Sales of land for housing plunges
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Greed at all levels – from the street to City Hall – is to blame for a sharp drop in sales of residential land in Metro Vancouver, according to real estate consultant and developer Michael Geller.
“We all got too greedy,” said the president of Vancouver-based Geller Group.
RealNet, a Toronto-based data-tracking firm, reported that sales of land suitable for multi-family properties plunged 30 per cent in Metro Vancouver during the first half of this year, compared with the same period a year earlier. The trend is also seen in Toronto and Calgary, where sales of residential land dropped 51 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively.
RealNet research manager Richard Vilner said the decline d mirrors a slowdown in condominium sales, suggesting that “land prices may have peaked in Canada’s three biggest housing markets.”
Some condo developers are pulling back because of an overhang of unsold inventory and soaring municipal fees., Geller suggests.
“I am not surprised that land sales have slowed down,” he said.
from Western Investor September 2013