5833 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Yikes, LJ might be right.

[Citified.ca]

Victoria’s high number of ‘empty homes’ a myth: Statistics Canada
http://victoria.citi...tistics-canada/

[Mike K.]

Reading between the lines, we can see that the 'empty home tax' is yet another nothingburger at the hands of our overly excited council. We do not have an empty home or vacation home problem, unless the entire country has the exact same problem.

 

Where we do have issues is despite being so green, so progressive and socially aware, we are the most inefficient consumers of housing in the entire country. Out of 25 of Canada's largest CMA's, Victoria's residents per full-time dwellings ranks us at #23. Behind us is Quebec City and Sherbrooke. So there's your real problem, City of Victoria council, and it's not the boogeyman that is AirBnB, vacation homes, secondary homes, etc.

[Nparker]

...Where we do have issues is despite being so green, so progressive and socially aware, we are the most inefficient consumers of housing in the entire country. Out of 25 of Canada's largest CMA's, Victoria's residents per full-time dwellings ranks us at #23...

Oh great. Now LiBeJe* (Lisa-Ben-Jeremy) is going to force all single-occupancy dwellers in the CoV to take in a homeless person. Thanks Mike. 

 

* watch out for a severe case of the "LiBeJe-jeebies"

[Jackerbie]

^ A Modest Proposal: an empty bedroom tax. See how well that sits with the anti-AirBNB and anti-foreign ownership crowds. 

[Nparker]

^ A Modest Proposal: an empty bedroom tax...

I use my "empty" second bedroom as a den so it's not available - and I'd be willing to tear out the closet to make it even less of a bedroom.

[johnk]

^ A Modest Proposal: an empty bedroom tax. See how well that sits with the anti-AirBNB and anti-foreign ownership crowds. 

That will necessitate an entirely new bureaucratic fiefdom. Bedroom-counters, forms to fill out, forms to be tabulated, tabulations to be checked, data analysts and bean counters, supervisors to supervise the above, communications types to churn out bumpf and keep the world informed.
Its all job-creation and that must be a good thing, right?

[Jackerbie]

That will necessitate an entirely new bureaucratic fiefdom. Bedroom-counters, forms to fill out, forms to be tabulated, tabulations to be checked, data analysts and bean counters, supervisors to supervise the above, communications types to churn out bumpf and keep the world informed.
Its all job-creation and that must be a good thing, right?

 

There we go, solving so many problems at once! And just so everyone is on the same page, the earlier post was a reference Swift's classic A Modest Proposal. More bureaucracy is definitely not the answer!

[LJ]

So we were down at the Beacon for an ice cream last night and as we drove down Douglas and then onto Dallas Rd. I was shocked at how many "for rent" signs were hanging out in front of the apartment buildings. I thought we were in a rental "crisis" and yet here were all these places looking for renters.

I would have thought they would have all had waiting lists and wouldn't have to advertise.

Maybe people are leaving Dodge faster than we think.

[North Shore]

^There's always rooms for rent, LJ - it's just how much you want/can afford to pay for them.  (similar to the Ferrari shortage in our respective driveways, I would suspect!)

[VicHockeyFan]

There really no housing crisis. Rents just went up a bit.

[exc911ence]

Victoria’s high number of ‘empty homes’ a myth: Statistics Canada
http://victoria.citi...tistics-canada/

 

My wife and I have been house shopping since March and have been crawling realtor.ca daily as well as getting regular updates on our "Portal" from our realtor... I can tell you that within our price-point that easily 50% of the houses we see listed are empty. Likely more. Listing after listing with pictures of empty houses with either a scattering of old furniture or none at all. It's a bit freaky, like house shopping in a ghost town but we all know that Victoria is far from death.

[VicHockeyFan]

I'd guess some of the empty homes are people that have moved on to some form of care homes.  My parents' Gordon Head home was occupied by us for 50 years, from when it was built, until it sold.  But mom had moved out a few months earlier.

