Frankly Speaking

The rapid rise in prices for housing of all types is the largest single pocketbook issue facing voters in the 2017 provincial election. The pocketbook issue which may prove to have the biggest influence on how people vote in the May 9 provincial election is housing. When looking back at the cost and availability of housing in 2013, when the last election was held, there is no comparison with the multiplicity of challenges on that front today. While the cost of detached houses had already risen substantially in some areas, sale prices were nowhere near what they are today. Townhouses and apartments were definitely affordable for most working people. Interest rates were low, as they are today, but the monthly payments were significantly less, simply because the initial cost was less. I took a close look at the Surrey, North Delta, White Rock and Langley markets in 2013 and 2017, based on Fraser Valley Real Estate Board sales statistics. In the markets other than Langley, p...

Cameron Muir, chief economist of the B.C. Real Estate Association. Cameron Muir, chief economist with the B.C. Real Estate Association, has a very different take on the Greater Vancouver housing market than the take demonstrated in many media reports. For starters, he sees no evidence that foreign buyers are inflating overall housing prices, in Vancouver or elsewhere in the region. Nor does he believe that interest rates will rise anytime soon. He also expects the red hot housing market, particularly for detached homes, to continue well into 2016. He was the guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Antrim Balanced Mortgage Fund, held Wednesday at Newlands Golf Club in Langley. The Langley-based company operates a mortgage investment corporation which holds over 650 mortgages, the vast majority of them in Greater Vancouver, and has 4,500 shareholders. Full disclosure: I am an investor in the fund and have been dealing with Antrim Investments, the parent firm, for more...

Speakers at a housing forum sponsored by the Urban Development Institute brought a measure of common sense to the often-overheated rhetoric about housing prices in Metro Vancouver. As they pointed out, the price of townhouses and condominium apartments in the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board area (which includes Surrey and Langley) has actually fallen since 2008. Only the price of detached homes is rising. The significant change is the development of a two-tier market. There is one market for detached homes, no matter what size the lot, and another for multi-family units. The gap between the two has risen from $200,000 in 2009 to between $300,000 and $400,000 today. It continues to widen. In some ways, this should not be a surprise. Ever since the Agricultural Land Reserve was created in 1972, there have been significant limits on land available for urban development. Up until recent years, there has been enough supply available. But that has changed. Much of Surrey has been develope...