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Many first-time home buyers understand the power of the big down payment

Although Generations X and Y are vastly different (I have daughters from both demographic cohorts so, believe me, I know all too well), when it comes to listing the impediments preventing them from buying their first homes, the members of these two generations are as similar as the Sedin twins.

A survey conducted at the 16th annual seminar for first-time homebuyers -organized by the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association and presented by the Homeowner Protection Office, branch of B.C. Housing -revealed that high prices and insufficient down payments were the culprits, no different than the responses gleaned from the survey conducted at, say, the fourth annual seminar in 1997.

Alas, the high cost of developable land, exacerbated by an ever-increasing array of taxes, fees, levies and development charges imposed on new homes by all four levels of government, seems to be a constant challenge throughout what is arguably the most popular geographic region in the country.

That aside, what are the needs and expectations of today’s typical first-time homebuyer? I will run through the survey responses and compare them with responses from last year, when the new-homes market was mired in a 10-year low, and from 2007, when the market was riding a 14-year high…

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Written by: Peter Simpson
Date: November 20, 2010

Big civic projects and even bigger geography on list compiled by Polygon’s Neil Chrystal

An Arizona builder recently said he feels like the Maytag repairman, as it has been more than two months since he welcomed a prospective buyer to his two model homes.

The builder’s homes share the neighbourhood with foreclosed homes. The once-lush landscaping has been reduced to tumbleweed. Shifting sand obscures street curbs. Graffiti artists have come and gone.

It’s no better in the eastern part of the Land of the Free. In Buffalo, N.Y., tired neighbourhoods are havens for drug dealers and other miscreants. In one 210-home community, 73 homes are vacant.

In 2009, more than three million Americans suffered through the humiliating and soul-destroying foreclosure process, and experts warn that when the numbers are crunched, 2010 could be even worse.

States with high foreclosure rates are California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Georgia and Florida…

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Written by: Peter Simpson
Date: October 23, 2010

The Royal LePage House Price Survey released Tuesday showed that year over year prices are up for all housing types surveyed in Vancouver but third-quarter prices — along with unit sales — are down from their early 2010 peaks.

Despite the slowdown, historically low interest rates are still drawing buyers into the market.

City-wide, average detached bungalow prices rose 8.8 per cent year over year to $873,500. Standard two-storey homes were up eight per cent to an average price of $977,250 while standard condos increased 10.2 per cent to $491,000 in year over year comparisons.

“Our market has cooled since the beginning of the year,” says Bill Binnie, broker and owner of Royal LePage North Shore. “To put things in perspective, however, third-quarter unit sales are up 40 per cent over the same period of 2008. Overall, we’ve got a healthy, balanced market in Vancouver.”

Vancouver homes are typically selling below asking price, and the 2010 residential real-estate market to date is about 10-per-cent slower than the same period last year. New home sales in general are down, and condos in particular are moving slowly…

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Published By: The Province
Date: October 20, 2010