3483 replies to this topic

[aastra]

 

Was no rental housing built from 1950 to 2009?

 

In Victoria almost all of it was built between 1950 and 1980.

[Nparker]

...I suspect that any private project that was just hanging on is done now...

This just means government will end up owning and controlling even more of the rental market, which of course is the goal.

[Tom Braybrook]

Was no rental housing built from 1950 to 2009?

 

 

ahhh! 1980-83 -  when i was in school running up my student loan! those were the days...

[Victoria Watcher]

Secondary suites could soon be legal in Oak Bay.

 

Bylaws paving the way for the change will get first and second readings this coming week, followed by a public hearing in September, Mayor Kevin Murdoch said.

 

“Council has had a lot of interesting and positive public input on the issue, so I think we’re pretty close to where we need to be.”

 

The district began studying the issue in 2018. Last year, council endorsed guidelines for both new secondary suites and the estimated 700 existing ones.

 

Homeowners will be required to have a parking spot for each suite, but could receive a waiver if they can demonstrate they are providing tenants with a secure lock-up for bicycles or other means of active transportation, said Murdoch.

 

The bylaws will also make it clear secondary suites cannot be used for short-term or vacation rentals, he said.

 

 

https://www.timescol...-suites-5591294

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 July 2022 - 04:18 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Annual income of over $187K needed to buy a home in Victoria, new data finds


New housing affordability data finds buyers need to earn an annual income of over $187,000 to buy a home of average value in Victoria.

RentHub’s list of all major cities in Canada finds the average home price hit $985,500 in B.C.’s capital last month, meaning buyers need to make $187,980 or more a year to purchase a home.

https://www.cheknews...-finds-1064017/


Headline a bit misleading.

Most will buy with additional savings, inheritance, equity from the home they sell, or a gift from family.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 July 2022 - 05:21 PM.

[Mike K.]

But hold on. HouseHunt says affordability is equal to the 1990s: https://twitter.com/...6qi1_TAyVY_yBsg

So we don’t have an affordability issue, after all? Million dollar townhomes are par for the course.

That’s a far cry from calling housing unaffordable, and telling homebuyers to wait for a market crash.

[Victoria Watcher]

The housing market appears to have cooled in recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean it’s now more affordable to enter the market. In fact, owing to rising interest rates, the opposite is true.

 

Within the past four months, the average yearly income needed to buy a home on a fixed mortgage with 20 per cent down has climbed by $18,000, according to new data from Ratehub, a loan-comparison website. It determined these numbers by contrasting real estate data from March with June, using the average mortgage rates of Canada’s five largest banks.

 

In Vancouver, would-be homebuyers must now take home a minimum of $232,000 a year to afford a home, an increase of almost $32,000 since March. To purchase a home in Toronto, Ratehub.ca says people need to make roughly $226,000 a year, an additional $16,000 in four months time.

 

The greatest increase since March occurred in Victoria, where the minimum annual income to afford a home, on average, is pegged at $188,000 – ballooning by 23 per cent, or about $36,000.

 

 

https://www.theglobe..._id=stress_test

[Victoria Watcher]

A new three-day cooling off period for homebuyers to allow time for inspections and related due diligence after an accepted offer is coming into effect in January.

 

The program includes a fee of 0.25 per cent for every $100,000 in value for those who back out of a residential sales ­agreement, Finance Minister Selina ­Robinson announced Thursday. For example, buyers who change their minds on a $1-million ­property would pay $2,500 to the seller.

 

The program, which applies to both resale and new homes, will be the first in Canada, she said.

 

Cooling-off periods for ­pre-construction sales of multi-unit projects are already in place in B.C.

 

 

https://www.timescol...january-5610014

[Mike K.]

So if I put in an offer subject to inspection, then decide to walk away if the inspection reveals a major issue, I have to pay the owner?

[Victoria Watcher]

So if I put in an offer subject to inspection, then decide to walk away if the inspection reveals a major issue, I have to pay the owner?

 

Sounds like it.

 

Why not list a train wreck of a house for $400,000, and take dozens of consecutive of offers.  They will all be cancelled after inspection, but the seller will make money on the $1,000 fees.  I guess until every inspector in town knows the house.

 

Something about this certainly seems problematic.

 

Marko, what say you?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 July 2022 - 06:12 AM.

[Mike K.]

Exactly.

Alternatively, what’s stopping you from making non-payment of the fee one of the conditions?

I mean at the price of $3,000 for an average house, that’s a crazy high amount.

With every failed inspection report, there goes 2.5% of a young buyers down payment on their first condo. How exactly will this help?

[Victoria Watcher]

Alternatively, what’s stopping you from making non-payment of the fee one of the conditions?

 

 

Because your contract can't defeat the spirit of legislation.  Can't over-ride the legislation.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 July 2022 - 06:28 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Exactly.

Alternatively, what’s stopping you from making non-payment of the fee one of the conditions?

I mean at the price of $3,000 for an average house, that’s a crazy high amount.

With every failed inspection report, there goes 2.5% of a young buyers down payment on their first condo. How exactly will this help?

 

Everything has unintended consequences, that's why you should be very wary when the minister proclaims with glee that this "is the first of its kind...!!!"

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 July 2022 - 06:30 AM.

[LJ]

The problem with this "cooling off" legislation is that the seller does not have to permit the buyer or his agent or anyone else to enter the premise.

 

A better system would have been mandatory inspections. Arizona has that legislation and it works pretty well.

[Victoria Watcher]

The problem with this "cooling off" legislation is that the seller does not have to permit the buyer or his agent or anyone else to enter the premise.

 

That's correct.  A few houses are indeed sold this way.  Crazy hoarder or crazy tenanted homes.  

[Victoria Watcher]

Here is a great snip of a Stossel video on rent control and a terrible politician:

 

https://youtu.be/Tc8XQGEoEpY?t=214

[Victoria Watcher]

The Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) today downgraded its forecast for Canada's housing market, which is being battered by rising interest rates. 

 

Vancouver, Toronto and Victoria are the cities likely to suffer the most, according to the bank's assistant chief economist Robert Hogue.

 

The bank now sees home resales to fall nearly 23 per cent this year, and 15 per cent next year across the country. Those declines would come with the national benchmark home price falling 12 per cent from its peak by the second quarter of 2023. 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-market-5612771

[Barrrister]

A possible solution might be to have the inspection period last for seven days and if you are going to pull the trigger do it after the three day legislative period has already run. Might be able to argue that the three day penalty does not apply if the inspection withdrawal occurs after the end of the legislated cooling off period.

 

The politicians are idiots at best. 

Edited by Barrrister, 23 July 2022 - 07:59 AM.

[Nparker]

...The politicians are idiots at best. 

Can't argue with this.

[DavidL]

You're conflating the rescission period with a conditional period. They're different. The penalty applies only to situations where the right to rescission is exercised. The government's clumsy wording in their explanations don't help but collapsing a contract because a condition cannot be satisfied is not exercising a right of rescission but rather a right of contract, and there is no penalty attached for doing so.

Edited by DavidL, 23 July 2022 - 08:11 AM.