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Victoria's housing market, home prices and values


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#1781 Mike K.

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 12:31 PM

You'd be surprised how many celebrities own homes around here. It's pretty crazy.

 

Last year when I was on Quadra Island someone on the island decided to put on what must have been about a $150,000 fireworks display. It was a very professional display, and it went on for a good ten minutes. At least. The locals had no idea the show had been planned.


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#1782 FirstTimeHomeCrier

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 01:37 PM

But that's my point - they are just regular folk.  It's not like they're earning exorbitant salaries, driving exotic cars, and spending their days sipping G&T down at the yacht club, while the servants cut the lawn and do the laundry.  They live in a middle-class neighbourhood in a small (but desireable?) city in Canada.  It's a ridiculous notion to suggest that Gordon Head (where many houses are bumping the $1M threshold) is full of luxurious houses...

 

Sort of. They are regular folks who have struck it rich on an investment. They really are the last vestiges of the middle class.

 

As economic disparity fluctuates, the bar for what is considered luxury rises and falls. For my parents' generation, a single family home in Gordon Head was something that regular folks earning a decent income could expect. For my generation, it's a luxury we will probably never be able to afford. 


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#1783 Greg

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 02:26 PM

Sort of. They are regular folks who have struck it rich on an investment. They really are the last vestiges of the middle class.

 

As economic disparity fluctuates, the bar for what is considered luxury rises and falls. For my parents' generation, a single family home in Gordon Head was something that regular folks earning a decent income could expect. For my generation, it's a luxury we will probably never be able to afford. 

 

It's not just economic disparity though that is fluctuating. The other moving variable is the desirability of living in Victoria. It isn't that all SFHs have suddenly become unaffordable. There are lots of SFHs in BC that are affordable. It is a SFH in Gordon Head or Downtown Victoria that has become out of reach. But that is (IMHO) less a crisis of affordability, and more an issue of a location becoming more desirable.

 

This is not unique to Victoria, or to the current generation. I could afford a nice house in New York state, but not in Manhattan. I could afford a nice house in France but not in Monte Carlo. There have always been and will always be highly desirable and expensive areas that out of reach to the average consumer. Sometimes those locations ebb and flow due to external variables. Victoria is a very desirable location, now more than ever with the Boomer generation reaching retirement age.

 

I'm not saying that those changes don't have a legitimate impact. And I can understand why someone starting out and wanting to live in Victoria would find it frustrating.

 

But I think it is important to clearly define a problem, before trying to "solve" it (foreign buyers tax, affordable housing plans, empty condo penalties). There is a difference between a geographically broad-based housing crisis, and the existence of some highly desirable areas seeing a significant increase in price because of soaring demand specific to that limited area.


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#1784 LeoVictoria

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 04:20 PM

> The other moving variable is the desirability of living in Victoria

Not really. The desirability of Victoria is more or less constant. It didn't get 50% more desirable in the last 3 years and yet house prices increased that much. The driving factors are elsewhere

#1785 jonny

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 05:51 PM

But are there more people who want to live here? The census seems to indicate so.

#1786 lanforod

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 07:09 PM

But are there more people who want to live here? The census seems to indicate so.

 

That's the NDP factor in Alberta driving things... IMO :P.


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#1787 LJ

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 07:21 PM

And the boomers all retiring.


Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#1788 johnk

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 08:50 AM

Twenty years ago friends back east said, "Oh yeah" when we told them we were living here. Now it's much more like, "Oh wow! You're so lucky." We are on the retirement radar now for sure.
Middle class boomers getting ready to retire are looking around.
Many are fed up with snow and slush.
Had enough of big cities, the pollution and traffic.
For some, retiring to the states is less attractive these days.
Turned off with US politics, racial divisions and lunatics with guns.
Concerned about health care and nervous about US costs.

#1789 North Shore

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 10:53 AM

^ That might be driving the condo/apartment market, but not houses..people aren't giving up $400k family homes in Saskatoon to retire into $800K family homes in Victoria. 


Say, what's that mountain goat doing up here in the mist?

#1790 rjag

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 11:00 AM

^ That might be driving the condo/apartment market, but not houses..people aren't giving up $400k family homes in Saskatoon to retire into $800K family homes in Victoria. 

 

you are correct, they move to Ladysmith or Comox.


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#1791 Greg

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 11:38 AM

^ That might be driving the condo/apartment market, but not houses..people aren't giving up $400k family homes in Saskatoon to retire into $800K family homes in Victoria. 

 

No, but they might give up homes in Toronto or Vancouver. Both of which have larger populations than all of Saskatchewan...



#1792 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 01:13 PM

The quaint B.C. city that’s helping to push Canadian home prices to record highs

Vancouver home prices may have fallen off after years of growth but now Victoria, B.C.’s quaint capital, is picking up where Lotusland left off.

 

In fact, it’s helping to push Canadian home prices to the highest levels they’ve ever seen.

 

http://globalnews.ca...rices-victoria/


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1793 aastra

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 01:28 PM

Wait a sec... I thought Victoria had lost its quaintness? Several times?



#1794 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 01:58 PM

File_000 (129).jpeg

File_000 (188).jpeg

 

Technically, isn't that "two" open houses?  Or four, since it's two houses and two days?


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1795 MarkoJ

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Posted 13 May 2017 - 04:05 PM

Mike, how come you are not doing Earl's marketing? :)


Marko Juras, REALTOR® & Associate Broker | Gold MLS® 2011-2023 | Fair Realty

www.MarkoJuras.com Looking at Condo Pre-Sales in Victoria? Save Thousands!

 

 


#1796 Mike K.

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Posted 14 May 2017 - 05:55 AM

With headlines like that, who needs advertising!

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#1797 lanforod

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Posted 14 May 2017 - 09:13 AM

So his target price is 950k? Why put that in the headline otherwise?



#1798 LeoVictoria

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Posted 14 May 2017 - 11:32 AM

So his target price is 950k? Why put that in the headline otherwise?


Presumably because the next cheapest new house is $950k

#1799 LeoVictoria

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Posted 14 May 2017 - 11:33 AM

Do houses need advertising in this market?

#1800 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 14 May 2017 - 11:53 AM

Walmart and McDonalds advertise every day. McDonalds places ads in their parking lot or windows even though you are clearly aware a McDonalds is there.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

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