ in 2016. Between me and them, I am not sure how we can suddenly / magically pull an extra $1k out of our a$$es.

As far as I am concerned, all 3 levels of governments are only interested in looking after their own coffers. Bike Boy only cares to keep the RE $$$ flowing, so that he can pave everything in Vancouver as bike lanes. Crusty doesn't want the foreign hot money to stop either, because she needs to keep up the facade that the BC economy is still going strong, and that we continue to run a budget surplus so that the idiots in the province can keep voting her in -- nevermind that the hard working BC residents are getting pushed out from their homes because they can't afford living in their hometown anymore. Pretty Boy needs the foreign hot money too, so that he can continue with his international charity work at Canadians' expense.

Damn... just since when have I become so jaded and cynical?

/rantover

Your parent's property taxes probably won't go up by $1,000. in 2015, if you have a 1M house in vancouver, you are paying about $3,500 in property taxes per year, tax rate of .035.

The city of Vancouver 2016 budgeted property tax increase is 3.4%. Like I said earlier, overall most cities will be getting 2-5% more money in property taxes. Overall, the average Vancouver property owner will be paying 3.4% more than last year. So your property's assessment wont be going up 30%, since most people's property assessment also went up 20-25%, and you are going up more than the average, you will be paying a bit more than the increase of 3.4%, in 2015 it was 2.4%.

http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouver-2016-budget.pdf

Think of it this way, if everybody's assessment went up 100%, they won't be paying double the property taxes unless the city's budget doubles, and if everybody's value went down 50%, the city isn't going to give you a break and have everyone pay 50% less property tax. They need money to meet their budget, and will set a tax rate that allows them to collect their money.

Property tax is a wealth tax, the more valuable your asset, the more you pay.


Otherwise, I agree with your other comments about our politicians lol.

[Traum]

So the Minister of Finance has "graciously" increased the cutoff value of the homeowner property tax grant, from $1.1M to $1.2M.

B.C. raises the cutoff value for phasing out homeowners property-tax grant

The day after BC Assessment began mailing out its 2016 property assessments, with thousands of them showing increases that put homeowners at risk of losing all or part of their provincial homeowners property-tax grant, the province announced it is raising the cutoff value for phasing the grant out.

The Ministry of Finance, on Tuesday, announced it is increasing the value at which it begins phasing out the grant to $1.2 million from $1.1 million in 2015, which will bring more homeowners under the threshold to receive the $570 grant.

Skyrocketing property values, particularly for single-family homes in some of Metro Vancouver's hottest real estate markets, pushed some 55,000 additional residential properties to values that exceeded the 2015 threshold to lose some or all of the homeowners grant.

About 17,000 assessments rose above the $1.1 million level where the grant starts to be reduced at a rate of $5 per $1,000 in additional assessed value then be eliminated altogether for properties valued over $1.25 million.

Raising the threshold to $1.2 million will put 91 per cent of households below the limit and extends the level at which the grant is phased out to $1.35 million.

full details at the above link

This amounts to a mere 9% increase in the grant's cutoff value. But as many of us may recall, the typical single family home is seeing a 15-25% assessed value increase.

So we have yet another token gesture from the Finance Minister. This one is so thinly veiled that I don't know how anyone cannot see through the pretense.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by winson604

Yes in Vancouver and it's true that if my parents decided to sell they would cash in hard not like they wouldn't have cashed in otherwise but sadly like a lot of retired folks they are not looking to sell and are faced with the same scenario. Fixed income, rising taxes etc. Another blow people are taking now is they can't even claim their grants any more and or have them reduced because their assessment values are going into or over the threshold. So that's potentially another $800 + dollars they have to now pay vs getting for free.

Once one of your parents suffers a fall, it could severely impact their ability to enjoy their detached home. My dad, who was a postman for 29 years and active all of his life, recently fell while ice skating and had to have his hip replaced. He's in good health so the chance that he'll recover some degree of mobility is good, but he'll probably never be able to ice skate again. Does it make sense for senior citizens, whose physical health will degrade rapidly into their 70s and 80s to own a 3-story house? Probably not. Our health care system is quite good at keeping people alive, but our social safety net is not good at helping seniors maintain their previous lifestyle. Housing can be a touchy subject, but it can make a lot of sense, both financially and in terms of lifestyle to sell and move into something more accommodating.

[Gerbs]

16% increase.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

Once one of your parents suffers a fall, it could severely impact their ability to enjoy their detached home. My dad, who was a postman for 29 years and active all of his life, recently fell while ice skating and had to have his hip replaced. He's in good health so the chance that he'll recover some degree of mobility is good, but he'll probably never be able to ice skate again. Does it make sense for senior citizens, whose physical health will degrade rapidly into their 70s and 80s to own a 3-story house? Probably not. Our health care system is quite good at keeping people alive, but our social safety net is not good at helping seniors maintain their previous lifestyle. Housing can be a touchy subject, but it can make a lot of sense, both financially and in terms of lifestyle to sell and move into something more accommodating.

problem is, essentially you're talking about a condo and thats about it.

Townhouses are out of the question, and for the most part nice, affordable ranchers are a thing of the past

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

problem is, essentially you're talking about a condo and thats about it.

Townhouses are out of the question, and for the most part nice, affordable ranchers are a thing of the past

I personally don't see condo living as a negative for a senior. Maintenance on the common property is paid for and any maintenance inside the unit is likely minimal, particularly for new units. Of course, access during a natural disaster or fire is problematic, but I don't see the risks being any lower in a detached, particularly one that has not been maintained well.

By the time you're retired, you don't really need any physical stuff aside from clothes, a few keepsakes, and a sports car. Access to amenities such as community centres and hospitals is key.

[ilovebacon]

i feel bad that everyone is suffering from this but as the taxes for assets are going up, people who are renting out are going to get charged more.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by Traum

Case in point -- when was the last time you saw a fxxking head of cauliflower selling for $7.50, and a $4.99 for a hunk of brocili? It was only $1.49 for a hunk of brocoli last year.

Actually, there is a very simple and logical explanation to this.
Supply and demand.

During, winter time, most of the veggies that we eat come from either California or Mexico.

California has been in a severe drought for the past 2 years and with heavy water restrictions and increased cost in labour, due to Obama's version of welfare and increased crack down on illegal mexican farm workers and low prices leading to low profits these past few years, farmers grew less crops this year.
Some farms have switched to growing crops that use less water like nuts or crops that pay more $$$ ie medical marijuana.

Then you add in the Christmas craze for produce which is an increased demand for produce which pushes prices higher.

Generally speaking, prices usually fall after the new year but this year there was some cold weather that brought snow to Las Vegas and some parts of Mexico during Christmas and -4C temps in California which has slowed the growth or caused damage to some leaf lettuces and celery.
Because the west coast normally pulls from California, and the general dislike of Mexican produce, Mexico doesn't have enough product to fill our current demand.

Add in the fact that the Cdn dollar is 30 pts lower than last year, everything that is brought up from the US and Mexico cost that much more.

[Mr.C]

3% increase.

Condo in Surrey.