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Ozzie says prices can't be supported by offshore buyers, but only calls for a 17% drop over 3 years.  A bit optimistic...

This "Months Of Inventory" (MOI) snapshot was based on MLS searches done for the VREB area on July 28, 2008.

Single family home listings total 1465. Condo inventory is at to 1223. 433 townhouses are available. Million dollar plus listings now total more than 17 months of inventory. There are currently 359 million dollar plus properties listed.

For comparison, check out the previous inventory search here.

Ian Watt says "There's no way a computer is going to beat me and my services."

I admire Ian for standing up and taking on a big start-up like Redfin, but while Redfin may not beat Ian and his "services" that don't "compete on price", isn 't it possible that this service, or one like Zillow, could compete and drive other realtors out of the business?  And while Ian may continue, if an alternative business model starts to compete as a sales platform, isn't it possible that some realtors may be out of business sooner than later with the Redfins, Zillows and Googles of the world encroachingand shaving the margins in the housing market?

Considering the staggering commissions involved, isn't it plain common sense that a business model that can produce sales just as fast or conveniently could put some realtors to the ultimate test?

Time will tell....

A good summary of the state of the Edmonton Alberta real estate market from Sara MacLennan of the Edmonton Real Estate blog. Thanks for the update.

"If they haven't sold in the last 30-40 days, they need to sit down with their realtor and figure out why, and it's probably the price."  - Dave Watt, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

This "Months Of Inventory" (MOI) snapshot was based on MLS searches done for the VREB area on July 16, 2008.

Single family home listings total 1443. Condo inventory is up
to 1229. 426 townhouses are available now. Million dollar plus listings now total  17 months of inventory, based on the 21 sales in June 2008.  There are currently 357 miilion dollar plus properties listed.

For comparison, check out the previous inventory search here.

The biggest mortgage backers in the US are in trouble. No this isn't the bottom in housing yet!

It's official: the most annoying Victoria Real Estate Bear blog "character" is Sitting Pretty (all versions). Almost 70% of the poll respondents obviously didn't think Pretty's schtick was either entertaining or informative enough to give a good reason to vote for someone else instead.

Next most annoying characters were Patriotz, Roger and HHV. But we know you guys mean well, right?

I didn't get any votes myself, for that I'd like to thank SP for draining votes away and saving me from a bruised and battered ego.

I'd be curious to know who some people selected the "Write In Candidate" option for? Feel free to let us know in the comments. Here's a link to the complete results.

A few months ago, estimates of losses in financial markets related to the subprime credit crunch were around a trillion dollars. And a few months before that, the estimates were around 400 billion.

Now Nouriel is talking about 1.6 trillion dollars of financial losses.

In case anyone thought a bunch of positive signals plucked from government and industry reports equals a shallow recession, Nouriel practically says, "Not so fast...." There are a lot of headwinds for the economy to struggle against.

Think the bottom is near in the US Housing crisis?  Here are some very convincing discussions of all the obstacles and pitfalls getting in the way of a speedy recovery.  There is also some interesting discussion of the plight of exurbs in a time of skyrocketing gas prices.  Redevelopment is going to start in the urban centres while the suburbs are vulnerable.  And what's going to happen to deal with the large supply of abandoned foreclosed houses?

On the bright side, the swiftness of the decline in prices, along with the size of the decline in places like California, is getting the market closer to a bottom. 

Because of this, for young people, housing is heading back toward affordability levels not seen in a long time.

This "Months Of Inventory" (MOI) snapshot was based on MLS searches done for the VREB area on July 06, 2008.

Single family home listings total 1401. Condo inventory is back up to 1198. Townhouses bounced back to 413 units listed. As Roger noted in earlier comments, the trend through summer into fall in the VREB area is for inventory to grow. This trend is back on track.

For comparison, check out the previous inventory search here.

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Now that the mid month stats have been released, million dollar properties sold stat is available.  Table has been updated. 

This video shows that the foreclosure market is increasing in Vancouver, as maxed out homeowners can't unload their houses quickly for top dollar any more.  A discussion of the situation with potentially rising mortgage rates follows.

Enjoy a guilty pleasure.  Six minutes of voiceless swelling synthyesizers and breathtaking views do all the selling necessary.  Viral marketing campaign via Youtube ensures that media savvy buyers from places like San Francisco [direct flight, for now] get the message about this once in a lifetime lifestyle opportunity.  Oh, it helps if you know who Jack Nicklaus is and like to play golf, too.

Too bad they didn't take any pictures of the gravel pit past Home Depot on the way to the Highlands, in the backyard, so to speak.  Or this contentious clearcut.  Also, they didn't mention that mineral rights for the whole site now belong to an environmentalist unfriendly to further destruction.  Don't think they want to mention that..... 

Here is a rundown on the most recent stats release by VREB.

Have a look at this graphic, I put together two lovely screen captures from the VREB site. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but yes, those are bubbles from the banner of the VREB home page here.

This "Months Of Inventory" (MOI) snapshot was based on MLS searches done for the VREB area on July 03, 2008.

Looks like a lot of six month listings must have just expired at the end of June: there has been a bit of an inventory drop across the board which can't be accounted for by the dismal June 2008 sales numbers. Down from May 2008, which was down from April 2008. Three months of falling sales. Who would have thunk it?

Also, it looks like VREB has wised up to how bad posting the million dollar sales makes the numbers look for the top of the market - this number was missing from the June report. I'll get it added to the tables when I can. There were 345 million dollar plus listings as of today - no matter how you measure that, it is many months if not years of high priced inventory.