Its time to wake up!

[uniped27]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

[Jflem1983]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

Just open up new areas for development. The price is artificially high. Jacked up by there only being a few places to build. Lots of land out there. Just need to open it up

[Even Steven]

That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period.

Is this April's Fools day joke?

[AlienSoldier]

Housing is not a right. Your kids aren't obligated by anyone to be able to purchase a house. If they are successful enough or sacrifice enough and own, that's good for them. That is how capitalism works.

Also, stat's after stat's have shown that foreign ownership is below 10% and concentrated mainly in condo's as they are easier to maintain and rent out. This is a case of low interest rates, relaxed laws during the Harper days and simply greed due to people wanting to make more money.

[Hassel99]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

What a foolish rant by a naive inexperienced individual.
Best of luck on your journey.

[spooker]

Just open up new areas for development. The price is artificially high. Jacked up by there only being a few places to build. Lots of land out there. Just need to open it up

Sure, then jack up the property taxes to support the new roads and infrastructure needed to get out there ... love the sprawl, increases the distance between me and nature, and we all know how dirty nature is, with all those animals and decaying leaves ... and hey, while you're building out there let's build up those sitting muscles since we'll be in the car so much more of the time ...

We need to find a sustainable solution ... not the market-driven lottery we have now ...

[Even Steven]

Nobody really needs to own a house. You can rent whatever you want according to your needs. You can rent a small condo, you can rent a house, you can rent a penthouse, no need to buy any of those. Buying a house is not a human right, it's only for those who can afford it AND desire it.

[Verum]

Just open up new areas for development. The price is artificially high. Jacked up by there only being a few places to build. Lots of land out there. Just need to open it up

Sure, then jack up the property taxes to support the new roads and infrastructure needed to get out there ... love the sprawl, increases the distance between me and nature, and we all know how dirty nature is, with all those animals and decaying leaves ... and hey, while you're building out there let's build up those sitting muscles since we'll be in the car so much more of the time ...

We need to find a sustainable solution ... not the market-driven lottery we have now ...

I think we can have a market driven solution, but it is up to our representatives to direct development in such a way that the market favours sustainable development, which in my mind is high-density development.

[Bsuds]

That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

Apparently they have no problem living in their parents house until they inherit said house.

If my kid wants my house he better be prepared to change my depends and spoon feed me baby food.

And to all the lazy *bleep* out there who didn't make the right choices and complete higher education and get a good job then...

[johnny24]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

What a foolish rant by a naive inexperienced individual.
Best of luck on your journey.

That's a bit harsh considering the government has been trying to get housing prices under control for years. New rules were implemented the other day to make it tougher to qualify for mortgages.

[youjustcomplain]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

It's a free market. Supply and demand driven by us. That's right; we set the price. The government steps in and tweaks controls to the market which affects housing prices, but they don't set the price. Tweaks such as increasing interest rates do lower the price of houses as suddenly, fewer people can afford the new rates, so demand goes down, and so do prices. If it's lower house prices you want, then you might be advocating for higher interest rates. Most of us home owners don't really want high rates. It lowers the value of our home and increases the amount we have to pay to own it.

You sound bitter that housing costs what it does. You're posting on Castanet which suggests you likely live in the Okanagan. Yes, prices here are high, but that is due to demand, not government. People want to live here, there are jobs here, universities here. All sorts of reasons to drive the demand. One way to reduce the demand is to increase the supply. A poster rightly already suggested that. And NO, it would not require more taxes to pay for the infrastructure. The property tax revenues from the houses attached to those roads would far exceed the maintenance costs of said roads, assuming the new supply was medium to high density housing or commercially zoned properties.

[Jflem1983]

Say whatever u want. Its all bs. Speculation and taxes. Look across the line at Omak. Go tell them what it costs to build a home here. They will be floored .

No there is more going on.
Government has a lot to do with the problem.
Keep hearing about all these who want to live here.
Well count me out. I love Kelowna but its become a mini Vancouver. Its no longer a liveable city and i will be moving on before too many more years go on.
It will be nice if property values stay high until after I sell.

[vegas1500]

The real estate pricing in this province is ridiculous. The higher the price goes, the more everyone makes but you. You don't need the high profit on your house because all you do is pay it out to next house you buy. The only winners here are the real estate company and agent. Not to mention the government with all of their taxes and transfer taxes. The big loser is you and your children who will never be able to afford to own a home. We have a large group of people that sit in a chamber and have no control or balls to make the right decision. That decision is common sense! You need to lower the price of housing. How, can you do this? Very simple, you make it a change to the law. There is no more increase in the price of housing and you lower the price of housing by 5% per year over a 10 year period. Everybody will then be able to afford to purchase a house in the near future. You will also curb the desire to have foreign investors come in a purchase your homes. They won't buy in a market that has a decreasing market. That is the only way to help our children have a hope of owning their own home in the near future.

No thanks...we’re not a communist country.....

[normaM]

Groceries and utilites could be lower too, and upshot - food and clean drinking water are basic needs. If young ppl want to own a house they could start off someplace not as costly as K town.
Not many seem to want to start at the bottom and work up.
I'd like Rock House valued at over 10 million so I really hope this idea floats and I can buy it for $800,000.
Fingers crossed

[youjustcomplain]

Say whatever u want. Its all bs. Speculation and taxes. Look across the line at Omak. Go tell them what it costs to build a home here. They will be floored .

No there is more going on.
Government has a lot to do with the problem.
Keep hearing about all these who want to live here.
Well count me out. I love Kelowna but its become a mini Vancouver. Its no longer a liveable city and i will be moving on before too many more years go on.
It will be nice if property values stay high until after I sell.

How so? You said it yourself, you hope the values stay high until after you sell. That tells me, you're just like every other home owner in that you are going to sell your house for as much as you can get for it. Why should you accept less? You shouldn't.
That is why housing prices are high. We're capitalists. It's not speculation or tax. It's simply owners selling for as much as they can.

If I put my house up for 2 million bucks tomorrow, I won't get a single hit. not one. If I put it up for $100,000 I'll have a huge bidding war on my hands. Why should I bother doing either? I know what I can get for it by looking at comparables in the area, then price my accordingly. THAT is why my house is worth what it's worth.

Anything is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it. Simple as that.