BCBUSINESS.CA MARCH 2016 BCBUSINESS 15
25%
Big Wheels
N u m e r o l o g y
by Melissa Edwards
How B.C.
residents want to
address the issue
of unaffordability
Weekly, a national publication
for real estate investors, found
that 79 per cent of its readers did
not think flipping in the current
market makes sense. And the
statistics would appear to back
them up: in July 2015, according
to a Landcor study, nine out of
the 166 sales of detached houses
in Vancouver were sold twice in
the previous 12 months (Landcor
defined a flip as a sale and resale
in less than a year).
According to Lloyd Kinney,
owner of
MLK Properties, which
invests in residential real estate
throughout the Lower Mainland,
all the good bets in the region
are gone—save for the odd condo
flip, where it's still possible to
add value by spending $30,000
to renovate a unit and sell it for
$50,000 more. From 2002 until
the recession in 2008-09, it was
quite the opposite story: there
was a solid supply of postwar
houses, he says, and rel-
atively affordable prices.
In the years since, the
inventory of homes that
would make for a quick
profit has fallen dramati-
cally and the costs of get-
ting into the market have
escalated enormously.
That's why our host is
focusing most of his dis-
cussion down south. "I'll
tell you what Canadians
want," says Fernandez,
stopping to scan the
front two rows. "Most
Canadians want to
invest in the Sunbelt states."
Then he tells us to write down
another of his many mantras:
"You never fall in love with the
property—you fall in love with
the math." For this audience,
however—facing a Canadian
dollar broaching 70 cents U.S.—
the math on investing in the
Sunbelt makes about as much
sense these days as buying into
Canada's most extreme
housing market.
•
B.C.'s share of
Canada's
BMW X5
SUV sales
Approximate annual sales
for car dealerships in B.C.
represents about 17% of all
retail sales in the province
A speculation tax to
reduce house flipping
An extra transfer
tax on buyers from
outside Canada
Limits on what
types/number of
properties can be
purchased by
buyers from
outside Canada
A vacancy tax on
unoccupied dwellings
PAIR OF FLIPPERS
Tarek and Christina El Moussa,
husband and wife renovation
team and hosts of HGTV's
Flip or Flop
69%
79%
72%
82%
SOURCE: JUNE 2015
INSIGHTS WEST POLL
3
$11
Billion
17%
WHICH
B.C.'s share of
Canada's total
car sales
10%
That's how many consecutive years new car sales
have hit record highs in B.C. And with this month's auto show at
the Vancouver Convention Centre expected to break 100,000 in attendance, 2016 is looking to keep up. "There
was the biggest implosion in our industry globally in 2008," says Blair Qualey, president and
CEO of the New Car
Dealers Association of B.C. "Now we have some of the lowest prices in a generation and crazy interest rates, and
people are taking advantage." But it's not just bargain seekers driving the local market: sales of supercars in B.C. are
more than 40 per cent higher than the Canadian average. "The Vancouver market does tend to be skewed toward the luxury
end," says Qualey. "You just have to go out on the street and see how many are around now, whether it's a Lamborghini,
a Bentley or a Ferrari."
