The Vancouver Life Real Estate Podcast

It’s customary here at The Vancouver Life  Real Estate Group, that at the end of every year we make predictions about how our Real Estate market will pan out in the year to come.  This week we cover what we believe could be the major economic drivers and potential economic landmines for the real estate industry in 2023. Plus, we make our price predictions about where the value of real estate will...

What a crazy year! Nothing tells the story of 2022 better than comparing the predictions we made at the start of this year with how they actually turned out. While we nailed a few predictions, we also had some significant misses as we review the year. Historically, this episode is always a lot of fun but especially this time around as no one saw the extreme change in headwinds coming like the Bank...

2023 is going to be full of change in the Real Estate industry as we have two major introductions that will change the landscape. With the introduction of the Foreign Buyer Ban and the Cooling Off Period, it remains to be seen if these measures will help alleviate the pain felt by Buyers in a hot market. There’s only one problem - there isn’t a hot market to test these on and with the amount redun...

This weeks podcast has us exploring the new rate hike thanks to the BoC’s continued quantitative easing. While it’s been difficult for many seeing rates up 400 basis points in 9 months - that’s an eye watering 1,600% since the start of the rate hike cycle - and it has all but erased the credibility of the Bank of Canada who waited until inflation was at 6.7% before acting and indicated rates would...

The Bank of Canada is set to raise rates, yet again, next week further impacting the already heavily stressed mortgage market.  Effective payments to pay for a typical home have doubled in the past 2 years and variable rate holders are feeling the pinch. We dive into what will happen next and when you can expect rates to start coming down.  November stats are in and we look at the National level a...

This week we hopped on the Pod with Vancouver Life Team Member & Whistler Specialist Auley Serfas to explore what it’s like living and working in one of the most sought after resort towns in the world. With properties ranging $300,000 up to $30+ million dollars, Whistler has proven to be one of the most interesting and dynamic real estate markets that we have seen. Before Auley became a Realto...

Inflation was the name of the game in this weeks update and while inflation numbers remained unchanged from the month before, sitting around 6.9% - that did beat expectations as they were predicted to rise. As of last months report, Canada now has the second lowest inflation rate of any G7 nation! However, seeing that inflation pressures didn’t ease last month, it paves the way for another rate hi...

Quantitative tightening is still very much at the forefront of monetary policy as we saw mortgage rates on the rise again this week. With variable rates now above 5 year fixed rates for the first time since 2019, sitting on average around 5.5%! Fixed rates for comparison sake are sitting at 5.1%. This week we explore what's happening nationally and how Vancouver stacks up against other major...

If you live anywhere else in Canada, it’s pretty clear in today’s market that without demand, the supply of homes will rise creating a decline in sales volume and that effectively helps to lower prices along with very low consumer confidence. With credit having been restricted through quantitative tightening at the most aggressive pace in recent history - affordability has reached heights we'...

This week we got the opportunity to meet the head honcho launching eXp’s commercial division in Canada, Mr. James Huang, President of eXp Commercial. Breaking into that market will be transformative for those both looking to buy, invest, or sell commercial real estate with the exciting tech suites and professional teams available to service you.  Moreover, if you’re a business owner or a professio...

Another 50 basis point jump was on the table today as the BoC continued down the path of hiking rates at an unprecedented rate. For some context, variable rate mortgage holders were getting rates as low as 1.29% in January and on a $1mil mortgage, payments averaged about $3,350 a month. Fast forward to today’s rate hike and that same mortgage is now up over $5,700 or an increase of 71% in just 8 m...

What a week for BC's Provincial and Municipal governments as both David Eby and Mayor elect Ken Sim are set to take over. With a huge push to change up the status quo of housing in the province and specifically in Vancouver, many local residents have spoken that they want, in fact they are demanding change with Ken Sim winning by a landslide.  In this weeks Podcast episode we take a look at t...

Inflation continues to be a pesky foe that won’t go quietly into the night. This week we take a look at the North American market and how the inflation story has moved away from its transitory narrative as local demand within the economy has yet to cool off to a point that no longer concerns central banks. The war in Europe continues to put price pressure on a volatile energy market while simultan...

Making sense of what is happening inside our current Real Estate market is tough in today’s environment. Sweeping comments in conversation or news articles that suggest “The Market” isn’t doing well or that “Housing is Down” is no longer an accurate way of describing the housing sector - at least not in Vancouver. Take this little stat as an example: Vancouver currently has less inventory than it...

Housing unaffordability is truly the worst it's ever been.  In this weeks episode we explore how home ownership cost (as a percentage of median household income) hit 60% this year, an all-time high. Considering the price of inflation, the cost of increasing interest rates and relatively stagnant wage growth by comparison, the cost of living has risen significantly. The affordability Gap in Ca...

With the inflation print in Canada coming in lower than expected, there was some good news that the over sized rate hikes we’ve all been through over the last 6 months appear to be working. While this was largely driven by lower gas and commodity prices, things like food continued to inflate in price. It will take a significant amount of time before food prices begin to fall as it’s the one commod...

With inflation print hitting 8.3% in the U.S. shedding only 0.2% from it’s previous print is showing consumers continued to spend through the Summer (which was widely expected). The continued strength of the U.S. dollar continues to push the price of domestic products further reinforcing the inflationary cycle. The news was so impactful that the stock market had its worst day in over 2 years.  We...

The BC government came out this week and capped rental increases by 2% - Renters say that’s too much! And Landlords are incredibly frustrated as inflationary costs have inflated their cost of ownership by much more than 2%.  Historically, the government has increased rates in unison with inflation, but this time around they have suggested a lift of that magnitude would only hurt the Renters. Howev...

Mychal Ferreira, Mortgage Specialist from BMO,  joins us today on this special podcast where we discuss the impacts of the new 0.75% rate hike. With average mortgages in Vancouver being substantially higher than the rest of the country, Vancouverites can expect their variable rate mortgage payments to increase by another $350-$700 dollars per month - s staggering $4,000 to $8,000 increase in payme...

With the Fall market on our doorstep, it’s time to review how the summer market performed and what’s in store for September and October. While we have just come out of a couple of the slowest months in 20 odd years, you would think the market is at a stand still. But with prices having dropped by more than 30% in some areas across the nation, Vancouver remains one of the most resilient marketplace...

In this weeks’ episode we explore where the CORE inflation is sitting and why we feel the result spells an almost certain .05% - 0.75% interest rate hike increase on September 7th. While it’s debatable what the BoC will do, what isn’t debatable is the huge drop in real estate prices we have seen in the last few months as a result of rising interest rates levels and inflationary pressures.  Canadia...

The government has long said it wants to create affordable housing for its citizens and has historically pushed developers and the communities they govern to design or ownership alternatives for it to approve. Those include co-op housing, leasehold land, income verified property and many other forms of “affordable ownership”. To be real, these do nothing but stigmatize property, they don’t allot t...

 This week we tackle the new inflation print from our friends down south (US) and we take a macro look at the Real Estate Market across the country. As inflationary pressures begin to ease, we ask the question - Are we starting to see signs of relief or is this a bear trap that will lead to further downward pressures? The US Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell have been quoted as saying that they wi...

The biggest take away from the July real estate numbers is the 43% decline in sales volume. This comes in a full 35% below the 10 year average, which more dramatically demonstrates the current landscape.    Equally as notable, new listings dropped 25% last month contributing substantially to the decrease in total inventory.    That number dropped for the first time in 6 months and speaks to the ma...

In this episode we take a look at what our economy is doing from a National perspective. Some of the key take aways here include signs that we are seeing inflationary pressures beginning to ease, Bond Yields are continuing to come down and housing starts are beginning to increase again while we deal with sky rocketing rental increases.  Home sales in the month of June and no doubt in the month of...