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This article was guest authored by B.B.

Here is somewhat of a prediction:
I see real estate prices in greater Vancouver come down substantially
Today’s prices are just ridiculous. $500K for a 2 bedroom condo in White Rock or Port Moody? $500K for an old house in surrey? C’mon! People can not afford that.
In the downtown core i see prices falling back to 2003-04 level. A one bedroom, basic apartment should be $200K, and that’s still stretching it. A new university grad earning $60K would have a hard time paying for  $200K condo.
So for all your buyers out there that is good news. Just wait and watch the prices fall, also you may get a “one of” good deal in situations where the seller is forced to sell.

The receiver (www.bowragroup.com) decided to drop the prices to clear out all the remaining units in the Homer + Helmcken Yaletown building.
They will be accepting offers on site this weekend (Feb 7,8 2009).
There was an open house during the last 2 weekends.
Posted prices were from $266K for a 533 sq. ft studio to $599K for a 1273 sq. ft townhouse with Homer street and hallway entrance. My favourite (value wise) was the 605 unit: 2 Bedrooms + Flex (small office), 1 Bathroom, 721 sq. ft for a listed price of $379K
Some units are nice, but i think the pricing is not that great yet.
See the Bowra Group website for full details.

I believe the developers in Vancouver area are scared and are trying to unload inventory before a bigger price drop materializes.
Realistically, 500 sq ft downtown should be about $200K

This article was guest authored by B.B.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080605/ap_on_bi_ge/home_foreclosures

Make no mistake, this situation could easily happen here in Vancouver.
why?

1) 5 year housing boom
2) overbuilding, creating an eventual over-supply of units
3) lack of affordable housing means people get in over their heads with high mortgage payments
4) usually, economically speaking Canada is 1-2 years behind the USA
5) overall greed when it comes to real estate (classic sign of a bubble)
6) strong Canadian dollar is weakening our economy

A prime development property in the center of Yaletown, Vancouver’s most chic neighborhood has now fallen into receivership. We are talking about H+H Yaletown, located at Homer and Helmcken. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, looks like the bubble is experiencing some discomfort.

We will have to watch this issue to see how it plays out. But this is not good for downtown ‘flippers’ and I know there are a few of you out there. Back on November 28, 2007 The Bowra Group was appointed as the receiver. Read the report to the court for some juicy tidbits. Funny thing is there are still a few assignments on craigslist for that development. Who is going to buy them now? Bowra has indicated that they would like to proceed with finishing the project, and that all pre-sale contracts that were sold at fair market value will be honoured. The estimated cost of completion will be $3.7M. They did find a company willing to finance that, so now we will have to wait for the court to approve.

There still are 9 unsold units in that development, according to Bowra.

link to the report: reciever’s manager report to the court

Why? Simple?

1. Average house price over $500K and average income around $45K, do the math.
2. General public feel prices are still moving up!! Can you say bubble?
3. Developers canceling sold out condo developments (Sophia in Vancouver at 11th and Sophia)
4. Credit market tightening. Commercial paper market first, wait a few months for consumer market to follow.
5. Olympics frenzy - the thinking is once people see beautiful Vancouver they will want to buy here. I say not when they see the prices.
6. Looming recession. OK, British Columbia may actually slip through the recession because of capital expenditures on large construction projects, which feed money to the economy (Golden Ears Bridge, Twinning Port Mann, Sky-Train). On the other hand due to the strong Canadian dollar the forest industry is in distress
7. do we really need a 7th reason

My advice is if you own multiple properties, sell them while the market is at the top and buy similar properties later at a discount