Absurd Vancouver Property of the Week (June 19, 2012)
Six hundred thousand dollars, is (IMHO) a lot to spend on a home. Imagine if you had six million??
In Bel Air, you could purchase this home, which features six bedrooms and nine bathrooms spanning about 9,500 square feet. The home is currently on the market for $5.895 million:
Too modern? You could have purchased this country estate recently snapped up by singer Adele in Surrey, England (a posh suburb outside of London). The mansion comes equipped with two swimming pools (one indoor, one outdoor), tennis courts, a ballroom, a helipad, a staff cottage and 10 bedrooms.
Or, with $6 million to throw around, you could live like a teen idol in this home, recently acquired by Canada’s own Justin Bieber. The Biebs is planning on moving into his new California home (which features 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 6 fireplaces, a wine cellar, a pool and even an elevator) sometime this summer:
And…the $6 million dollar question? What can you buy in Vancouver?
In fairness, this custom designed home boasts “beautifully manicured mature trees & unparallelled water features” (note…water feature does not equal pool). It also comes with an “…ultraviolet air purification system” (WTF is that??) and “…huge jetted double soaker tub” (also, not a pool).
Vancouver…are you f*%#ing kidding me??
The house also has a drilled deep water well.
I love this city and I never even grew up here. It saddens me when people complain about it when everyone else in Canada envy us.
Instead of complaining of house prices, do something about it.
Do something about it? Like what?? Move to Abbotsford and have husband commute 3 HOURS to work and back every single day? Done that. Prevent asian buyers from buying Canadian homes and inflating prices beyond the reach of mere mortals? Not in my realm of talents….
so its all the fault of the asians now?!?!
easier to blame i see.
You’re right, I stand corrected. Should have said Chinese…which is in theory is supposed to be a communist country but seems to have an inordinate number of billionaires…hmmmm, just sayin’…
“everyone else in Canada envy us.”
That is the attitude that gives Vancouverites a bad rep…
your right..let me correct that.
everybody in canada envies vancouver, just not the people.
i’ve also lived in toronto for over a decade and people in toronto are so much more friendlier then the people here.
I have friends all over the country and not one of them “envies Vancouver”. you are delusional. Which is probably a good thing. Better than being bitter like me I suppose!
“Instead of complaining of house prices, do something about it”.
Okay… I am doing something about it by NOT contributing to the mental RE bidding wars by NOT buying a house; and I have been NOT buying a house since my birth 30+ years ago.
Seems NOT to be working, van00b. Your next suggestion?
Which neighborhood is that? From this angle it looks like there’s a flood or something lol. If I had $6 million I’d retire.
If you click on the picture it brings up the actual listing. it’s on the UBC endowment lands. And it’s a 2 BEDROOM, built in 1952.
ummmmm what do you suppose we do about it? protest? Throw rocks at rich people and ask them to stop buying property here? how about we pay homeless people to move to rich neighbourhoods and hangout out on the expensive lots for sale ? that should drive people away. There is nothing that we can do.
I have lived in Vancouver ( Kitsilano ) my whole life and like many other families our age my husband and I can barely afford our 900sqft 2bedroom condo. Sure, we could move to another province and buy a bigger home for MUCH less but it would come at the cost of leaving behind our ENTIRE extended family and friends. It would mean that my children would grow up not being close to any of their grandparents, cousins, Aunts and Uncles. We could have a big home but no family to fill it with. That is not the kind of life I want for my children. So every month I pay my huge mortgage payment, have a glass of wine and try to take comfort in the fact that at least I have my family around. It’s still frustrating though. I love this blog because I think that Melissa does a great job at expressing the frustrations that many of us locals feel.
Thanks, JoDubb!! I couldn’t have said it better myself!!
Renting is always an option. If you do have a chunk of change you can invest that in ETF’s, Preferred Shares, REITS and have a diverse portfolio that can earn you a return of 4-7% easily. Let others sweat it out.
Vancouver prices are dropping as we speak and interest rates havn’t gone up yet. I think we are headed for a larger correction 30-40%. Currenltly the market is down 9% from the peak.
This website is dedicated to mls listings dropping; http://vancouverpricedrop.wordpress.com/
My advice is to be liquid and invest.
the ability to buy property is not a right.
if you cannot buy, no shame in renting.
move if you can’t afford to live her
i moved to van because of a job. decided to stay here an put down roots.
i ended up buying a house in van because i don’t go on 3 vacations a year. eat at fancy restaurants. drive a fancy car. i dont spend and just saved.
saved enough for 20% down on a 25 year mortgage for a single family detached.
Conventional lending guidelines are that your housing cost you no more than three times your annual income. This is so that you can continue to eat, travel to work and wash your clothes at the same time as you are enjoying living indoors.
If you could persuade a lender to loan you the money for a house worth *six* times your annual income, the payments would be crushing, and you would probably fall behind on your mortgage payments within six months and lose the house in under a year.
At approx. ELEVEN times the median income (meaning half the working population earns more than this, and half earns less; NOT the same thing as the average income), the average SFH price in Vancouver is _completely_ _unaffordable_. Period.
This may blow your mind, van00b, but most of us do not go on 3 vacations a year, eat at fancy restaurants (or even McD’s), or drive a fancy car. Or spend our money in other outlandish ways you might care to name. And still we find we cannot afford to buy a house.
So move, you say. Not an appropriate answer for every family. Some of us have to live here.
The Completely Unaffordable Vancouver RE problem is *real*, and complex, and tangled up in much bigger questions about the health of our neighbourhoods, communities, and region; transportation; greenspace; schools; amenities… on and on and on. When people buy houses, they “buy into” the notion of community as well.
