Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Hondaracer]

58 is pretty crazy

But 18 is hardly outrageous for one of the best PH in the city.

Imo the view the coal harbour PH's along with shangrila and trump are some of the best in the world.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

We are talking about condo's. Even CPI's won't have access to all the places that potential buyers will want inspected.
Like I said, they won't be cutting holes into walks to see what is going on behind the walls, especially around windows.
I'm glad you are not an inspector because yes, rain down fall down hence why you look at the walls under the windows.
And the insurance they have will not pay out if the inspector has done all they can do and later on there is a water leak problem in another unit and everyone has to pony up.

The best bet is look at the history of the building, old strata meeting minutes to see if anyone has complained about water issues, and the depreciation report. Pay attention to what has been serviced and what will need servicing.
Hot water tanks have a life span.

Like I said, CPI has the right to check the actual building that includes the siding/stucco/brick veneer, roofing, boiler, furnace, etc. Those are the major components of any building/single dwelling that should be checked which will cost the most for repairs. If the Strata tells the caretaker to not allow anyone access then there should be red flags up everywhere. As a buyer I would walk away instantaneously. No different than a seller of a car not allowing a mechanic run compression/leak down and only allowing them to open the door and honk the horn. In regards to the windows the reason why you would check up top is that's where the leaks start. If by the time water is pooling on the ledge and the drywall is moist its too late. You're not talking about a couple hundred dollar fix. Now you're talking about water damage inside the walls including mold. Also what you're saying about reading strata minutes isn't entirely wrong but that's assuming they actually input the info for the minutes. At the end of the day the council are also home owners and they also look out for their own interest

[meme405]

Originally Posted by Mr.Money

even 18 million is highly outrageous knowing what 2 million can normally buy you without being in a High Demand overpriced housing market...the yearly land tax on that also is gonna be sucking you dry unless you're fully ready.

I don't think you fully comprehend how Downtown RE works. We are talking about a premium building, in a premium location, and this is the most premium unit in that building.

this is on top of the fact that it is 8000sq ft in a city where I have seen a bachelors appt go up to 1 million.

Also yes, I would expect that someone who is buying a 20+ million dollar place is aware of the type of costs associated with such an investment.

I know someone who just spent 9 million on an apartment, and if this unit sold for even 20 million they would probably kill themselves.

[JDMStyo]

presales still going insane... less foreigners more locals and young professionals for an investment place it seems

$320k's starting for City of Lougheed. 23 towers x 300-540 units each.

Marquee sold 80% in 2 days.

We'll see Concord's Avenue One - forecasting $1,200 a ft easily, especially if Navio on Quebec can command that premium I'm sure Concord's name is easily better.

[westopher]

Presale condos in north Van near the quay are creeping up to the $1000/sq ft. Range.

Whatever they are trying, isn't working as far as getting things under control.

[MarkyMark]

Went to another townhouse showing in Yorkson Langley this weekend. The starting price was 399 and I can say that the demand in the 400k range is alive and well. Once you get to the 500k range you pretty much have your choice of whatever unit you want.

[wingies]

Parents put their house on sale and got multiple offers above asking. Detached market is definitely not coming down anytime soon

[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

Went to another townhouse showing in Yorkson Langley this weekend. The starting price was 399 and I can say that the demand in the 400k range is alive and well. Once you get to the 500k range you pretty much have your choice of whatever unit you want.

A note to all.....
Please stop buying in Langley.
The roads are horrible. They have added thousands of homes along 208th st corridor, yet they haven't made any changes to the infrastructure. Five times as many people are travelling the same roads that I was driving on 15 years ago. The sewer systems are old and incapable of handling the mass influx of waste, so they built a new waste station. Now the stench of a whole town's bowel movements waft over the countryside whenever the wind comes from the northeast. That's nothing compared to the farmers fields when they spray them with chicken and pig manure. That's a stink that you can't get out of your clothes.

The crime in these high density areas is out of control. Just last week a friend of mine had a meth head try to kick in his front door, while he was home watching tv with his kids. Good thing my buddy is berzerker sized, as he was able to hold the guy until the cops came. He told me it isn't the first time that has happened, as his neighbour was successfully robbed the same way 2 months earlier.

But what gets me the most, is that price that people are paying for these places. Folks are getting into lifetime mortgages on a property that has no dirt value. Your life savings is tied into an asset that is degrading at a higher rate then a single family home, and is based on the kind of people you're living next to. Again, you have massive crime and all of the other issues you get when people live on top of each other.

I hate to say it, but the foriegn market has pushed everyone out to the areas that we used to avoid. If you're being forced to go as far east as Mission or Abbotsford, you may as well keep going to Regina. Sure, the winters are tough. But your $500k will get you a place that you want to go home to every night.

[Sw0op]

Originally Posted by wingies

Parents put their house on sale and got multiple offers above asking. Detached market is definitely not coming down anytime soon

Were they priced fairly compared to market comps or priced low?

