Shaun Kimmins

Canada's Real Estate market falling dramatically or just dramatic headlines? House prices in Canada are falling. But looking simply at the headline numbers can be very misleading. At a risk of being a bit technical, we will note that the headline numbers reflect a current weighting for each city, which leads to a significant bias to the overall average price since dramatic changes in the volume of the sales in certain cities can notably influence the national average price. Take Vancouver. The close to 45% year-overyear fall in the number of homes sold in the city and the fact that Vancouver prices are much higher than the national average combined to

Ottawa bows to banks to keep credit flowing Triples spending on mortgage purchases; Cuts price of loan insurance; Boosts business borrowing; Creates new lending office RICHARD BLACKWELL AND TARA PERKINS

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

November 13, 2008 at 12:22 AM EST

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Chris Young/CP)

Pressure from Canada's big banks pushed the Harper government yesterday to overhaul the terms of financial assistance programs it recently designed to keep credit flowing through the Canadian economy. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a series of measures to support

News Release         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Residential housing price decline creates buying opportunities VANCOUVER, B.C. – November 3, 2008 – Housing price reductions across Greater Vancouver over the last six months have eliminated price gains witnessed in the first quarter of 2008. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, declined 8.8 per cent between May and October 2008, resulting in a 3.9 per cent year-to-date price reduction for detached, attached and apartment

Excerpts from an article I receive today regarding the Real Estate Slowdown. Project Developers are starting to bear the brunt of the slowdown Robert Quigg's $850-million Capella four-tower luxury condominium project at Bear Mountain near Victoria is on hold, becoming Langford's second development casualty in recent weeks. Quigg said pre-purchases virtually ground to a halt at the end of August. "We are not doing anything on Bear Mountain right now," Quigg said. The shutdown came barely a month after work began on the first tower. Capella is planned for four towers, from 26 to 44-stories, on 20 acres overlooking Greater

Predictions for real estate values according the The Vancouver Sun Oct 24, 2008 According to the front page of The Vancouver Sun today in an article from Cenral 1 Credit Union, BC's housing market can expect a 15% decline in property values in 2009 and a further slide of 3% in 2010. According to the article, the largest losses will be in the multi-unit sector (read condos) which they believe will decline as much as 44% versus housing which is forecast to decline 18%.

What does this mean for Downtown Vancouver Condo Sellers? It means that if you are waiting to see what happens in the next little while, you are gambling with your

Is this lights out for The Ritz Carlton Vancouver? It's no suprise to anyone at this point in the global economic meltdown that real estate developers are having problems both funding and selling their new projects and it appears that the Ritz Carlton "twisted tower" designed by Vancouver architect by Arthur Erikson may be the latest high-profile casualty in Vancouver's downtown condo market.

According to local news sources the project has been halted. Click here for a scan of this mornings article: Ritz on hold The official explanation is that the parkade is being redesigned. Yeah right. I'll tell you what,

I just finished uploading this Condo for sale, 1001 1328 PENDER Street, Vancouver West, British Columbia

Luxury corner 2 bedrooms plus den at Classico in Coal Harbour. Open floor plan with top finishings such as Brazilian cherry hardwood, crown moulding, designer paint & mirrored doors in both bedrooms. Kitchen boasts granite counters and S/S appliances including gas range. Ensuite bath has jetted soaker tub & heated floors, marble counters & decorative Italian tile. Beautiful corridor view of Coal Harbour from the balcony with custom cedar deck cover. Includes in suite laundry & storage as well 1 parking stall. Building features

CIBC compares US housing crash to Canadian Housing market Please click (on the report below) to see the report by CIBC World markets on the likelihood of a US-style housing crash in Canada. I predicts that the Vancouver and Canadian markets won't crash as badly but it does contend that things are going to get worse than they are right now. Time to sell? If you want to maximize your investment, then the answer is yes.

CIBC report on Canadian housing vs the US housing crash

To comment on this or other BLOG posts contact Shaun, Vancouver's most committed downtown luxury condo and Coal Harbour realtor.

For comprehensive

The following comments were found online regarding a recent Merrill Lynch report on the Canadian Housing market Does this mean there's a window of opportunity for Vancouver condo investors to sell before things get really bad? Time will tell......

Realbiz pointed out this story in the Globe and Mail this morning: A recent report from Merrill Lynch Canada is warning of a Canadian housing market crash and mortgage meltdown similar to the one currently eating away at the US economy:

Canadian households are more financially overextended than their counterparts in the United States or Britain, a report issued by Merrill Lynch Canada

Here's the latest 31 year price graph including my notes to point out the last FLAT market's duration: 9 years!

Average price with notes to Sept 2008.pdf

The point of this graph is to illustrate that once the VAncouver Real estate MArket enters a flat trend, it can be there for a long time. If you're waiting for the current market to get better, you may be waiting just as long. Contact Shaun to dicsuss the merits of cashing out of the current market and where future opportunities might lay.