5833 replies to this topic

[sebberry]

 

Vancouver is the third least affordable city in the world, a survey of nearly 90 global major metropolitan regions has found.

 

The median home in Vancouver costs almost 11 times the median annual pretax household income, according to the annual ranking by U.S.-based research firm Demographia.

 

[...]

 

Four of the five least affordable metropolitan markets in Canada were in British Columbia. They include Vancouver, followed by Victoria, the Fraser Valley and Kelowna.

 

[...]

 

http://www.bnn.ca/Ne...ing-market.aspx

 

[dasmo]

ahhh the Demographia report... linked to our discussions about bike lanes actually...

 

Every year since 2005, pro-sprawl think-tank Demographia has published a new edition of its “International Housing Affordability Survey“. They report a “median multiple” measure of housing affordability that compares median house prices to median household incomes within a number of cities, mostly in the English-speaking world.

Demographia’s aim, in publishing this data, is to argue that “if housing exceeds 3.0 times annual household incomes, that there is institutional failure at the local level. The political and regulatory impediments with respect to land supply and infrastructure provision must be dealt with.” By this, they mean building car-dependent suburbs on the urban fringe – and nothing else.

...

in other words, high house prices relative to incomes are a good indicator that a city is a nice place to live. Rather than proving that Metropolitan Urban Limits inevitably push up house prices, Demographia’s median multiple seems to simply measure cities’ relative levels of amenity. When they argue that all cities should have a median multiple of under three, they are arguing for an absurdity: that all cities should offer the exact same level of amenity to their residents.

http://transportblog...-economics-101/

[lanforod]

multiple of 3? What's our multiple in Victoria, 10?

[LeoVictoria]

multiple of 3? What's our multiple in Victoria, 10?

 

6.9.  Vancouver is 10.8

[johnk]

Brief chat today with a mortgage broker who told me if you have a house with a suite for sale in Gordon Head you'll get 100 offers within days.

[LeoVictoria]

Mike you should like this one:  http://www.timescolo...anada-1.1736646

 

Lisa Helps says the affordability problem is due to "low-paying jobs, scarcity of land and government fees as part of the city’s affordability problem".   Also "Helps said increasing density in the region could alleviate the problem"

 

I thought that was quite insightful.  Not the usual blather about the need to build more low income housing.

Edited by LeoVictoria, 25 January 2016 - 09:07 PM.

[Mike K.]

I hope she meant taxes when she referred to government fees.

[Baro]

The affordability problem is mostly due to ridiculously cheap and easy debt, it's beyond any mayor's abilities to solve, although they can nudge things in certain directions.

[jonny]

What about the basics of supply and demand, Baro? Local governments surely influence that, especially on the supply side.

Edited by jonny, 26 January 2016 - 12:21 PM.

[lanforod]

Past decisions by councils to turn down dense projects certainly influences supply, driving up demand.

[MarkoJ]

The affordability problem is mostly due to ridiculously cheap and easy debt, it's beyond any mayor's abilities to solve, although they can nudge things in certain directions.

 

Are we talking affordability to rent or to own because they probably don't go hand in hand?

 

For example, if the City has a favorable stance on secondary suites it would make it more affordable to rent but at the same time it causes prices to go up in terms of purchasing as buyers can afford more with the second suite income.

[Mike K.]

Marko was able to provide excellent 2015 statistics on local real-estate buyer origins. The consensus? Fears about foreign ownership are unfounded.

 

Origin statistics quell concerns over foreign ownership of Victoria real-estate

http://victoria.citi...ia-real-estate/

 

The Victoria Real-Estate Board has revealed buyer origin statistics for property purchases between January 1st and December 31st of 2015 throughout metropolitan Victoria, providing an answer to the proverbial question: are Victoria real-estate values being driven by foreign real-estate investors?

 

5,703 of last year's 8,085 property sales went to local buyers and represented 70.54% of total volume. Percentage-wise, 2015 saw a minimal drop in the ratio of local-to-non-local buyers from 2014's 72.28% of 6,540 transactions.

 

The Lower Mainland represented the second largest pool of buyers with 7.42% of market share, or 600 total sales. The volume was a near-doubling of 2014's 367 transactions. [Full article]

[Mike K.]

Victoria condo fetches astonishing resale premium thanks to AirBnB

http://victoria.citi...anks-to-airbnb/

 

Move aside coffee shops and delis, there's a new turnkey business opportunity on the market targeting investors in search of instant cash flow.

 

A fully furnished one bedroom home in the recently completed Era residential tower on Yates Street recently sold for $338,000, some 60% above its pre-sale price of $212,000. The reason for the jaw-dropping uplift? The listing, it turns out, was not for a condo in the traditional sense, rather a popular vacation rental.

 

The ninth floor unit was described on the Multiple Listings Service as a "very successful AirBnB [vacation rental] that is always booked" and "great for anyone looking for an exciting new turnkey business with proven track records." [Full article]

[dasmo]

I am noticing the negative effect of airBnB being a recent rental hunter. It ain't HAM it's airBnB. Most listings on pad-mapper are airBnB.... I think it is a major reason our rental rate is low. It's also affecting real estate values. Check out how many family homes are on there....Also multi million dollar mansions with people owning multiple properties trafficked through airBnB. Screw regulating pot shops, turn our eyes to airBnB. It is having a much larger effect on things.... 

[sebberry]

 

A fully furnished one bedroom home in the recently completed Era residential tower on Yates Street recently sold for $338,000, some 60% above its pre-sale price of $212,000.

 

Just wait until the owners band together and amend their bylaws to restrict rentals to 1 year leases or longer. 

[Mike K.]

There are only between 300-400 full home AirBnB rental opportunities in our region. Others are shared spaces.

Do 300-400 units make a big dent in our housing situation? Not really. On the other hand there are thousands of secondary suites in our region that are being used for storage or party rooms instead of being offered as rentals.

Either way, what the homeowner chooses to do with their space is their prerogative.

[dasmo]

There goes that "successful proven cash flow positive business" (that's only been in existences for a few months) 

[dasmo]

There are only between 300-400 full home AirBnB rental opportunities in our region. Others are shared spaces.

Do 300-400 units make a big dent in our housing situation? Not really. On the other hand there are thousands of secondary suites in our region that are being used for storage or party rooms instead of being offered as rentals.

Either way, what the homeowner chooses to do with their space is their prerogative.

Apparently it has a "jaw-dropping uplift" affect on our housing situation....

[nagel]

IMO these short term rental units should be subject to the same hotel taxes as established hotels.

[Mike K.]

Apparently it has a "jaw-dropping uplift" affect on our housing situation....

No it doesn't. The major uplift for that one unit aside even if 50 of these units sold every year their effect on the overall market would be negligible.

The home you reside in while living in Victoria, I assume you've got it rented out while you're living in the Netherlands. Rentals like this also account for some of the AirBnB rentals. Some folks don't live here full time and generate extra revenue when they're not here, sort of like a timeshare. What's the problem?