[Hondaracer]

Even in "nicer" areas like Bedford landing and fort Langley are seeing madddd crime now due to the density increase. Few people I worked with live around there and say break ins are an every day occurance there

[MarkyMark]

Originally Posted by wingies

Parents put their house on sale and got multiple offers above asking. Detached market is definitely not coming down anytime soon

That's a pretty broad statement. Where is the house located? How was it priced in relation to the market 6 months ago?

[fliptuner]

It may have also been priced for multiple offers, ideally situated, turn key, etc, etc.

[MarkyMark]

There will always be certain properties in demand, doesn't mean detached housing as a whole is doing great.

[Expresso]

Side question: Is there a guideline/rule determining what a healthy contingency fund is?

[Hondaracer]

depends on a lot of factors i guess, but also looking at how long X amount has been in the contingency?

Our building recently had to have it's fire panel replaced as well as the sensors in each unit, believe it was a $300 special assessment on top of borrowing a bit from the fund, in total it was like $250,000 to replace the panel

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Expresso

Side question: Is there a guideline/rule determining what a healthy contingency fund is?

No. The Stata Property Act requires that 10% of total strata fees be set aside for the reserve fund. However, 10% means nothing if the the council has had a history of underfunding the maintenance budget, or dipping into the CRF to pay for maintenance projets as opposed to asking owners to vote for special levies.

You need to examine the deficiency report and see if there's a plan in the budget and CRF to fund long term maintenance.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

Went to another townhouse showing in Yorkson Langley this weekend. The starting price was 399 and I can say that the demand in the 400k range is alive and well. Once you get to the 500k range you pretty much have your choice of whatever unit you want.

If I was in the 500K range, I would look hard at townhouses in Coronation Park in Port Moody or Eagle Ridge in Coquitlam. They're older, but with the Skytrain, it's a good investment long term with none of the growing pains associated with a new community like Willoughby.

Plus if the complexes become too much to maintain, a developer will approach the strata and buy the owners out. Multi-family zoned land is pretty valuable by the Skytrain.

[wingies]

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

That's a pretty broad statement. Where is the house located? How was it priced in relation to the market 6 months ago?

Originally Posted by Sw0op

Were they priced fairly compared to market comps or priced low?

Just wanted to share some knowledge with you guys. Area is Richmond Steveston, lot size 7300sq feet, house is like 50 yrs lol. Assessed at 1.1, listed for 1.7. Been on the market for a week or so.

The agent was also telling my parents if they wanted to downsize to a townhouse, they had plenty of units that were not listed on the market but were exclusively represented by the company and available for sale. Which is sketchy as fuck and goes further to show how screwed up our market is.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

If I was in the 500K range, I would look hard at townhouses in Coronation Park in Port Moody or Eagle Ridge in Coquitlam. They're older, but with the Skytrain, it's a good investment long term with none of the growing pains associated with a new community like Willoughby.

Plus if the complexes become too much to maintain, a developer will approach the strata and buy the owners out. Multi-family zoned land is pretty valuable by the Skytrain.

I would not bank anything on a developer buying a strata out - it is an incredibly difficult and time consuming process requiring 90% of the strata units to agree, and then it still needs to be approved by the courts with even 1 unit less than 100% agreement. Unless there is a change in zoning to go from multi-family townhouse density to full high rise, there is a 0 chance that this will make economic sense.

I live just around the corner from there and we considered those units but 1980s townhouses, flat roofs, no garages, to me they just don't seem like a deal in the 500s unless you absolutely have to have the square footage.

Mark

[Tapioca]

The threshold is now 80%. It will be interesting to see what sort of position the courts take to people who oppose a clear majority.

I cited Coronation Park specifically because Port Moody city council is contemplating an upzoning of the area. Some of the current multi-family complexes fall under areas to be re-zoned and some of the proposed zoning contemplates the replacement of those townhouses with high rises.

If the buildings are worn out and irreparable, then it would make sense for owners to find a buyer. We're seeing that with several low-rise apartments. I think the recent change to 80% will only increase the interest of strata councils to approach developers, particularly if their complexes are close to transportation hubs.

[Harvey Specter]

Regarding presales...

Sales are stalled and prices are wobbling in the resale sector of Vancouver’s real estate market, as part of both a general slowdown and also uncertainty in the wake of a new property tax for foreign buyers.

But things couldn’t be more different in the region’s presale market for apartments and townhouses, where units in most projects are flying off the shelves and non-resident buyers are still turning up.

“It’s unprecedented. It’s broken every local record,” said Elva Kim, the vice-president of sales and marketing for Anthem Properties. The company just signed 700 contracts for two towers at Station Square in Burnaby, B.C., in 30 days in September and October, with prices at $870 a square foot in the first tower marketed and $970 in the second one. “The prices we’re getting are ground-breaking.”

And, in those projects, the percentage of foreign buyers actually went up slightly compared with previous years.

