Taking refuge in Montreal

Well, I'm fed up with the Vancouver RE madness, and decided to hide in Montreal for a couple years for this bubble to blow up. Rents in Vancouver are under serious inflation pressure, and I expect that pressure to continue for the next couple years, until the current batch of constructions finally come online. Currently the free market is having a hiccup, as the medium term feedback mechanism of construction is actually fueling the bubble, due to delayed completions and raising construction wages. So for now, I'm in Montreal.

One can easily tell that RE is not exactly booming simply by the lack of construction cranes and Realtor ads. One thing that's plentiful is for rent signs, especially for apartments. In Van, multi-unit rental vacancies are very low, and the bulk of rental is expensive condos or basement of Vancouver Specials. In Montreal I see tons of ads for student apartments in Downtown area. In Vancouver it's usually "Professionals only". The relative strength of housing market is obvious.

One drawback of a non-bubble housing market seem to be, if something burns down, it doesn't get rebuilt. I guess the price of property is not high enough to afford construction labour and supplies in Canada. Oh well, I can live with that.

For now, living close to downtown and in a walk-up apartment is not bad for me. My rent here would get me a East Van basement, and likely moldy. So no complain so far. Let's see how I like the winter before I make any conclusions, though.

Hey, my first post!

Having been reading Vancouver housing bubble blogs such as VHB and VanCondo for the past year, I've decided to start my own. Man, life is not the same without VHB. Given the sign of bear capitulation in the recent months, I can see this mess coming to an end soon. Unfortunately, I'm not going to put my life on hold to wait out this housing mess, just for the previlege of living in the "most livable city on North America". Therefore, I'm leaving for Montreal at the end of year. The reason I start this particular blog is my observation that some people around me, especially friends and relatives, seem to think the only place to live is GVRD, for the rest of my life. To see if that's true, I'm leaving Vancouver to see what other cities has to offer, in both wage, lifestyle, and housing. To me, the Stanley Park doesn't mean much if I live most of my in a basement room in Burnaby, and pay a big portion of my income for it.

Besides going to Montreal later this year, I'll hopefully travel to the Okanagan region to see what they have to offer. Again, mild climate, diverse culture, and Olympics are not the only factors I'm considering. Income, housing cost, and overall quality of life will be my priority. Hopefully this blog will give people considering leaving GVRD a place to express their opinions and exchange some information.