Canada

You know how I know there's nothing in this article that pertains to the best interests of Canadians? It's sources are in the real estate industry, the least talented yet most entitled group of "entrepreneurs" the world has thus far produced.

Warning for Vancouver real estate as 2,500 condos sit unsold

So prices will go down, right?

...Prices will go down, right?

Industry professionals say unbought condos could lead to big layoffs

Everything is unaffordable, workers are all being laid off, AI is replacing people, minimum wage isn't enough to support a living wage...

What's the capitalist end-game here? A world full of poor, unemployed, desperate people likely won't make shareholders any richer, will it?

I bought a condo that was part of an HOA. 5 year old construction. Purchased right before covid hit. Within the first year I had a chandelier fall out of the ceiling with no provocation, which I had to pay to fix. Then my 2nd bedroom started leaking from the roof and window during rain. A fucking 5 year old roof should not be leaking. The best part, I couldn't pay to get the roof fixed because it was on the outside of the house and those repairs had to go through the HOA. During covid, I'd be in my garage making art, and people would drive through the cul-de-sac asking if any of the condos were for sale. It was my sign to get out. I hated it so much, still couldn't get my roof fixed, and I still managed to sell it and make 20K profit. Much of the newer construction is absolute trash. Also, fuck HOAs.

Oleg Galyuk, real estate agent with Royal Pacific Realty, said in his experience older condos tend to sell better than pre-sale condos.

"The new inventory tends to sit on the market," he said.

He said the layouts of some of the new homes are one reason for lack of buyer interest, as well as a lack of parking spaces that are harder to sell and rent.

Galyuk said developers are throwing out a variety of incentives to get people to buy built units.

"They're throwing in parking stalls. They're throwing in storage lockers. They're giving cash-back on completion."

He said he thinks some developers have put too many eggs into the "investor basket."

"Right now, a lot of condos [are] coming online that people don't really want to live in."

Says it all really

It's a real shock, I know. Who could ever have imagined that building loads of million-dollar condos and endless suburban sprawl would fail to be the answer to our housing problems?

You can replace Vancouver for Montreal and you'd have the same thing.

In Montreal we laughed for years at the 1M$ shack or mansions in Vancouver, but now in Montreal an average house is also 1M, it was like 500k 5 years ago. There is something like 3000 empties condos too in Montreal, maybe 10000-12000 airbnb too, and 25-34yo people especially those with spouse/children are leaving Montreal en masse.

It is completely fucked up right now. Rent also doubled. People on minimum wage are making ~2k$/month, an average rent is 2k$/month.

Let's not talk about an average new car at 65k$ and an average used car at 36k$

Who could have guessed? The super tiny, yet still branded "luxury" condos, listed at nearly the same as a townhouse, are having troubles selling???

In Burnaby, they're building super high density 400sqft micro apartments as if land is super scarce, while next door are 6000sqft lots of single family houses. Of course older condos are selling better because they're nearly double the size and often low-rises that sit with a community, not among wannabe-downtown skyscrapers.

"The cost that is associated with policies at all three levels of government has made it that we can no longer build what people can afford," she said.

I'm curious what she means by this exactly. Non-market housing and art is mentioned later on. Are they expected to pay for that themselves?

It's not like they physically can't build condos people can afford. With no regulations they could build South Korea-style coffin apartments. Nor are they making money from this situation.