My new year’s resolution was to write more in my blog……. so here goes. The big question is ”What is happening in the real estate market, specifically in
Vancouver
?”
My opinion is as follows:
I feel that we are going to continue on a strong market. We are certainly not going to be at the levels that we encountered over the past 6 – 8 years, but I feel that over the next ten years the market will up. It may not get there in a straight line, but it will be up.
With the sub-prime situation that is happening in the US, many people are worried that this will filter up to
Vancouver
. The
US
buyers who are buying here are not affected by the sub-prime situation. They are buying second or third homes. As someone has said “The affluent are not affected by the sub-prime mortgages.” In a lots of regards, this is very true.
I was in LA over the holidays and stopped into a Real Estate office in
Santa Monica
. They have not had one foreclosure, nor do they expect any. A colleague mentioned to me that he read that in the
US
a combined household income of $ 88 000 could purchase a $ 1 million home.
I also read on the back of a real estate magazine, “ENCLAVE” in LA, a Mortgage Broker was advertising “NO HASSLE!”, No Income Verification Loans”, and “100% Financing to $ 20 million”!!!!!
I am not aware of banks in
Canada
being that liberal with giving out money. I may be wrong, but who is to say. This is the first reason.
The second is the Olympics. We are going to be on the world’s stage for 13 days. I found that Expo 86 turned
Vancouver
from a town to a city and I think that the Olympics will turn it into a world class city. I used to work in the hotel industry and found that when we got the games, the number of tourists who came simply based on us getting the games back in 2003, I believe, was quite staggering. I also found that a lot of these people that came bought places, rented them out, but planned on returning for the Olympics in February 2010.
Thirdly, Vancouver, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London,
Vancouver
is number 1,2 or 3 almost every year as the “Most liveable city in the world”. My question? Why would you want to live anywhere else. The mountains, water, cleanliness, the people. Summertime cannot be beat.