1026 replies to this topic

[AllseeingEye]

For one of the very rare times over the last 2.5 years I was d/t early this morning for an 8:15 medical appointment; parked the car in a spot my wife's tech firm leases on Courtney St and walked to the clinic over near Cook/Yates. Came out about 9am and walked back. To say the streets are bereft of life and bodies is an understatement: there was no one around on a Friday a month before Christmas. Very surreal. But there is lots of construction activity, holy moly. Just no people....

[Victoria Watcher]

For one of the very rare times over the last 2.5 years I was d/t early this morning for an 8:15 medical appointment; parked the car in a spot my wife's tech firm leases on Courtney St and walked to the clinic over near Cook/Yates. Came out about 9am and walked back. To say the streets are bereft of life and bodies is an understatement: there was no one around on a Friday a month before Christmas. Very surreal. But there is lots of construction activity, holy moly. Just no people....

It’s not good.

[Victoria Watcher]

Panelists

 

- Kelly Greenwell, Executive Director, Quadra Village Community Centre

- Diana Gibson, Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria

- Sylvia Ceacero, Executive Director, Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness

- Kara Udell, Executive Director, Capital Region Food Share Network

- Jimmy Thomson (Moderator), Editor-in-Chief, Capital Daily

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experts talk big picture solutions to the Island’s ongoing affordability crisis

With cost of living on the rise, how we can make life more liveable in Greater Victoria?

 

 

https://www.capitald...f-affordability

 

 

 

 

Seems to me none of the above experts advocate for people earning more money.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 November 2022 - 06:32 AM.

[Banksy]

Maybe one of you can help me out with a rumour. Is it true the Capital Daily boss recently purchased a mansion for like $10 million.

[Victoria Watcher]

Somebody said he bought something somewhere. I forget where. Oak Bay?

[Mike K.]

Did anyone talk about the level of taxation, and how that impacts people’s cost of living?

About a month of rent goes to pay property tax alone, for a typical 1BR apartment.

And we’re still in historically low interest rates, with mortgages for new apartment buildings and condos turned over as rentals locked in to low rates for another 2-4 years. What’ll happen when the new rates are factored into the equation? A lot of landlords will be under water unless they maximize rent increases annually from now on, and they’re still not going to overcome higher interest rates and rising property taxes.

[Victoria Watcher]

Well, presumably the builders of newer rental buildings factored in that risk.

We’ve been through higher interest rate than today, many, many times before. Those rental buildings are still standing.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 November 2022 - 09:50 AM.

[spanky123]

Maybe one of you can help me out with a rumour. Is it true the Capital Daily boss recently purchased a mansion for like $10 million.

 

$13M. According to a recent podcast, he claims to own 5 homes in Victoria, Vancouver, LA, New York and Shawinigan Lake.

 

Interestingly, he also said that he maxes out mortgages on all of his properties with interest only payments.

Edited by spanky123, 27 November 2022 - 11:37 AM.

[spanky123]

 

Seems to me none of the above experts advocate for people earning more money.

 

Or reduce immigration which of course is responsible for the vast majority of housing cost increases. 

[aastra]

 

Experts talk big picture solutions to the Island’s ongoing affordability crisis

 

The year 2023 is a month away and experts are getting together to talk about solutions to the crisis. How can anyone not feel reassured by that? Solutions must surely be right around the corner.

[aastra]

 

Seems to me none of the above experts advocate for people earning more money.

 

Every day the specific causes are a bit different from the day before and the specific solutions remain elusive, but the same old problems persist:

 

 

Vancouver Sun
December 1, 1992

Renters in Vancouver, Victoria least able to buy

Vancouver and Victoria renters are far less likely to afford a home purchase now than renters in any other part of Canada, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. survey.

The survey found that only 21.7 per cent of Vancouver renters can afford to buy a home now while just 11.2 per cent of Victoria renters can buy a house.

The affordability factor is much more serious in Victoria because the average household income for renters in B.C.'s capital city is just $41,600, the sixth lowest of 27 cities surveyed. That income would allow renters to buy a $127,000 townhouse or condominium.

Analysts attribute Victoria's low average income to the city's large number of senior citizens on fixed incomes.

Edited by aastra, 27 November 2022 - 12:04 PM.

[Mike K.]

Well, presumably the builders of newer rental buildings factored in that risk.

We’ve been through higher interest rate than today, many, many times before. Those rental buildings are still standing.

Yes, but we can see how that will make the affordability situation trickier for the renter. When the mortgages rise, so too will the rents.

Going back to living wage and affordability, when has Vancouver been more expensive to live in than Victoria? It was always cheaper to live there when I was growing up. Cheaper food. Much larger metro region with cheaper rents on average. Cheaper cars. Cheaper consumer goods. Cheaper travel options (by a huge margin). More retail stores with cheaper alternatives (ikea as one example). And wages were typically higher.

When did Vancouver become more expensive, that then allowed Victoria to eclipse it again? Is living wage just another easily malleable term that can be used for political purposes?

[aastra]

 

Analysts attribute Victoria's low average income to the city's large number of senior citizens on fixed incomes

 

^Let the record show that Victorians today have pretty much dumped the "poor seniors" narrative altogether. For ~40 years it was one of the prevailing sob stories in politics and news reporting, but in the 2000s it started to evaporate.

Coincidentally, it began to fade right right when politicians and news media launched the sob stories about seniors causing problems, by hoarding their wealth and being overhoused. But that narrative has also since faded.

[Nparker]

Is living wage just another easily malleable term that can be used for political purposes?

That's a rhetorical question, right?

[Mike K.]

^Let the record show that Victorians today have pretty much dumped the "poor seniors" narrative altogether. For ~40 years it was one of the prevailing sob stories in politics and news reporting, but in the 2000s it started to evaporate.

Coincidentally, it began to fade right right when politicians and news media launched the sob stories about seniors causing problems, by hoarding their wealth and being overhoused. But that narrative has also since faded.

Are we back to financially disadvantaged seniors now?

I can’t square any of this any more. How does the most expensive place in Canada (Victoria) become less expensive than Vancouver without anybody noticing, for it to have become the most expensive place once more?

Did we miss that seismic affordability shift? How did we miss it?

[spanky123]

Starlight is the latest real estate REIT to hit the financials skids.

 

https://www.theglobe...rates/#comments

[Nparker]

Starlight is the latest real estate REIT to hit the financials skids.

Will this impact the Harris Green project?

[spanky123]

Will this impact the Harris Green project?

 

One would think that their ability to raise new money is going to be greatly diminished.

[Mike K.]

They are launching 800-units in Victoria alone, by the end of December. I think they'll be alright.

[spanky123]

They are launching 800-units in Victoria alone, by the end of December. I think they'll be alright.

 

Those would already have been funded. Assuming the article is correct however, their ability to continue to service those new units given rent controls and increasing interest rates is going to be a challenge. 

 

When you halt redemptions and/or distributions you start the path down a very slippery slope. The vast majority of retail investors in these programs are there for the promised 8% yield. Now that 8% isn't that great a deal anymore along with the uncertainty of actually getting your money back when you need it it will force these REITs to scale back.

Edited by spanky123, 28 November 2022 - 09:07 AM.