CBC National: Vancouver Housing - Bubble or Bust

 

Last night on CBC's The National, Vancouver's overheated market was profiled.  Above you can watch the full segment.

As you watch it, however, you might be interested in this update to the story.

One of the key interviews is with Philip Chan, a realtor who also developed and built a house at 2575 West 7th Avenue in Vancouver which he currently has for sale.

Chan is trying to sell a new 1,700 square foot unit in this house which is part of a triplex. Originally the unit was listed for $1,790,000.

As the CBC piece outlines, Chan cut the asking price to $1,570,000...

... a price cut the National notes amounts to a drop of 12%...

Chan describes the $200,000 price drop as an adjustment, a classification CBC pounces on as a "sugar coating which attempts to cover the reality that prices are tanking".

Chan disagree's and argue's that it can't possibly drop much more.  The story then cuts away to Garth Turner who explains that the market can - and will - drop a lot more.

At the end of the piece, CBC tells you about a confident Philip Chan who doesn't believe the market can drop much more below the 12% it already has for his property.

What the story doesn't tell you is that Chan's property has in fact already dropped - a lot more.

As you can see here, the property's asking price has been cut significantly below that $1,570,000 asking price and is now on the market for $1,373,000...

Even more interesting is the fact this lower price is not recent.  As noted on Observer's excellent website Vancouver Price Drop, this property was profiled in the 17th position in the Observer's Weekly Drop segment for September 10th.

At the end of the CBC segment (and what they described was a 12% drop in the value of his property), Mr. Chan is quoted denying the market can drop much more.  He asks, "how much more can it drop?"

Well... that drop is now 23% and still no buyers in sight.

Why CBC was hesitant to profile how dramatic the collapse is becoming is unclear.

But one thing you can be sure about is that there is no doubt Mr. Chan is a lot less confident now than the CBC story would lead you to believe.

(hat tip s Says on VCI)

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