BOB_RENNIE

Bob Rennie of Bob Rennie Realty spoke to the Urban Development Institute (UDI) on Thursday, giving his professional and well thought out opinion on what is happening in Vancouver’s housing market. Bob and his family are what Malcolm Gladwell would call “early adapters”-they have renovated and restored a fabulous building in Chinatown way before that was fashionable, and share their love of good art and design with the community in their gallery.  And Bob quite simply, loves Vancouver and has his finger on the pulse of what makes this town tick-real estate.

Bob’s annual UDI speech is the hot ticket in town. Journalist Frances Bula who attended the talk and was tweeting in real-time, noted “if you ever feel lonely, tweet out a Bob Rennie speech. It’s like going to a crowded bar, but in a cloud”. Even if folks are not there, they want to be.

You can read the article by Jeff Lee of the Vancouver Sun  here. Jeff sums up Bob’s 2016 speech in five main points.

  1. Vancouver is not affordable.  For cheap houses, 26 sold under $750,000 last year. This year, 26 homes sold for under one million.  On the west side only THREE houses sold under 1.7 million.

2. Affordable housing is in the suburbs, not Vancouver.

3. Neighbourhood Groups in Vancouver involved in the planing process are male and                 old and set in their ways, and need diversity to embrace future generations.

4.  A speculation tax aimed at buyers who flip houses would assist the entry-level part               of the market.

5. There is no market and there is no supply of houses, so even with nearly 200 billion              dollars held in properties by people over 55, they can’t give it to their kids to buy                    homes.

Bob Rennie stated that this would be the last time he would be speaking to the Urban Development Institute. He has been a tremendous thinker and doer in real estate in Vancouver, and passionate about doing the right thing. I will miss him.

 

 

 

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  1. He did not mention that this market is good for realtors and developers ?

    Did he mention foreign money ? Did he mention the word “Chinese” or is this racist these days ?

    Did he propose solutions ?

  2. Related story in Vancouver Sun: http://vancouversun.com/storyline/brace-for-more-housing-shortages-says-bob-rennie

    As well as suggested tighter enforcement of existing tax laws:

    “It’s time to end the “honour system” involving B.C. property purchases. Immigration and tax specialists say Metro Vancouver’s soaring house prices are being fuelled in part by people not telling the truth when they buy and sell houses. A side-effect is they are cheating B.C. and Canada of billions of dollars in tax revenue. Experts […]”

    http://vancouversun.com/storyline/douglas-todd-its-time-to-end-honour-system-in-b-c-property-purchases

  3. Jordan Bateman, leader of the No campaign in the transit referendum, is arguing that taxes are a significant contributor to poor housing affordability. From News 1130:

    “Buying a home in Vancouver would be more attainable if there weren’t so many different taxes on new properties. ‘What we discovered was that there’s 107 different taxes at least on new housing in the City of Vancouver. This contributes to about $109,000 of tax on a $400,000 condo. That’s actually a tax rate of about 37 per cent,’ says the CTF’s Jordan Bateman.”

    It’s easy to poke holes in this: how will the infrastructure to support those condos be paid for? But I think the more important matter is who commissioned the CTF to do the research. It was Bob Rennie, who is quoted in the Vancouver Sun article: “Any density solution in isolation of a transit solution won’t solve our problem.”

    No voters expressed their distrust of the elites imposing policy on them. The impression this gives is not good.

    http://www.news1130.com/2016/06/03/taxes-home-real-estate-vancouver/

    1. Perhaps the CTF, it’s employees, consultants, sponsors and supporters should be encouraged to go 100% free of paying all taxes (and receiving tax breaks) and instead pay for private services and amenities out of their own pockets, with the results independently logged and reported by PWHC or a similar professional accounting firm.

      Any bets out there on how much the CTF and its apologists would flagellate, duck and weave while trying to justify keeping some tax breaks, or admitting there really are measureable benefits to paying taxes?

