5833 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

You need to be making at least $180k/year to own a 600 sqft condo now? And people wonder why Trump was elected. World is breaking and fast.... 

[Nparker]

You need to be making at least $180k/year to own a 600 sq ft condo now? And people wonder why Trump was elected. World is breaking and fast.... 

My condo is just under 900 square feet and I can assure you I only make a fraction of $180,000/year, yet somehow I can afford what I own. I am not sure the world is entirely broken yet (although the election of Trump is certainly a bad omen).

[VicHockeyFan]

You need to be making at least $180k/year to own a 600 sqft condo now? And people wonder why Trump was elected. World is breaking and fast.... 

 

Oh come on.  Only in NY, San Fran, Toronto and Vancouver you need to make that.  In the other 27,000 cities in NA it ranges from $17,000 to $85,000. 

[dasmo]

Oh come on. Only in NY, San Fran, Toronto and Vancouver you need to make that. In the other 27,000 cities in NA it ranges from $17,000 to $85,000.

Not if $1000/sqft becomes the norm....

[dasmo]

My condo is just under 900 square feet and I can assure you I only make a fraction of $180,000/year, yet somehow I can afford what I own. I am not sure the world is entirely broken yet (although the election of Trump is certainly a bad omen).

Could you afford 900,000 for your place?

[LJ]

Mike K., on 08 Mar 2017 - 5:31 PM, said:

bcIMC is expanding their workforce.

 So if you've got a surge of relatively well laid folks coming to Victoria

 

I must say I'm a little envious.......

[Nparker]

Could you afford 900,000 for your place?

No, but it's highly doubtful a 4-storey wood frame building is going to cost that much in the immediate future, not even in the CSV.

[jonny]

Spanky123, bcIMC is expanding massively. They currently have $124* billion in assets and their goal is to double that (or so I heard).

They manage many, many asset classes. They have many analysts and accountants, who can be anywhere. It just so happens bcIMC has decided they be here at their head office. They are doubling their Victoria based workforce.

This is what they are doing. This is a matter of fact. It's not up for debate. Maybe it makes no sense to you, but it is exactly what they are doing.

 

*thanks Mike

Edited by jonny, 09 March 2017 - 10:10 AM.

[jonny]

Not if $1000/sqft becomes the norm....

It is not the norm now. We just bought brand new wood frame for $450/sqft.

[dasmo]

It is not the norm now. We just bought brand new wood frame for $450/sqft.

Tell that to the cheering squad....

[Sparky]

^ Are you being nice dasmo?

[Mike K.]

Just to confirm, they have $124-billion in assets, $18-billion of which is real-estate.

[dasmo]

^ Are you being nice dasmo?

Not really. I'm irritated by the apparent rejoicing by some that we may hit the $1000 mark. This isn't Apple stock. This kind of Market behaviour has the potential for huge negatives for everyone. A recovery is welcome, a boom is normal but 30% a year is not. If gas prices were climbing like that would people be cheering?

[jonny]

Prices are rising so quickly because of decades of gross mismanagement of housing stock by CRD municipalities.

 

We are the freakin' 8th fastest growing CMA in all of Canada (with a faster growth rate than Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto). Our pace of growth is only behind places that are growing at blisteringly high rates like Calgary, Saskatoon and Kelowna, but to listen to our local leaders we are a small podunk town where everything has to be driven down to 4 modest floors, maybe 14 floors if you are lucky to own a chunk of land near the downtown core.

 

Oh, and we must have a whacky urban containment boundary that is something loopy like 10 or 12km from downtown.

 

 

Canada has had one of the fastest immigration rates among the G7 and OECD for many, many years. Somehow, in Victoria we're still caught off guard by growth!

 

The supply/demand imbalance right now is just ridiculous. You have to look no further than the real estate stats Marko posts.

[FirstTimeHomeCrier]

I know there are some people who wouldn't support this approach, but are there any incentives the local or provincial government can offer developers to build subsidized or entry-level buildings? Subsidies, tax breaks? It's seems like there are plenty of new mid-market and luxury developments underway. There's a real gap in availability for the lower end of prices, even looking at resale condos. When I see an entry-level building like Verde sell out in something like a month, and the penthouse at Escher still sitting on the market, it seems there is significant demand for affordable living spaces that isn't being met. I respect that developers are not going to build things that cost more than they can get from sales, but what if they had some kind of incentive?

 

(To be clear, I'm asking if these incentives exist or if there is a precedent for them. I don't really want to debate the merits of incentives, because I don't think anyone will be swayed in either direction by an internet debate.)

[lanforod]

It would be far better to just make it much, much easier and quicker to develop. Then we could get multiple projects planned and completed in a couple of years rather than the 5 to 10 year process it takes now.

[Nparker]

It would be far better to just make it much, much easier and quicker to develop.

But how does that allow the NIMBYs and the pitchfork/torch bearers to raise their predictable objections?

[VicHockeyFan]

It would be far better to just make it much, much easier and quicker to develop. Then we could get multiple projects planned and completed in a couple of years rather than the 5 to 10 year process it takes now.

 

Right, this is what we need.

[Nparker]

But how does that allow the NIMBYs and the pitchfork/torch bearers to raise their predictable objections?

Or she who will not have her view of the Sooke Hills impeded.

[FirstTimeHomeCrier]

It would be far better to just make it much, much easier and quicker to develop. Then we could get multiple projects planned and completed in a couple of years rather than the 5 to 10 year process it takes now.

 

I'm not opposed to making development quicker and easier, but won't developers just use that to make more mid-market and luxury condos? Or would the faster process save enough money to lower the price of units?