Vancouvergoindown?

[GRG55]

Soon, apparently. From the Vancouver Sun newspaper:

Housing market slowing down

Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, May 23, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canada's long-running housing boom has ended, with the formerly bubbling markets of Calgary and Edmonton already having gone from hot to not, and with the current hot spots of Saskatoon and Regina to follow, a major Canadian bank says.

Mortgage-market innovation delayed the inevitable but couldn't prevent it, Royal Bank of Canada said in its analysis of major urban real estate markets Thursday...

..."The delayed arrival of softer housing markets can be partly attributed to recent mortgage innovation that has seeped into the Canadian market during the last two years," it said, citing higher loan-to-value ratios and longer amortization periods of up to 40 years, which opened the market to a wider range of buyers and prolonged the housing boom.

The mortgage-market innovations, which make housing more affordable in the short term, also heighten the risk of default in the long term, it said.

Markets in the West, which have risen the furthest above their underlying values, are the most at risk of an increase in defaults as a result of recent mortgage innovations, the report's author, RBC economist Amy Goldbloom, said in an interview...

..."The markets that soared well above their underlying economic fundamentals are the very ones with the most downside potential," the report said...
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...9-029cb6238856

[GRG55]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?

And if the potential for a housing price crash in Vancouver hasn't dissuaded you, maybe these potentially related stories might. The old hometown is sure different from what I remember...

B.C. gangsters on the move, police say

IAN BAILEY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
May 23, 2008 at 5:26 AM EDT

VANCOUVER — B.C. gangsters are showing up far from home this week - a reminder that organized crime continues to be one of the province's exports, analysts say.

In Edmonton, police are looking for members of the Independent Soldiers gang, a multicultural operation with roots in the Lower Mainland that has previously made its mark in Kelowna and Calgary...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home


Fourth severed foot washes up in B.C.


Carolyn Heiman , Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, May 23, 2008
VICTORIA - For the fourth time in less than a year, a severed human foot, still in shoe, has been discovered on a B.C. island.

B.C. RCMP confirmed Thursday that a team of investigators had been sent to Kirkland Island near the mouth of the Fraser River in B.C.'s Lower Mainland after a person walking there reported finding the foot on the shoreline around noon.

The grisly discovery adds to a growing mystery of the severed feet on the West Coast...

...Basra could not confirm what kind of shoe was on the foot discovered Thursday or whether it was a left or right foot.

The previously discovered feet were all right. [I doubt the former owners would agree with that last sentence]
http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=...0-48a5f2d0c1f0

[touchring]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?

The last real estate bull market is hk, but even they are slowing down.

[ocelotl]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?



Mexico City Aerial Photographs

Do anyone think future federal housing in both US and Canada is going to copy Mexican models?

The above photo is for real, I've been at similar developments before, and can tell you that I don't have any plan to stick to one of these 20-25K USD little boxes in the foreseeable future... This particular neighborhood is 30 miles from work, due east and across all the city. 2-3 hours each way.

As of booming in Mexican market, it is a quirky question. Surely there is a tremendously huge backlog that has to be corrected and the middle to high levels are doing their part. My answer to such a question is that I really am not sure. I was seeing a 160K USD house (not apartment) within 5 miles from work, but am not in a hurry, and can wait for a correction of the market.

[zoog]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?

... Do anyone think future federal housing in both US and Canada is going to copy Mexican models?

The above photo is for real, I've been at similar developments before, and can tell you that I don't have any plan to stick to one of these 20-25K USD little boxes in the foreseeable future... This particular neighborhood is 30 miles from work, due east and across all the city. 2-3 hours each way...

Yikes! Some cool photos in that link by the way, thanks.

Soon, apparently. From the Vancouver Sun newspaper:
Housing market slowing down

Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, May 23, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canada's long-running housing boom has ended, with the formerly bubbling markets of Calgary and Edmonton already having gone from hot to not, and with the current hot spots of Saskatoon and Regina to follow, a major Canadian bank says.

......

Got a ways to go yet for Vancouver, IMO. YOY benchmark prices are still ~10%, if the numbers I track from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver are to be believed.

I have been working on a VancouverGoinDown chart, but I'm holding off posting it until I'm sure it's really going down.

[The Outback Oracle]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?

The last real estate bull market is hk, but even they are slowing down.

That maybe true Touch, I don't have the latest from there. My son bought an apartment there about 6 months ago. The rent covers, all his expenses, all his interest, all the tax he pays on the extra income, and he still has a nice handful of money left over.
So it is a bit different to buying here in Aus where the Interest rate is about 10% and the net return about 3%!!
It's a weird way to run an economy!

"I'll grow up, I'll learn the ways, I'll learn so that in my later days I'll be prosperous, chocolate covered, long as i don't bite off more than I can hide!"

[GRG55]

Re: Vancouvergoindown?

Maybe America is going back in time? Reminded me of...

...Well there's people and more people
What do they know know know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the gulf of mexico
Ohhh yeah
And theres winners, and theres losers
But they aint no big deal
cuz the simple man baby pays for the thrills,
The bills and the pills that kill

Chorus:
Oh but aint that America for you and me
Ain't that America were something to see baby
Ain't that America, home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me

From: --John Mellencamp; Pink Houses--

And this posting on the Songfacts blog which just seemed to fit the times:

"...Mellencamp is from a rural town in Indiana and often writes about the American experience. His songs are sometimes misinterpreted as patriotic anthems, when a deeper listen reveals lyrics that deal with the challenges of living in America as well as the triumphs. Mellencamp has expressed his love for his country, but has also criticized the US government for going to war in Iraq, developing a dependency on foreign oil and not doing more to support the working class..."