CondoAdvisory Blog » Market Trends

DT Vancouver Condos Sit Empty, It’s a Myth

keith — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:19:24 +0000

Interesting article in the Globe and Mail sheds light an the long standing Myth thay a high percentage of DT Vancouver condos are owned for overseas investors and sit empy. Read here.

Who Is Devaluing The Vancouver Condo Market?

keith — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:56:08 +0000

Well this is an interesting question and it amazes me how many people have an opinion on this. Bottom line is markets go up, markets come down. Yes in this case the increase was extreme maybe and fueled by greed maybe, but what else is new. In the end the market will bear what it can bear, even if it does not seem to make sense to everyone. We all know that the market here has not been fueled just by locals, if that were the case it could not have reached the highs it has.

I read a post today at dwot’s CAPS Blog that suggests the developers are dragging down or devaluing the market by offer these deep discounts we have heard about lately, when the re-sellers are not doingt he same. Well the fact is the developers were charging over market prices in many cases and by dropping by 25-40% in many cases they are coming in line with the re-sellers who have come down 10-15%. So really the only way this is devaluing the market is by the fact that the marketing companies and media are presenting it in such a way that the public is lead to believe that. Bottom line is the market has come down and prices are now more level between new product and re-sale product, but the sky is still not falling and in my opinion all the talk about prices coming down even 50% is not enough and still can’t be sustained just is not going to become reality. Only time will tell of course, but markets will always work themselves out in the end and although we have some influence in the short term with hype and negative media etc. we don’t really have that influence in the long term.

Home Listings Withdraw as Sales Volume Slows, Greater Vancouver

keith — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:55:05 +0000

Latest Press Release and Stats from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Home listings withdraw as sales volume slows
VANCOUVER, B.C. February 3, 2009 The 1st month of 2009 saw a continued reduction in the
number of homes listed for sale in Greater Vancouver, while sales volumes in January were the lowest
for that month since the early 1980s.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and
apartment properties declined 58.1 per cent in January 2009 to 762 from the 1,819 sales recorded in
January 2008.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined 20.9 per cent to 3,700 in Janu-
ary 2009 compared to January 2008, when 4,675 new units were listed. Total active listings in Greater
Vancouver currently sit at 13,966, down nearly 6,000 listings from October 2008.
Overall residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, declined
10.9 per cent to $489,007 between Januarys 2008 and 2009.
Home sales and consumer con! dence are at a low point at the moment, but the long-term strength
and security of our housing market are beyond the reach of the economic clouds of today, Dave Watt,
REBGV president said.
Todays short-term conditions are creating long-term opportunities. Buying opportunities have not
been this strong in a decade, with low interest rates, broad selection and more affordable prices, Watt
said.
Sales of detached properties declined 54.4 per cent to 292 from the 641 detached sales recorded dur-
ing the same period in 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties declined 11.2 per cent to
$659,638 in January 2009 compared to $742,490 January 2008.
Sales of apartment properties in January 2009 declined 58 per cent to 361, compared to 860 sales in
January 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 11.6 per cent to $334,602 com-
pared to $378,336 in January 2008.
Attached property sales in January 2009 were down 65.7 per cent to 109, compared with the 318 sales
in January 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 8.1 per cent to $425,309 compared to
$462,627 in January 2008.

More Green Condos in North Vancouver

keith — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:39:24 +0000

Well it seems the trend to greener condo projects continues. Of course we really are not sure what “Green” really means and there are a number of different opinions as to whether any of this is really significant or just good marketing. I have to agree that there is always some marketing involved in these things but whatever the case, any step forward must be beneficial so I say this is a good thing.

Read about the the Brook condo developments in North Vancouver at “globeandmail.com”

Condo Market Downturn Has Positive Long Term Effects!

keith — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:28:36 +0000

With slow times in the Real Estate market developers and builders must look for more efficient ways to produce their product so they can offer it at more reasonable prices. The fact is that when times are good and things are moving fast there is really little incentive to look for these efficiencies, not to mention attention to detail and quality. The good news is as times have slowed, more attention is being paid to these areas which means prices have come down and not at the expense of details and quality, in fact in many cases these items may improve. In the long term this is good for everyone, as these improvements today will help builders and developers stay afloat, buyers will have quality product to buy at reasonable prices, and when things get better hopefully these things will remain true and the builders and developers will be able to flourish again with the new found efficiencies they have been forced to adopt.

