1908

Speaking of urban developments, I came across this visualization tool for city planning. It can visualize many aspects of the city, including the age of the buildings. By selecting the buildings built between 1901 and 1908, I could determine the oldest still standing house in my neighbourhood. And here it is, in all its glory:

I must say that 112 46th Avenue East is quite a beauty. It was built in 1908. And I think it qualifies as a Vancouver Craftsman home.

At first glance, it seems to be in decent shape. Will it stand for another century? Hard to say with this wet climate, and wooden construction. At least according to the database, it is a heritage site. So it will not see an excavator tear it down any time soon, fortunately.

Apparently, in 1912, Murdock McIntyre raised the house and added a basement.

Urban Renewal

There is some overdue renewal going on in Punjabi Market, Vancouver. For many years now, a substantial number of store fronts have been empty. I take it because low density neighbourhoods with single-family homes can't sustain too much commerce. So it's good that they replaced the stores with a complex of apartments and stores.

They dug up a cool looking boulder, and lying on top of it, what seems to be a tree trunk. I wonder what age would come up if they were to date it by its tree rings. I've heard that there used to be a river flowing through this area, so maybe that's how the tree got down deep in the ground. Peculiar that it is only one.

Just across the street from here (across 49th ave) there is a lot that has been empty for a decade or more. It used to be a gas station, but contaminated soil caused it to be unsuited for development.

It just occurred to me what a fantastic lawn ornament that boulder would be. Maybe I should offer to take it, surely it's cheapest for the developer to move that boulder just a 100 meters or so, as opposed to some off-site dump. But I shudder at the thought of dealing with the city if the bureaucrats ever deem the boulder to be illegal. What happened to my land, my rules? Oh wait, it's not my land, Queen Elizabeth owns it.

Real Estate pricing is inherently unstable.

Real Estate in Canada has been defying common sense for quite a while now. Especially in Vancouver and Toronto the prices have gone ballistic. I think this is because Real Estate plays more and more the role of investment as opposed to the utilitarian role of shelter.

Most consumption in our economy has nicely predictable pricing, as it follows supply and demand. Higher prices will lower demand, causing lower prices. This means, it is self-regulating.

When it comes to investments, however, lower prices often repel investors, instead of attracting them. Most investors will want to ride a trend. And if the trend is down, they will jump ship. If the trend is up, they are tempted to invest more of their money in it.

When viewed as an investment, or even a simple nest-egg for retirement, Real Estate pricing is doomed to a vicious cycle. So that means that the housing market is likely to be in a boom or in a bust. And it will be relatively hard to stay in a steady-state equilibrium. Because as soon as the price swings one way, investor behaviour is going to reinforce the trend.

How can these cycles be broken? Well, for that to happen, Canadian home owners need to take a serious look at the intrinsic value of their home, instead of the speculative value. Most people do not have a good feel for intrinsic value. But it can easily be calculated based on market rents.

For a stock portfolio it is not unreasonable to expect a 6.25% yield on your investment per year. If a house is viewed as an investment, we could compare its yield to this. Ignoring property tax and maintenance for a moment: if the price is 16 times the yearly rent, it would yield the same 6.25%. So to determine the intrinsic value of your home, just multiply the market's monthly rent by 12x16 (192.) If you can rent out the apartment for $1000 per month, intrinsically, the apartment is worth $192,000. Depending on the city, or even neighbourhood, the actual market price of the apartment may be much different from this. In the United States, the extremes are San Francisco and Detroit.