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  5. While I agree with a lot of what Rennie says, it must be remembered that he has a vested interest in promoting more condos in Vancouver. The more condos built, the more money he makes.

    I do agree that if the regions is going to thrive, we need more and better public transportation.

    1. Isn’t Rennie’s job to sell, based on current rules. He is not making the rules. He is merely monetizing them for his benefit. Is this not what any competent realtor is – or should be – doing ?

      Personally I would prefer that locals ALWAYS get an advantage.

      We also need to enforce existing tax laws.

      Specifically, that means

      a) no presales allowed in foreign country, sales abroad starts one month after launch in Canada

      b) a minimum 10%, ideally 25% land transfer tax on single family house, and half that on new condos

      c) registration of all buyers and sellers with SIN number and cross referencing with CRA on all sales

      d) triple the property taxes for non-residents

      Canada, BC, Toronto or Vancouver are a brand, like BMW, Apple or Rolex. Brands get monetized, i.e. they charge a higher price. We fail to do that BIG TIME in Canada.

  6. Bob Rennie is always right. You can hate his message, but he’s got a 100% accuracy rating. That said, he’s also got the power, money, and control of both city and provincial governments to make his predictions his will.

    He’s essentially saying to locals (and planners): Cry me a river. I’m selling Vancouver off to foreigners. It was nice when I sold condos to you guys, but I’ve since found other people with way more money. Everyone clear out to the suburbs and give me more land to sell off. Your boomer parents are the last generation. Tell them to hurry up and cash out — I have clients waiting. It’s over. I won.

    So, for all the planning talk on this blog about sustainable Vancouver neighbourhoods of two parent families walking to work, the Man himself said all the locals will sprawl out to the burbs. And, he’s always right. Not surprised his party is closing Vancouver schools and replacing the tunnel with more capacity. We should shift the focus of this site away from planning neighbourhoods like Grandview-Woodlands and toward planning neighbourhoods in Port Moody, PoCo, Surrey.

    1. B. Rennie has not publicly addressed the B.C. real industry itself and improvements for self-policing (if that’s what it is now.) Not sure why on earth the burden needs to fall just on certain buyers who might “speculate”. There is a middle person: the real estate agent for home seller/buyer.

    2. We should shift the focus of this site away from planning for Grandview Woodlands and toward planning fro neighbourhoods in PoMo, PoCo and Surrey.

      I can go along with that. There’s much work to be done and the world isn’t just a grey area beyond Boundary Road.

      BTW, this Boomer doesn’t plan on selling his home. Ever. It’s a home with our blood, sweat and tears embedded in the walls, a family & social network and services / amenities nearby. The value is just a number on a piece of paper. We can retrofit the ground level for wheelchairs if necessary. The daily barrage of real estate junk mail is never looked at, with the exception of their handy little writing pads of which we now have a huge oversupply. They are desperate for folks like us to cash in. It is to laugh.

      1. So in other words you don’t practice what you preach. No stacked townhouse or condo for you, they’ll pry your SFH from your cold dead hands.

        1. Our lot is very tiny. As you imply you actually pay attention, it’s interesting that you overlooked the repeated promotion of subdividing standard lots. If all lots in RS zones were like ours, the number of houses there would go up by 250% to over 100,000. And yes, subdividing into attached SF row houses would be even better at 350%. Beyond that it’s multi-family.

        2. Houses are not commodities to everyone. They are homes,. They are the beating heart of neighbourhoods and the geographical DNA of families.

        3. In that we in complete agreement. There is a sense of place and community in a pre-war SFH neighbourhood that does not transfer to multifamily housing types. However it seems the Bob Rennie’s of the world are happy to consign much of the populace to that arrangement.

        4. I would say, though, that some apartment buildings (especially older ones filled with architectural character) are admired and loved by the residents, and will outcompete blander buildings in garnering a sense of community.

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