Every situation provides opportunity and future benefit if dealt with properly.

Vancouver Developer Cancels Project, Will Build Rentals Instead!

keith — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:27:47 +0000

Well just another sign that the market is changing, Wall Financial has decided to cancel the development of condos on its False Creek site and instead move ahead with plans for a rental building instead.

They feel that there are enough condos currently to handle to demand out there, so they will add to the rental inventory which is lacking.

There may be some that use this tio fuel the scare that the market is tanking, but I see this in another light. Developers shifting to fill the demand, at the same time helping create more demand for the condos that are out there right now by capping the supply both should help stabilize the market and speed up the recovery.

There is good in everything.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun.

Downtown Vancouver to See Less Residential Develpment!

keith — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:25:35 +0000

Photo Courtesy of: SqueakyMarmot

Looks like the city is planning to slow or even stop residential development in the Core/Financial district of downtown Vancouver. The idea is that it will help spur more commercial or office development which has been moving away form downtown due to lack of space and high cost.

Personally I this makes sense in general. There is already an abundance of residential condos downtown and this may help keep values up for them, as well as give more people a reason to want to live downtown.

Of course taking a extreme position on anything is often a little much. I think what makes the most sense is to plan ahead for a mixture of development types to achieve the desired outcome. The problem is that over the past number of years things have been heavily weighted to the residential tower developments so now the city want to go to the other extreme to counter the effects. This may make sense in the short term but I hope they plan for a better mix sooner than later and then we may not have to swing back and forth between extremes over and over again.

Read more about the cities plans at “Proposed zoning changes favour commerce over condos” at straight.com.

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village, Enough!

keith — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:36:58 +0000

OK, I have to admit I am contributing to this ongoing story which even I am getting sick of quite quickly.

It seems that there are no shortage of stories about this, click here to see the one that got me going again.

Bottom line is that the decisions that were made around this project were made already, so we need to spend more time moving forward and less time talking about who did what, what a bad deal this is for the city etc. The politicians and the media seem to like to sensationalize everything, the fact is the project must be completed, the city is not going to be out a Billion dollars as they will own the project, so let stop throwing around numbers to scare people and cause an uproar, lets move forward. Yes the real estate market is taking a hit right now, but it was going to happen at some point as it always does, and it will turn around at some point as it ALWAYS does. It is just a matter of time but it will happen. The city will have to look at this as a long term investment, but that has aalways been the way to look at real estate and real estate has always been a solid investment. The fact is that timing the market would be great, but it is not easy and most real estate investors are in for the long run for this reason, things will be no different here. The fact is had the timing been different and had the market not come down yet people would be saying what a good deal the city had made (well maybe the current mayor would not be saying that at is seems to go against the norm the actually be happy with what a past administration did).

Yes there are problems with the ways things were done perhaps, but it is opportunistic to make such a production of it, just get on with it, in the long run it will not be the end of the world and all that is happening now is the current politicians want to make sure to place the blame for the current situation on past councils and set themselves up to be the savior for the future when things turn around. Fact is they have nothing to do with the market forces which are really the problem in the present moment.

The sky is not falling, the sun will shine again.

Sorry for contributing to keeping this story going, I will try and keep away form it (for now anyway).

Property Developers to be Ranked in Dubai

keith — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:59:31 +0000

What a great idea, looks like the government is going to undertake an official way to rank property developers in Dubai. With all the recent turmoil in the real estate market and with developers, this seems like a good start. Condoadvisory.com offers a great place for people to rate and review developers based on their experiences which is a perfect compliment to the type of system being talked about in Dubai. It is the way of the future and will only be a matter of time.

Read more about it at “Dubai to rank developers”

Condos Still Most Popular in Surrey!

keith — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:18:48 +0000

Well it is amazing how much diversity in information you can find out there. In yesterday’s Peace Arch News Article “City rings in new year to uncertain economy” it talks about multi-family units still being preferred over singe family for a multitude of reasons. I don’t disagree but this is certainly contrary to other reports with prices falling and leaky condo issues still unresolved. Interestingly the article also mentions one of the reasons for the demand is that leaky condo issues have been resolved for the most part. This is contrary to most reports I have seen recently. In fairness the article talking about new construction and the leaky issues may have been mostly resolved in that area, although that is not confirmed and is not agreed on by all.

In any case, just wanted to point out how there are always numerous points of view on everything and for that reason there will always be news and new slants on things even when there really isn’t anything new going on.