A report from CTV Vancouver in Canada. "Some Vancouver detached homes have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars below asking, and there's now proof the trend is in effect beyond the city's borders as well. Prices appear to be dipping in other parts of the Metro area and Fraser Valley too, according to realtor Steve Saretsky. Saretsky called the dip in prices a 'kickback,' following a spike in list prices that left many priced out of Vancouver, Richmond and the North Shore. 'It's a totally different market. It's crazy what can happen at overnight,' Saretsky told CTV Vancouver. 'We've gone from crazy bidding wars – basically anything would sell – and now it's turning into a full-on buyers' market.'"

"Saretsky said prices are especially low east of the city: 'We're seeing prices down roughly 15 per cent in most areas of the Fraser Valley, and it's just getting started.'"

"In analyzing sales data available to realtors, he says South and North Surrey appear to be the 'hardest hit' by the price reductions, but that Langley is starting to be affected as well with the average sell price down 19 per cent in November compared to June. CTV News found a number of listings outside Vancouver hinting at desperations. A listing in Langley described 'motivated sellers' willing to 'look at all offers.'"

From News 1130. "Secretive methods such as shell companies were used to buy nearly half of Vancouver’s most expensive properties, according to a new report from Transparency International. If you don’t know who owns a property, that can mean it’s easier for people to launder money or evade taxes, according to NDP housing critic David Eby, who supplied the documents used by the transparency watchdog for this report."

"The documents show that 46 out of the priciest 100 Vancouver properties were bought under this shroud. 'If we don’t know where the money’s coming from, we don’t know who brought it in, because it’s held by a company rather than the individual who actually owns it, we’re unable to enforce money laundering rules,' says Eby."

"On the plus side, there are jurisdictions with more loose laws in this regard. The report notes setting up an untraceable company is easier in Kenya."

The Vancouver Sun. "The head of the CMHC recently came from the East to Vancouver to lecture residents about creating an 'us against them' attitude to foreign buyers, reports Postmedia’s Peter O’Neil. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. President Evan Siddall claimed studies by his federal government corporation show that only 2.2 per cent of condos in Metro Vancouver are owned by off-shore buyers in 2016, and 2.3 per cent in Toronto."

"As the top bureaucrat chastized Vancouver city council and the region’s residents, there was a great deal, however, that Siddall was not telling his audience at the Vancouver Board of Trade. Was he trying to distract us from years of inaction by the CMHC on Metro Vancouver’s housing crisis?"

"He sounded much like the Vancouver developers who began in the 1990s to silence community groups by suggesting they’re xenophobic. Readers have been emailing The Sun to say how upset they are by Siddall’s moralistic insinuations. It looks as if we will have to add the CMHC to the long list of government departments that have failed the citizens of Metro Vancouver (and Toronto): The Canada Revenue Agency, Immigration Canada, Fintrac and the B.C. premier and her ministers responsible for housing. Siddall’s remarks reveal just how terribly out of touch Ottawa is with the crisis in Metro Vancouver."

The Meridian Booster. "More than one-quarter of rental units in the Border City are vacant according to a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. According to the report, the cooling economic climate which has washed over the energy market for the past number of years is now starting to show signs of leakage into other sectors of the economy, as vacancy numbers are growing in both provinces."

"The vacancy rate for Lloydminster is resting around 25.4 per cent, up from 13.6 per cent in 2015, which is one of the highest numbers Lloydminster Economic Development CEO Ward Read has seen in around nine years. 'Generally, we have had quite a low apartment vacancy and it shows the depth of the impact of the energy price and now it is flowing through to that sector of our economy,' Read said."

"Read also explained how the unfortunate timing which resulted from an increase in rental demand and a bump in supply, came just as we saw energy prices start to sink. 'About two years back, there were two large complexes on the East and the West end of our city which opened up about 150 units in each complex,' he said. 'It is an unfortunate alignment of more supply and less demand happening, and those numbers have really kicked those numbers up higher than we have seen before,' Read added."