Globe and Mail: A busy January has Vancouver realtors bullish on the market

Lorne shares his opinion with The Globe and Mail in an article titled A busy January has Vancouver realtors bullish on the market.

Long-time realtor Lorne Goldman says the west side detached house market is the barometer of B.C.’s housing market. He recently saw a property in the Arbutus Flats neighbourhood receive eight offers, listed for $3 million plus.

“In my experience, after decades in this business, I can tell you that when the market goes sour, the first place it goes sour in the province is the west side, and when it starts to get going again, the first place is the west side,” says Mr. Goldman.

“It’s been that way for a long time.”

“What you see is a reluctance to put houses on the market and a desire from buyers to get into places with backyards in good public-school districts. So, we are optimistic, and we weren’t optimistic at this time last year, that’s for sure. It just wasn’t very good. And now the buyers are coming out.”

In 2020, Mr. Goldman was representing a Dunbar house that had sat empty for 23 years, owned by an offshore investor. He finally sold it when the vacancy taxes were introduced. But Mr. Goldman doesn’t believe the federal government’s extension of the foreign buyer ban until 2027 will have any meaningful impact on prices.

“It will be minimal,” says Mr. Goldman. “Conversely, what political party is going to jump in and say, ‘We need to bring foreign buyers back?’ The perception in the public is that if we have the ban, we see prices drop. It didn’t happen. And if you have a foreign buyer who is intent on buying in Canada, they will have a relative, or a friend who could circumvent the rules.”

Read the full article here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/article-a-busy-january-has-vancouver-realtors-bullish-on-the-market/

Or download a PDF of the article here: A busy January has Vancouver realtors bullish on the market – The Globe and Mail