I encourage you to look beyond the borders of the “I’m alright, Jack” attitude you’re displaying, and think a little deeper about the city you’ve adopted and claim to love.
I don’t go 3 vacations a year. In fact I haven’t been on a single vacation in well over 3 years and unless the occasional visit to Nat’s Pizza counts as fine dining than I don’t indulge in that either. It’s great that you were able to save your money and buy a detached house that you could afford. Consider yourself part of the few in this city who can. If I hadn’t been in school and was able to buy a few years earlier than most likely I would be in the same shoes you are in now. Lucky for me the housing market went insane furing the 4 years that I was in school and 2 years that I needed to work and save. Moving isn’t an option for those of who were raised here and want to be near our family and aging parents. Just because I am frustrated with prices doesn’t mean that I don’t love this city. I love my home despite the fact that housing prices are outrageous and that my beloved neighbourhood is now filled with pretenious yuppies who think that everyone who complains should just move. You can’t change everything about your life that you don’t like. Me voicing my frustrations on the housing market is no different that you voicing your opinion in telling people to move- If you don’t want to hear the complaining than you can go back to where you came from ( given your small minded views I’m guessing it’s from small town Alberta).
if you NEED to live here, whats wrong with renting?
owning isn’t a right.
can’t change anything in your life? seems to be the wrong attitude.
and no i did not come a small town. way bigger then vancouver (and not necessarily in Canada…you have to think outside the canadian bubble).
Look, vanbobo, I’m not interested in your origins. Since you seem to completely miss the gist of this blog and seem intent on your contrary opinion, go somewhere else. No one has said owning is a right, we’re merely frustrated at the inflated prices, which most certainly IS our right.
FYI: Renting in Vancouver is also ridiculously expensive, because the owners of rental properties must also pay their overpriced mortages! Perhaps there is a blog for people that are overly pleased with themselves that you can troll on. Don’t let the door hit you.
Just curious when vanOOb bought their home….timing is the key to being able to afford a detached home in this city. My guess is you bought in early 2000′s and that is why you could afford it….Not because of your superior skills at scrimping and saving….It is easy for those who are in the market to think that they somehow were smarter than others when it was all a matter of timing…..ask yourself, would you be able to afford your home if you had to buy it at today’s prices and on your current salary? If the answer is no, then maybe this will give you some perspective as to what this blog is conveying….
My brother who is ten years older, bought his first detached home for $340,000 in the Main street area in 2000…..it is now worth over $1.5 million….talk about timing! He just happened to be old enough and have a steady enough job to be able to get a mortgage at that time.
If foreign investors are the reason that prices are so out of reach for the people who live her and work here, why is it considered controversial to try and limit the amount of people who use our real estate market as a stock market (those who buy and live here are not the issue…we are talking about houses and neighborhoods that sit empty…houses that are repeatedly sold with no intention of anyone living in them…bought purely on speculation). We limit foreign business to protect our industry (i.e. the telecommunication and cable industries) so why is it not O.K. to do the same for real estate. Then we could have people who actually work here and support local businesses, afford to buy here. I am so tired of seeing my friends moving to small communities outside of Vancouver because they can not afford to live here…..Those whose new jerk reaction is to cry racism are likely saying that to shut down the argument and because they are benefiting from the inflated prices….
Just my 2 cents…..
Well said! My thoughts exactly.
Van73 – You can be frustrated at the current situation or you can change your strategy. Renting is actually cheap in comparison to owning. For example. A house in the Main Street area would rent approximately for $3000 per month. Lets even say $3500 which is on the higher side. That same house.. is probably worth around 1.1m.
The math:
Downpayment = Lets say $200 000 ( Amazing if you could come up with this )
Amount to borrow = $ 900 000
Mortgage Rate = 3.4% 5yr term 25yr Amort
Monthy Payment = 4488.68
All of sudden $3500 seems cheap.
The above does not inclue property tax, maintenance, insurance etc etc.
Or.. you could take $200 000 and invest getting a return of 4-7% its not that hard to do this.
This would produce over $1000 per month income assuming 4% return and you can have tax benefits.
Then in 3-4 years when the housing market corrects buy back in.
OMG this is crazy!! Was just looking at 50 cent’s house that he bought for 10 million and it’s HUGE!!! http://find-real-estate-now.blogspot.ca/2011/05/50-cents-house.html
@van00b I’ll have to agree with Van73. I am 26 and when housing was affordable I was only 14-17. After finishing university I ended up working and getting paid well. However, a 1 bedroom apartment starts at $400K around Vancouver and there is no way I can come up with $80K+taxes+fees+maintenance and so on. So your proposing I leave Vancouver because I wasn’t at the right age when prices were low? Your lucky because of timing and soon enough when interest rates rise and house prices drop and when the economy all over the world hits the fan you’ll be in for a treat my friend. That’s when the young folks like us in the tech industry will swoop up your home at half what you paid for.
Cheers,
This one is silly to complain about. It’s a 3000+ square foot house on a 112 x 165 foot (large) piece of property in the ENDOWMENT LANDS. It’s one of the most desirable neighbourhoods on the continent, of course it’s 6 mil.
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“Thinking outside the Canadian bubble” – I come from London. House prices there are CHEAPER than in Vancouver DT….just sayin’
This is just great, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who looks at housing prices and gets nauseous. Both my husband and I work really hard and would love to have a place but it’s just crazy. When I watch ‘Love it or List it’ Vancouver compared to the one in Toronto I wonder what the Torontonians think about our 1 million wonderful houses.
You’re great, keep posting because maybe this is one way to ”do something”