 

Remember, every day in Victoria, another 750 people or so turn 70 years old.  

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 17 September 2017 - 07:57 AM.

[VicHockeyFan]

My wife and I have been house shopping since March and have been crawling realtor.ca daily as well as getting regular updates on our "Portal" from our realtor... I can tell you that within our price-point that easily 50% of the houses we see listed are empty. Likely more. Listing after listing with pictures of empty houses with either a scattering of old furniture or none at all. It's a bit freaky, like house shopping in a ghost town but we all know that Victoria is far from death.

 

Are these lower priced houses?  with a minimal number of bathrooms?  Seems these houses are more likely to be empty.

[Mike K.]

Oh I'm sure. But of the 150,000-odd homes in the region the current available inventory is just a tiny sliver of the total, and the empty homes a tiny sliver of that.

I suspect that in this market folks do not have the luxury they once had to sell their home then vacate within 30 days after they purchase another home. Today you scramble to buy the house you want as soon as it comes online. Then you worry about selling your existing home. If you don't do that you run the serious risk of ending up in a hotel for a few months.

[Greg]

My wife and I have been house shopping since March and have been crawling realtor.ca daily as well as getting regular updates on our "Portal" from our realtor... I can tell you that within our price-point that easily 50% of the houses we see listed are empty. Likely more. Listing after listing with pictures of empty houses with either a scattering of old furniture or none at all. It's a bit freaky, like house shopping in a ghost town but we all know that Victoria is far from death.

 

Last condo I sold was empty. Because I had already moved into the new condo. Don't think this really proves much.

[MarkoJ]

My wife and I have been house shopping since March and have been crawling realtor.ca daily as well as getting regular updates on our "Portal" from our realtor... I can tell you that within our price-point that easily 50% of the houses we see listed are empty. Likely more. Listing after listing with pictures of empty houses with either a scattering of old furniture or none at all. It's a bit freaky, like house shopping in a ghost town but we all know that Victoria is far from death.

 

On of my personal condos I sold last year I put it up for sale after the tenant gave me notice just because it is so much easier to sell when people know they can have the unit vacant. So wasn't vacant but was going to be if it didn't sell quickly.

 

I don't think there is a correlation between vacant homes for sale and vacant homes in general. Typically, after a vacant home that is for sale is pulled from that market it goes into the rental market. At least from what I've obsereved. 

[LJ]

^There's always rooms for rent, LJ - it's just how much you want/can afford to pay for them.  (similar to the Ferrari shortage in our respective driveways, I would suspect!)

True dat, but this was the first time I had seen "for rent" signs out on the lawns.

[AllseeingEye]

I'd guess some of the empty homes are people that have moved on to some form of care homes.  My parents' Gordon Head home was occupied by us for 50 years, from when it was built, until it sold.  But mom had moved out a few months earlier.

 

Remember, every day in Victoria, another 750 people or so turn 70 years old.

Yup virtually the same situation for us; dad passed in July 2012 and mom had to be moved out due to relatively advanced dementia. We cleaned out and spruced up their UVic-Mt Tolmie house, occupied by the family for over 40 years, then put it on the market and sold it that same year.

 

As to the second point - "absolutely": they're not building all those new senior's home in the region for no reason - there are by my reckoning at least 5 new senior's facilities currently under construction right now within ~ 4 clicks of our place in the Gorge area + another one on the Songhees to be constructed as part of that Bayview neighborhood master re-development. And its practically a given that all will be full to capacity on Day 1 of operations.....

[exc911ence]

Are these lower priced houses?  with a minimal number of bathrooms?  Seems these houses are more likely to be empty.

 

We're in the $600-650K pricepoint, looking at houses with 3 bedrooms and 1-2 bathrooms. Pretty much the same thing as everyone else is looking for, I think.

 

I believe that the point made about many of these houses being vacant due to the owner(s) being moved to senior's homes is likely quite valid. The decor and left-behind furniture does tell this tale fairly loudly. I just find it odd to walk through so many empty homes.