Wanted to give you an update on the current situation in the Vancouver rental market. So far monthly rates on unfurnished 1 bedroom units are holding firm. However furnished rental rates are down 10%. I just placed a new tenant in one of my Mt Pleasant units for June 1. Call and viewing interest was down by over 50% from the last time I was looking for a tenant. This was to be expected since the city is still in a state of emergency and many businesses are still closed. I would expect the activity level in the rental market to slowly get back to more normal levels as we move into Summer.

Wanted to give you some frontline stories on a couple of recent solds including an extremely well bought unit that was sold during the peak COVID-19 lockdown in mid April. Now that we’re heading into June and the fear levels around COVID-19 are starting to slow, not too sure if we’ll see undersold units like this again, but you never know.

It's Saturday and hopefully you guys are getting outside and trying to enjoy some of the warmer Spring weather. In this blog I'm going to talk about what I have been up to the past 7 weeks under the COVID-19 lockdown. For the most part I've been trying to use my time productively. Reading lots of books, exercising, getting a bit of extra sleep and relaxation and of course having a bit of fun watching movies and some TV series. Would love to get some comments from my viewers on what you have been doing with your time

While we're still in a state of lockdown in BC, the Vancouver Real Estate market is slowly starting to come back to life. 2 weeks ago I started putting the listings I cancelled back on the market. So far, interest and activity has been quite good as buyers are starting to slowly get back into the market. Much too early to predict if COVD-19 will have any lasting impact on Vancouver prices. Stay tuned for further updates later this Summer.

It continues to be extremely difficult to get anything built in this city. Many Developers are getting frustrated with the long timelines and bureaucracy at Vancouver City Hall. I’m under the belief that with our current land costs developers should be building much higher in the downtown core (50-75 stories) yet the city continues to allow low and mid-rise developments only. This lack of density is one of the main contributors to our high prices.

In this blog I’m going to do a follow up on the mortgage stress test video I did last month and some of the comments I received. More on why we're never going to save some people from themselves and why financial success comes down to one person.

I’m a strong believer that basic financial literacy should be taught starting in grade school. How to save for retirement, how to purchase a home, owning vs renting, how mortgages and leverage work, interest rates and amortization, taxes, capital gains, equity investing, the power of dividends, and passive income, the principal residence exemption and how TFSA’s and RRSP’s work. Unfortunately very little of this is taught in school even though I consider it to be every bit as important as reading and writing. You're seeing this play out now with our current COVID-19 lockdown and how many people are struggling financially after missing only a few paycheques.

I have been posting several articles lately on my Twitter account @owenbigland.com regarding the current state of the financial markets and how the Federal Government is going to be pumping $150 to $300 Billion of liquidity into the Canadian housing market by buying mortgages from the major Canadian banks in exchange for cash. I also discuss a recent article by hedge fund manager Ray Dalio who thinks holding high amounts of cash outside of emergency funds may not be the best option in this current environment.

This one is a bit long but hey, it’s Saturday. I'm going to cover a number of topics including some feedback I received on that Bloomberg article that the day of reckoning in coming in Vancouver Real Estate. Will also talk about the best month the S&P 500 and DOW has seen in over two decades, how fortunes are being made here, and why the rich just keep getting richer!

The Vancouver Real estate market continues to be in a holding pattern with sales and activity levels still down about 80%. Real estate is considered an essential service but Open Houses are still not allowed and there are a number of restrictions on how Realtors are permitted to show properties. There have also been a number of changes to the Tenancy Laws in BC. The main one being that a tenant is no longer required to vacate the property with 2 clear months notice. This makes trying to sell a tenanted property a very difficult task and can also expose the seller to legal risk when trying to show the property.