5833 replies to this topic

[MarkoJ]

Assuming the stat is correct, home ownership rate in Croatia is almost 90%.    So apparently most people can manage to buy a home, and the condo being barely in reach of two highly paid professions in the capital is an anomaly (right downtown, on the water?).    

 

Edit:  Interesting thread on high home ownership rates in those countries: http://marginalrevol...ul-country.html

 

This is where the real life analysis paints the true picture.  I don't have a single family member in Croatia that rents.  I only know of one family member that has a mortgage.  Sounds pretty good right?  The reason you have very few renters is a lot of individuals cannot afford to rent; therefore, they live with their parents in crammed quarters.  The reason very few people have a mortgage is rates are high and incomes cannot support purchasing real estate; therefore, most people wait to inherit family homes and condos or the proceeds of such so they can buy something else.

 

Even though I can only think of one family member that has purchased a property without using the proceeds of an inheritance sale all my family members "own."  One example is I have three cousins that are all married that all have two kids and the three families share a 1,200 sq/ft home that was built by uncle.

 

Many other factors such as during the communist regime many people (with the party) were assigned free condos and then they passed those onto their kids so you often have individuals with very low income but significant mortgage free real estate assets.  

 

It's really weird.  90% of people own, almost no one has a mortgage, and things still suck from an economic affordability angle.  Growing up in Croatia my parents both has professional jobs, they had a car, we had a house (no mortgage) and they still left for economic reasons - best decision they ever made.  Health care, education, etc., is all half decent in Croatia so few people leave for those reasons.

[Mike K.]

Marilyn television show noted several real-estate markets that are good buys, and Victoria was one of them.

 

Here's the show: http://www.marilyn.c...HouseShopCanada

 

Marilyn show noted that price has already corrected in Victoria as the local market is tied to the US market to some degree.

 

One of the houses featured on the show is our very own G-man's place that's currently listed for $509k (http://3104quadra.realbird.com/)

 

 

 

[mcmusty]

When did this dip in Victoria home prices occur concurrent with the USA housing crash in 2008? 

Edited by mcmusty, 03 February 2015 - 06:56 PM.

[pherthyl]

It did, it just went up again. Since when is our market tied to the U.S.? Nonsense. It was overvalued so it underperformed, that's it.

[Mike K.]

Odd statement for sure, but that's their take on it.

[MarkoJ]

Marilyn television show noted several real-estate markets that are good buys, and Victoria was one of them.

 

Here's the show: http://www.marilyn.c...HouseShopCanada

 

Marilyn show noted that price has already corrected in Victoria as the local market is tied to the US market to some degree.

 

One of the houses featured on the show is our very own G-man's place that's currently listed for $509k (http://3104quadra.realbird.com/)

 

Marilyn-1.jpg

 

Marilyn-2.jpg

 

Marilyn-3.jpg

 

Nice

[arfenarf]

Presenting the house on Quadra as a good buy misrepresents the Victoria market.  (Sorry, G-Man.)  It is beautiful.  I love houses like that.  If I saw it from, say, Toronto, I'd be jumping up and down, saying, "Yay!  the Victoria market is great value!"

 

But it's on Quadra at Finlayson and for all its elegance, breaks the location, location, location rule.  By Victoria standards, it's right on top of a very busy intersection.  <insert blank space for inevitable replies about how Good God, Woman, How Provincial Can You Get>

 

Put that house down in the middle of Fairfield or even Vic West and you'd shoot right back up into the unaffordable zone very quickly.

 

Again, I love the house.  But I think the Marilyn show's decision to feature it as an example of our desirable market is misleading.

[Mike K.]

The irony of course is having spent time at G-man's house the noise from traffic is not noticable unless you listen for it. Its quite remarkable.

[G-Man]

It is only undesirable if you are looking to buy a house like one you would find in Langford. I don't see how it would be much different than buying a townhouse downtown. On the positive side it is across the street from a school, on both the number 6 and number 8 bus routes. A 1 minute walk from Topaz Park, 5 minutes walk from Mayfair and a 7 minute walk from Quadra Village.

It is by far the cheapest $ to square footage in the city and it is really nice inside too. And yes you are right if it was half a block away in pretty much any direction it would by 600k, in Fairfield it would be closer to 700k I would expect.

[Szeven]

And its already 10k off! Even better of a deal!

[G-Man]

[Mixed365]

Is it still for sale?

[G-Man]

Yup

[pherthyl]

Looks like this thread has taken quite a personal turn...

 

Anyway the only thing that matters is the sale.   If it's fairly priced it will sell, if it isn't it won't.  Looks like it wasn't quite affordable enough at $509k, but it does seem like a good buy to me in today's market.   

 

However I like the magazine's assessment that Victoria is the "only city that's had a significant price correction already".

[lanforod]

I think Victoria's 'price correction' was more in the lack of SFH prices going up for the past 8 years, rather than an actual dip.

[jonny]

I don't follow the stats closely, but in my neighborhood prices have certainly taken a hit since 2008. My in laws just sold their family home in the Uplands, and it went for several hundred thousand dollars less than the assessed value after being on the market for almost 18 months.

 

While the bottom certainly hasn't fallen out, I think you can buy a lot more for $750,000 than you could 7 or 8 years ago.

[pherthyl]

 

While the bottom certainly hasn't fallen out, I think you can buy a lot more for $750,000 than you could 7 or 8 years ago.

 

Especially if you are considering inflation, or shopping outside the core, or for less desirable properties (like on busy roads for example).

[lanforod]

The graphs were pretty flat, we were looking at them earlier in this or another thread, talking about how Victoria has around a 7 year cycle (up, flat, up, flat). Seems we are in for a longer than 7 year flat period though.

Uplands is probably a bad example!

[Mixed365]

Yup

Are you using a realtor at all?

[G-Man]

^ Will PM you.