Thursday, January 10, 2013

A bubble blows - month by month


Below are the monthly average prices for detached homes presented in the Vancouver Average Sale Price Chart you see above.

Starting in 2002 until now.

It's the evolution of our housing bubble charted month by month over 10 years from $363,900 in January 2002 to the current high in February 2012 at $1,235,200 and it's downward slide since.

Somewhat mesmerizing, isn't it?

DEC/12 -     $1,078,500
NOV/12 -     $1,053,900
OCT/12 -     $1,116,100
SEP/12 -      $1,119,200
AUG/12 -     $1,142,200
JUL/12 -      $1,041,300
JUN/12 -      $1,061,100
MAY/12 -    $1,073,300
APR/12 -     $1,106,600
MAR/12 -    $1,155,500
FEB/12 -      $1,235,200  -- the current high!
JAN/12 -      $1,145,900
DEC/11 -     $1,064,200
NOV/11 -     $1,134,900
OCT/11 -     $1,162,300
SEP/11 -      $1,104,800
AUG/11 -     $1,162,200
JUL/11 -      $1,133,300
JUN/11 -      $1,215,200
MAY/11 -    $1,223,400
APR/11 -     $1,204,500
MAR/11 -    $1,155,000
FEB/11 -     $1,173,300
JAN/11 -     $1,144,500
DEC/10 -    $1,046,300
NOV/10 -    $1,043,100
OCT/10 -    $1,058,500
SEP/10 -     $1,016,300
AUG/10 -    $999,400
JUL/10 -     $941,200
JUN/10 -     $970,500
MAY/10 -    $955,100
APR/10 -     $1,003,800
MAR/10 -    $1,002,000
FEB/10 -     $963,100
JAN/10 -     $950,700
DEC/09 -    $952,900
NOV/09 -    $903,400
OCT/09 -    $913,900
SEP/09 -     $872,100
AUG/09 -    $890,000
JUL/09 -     $824,400
JUN/09 -     $819,200
MAY/09 -   $831,100
APR/09 -    $816,800
MAR/09 -   $792,500
FEB/09 -     $763,200
JAN/09 -     $782,900
DEC/08 -    $813,700
NOV/08 -    $745,700
OCT/08 -    $825,200
SEP/08 -     $790,000
AUG/08 -    $808,000
JUL/08 -     $828,700
JUN/08 -     $904,100
MAY/08 -   $887,500
APR/08 -    $880,800
MAR/08 -   $918,500
FEB/08 -     $920,600
JAN/08 -     $877,200
DEC/07 -    $810,900
NOV/07 -    $813,100
OCT/07 -    $850,000
SEP/07 -     $819,800
AUG/07 -    $856,100
JUL/07 -     $831,200
JUN/07 -     $809,300
MAY/07 -   $852,400
APR/07 -    $794,300
MAR/07 -   $785,200
FEB/07 -     $743,200
JAN/07 -     $761,100
DEC/06 -    $775,700
NOV/06 -    $765,300
OCT/06 -    $795,800
SEP/06 -     $741,600
AUG/06 -    $749,200
JUL/06 -     $730,800
JUN/06 -     $718,700
MAY/06 -   $716,200
APR/06 -     $701,900
MAR/06 -    $699,900
FEB/06 -      $705,100
JAN/06 -      $655,900
DEC/05 -     $627,500
NOV/05 -     $609,600
OCT/05 -     $624,300
SEP/05 -      $630,300
AUG/05 -     $607,100 
JUL/05 -      $596,100
JUN/05 -      $580,000
MAY/05 -    $588,900
APR/05 -     $555,400
MAR/05 -    $563,900
FEB/05 -      $542,600
JAN/05 -      $524,300
DEC/04 -     $532,000
NOV/04 -     $525,600
OCT/04 -     $549,700
SEP/04 -      $538,400
AUG/04 -     $525,700
JUL/04 -      $521,800
JUN/04 -      $542,700
MAY/04 -    $530,300
APR/04 -     $532,500
MAR/04 -    $516,600
FEB/04 -      $504,400
JAN/04 -      $495,900
DEC/03 -     $475,100
NOV/03 -     $493,300
OCT/03 -     $479,800
SEP/03 -      $472,400
AUG/03 -     $457,100
JUL/03 -      $428,600
JUN/03 -      $436,900
MAY/03 -    $433,600
APR/03 -     $438,600
MAR/03 -    $426,700
FEB/03 -      $434,000
JAN/03 -      $422,700
DEC/02 -     $395,500
NOV/02 -     $403,700
OCT/02 -     $396,400
SEP/02 -      $398,100
AUG/02 -     $399,000
JUL/02 -      $390,500
JUN/02 -      $398,100
MAY/02 -    $400,500
APR/02   -   $399,000
MAR/02  -   $393,000
FEB/02   -    $389,700
JAN/02   - $363,900 -- This represents just over a 70% drop from the Feb. 2012 peak

The dot com crash occurred in 2000, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2001. Then came the great stimulus initiatives of 2002 which spawned the North American housing bubbles.


"They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see"
   - Psalm 135:16

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10 comments:

  1. Amen, Whisperer. Amen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Look for 95% at this point, since the credit bubble has started somewhere around the 80s which means in 2002 prices were already bid up more than fundamentals, because there was much more credit than capital, although housing was not in a state of speculative mania just yet.
    Amen indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/01/10/business-sothebys-housing.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a bizarre article with headline stating hot market but article itself having lines like "The Vancouver market, however, did fall back, with sales of homes valued at over $1 million declining by 34 per cent on the year, falling back from the stratospheric highs in 2011."

      Looks more like a response to the need for a certain amount of original content creation rather than anything else.

      CanAmerican

      Delete
  4. This is my first bubble, where I've paid attention anyway. Mid 30s, renter. Can it really be this easy? Just look at the chart and know all bubbles burst and return to mean? How can it be THAT easy? All I have to do is sit and wait?

    That is the hardest thing for me to comprehend. If it really is THAT easy, then why isn't everyone doing it? Kinda feel like I missed something, somewhere that was taught to everyone else.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any boom caused by excess credit will ALWAYS bust... it's a question of when.

      The hardest thing is to resist the urge to 'play' the bubble.

      Policies like quantitative easing and zero interest rates extend the life of a bubble, luring people into believing that a new paradigm has been created... or luring them into thinking intervention will arrive to once again extend the life of the bubble.

      Is this the top? Or will it be blown higher?

      Delete
    2. Tomorrow I'll post more about what has happened since 2002.

      Delete
    3. I have personally experienced a bubble bursting. 1980's Calgary. Everyone thought real-estate would continue to go-go-go higher. If you tried to offer a counter argument that it would not, they laughed at you. I viewed a new condo project in Coach Hill - very exclusive town homes selling at $400,000. Remember this is early 1980S in Calgary. Show suite finished with the other units (probably 15 total) to be completed. Then the bust came. Brutal. This project went into foreclosure and my dad bought one 90% completed for $50,000. Yes, $50,000. He spent $50,000 to finish it off and stayed there since then.

      Everyone was walking around dazed wondering what happened, how could it happen. Didn't matter, it was too late.
      CJM

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    4. If I were a developer in Vancouver, I would be very nervous right now!

      Delete
    5. I sure hope the correction comes to Calgary as well. I wouldn't mind buying a place for $50K after it being listed for $400K! Sounds like a sweet deal to me! Great that your dad got so lucky! What kind of correction do you think we will see in Calgary this time around?

      Delete