Downtown Condo Development on Hold

Thanks for your invaluable opinion & perspective

Fees and taxes in City of Vancouver will also skyrocket to pay for World cup soccer cost overruns.

Owen, I wondered why that White Spot development on Georgia is sitting empty so long, now I know. However, I own a condo in Coal Harbour, and it will probably increase in value more with luxury supply less. Having said that, I would prefer that those condos in Georgia went ahead, as it would upgrade Georgia area to ultra luxury and maybe that would help my one bedroom even more in the long run!

Perhaps you are being too generous when you say "there's nothing wrong with market rentals". Too much market rentals change the residential character of a neighborhood and make it transient-- renters have no stake in the community, no pride of ownership and can move on any time they want. They can trash their rental unit and leave these buildings to go down hill at lightning speed. They are not stakeholders in the community. Market rental sounds very populist, but don't forget to rent these, you will still have to afford to PAY. Too many market rentals can be the camel's nose under the tent for the onset of urban decay.

Interesting thoughts as usual. I wonder if rental rates will be able to keep up with the costs of the new units. It's nice having high appreciation but not as much if you are heavily negative cashflowing.

As usual I agree with everything said Owen. One question I have is who are the typical clients upgrading to the higher end condos downtown such as the Butterfly, Kengo Kuma, Jenga, etc. ? Just because at $2.5K - 4K per sq.ft, it's often $1.5M - $8M depending on which unit but even the typical 2 bed / bath, 1050 sq. ft unit can be around $2.75M. I'd think at that point most people would by good size house with a backyard in Burnaby for example. Unless these are mostly seniors who want no stairs but like my parent's generation who I speak to, I find they typically sell their house purchased from decades ago and down size to a condo about half the price of their sold house which is more like the $800k - $1M range usually.

Here come the wood frame rental buildings ! Also who are the fruit cakes come up with ideas like market rental mixed with luxury strata ???

Sold in BC and made the move the Alberta this year. Best. Decision. Ever.