Bob Sethi, B.Comm | 604.273.2828

RSS

Bubble? What Bubble?

Alberta homebuyers eyeing B.C. again

British Columbians love talking about their real estate.
 
And nowhere is that topic hotter than in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver, where average housing prices upward of $700,000 are not uncommon.

Yet in the wake of recent news reports about a housing market swoon on the West Coast due to price plunge headlines, the talk of a housing bubble has popped up yet again.
 
The average residential price in B.C. dropped 10.9 per cent in April compared to a year ago to $532,855, but B.C. Real Estate Association Cameron Muir says that decline was offset by a 14 per cent increase in the rest of the province.

He says Kamloops, the Okanagan and the North all posted double-digit increases in home sales compared to levels one year ago.
 
In Kamloops, the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of the Central Interior executive officer Patsy Bourassa says she has noticed a definite pick-up in the market compared to the same time a year ago.
“With this spring, things have started moving again,” she says.
 
Bourassa credits a few things for spurring the current increase, which she describes as slow but steady, such as the First Time Homebuyers’ tax credit and HST transition measures announced by the provincial government earlier this year, as well as a generally robust resource economy – she notes there are five mines in the Central Interior – and homebuyers from Alberta.

UBC Sauder School of Business real estate economist Tsur Somerville also notes the Interior and the North are doing better than the Lower Mainland lately.
 
“A lot of that is being driven by the second home purchase market in Alberta,” he says.
 
Those areas are popular for Albertans who purchase vacation properties and with that province’s economy recovering, more consumers are thinking about buying in B.C., Somerville said.
 
He points out the B.C. market now is very different form one or two years ago, as high-end market sales and the foreign source of wealth market have both slowed down.
 

Somerville doesn’t think British Columbians needs to worry about a housing market bubble.

“I never thought there was a bubble to begin with,” he says.
 
While there’s a lot of inventory in the new-home market, there are locations with a lot of starts happening, he notes.
 
Despite a lot of inventory – depending on where you live in the province – Somerville doesn’t go so far as to say B.C. is experiencing a buyer’s market.
 
“When average prices are in excess of $700,000, I don’t think you can really say it’s a buyer’s market,” he says.
 
He advises potential homebuyers not to base big decisions on what the market may or may not be doing.
 
“If you’re buying real estate for yourself to live in, I think you need to do that based on your life cycle and not try to time it with the market.”
 
When you get listings to sales ratios rising, consumers don’t have to approach the market with as much anxiety and can take their time to choose a product they really love, he says.

In the Central Interior, “Everybody’s cautiously optimistic” the housing market will continue to move, Bourassa said.
 
 
Excerpted from BCHomesmag.com.  Article written by Tricia Leslie. 
Read
Categories:   | 2011 | AB | Abbotsford | agricultural land reserve | Alberta | ALR | apartments | April | attached | B | Bank of Canada | BC | bc hydro | BC re | BC Real Estate | BC Real Estate Association | BCREA | benchmark price | Brendon Ogmundson | Bridgeport RI | Brighouse | Brighouse South | British Columbia | Broadmoor | bubble | Burnaby East Real Estate | bursuries | buyers | buying selling investing mortgage home equity loan loan to value ratio | Cameron Muir | Canada | Central Interior | change | chba | cmhc | CMHC Goverment of Canada Line of Credit mortgage insurance amortization loan | Conserative | detached | Downtown VW | East Burnaby | East Cambie | East Vancouver Burnaby | economy | energy | families | first time homebuyer | First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit | Flaherty | fortis bc | Garden City | GDP | Genworth | Government | grade 12 | grants | Greater Vancouver | Greater Vancover | gst | gvhba vancouver real estate peter simpson cmhc bob rennie bob ransford u.s. mainland china tsawwassen nimby banana nope delta lo | Hamilton RI | harmonized tax | Harper | high density housing | home owner grant | house prices | housing | Housing Price Index | HPI | hst | Immigration | insurance | Interior | investment | Ironwood | Kamloops | Kelowna | Kevin Falcon | Liberal | Lower Mainland | Mainland China | McLennan | McLennan North | McNair | Metro Vancouver | Minister | minister of finance | Mission | MLS | mortgage | mortgage rules 2011 cmhc goverment of canada mortgage insurance housing market bank of canada income borrowing | MV RGS | N. Delta Real Estate | Nanaimo | NDP | new home taxes | New Westminster | New Westminster Real Estate | North | North Shore | North Surrey | North Surrey Real Estate | owners | problem solvers | property | Province | Provincial Government | PST | PTT | Queen Mary Park Surrey | Queensborough | rates | RE/MAX | RE/MAX Housing Barometer Report 2010 | Real Estate | Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver | Realtors | rebates | REBGV | reduce | referendum | Regional Growth Strategy | rental | Richmond | Richmond condo strata development project six storey wood frame | Richmond Real Estate | Riverdale RI | rules | Sauder School of Business | Saunders | say no | scholarship | Schools | solar | South Arm | speculation tax | Steveston North | Steveston South | Sunshine Hills Woods | Surrey | Surrey City Centre | Surrey Real Estate | tax deferment | taxes | terasen | threshold | towhomes | transition | Tsur Somerville | UBC | vancouver | vancouver real estate rebgv statistics buying selling average prices market conditions | Vancouver West | Victoria | water meter | West Cambie | West Coast | West Newton | Western Canada | Whalley | WHL hockey RE/MAX
Bob Sethi, B.Comm
Office:604.273.2828
Fax:604.273.0685
RE/MAX Westcoast
#110-6086 Russ Baker Way
Richmond, BC
V7B 1B4 Canada

Why Sign Up?

  • Save your Listing Searches
  • Email Alerts on new Listings
  • See new listings sooner
  • Tag your Favourites for later

Already a Member?

Reciprocity Logo The data relating to real estate on this website comes in part from the MLS® Reciprocity program of either the Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR), the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) or the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB). Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLS® logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB.