Chilliwack Realtors in the Poorhouse

What follows my comments here is a puff piece from the Chilliwack and Districk Real Estate Board president Trude Kafka. I gather she is in deep denial about the current real estate market or is trying to put on a brave face. Either way, it isn't helping.

The upper Fraser Valley real estate market is being crushed under the burden of 24 months of inventory with exceptionally low sales volumes coupled with sky high inventory. There are over 280 realtors in the board's area and there were only 67 property sales in the month of December which by my elementary math means that there were over 200 realtors going hungry during the month of December. Perhaps we should start a collection so they are able to make their Lexus payments.

Total MLS® sales activity increased in December 2008, while residential sales activity declined in the area served by the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, according to statistics released by the Board. The Board's MLS® system recorded $23,492,025 worth of sales this December. That's a nine per cent increase from the total posted this past November, and a 49 per cent drop from the total in December 2007.

A total of 67 properties traded hands through the Board's MLS® system in December 2008, which is 12 per cent lower than the total from November and 55 per cent less than in December 2007.

"It’s no surprise that sales slow down during the final quarter of the year," said Board President Trude Kafka. "This trend is not unique to our region. However, we did see an increase in total MLS® sales – despite a monthly decline in total MLS® property listings. Property values continue to increase in our region. Hopefully these trends will continue well into 2009."

The total value of home sales recorded through the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board's MLS® system this December was $18,999,700 – which is nine per cent lower than the total from November 2008, and 52 per cent below the amount posted in December 2007.
In all, 63 homes were sold through the Board's MLS® system this December. That's 15 per cent lower than in November, and 49 per cent less than last December.

The average price of homes sold through the Board's MLS® system this December was $301,583, which is seven per cent above the average from November 2008 and five per cent lower than the average from December 2007. The Board cautions that the average residential price is a useful figure only for establishing trends and comparisons over a period of time. It does not indicate an actual price for a home due to the wide selection of housing available in the area.

The Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board handled a total of 2,224 MLS® sales in 2008, a sharp decline of 37.2 per cent compared to the total number of MLS® properties sold in 2007. All of the 12 real estate Boards and Association in British Columbia processed a total of 74,484 properties through their local MLS® systems, representing a 33.4 per cent decline from the total properties sold in 2007. The MLS® properties sold through the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board had a total value of $699.4 million, representing a 35.4 per cent decrease compared to 2007. Provincially, the value of all MLS® properties sold in 2008 had a total value of $33 billion, a 30.9 per cent decline from 2007 levels.

2,036 of the MLS® properties sold locally in 2008 were residential, down 37.7 per cent from the number of residential MLS® properties sold in 2007. Provincially, the number of residential MLS® properties sold declined 33 per cent compared to 2007. Residential properties sold locally in 2008 had a total value of $643.8 million, sinking 34.2 per cent compared to 2007. On the provincial level, total residential MLS® sales in British Columbia in 2008 had a value of $33.1 billion, a 30.6 decrease from record-setting 2007 levels.
There were 5,482 new listings processed through the MLS® system of the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board in 2008, an 11.4 per cent increase compared to the number of new listings processed in 2007. Provincially, the number of new residential listings in 2008 increased 12.1 per cent compared to 2007 to 176,762 properties.

A total of 181 new residential listings were added to the Board's MLS® system this December, an 18 cent increase from December 2007. As the month came to an end, there were 1,524 active residential listings on the Board's MLS® system.

The Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board is an association of 283 REALTORS® that provides services to and sets standards for members. The Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board serves Chilliwack, Agassiz, Hope, Boston Bar and Harrison.

Demographia (again)

Demographia has released their new "international" housing affordability survey (pdf), picked up locally here and here. Local readers will no doubt be attuned to the survey consistently showing that Vancouver is indeed unaffordable compared to most other North American cities. The thing to keep in mind about the Demographia survey is that they are openly advocating for less restrictive land use. This is done by showing how cities with "restrictive" land use guidelines are generally less "affordable" than those with "less restrictive" guidelines.

Oh really.

There are some obvious flaws in the study as it pertains to affordability on which I will now elaborate.

Owning != Living

The study shows how house prices and affordability are correlated to the degree of land restriction. Yet it is not just housing affordability that should be looked at for a city's overall affordability. While many choose to own property, there are alternatives, namely renting. For the survey to truly gauge a city's affordability in terms of its population's ability to afford to live (not necessarily own), we must also include the rental option. Property values are subject to swings due to speculation and in themselves are a poor measure if rents are not increasing as well.

The survey does argue that land restriction can more easily lead to speculation. Maybe. Though some cities were notably absent from their data set (more below).

Affordable in the Rust Belt

p. 20 of the report has the evil red "unaffordable" cities lined up on the same chart as the haloed green "affordable" cities. Let's look at the green cities a bit more closely. Notables are: Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. Is it too obvious to say that these cities have flat to decreasing populations and high unemployment? No wonder their land restrictions are so loose. The local authorities need to pull out all the stops to PREVENT people from leaving!

Cart and Horse

A question to ask, again a pretty obvious one, is whether restrictive land use is causally linked to affordability. The survey certainly shows correlation but seems to gloss over causation.

English Only

As hinted above, the survey seems to leave out other first world cities and concentrates on only English speaking cities. Why not include Paris, Stockholm, and Frankfurt? Could it be that these cities have restrictive land use policies but more favourable affordability?

Restriction? What Restriction?

Check out mohican's last post on CMHC construction data. If Vancouver has "restrictive" land use policies, it seems there may be a few loopholes, given the MASSIVE housing supply coming online. How could a city with such tight reins on land use produce such oversupply? It blows the mind.

Overall I am surprised the survey is given so much press. Their exclusion of data is suspect, their conclusions not well backed by logic, and their basic premises around what "affordability" really is are not discussed in their analysis. Every year there is a debate on local blogs about this survey. Sure, Vancouver is severely unaffordable. We all know that and this survey confirms the obvious. (Another annoyance is the types of data used for certain markets vary so the affordability number for Vancouver is not apples-apples with other cities) But this survey is not really about displaying the data and I'll stick to a more holistic combination of Case-Shiller, rents, and incomes, without the suspect analysis, thanks very much.

December 2008 CMHC Data - Vancouver CMA

The CMHC released the montly housing data for markets across Canada. Here is an updated chart tracking housing starts, completions and units under construction in the Vancouver market. I have included a forecast for 2009 which assumes a significant decline in starts during the year and an uptick in completions near the end of the year as many projects are scheduled to wrap up just before Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympics.


A truly amazing statistic contained in the December data is the number of completed but unsold units. The number of unabsorbed units has risen from 1292 in December 2007 to 2363 in December 2008. Obviously, developers are having trouble selling the units that are now vacant and available. This is why we are seeing these creative marketing tactics and price cuts.

Developer Turns Condos into Rentals

I came across this interesting article -- from January 2007 -- about a developer named David Franco turning an unbuilt Washington DC development from luxury condos into rentals. To quote:

"In many cities, banks have significantly scaled back loans to condominium builders. Some have demanded that developers sell half or more of the units in a building before even beginning construction.

In hopes of salvaging something from their costly plans, hundreds of developers like Franco are looking to the strong market for apartments, planning to rent their units for at least a couple of years while waiting for today's condo surplus to shrink.

After six weeks of failing to lure more than a couple dozen buyers, Franco and his partner, Jeff Blum, joined the builders of nearly 6,000 condominium units in the Washington metropolitan area who have decided in the last three months to recast their projects as rental apartment buildings."

Read the whole thing. Like a book we've already read, today we hear this:

"In the face of sales that have ground to a halt, Wall Financial Corp. has decided to scrap its 414-unit Wall Centre False Creek condominium project in favour of building rental apartments on the site, company principal Peter Wall said in an interview.

In its last quarterly financial results, Wall Financial said it had sold almost 30 per cent of the Wall Centre Creek's units, 120 in all, but that sales had come “to almost a complete stop” during the quarter."

I see. What an innovative concept! Vancouver hasn't seen any substantive purpose-built rentals for years now so sounds like a winner; a real contrarian move. Surprised nobody else has thought of that. I would love to see how Mr. Wall pitches this idea to his financial backers, or is he using his own money?

Denial - It's Not a River in Egypt

The Nile River is a long river, in fact, it is generallly regarded as the longest in the world. It represents a very large drainage basin, covering much of North Africa.

Likewise, DE-NIAL can be the drainage basin of your finances if you aren't careful. According to Wikipedia, denial is a defense mechanism in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimisation) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference).

So today, many of the people you see around you are in denial about the reality of the Canadian real estate market. They are so uncorfortable with the fact that prices have fallen and are falling further that they outright deny the fact. Sometimes they admit that prices have fallen but minimize the impact that it will have on Canadians or themselves. Sometimes they just admit that prices are falling and that it will have a big impact but walk away from their 3 spec condos.


Yes folks were are in the denial stage. Next stop 'fear' - - I'm scared.

Good luck!

Bank of Canada cuts lending rate to record low of 1%

From CBC:

The Bank of Canada on Tuesday cut borrowing costs to a record low as it warned the economy will shrink this year. In a further move to bolster the sagging economy, the bank reduced its key overnight rate by half a percentage point to one per cent. The bank has now trimmed 3.5 percentage points from the overnight rate since it started its latest cycle of cuts.Tuesday's cut reduced borrowing costs below 1.12 per cent, which had been the lowest point set back in 1958.

More rate reductions may also be in the offing, as the Bank of Canada said more stimulus could be needed to boost the sagging economy."Major advanced economies, including Canada's, are now in recession and emerging-market economies are increasingly affected," the bank said."Canadian exports are down sharply, and domestic demand is shrinking as a result of declines in real income, household wealth, and consumer and business confidence."

Bank sees recovery in 2010

The Canadian economy is expected to contract by 1.2 per cent in 2009, but the bank sees a recovery in 2010, when the economy is projected to expand by 3.8 per cent.Back in October, the bank projected growth of 0.6 per cent in 2009, and 3.4 per cent in 2010.The bank will provide more details on its outlook for the economy on Thursday, when it releases its Monetary Policy Update.

The bank also signalled that inflation fears have abated. The so-called core inflation rate is expected to fall to 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of this year, while the overall inflation rate is expected to dip below zero for two quarters in 2009 because of lower energy prices."With inflation expectations well-anchored, total and core inflation should return to the two per cent target in the first half of 2011 as the economy returns to potential," the bank said.

The major Canadian banks quickly moved to reduce their prime rates to three per cent. That differed from some of the past moves by the Bank Canada, when the big banks either delayed lowering their prime rates or did not pass along the full cut. The banks cited the tight credit markets as the reason why they were not passing along the cuts to customer borrowing rates.

Borrowing is getting cheaper if you can qualify and you are willing. It doesn't seem like the willing qualify these days and the qualified seem unwilling!

B-b-b-b-baby, You Just Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

The Vancouver real estate market, along with the rest of BC and Canada, has now entered the full blown correction stage. Nobody is denying the reality that prices are falling and that it is very difficult to sell a home right now. Vancouver real estate prices have retreated nearly 15% in the past 7 months and Canadian prices as a whole have retreated 5-6%, depending on the data you use.

Many prognosticators, extrapolators, eternal optimists, and kool-aid drinkers have concluded that the worst is behind us in terms of price drops and I will now tell you why that is far from being the case.

Quite simply, there is TOO MUCH DAMN SUPPLY for the level of demand we had last year nevermind the level of demand we see today in the midst of a full blown credit contraction and recession. Shockingly ;-) people don't really want to commit themselves to a 35 year payment schedule, with payments double their current rent, when their job prospects are weak or at risk.

For those of you who are now planning on waiting until 'the market recovers' to sell your home, you may be waiting many, many years. The real estate market is not like the stock market, where crashes and recoveries can happen over a period of weeks or months. The real estate market takes years to exhibit the same market movement so get honest with yourself and don't let your realtor give you some mumbo-jumbo about a spring market rebound because the facts just don't bear that point of view out.

So the question becomes - When will we see more demand and less supply - ie. a recovery?

The answer of when a recovery will come is not complicated and actually we can make an educated estimate of when supply and demand should come back into balance. When supply and demand come back into balance, the worst of the price drops should be over and we can reasonably expect a 'recovery' of sorts, or at least no more big price drops!  This doesn't necessarily mean a return to the rapid price appreciation of the bubble years nor does it mean that we will attain the lofts heights of 2007 pricing again soon, in fact, it is likely that we will not see spring 2008 peak pricing for at least a decade and if we adjust for inflation, my children may never see that day.

In the current supply / demand situation, with well over 15 months of inventory in every major BC real estate market, we will see price drops in the order of -2% or more per month. This has been true of the past year.

For argument's sake, let's just say that the demand in the current real estate market does not deteriorate further and again let's imagine the looming supply of new homes under construction that will complete in the next 18 months is reasonably around 20,000 units. With current existing home inventories in the Greater Vancouver area and the growth in listings that is typical for the first half of the year we should see approximately 25,000 units for sale by the time May or June rolls around. Sales will likely be in the 1200 to 1500 per month range giving us a months of inventory metric well over 15 months again.

This means that 2009 will not be a positive year for prices in the local real estate market. In fact, assuming the trend shown in the chart above holds true this year, we should see continued price declines of 2% or more per month. If there is a further influx of inventory via new home completions or existing homes coming onto the market, or a further deterioration of demand, things could be much, much worse.

In regards to prices, here are my best case, reasonable case, and worst case scenarios for 2009:

Best Case - average of 2% declines per month, inventory does not exceed 25,000 units, sales hold up at 2008 levels, benchmark price finishes the year above $525,000.

Reasonable Case - average of 3% declines per month, inventory does not exceed 30,000 units, sales fall modestly from 2008, benchmark prices finishes the year above $475,000.

Worst Case - average of 4% declines per month, inventory exceeds 30,000 units, sales fall dramatically from 2008, benchmark prices barely finish the year over $400,000.

If these predictions seem alarming, then you haven't had a good look at the facts yet. There will be no recovery until 2011 at the earliest. For those of you looking to sell a home this year, get real, and drop your price to be the lowest in your neighbourhood, otherwise it isn't going to sell. For those of you looking to purchase, wait, or drive a very hard bargain, and be prepared for further price drops. If you are a developer, cut prices hard, 30% or more, and finish up your projects fast. If you are a city that happens to have a huge development full of unsold units on your hands, get rid of them, FAST.

Real estate prices will be 20-40% lower than now only 12 months from now so move fast if you're selling and move slow if you're buying.

Good luck because You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.