Owning a house in Hongcouver will eat up 82.4% – 86.5% of your income

Someone coined the word “Hongcouver”, I supposed it cannot be considered as a nagative term, since it is merely suggesting Vancouver has been “Hongkong-ised” as far as real estate prices are concerned.

Maybe not a bad thing.

Vancouver and Toronto must be the only place in North America where every detached home owner is a millionaire, or potentially is one.

Welcome to the Millionaire Club.

No, I am not one. I am just the doorman for now.

Housing in Vancouver becoming even less affordable

Rising real estate prices in Vancouver are helping to increase market confidence, but are leading to housing becoming even less affordable, RBC announced May 27.

According to the bank’s Housing Trends and Affordability Report, the percentage of pre-tax income that the average Vancouverite needed to service the costs of owning a home in 2014’s first quarter has increased overall.

The report also said that home resales fell 6.5% in the quarter, which is 8.5% below the ten-year average.

Bungalow owners need to spend 82.4% of their income – an increase of 0.9 percentage points over the previous quarter. Those who own two-storey homes must spend 86.5% of their income, which is up 0.6 percentage points.

The only home type that became more affordable was condos, with owners spending 39.9% of pre-tax income – a 1.0 percentage point dip.

“The upside from current resale levels may be limited given the market’s long-standing poor affordability conditions,” said RBC senior vice-president and chief economist Craig Wright.

“With prices back in growth mode, the improvements we’ve seen in Vancouver’s affordability levels over the last two years will be difficult to replicate.”

After Vancouver, Toronto has the second-least affordable housing, at 56.1% of pre-tax income – an increase of 0.2 percentage points, followed by Montreal (38.9%, up 0.1 percentage points, and Ottawa (36.4%, down 0.5 percentage points).

Affordability also fell across the province as a whole. The average British Columbian must spend 68.4% of their income for housing – up 0.9 percentage points compared with Q4 2013.

The index takes into account mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes.

More at http://www.biv.com/

Who cares ?

I say buy your way to Heaven and eventually own something like this one …

BONUS

The House that Lululemon Built | Chip Wilson’s $54 Million Vancouver Home

Chip Wilson, former CEO of Lululemon, has finally completed his home in Vancouver’s waterfront Kitsilano neighborhood. The elegantly designed concrete dwelling took five years to complete, and attracted  attention even before it was ready to move in. In August 2013, Wilson hosted a private birthday party at his unfinished house that featured live music by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

(But was not behind the Gisby house.)

The asking price is $16,800,000.

While still unfinished, the house at 3085 Point Grey Road in Vancouver was ranked as British Columbia’s second most expensive residence. Now that it’s completed, its appraised value tops $54 million, officially making it B.C.’s most expensive single-family piece of real estate. The neighborhood also boasts the third, fourth, sixth and seventh highest valued properties in B.C.. Chip and his wife Shannon, together with their five children, will enjoy a light-filled lifestyle in this 30,600 square foot home. Stretching over three waterfront lots, the home’s two stories include seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Posted 28th April 2015 by the MASH

CHIC HOME

Measured Architecture of British Columbia is the firm which undertook the expansion and renovation of an existing house and put the finished product on the architectural map. Indoor and outdoor infinity pools carry the eye out across the sheltered waterways of Vancouver, and across to the smoothly curved North Shore mountains in the distance. The unfussy architecture is well-suited to the Pacific Northwest, matching the coastal region’s austere grey and blue-green palette with limestone and black painted steel.

A HOME CONNECTED TO NATURE

The many window walls are controlled manually, so that the house feels as if it is a continuous part of the waterfront landscape. The architects worked to incorporate traditional materials into controls for these walls, even adding whimsical touches inspired by vintage cars. The dining room table is positioned so that almost every diner can gaze out at the water from where they sit, while the indoor swimming pool features a playful bright red statue of a harbor seal. The actual animals themselves are common in the British Columbia waterways, visible through the many glass walls. Intimate outdoor spaces are created by clusters of dense greenery surrounding small garden spaces, which provide areas for family life. At night, the outdoor pools reflect the lights and structural lines of the house, creating new layers to the visual experience.

After a profitable and occaisonally controversial career in creating Lululemon, Chip Wilson and his wife look forward to the luxury of settling into their home and supporting local artistic and environmental causes. Their home will undoubtedly provide them with plenty of inspiration in these areas.