West-Side Realtor: 90% foreign buyers last year now 10% of market

Sky-high housing prices in Vancouver’s west side short-lived

“Banks are now requiring borrowers to disclose incomes and assets before mortgages are approved, as of the last six weeks,” said west-side realtor Marty Pospischil, who specializes in selling single-family homes owned by long-term residents. Last year, he says 90 per cent of his 100 house sales were to “offshore buyers” – people not living here yet, who flew in to buy. This year, it’s less than a tenth of that. “We’re now seeing a 50-per-cent collapse rate in deals, when it’s usually more like 5 per cent,” he said.

There is just so much win in this paragraph. It's all subprime and off-shore sales until it isn't. Really, it had to be. You can't sustain a market at prices that require 100% of average income. Reality, meet the west side.