5925 replies to this topic

[Stephen James]

Let’s start now.

You pick a stock. I pick a house.

We reconvene on this topic in five years and compare equity

The operative difference in the investment is leverage. The long term avg of r.e. is 4%, plus potential income.

There is no other investment in Canada where you can leverage 80%+ of the capital.

Max for (a very favoured) brokerage account is 50%.

[Tony]

Sounds like great support for Mike K. position.

[Mike K.]

Yes, real estate truly is the average person’s best investment opportunity. Forced savings, favoured equity, security and stability. But it’ll also cost you an arm and a leg to do stuff around the property 🫡

[dasmo]

Buying your home is hands down a yes. Investment property is where it gets cloudy. 

[Citified.ca]

 

Downtown Victoria condo market struggled in January, while buyers battled for houses

https://victoria.cit...led-for-houses/

[Mike K.]

Bank of Canada head Tiff Macklem says supply is the solution to housing problems, not lower interest rates.

But we can’t build nearly enough housing right now, because of high interest rates.

Low interest rates, meanwhile, will spur more housing demand for limited supply, forcing up prices and therefore driving up inflation.

[Nparker]

How do such idiots rise to these positions? I guess **** really does float.

[dasmo]

Haha.
Reality: Price = Supply / Demand
Clown World: Price = Supply / {Supply *¥\~^?***\><} + Supply

Trust the experts

[lanforod]

Their solution to that is government funding for craphole places to increase supply. Welcome to Russ Canada, comrade!

[Mike K.]

Budgets balance themselves, interest rates will always be low.

When a Prime Minister speaks, Canadians listen and act accordingly. Then what the Prime Minister said would happen, doesn’t happen, and the results are what we see now.

The solution is so simple. Stop trying to squeeze more and more housing onto less and less land. Look at the Aryze land sale, 54 units of housing originally proposed, then upped to 68 units with the same footprint, for a project on Toronto Street, for sale at $8.5M or thereabouts. $160k per unit at 54 units. I don’t think building 68 is going to be practical, not sure how it went from 54 to 68 unless they became mostly small units.

$160k not long ago was the purchase price of a small unit, in a concrete tower, downtown.

[dasmo]

That’s progress!

[Citified.ca]

A very comprehensive Q&A with Scott Humphreys of D.R. Coell & Associates, a local land appraisal firm.

 

 

Real-estate appraisal and Victoria market Q&A with Scott Humphreys of D.R. Coell & Associates

https://victoria.cit...s-of-d-r-coell/

[Victoria Watcher]

VIDEO on X:  https://twitter.com/...805157443244334

 

[Mike K.]

More and more people are ditching Victoria and Vancouver for Alberta. I have a friend who did just that, and flies into Victoria now and then for shifts at a big institution here.

As another example, one fellow who spoke at the 937 View Street public hearing said when he worked as a firefighter in Vancouver, there were guys on the force who lived in Kelowna, and travelled in to Vancouver for their shifts.

I mean you can cut your cost of living in half by moving to Alberta, and the $500k you’ll save on your home purchase will never be made up by flights and costs to travel to coastal BC for work.

[Matt R.]

Yep, not so much anymore but a few years ago selling here for 1.5 and buying in NS or NB for .3 makes a lot of sense when you can also buy a condo in Mexico or CR to winter in.

 

Jobs, on the other hand... 

[Ismo07]

More and more people are ditching Victoria and Vancouver for Alberta. I have a friend who did just that, and flies into Victoria now and then for shifts at a big institution here.

As another example, one fellow who spoke at the 937 View Street public hearing said when he worked as a firefighter in Vancouver, there were guys on the force who lived in Kelowna, and travelled in to Vancouver for their shifts.

I mean you can cut your cost of living in half by moving to Alberta, and the $500k you’ll save on your home purchase will never be made up by flights and costs to travel to coastal BC for work.

 

Yeah didn't I just read an article where a guy is living in Calgary and goes to school in Vancouver.  Takes courses online but flies in twice a week for the day to do lab work etc, Doesn't even spend the night.  Seems to work...

[Mike K.]

Cheaper than living in Vancouver. Crazy.

[Ismo07]

Cheaper than living in Vancouver. Crazy.

 

Still seems like more and more leaving but more coming...

[Citified.ca]

$850k average for a townhome in February. More townhomes sold in Feb, than all of 2023's monthly average for that segment of the market.

 

February real-estate market saw uptick in Victoria townhome buys as region readies for busy spring

https://victoria.cit...es-busy-spring/

[Mike K.]

Looks like the province is walking back the timing of the transit-oriented development zones, as municipalities are not equipped to generate amenity revenues in alternate ways. At least that’s my quick read of this release:

The Province has updated the Provincial Policy Manual: Transit-Oriented Areas (TOA manual) to ensure local governments are supported in delivering the housing and amenities people need in areas near transit hubs.

On Dec. 7, 2023, the Province released the TOA manual that local governments must consider when implementing the requirements of the new Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, 2023, S.B.C. 2023, c.48 legislation, also known as Bill 47. The TOA manual has been recently updated to reflect changes on the use of the density bonus tool in TOAs.

Density bonus is a zoning tool that permits developers to build additional density in exchange for public amenities or affordable housing. Local governments use this tool to help deliver much-needed affordable housing and public amenities that support community growth.

The TOA manual sets the expectation that density bonus in TOAs would use a base density consistent with the minimum allowable densities established in the TOA regulations. Since the release of the TOA manual, several local governments have shared concerns that this approach would significantly limit their ability to use the density bonus tool in TOAs and secure affordable housing and public amenities through TOA development.

In response to feedback and as an interim measure, local governments will be permitted to use existing base densities established in their respective zoning bylaws, even if they are below the minimum allowable densities, when using the density bonus tool.

This approach will provide greater clarity for developers and ensure local governments can continue to secure the benefits of the density bonus through TOA development in the near term, while the Province shifts toward an increasingly proactive land-use planning framework in the long term.

It is anticipated that by mid-2025, local governments will transition to using new proactive planning tools to secure affordable housing and community amenities through TOA development, such as amenity cost charges and other tools under development.