by threadbear » Fri 01 Aug 2008, 00:55:36
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Maddog78', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WildRose', 'I') can see this happening with so many people in Alberta in the future. Here, $350,000 or so will buy you a small bungalow. However, you can get a considerably nicer home for $500,000. It's just hard for me to understand why it has to be so difficult for a person or persons to get into a small home. Imagine, even if you manage to save $30,000 for a downpayment, you're still mortgaging $320,000. It's just crazy. What's going to happen when the jobs aren't here anymore?
Wait till you see what happens out here in B.C. in the next few yrs.
Median price in Vancouver is now over $800,000. Who the hell is buying these things? We don't even have an oil economy going to support it like Alberta. Actually to answer my own question less and less people. Listings now at 20,000. This time last yr. , 12,000.
So many people are in denial. They'll keep going up they say.
Someone in my family just bought a house for 750,000 and have put another 80,000 or so into it. It will be worth 1 million in 3 yrs. he says. Dream on, I say. Good luck with that mortgage.
By this winter I expect prices will start down and then really decelerate. Go and read the Vancouver estate agent blogs.
They are holding open houses and literally no one is coming.
The dope growers can't buy all the houses.
The clock is ticking.
International organized crime based around dope IS boosting prices in Vancouver, because NOTHING else can explain the incredible run up in prices, other than people trying to launder money through real estate, bidding up prices. Add to that all the secondary players injecting cash, into the economy, and it's like pouring high octane gasoline on a market that was already over heating . In West Van, huge mansions run up the hill, built cheek by jowl. Ten thousand square feet, and larger! And nobody in sight. Half of them appear to be sitting empty. Posted around the neighbourhood are little signs that say, "If you see any suspicious activity, please phone Vancouver Police Dept." I feel like calling up the cops and saying, "I'd like to report what looks like a massive international money laundering operation!D", and then just list all of the houses in the neighbourhood. !!
You're right though. The dope buyers can't keep it all propped. And why would they want to hold on to empty houses that are dropping in value? They'll drop them like hot rocks, now that the market has turned. Besides the drug trade to the U.S has to be impacted by the strengthening Canadian dollar.