About 55 buyers in the two towers were non-residents, 8 per cent of the total, Ms. Kim said. The last time Anthem sold 650 units in a block, in its first phase a few years ago, only 3 per cent were non-resident.

Other builders are reporting similar results.

But none of those trends have caught much media attention, because presale numbers and prices aren’t recorded by the local real estate boards, nor are they captured by the province’s system, introduced earlier this year, to track the influence of foreign buyers in the market.

The 15-per-cent tax, which applies to buyers in the Vancouver region who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents, took effect on Aug. 2. The province’s land-title office began tracking the nationality of buyers in June. In the weeks leading up to the tax’s introduction, foreign buyers accounted for 13.2 per cent of purchases in Metro Vancouver. In the two months after the tax, that proportion fell to just 1.3 per cent.

“The impact of the tax on the presales market was not that great,” said Michael Ferreira, whose company Urban Analytics is one of the few sources of general information about presales.

He noted that the very high-end Cardero tower on Georgia Street, by Bosa Properties, saw most of its units sold very quickly after going on the market in August.

Thirteen of the 111 sales in the tower, selling at around $1,700 a square foot, were to non-residents.

The one type of condo project that seems to have been affected are those with very large units on the city’s west side, aimed at residents there cashing out of their single-family homes.

The McKinnon project in Kerrisdale by Cressey Development Corporation, with units priced at $2-million and up, launched the week before the province announced that a new foreign-buyer tax would take effect almost immediately, on Aug. 2.

There are still 10 of the 40 units unsold.

“Our client is not the foreign buyer. It’s locals, but they’re nervous now about selling their homes,” said vice-president Hani Lammam.

However, many others are saying that both sales numbers and prices are exceptionally strong and that they didn’t see a lot of foreign buyers try to rescind deals, even if the tax caught them by surprise.

In Richmond, Intracorp has sold two towers at its River Park Place development, one before the tax came in, one after. In the one before, 15 foreign buyers purchased units in the 200-unit building, which was then selling for $550 a square foot. In the one marketed after the tax, priced at $675 a square foot, 11 of the 129 units went to foreign buyers.

Vice-president Barrett Sprowson said he thinks the resale and presale market are operating so differently because buyers of not-yet-built projects feel like their units are bound to gain by the time the building is finished.

As for foreign buyers, many of them are planning to immigrate.

“So, you’ve got two years to figure it out. They’re going to roll the dice on the idea that their immigration papers will be complete by then.”

Condo marketer Bob Rennie, whose company markets many high-profile projects in the region, said he expects that, of all the foreign buyers now purchasing, a third will be legal immigrants by the time their projects close, a third may flip to locals and a third may just decide to pay the tax if the market seems strong.

Tracie McTavish, executive director at Rennie Marketing Systems, said the proportion of foreign buyers in all the projects the company has marketed has stayed steady at around 7 to 12 per cent of all purchases amid strong sales all around.

“There’s been a decoupling of the resale market and the presale market,” he said.

Vancouver presale market strong, attracting interest of foreign buyers - The Globe and Mail

[Traum]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

The roads are horrible. They have added thousands of homes along 208th st corridor, yet they haven't made any changes to the infrastructure. Five times as many people are travelling the same roads that I was driving on 15 years ago.

The problem is not new at all. In particular, traffic across pretty much the entire Metro Vancouver is like that.

Another case in point is Metrotown. Kingsway as we know it is already fxxked. The Willingdon & Beresford intersection is horrible -- Beresford was designed to be a low traffic side street with just a stop sign, and the traffic light is at the Central Blvd intersection. But now because there are 2 or 3 high rises built along Beresford (& Silver & Telford), cars are constantly coming out of Beresford trying to get somewhere. And then there are cars coming from the north side on Willingdon trying to left turn into Beresford as well. Add in the Metrotown skytrain station construction, and you have a traffic nightmare even at 8 or 9pm at night.

[VR6GTI]

Why do foreign buyers buy a property and not rent it out?
If your not going to live in it why not rent it out and make some money. Whats the point of letting it sit empty?

[quasi]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

I hate to say it, but the foriegn market has pushed everyone out to the areas that we used to avoid. If you're being forced to go as far east as Mission or Abbotsford, you may as well keep going to Regina. Sure, the winters are tough. But your $500k will get you a place that you want to go home to every night.

Whoa, gear down big rig nobody deserves to live in that dump known as Regina this coming from a guy who came from there. You think the crime is bad in here? You don't dare go near the downtown core after dark in Regina unless you want to get stabbed, shot or stabbed well being shot.

I had a chance to go back, double my wage and pay cash for a house nicer then the one I live in now and it still wasn't worth it.

[will068]

Originally Posted by VR6GTI

Why do foreign buyers buy a property and not rent it out?
If your not going to live in it why not rent it out and make some money. Whats the point of letting it sit empty?

Vacation house.

Also, it's a hassle for some people to manage such renters. To them, the money is not worth the hassle.