According to a Vancouver Sun article on January 18, 2006, the province hit a new sales record in 2005 of $35.3 billion. Other articles extol the record high prices of real estate in Lotusland.
The two camps in the real-estate market are, in my opinion, divided by those who have some and those who don’t.
For those people for whom the dream of owning any remotely reasonable property within the Greater Vancouver Regional District is out of reach, their wish is that this is a giant bubble that will pop.
Like the proverbial walls of Jericho, they hope the prices will come a-tumbling down. They are banking on a faltering economy, higher interest rates, and over-extended households to trigger a sales stampede and a drop in prices.
But, if you look at the several million baby-boomers who live in terribly cold and harsh climates in the rest of Canada, that scenario probably won’t happen here. If they sell out in Ontario, for example, they can do fairly well here.
I know several couples who have moved here from the rest of Canada.
I asked a friend from Montreal the other day if he was tired of the 26 days of rain we just had.
His answer, the ever so common, “Well, at least I don’t have to shovel it”.
Vancouver is also attracting international buyers.
It’s not all bad though.
For folks who have owned for a while, the rising real-estate opens options. They can move to the smaller communities, and pay cash.
For folks who don’t own, they can move to those communities also. Vancouver suburbs are not that unreasonable. With mortgage rates as low as they are, home ownership is still a possibility.
If people are still undecided, I recommend they go on line, and look at real-estate world wide. When comparing prices around the world, Canada is a good deal.
M.
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