Sunshine Coast, BC: Is today a good time to buy?

[Skook]

As an aside, I did not interpret that particular paragraph in Pinto's post as an answer to the question "Is it better to rent or buy?". My interpretation was - is the particular house you're interested in buying priced at the right level when it comes to this issue of the "home's gross yield...before ownership costs" and that this in turn "will gauge the sustainability of home prices at a neighbourhood level."

Would that be the same as asking "Is it better to rent or buy?" Perhaps, I am misunderstanding what Pinto is implying here. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

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Okay, the wheels are turning now - I think.

Let's look at Wakefield Beach, again. So, a townhouse recently sold at $435,000. Now, if we take that annual rent the owner in the example above managed to get, can we determine if the price paid by this new buyer for his unit is sustainable within the Wakefield "neighbourhood" (these townhomes are essentially all the same). In other words, if they had to sell suddenly within a year or so could he/she expect to recoup what they paid. Here's the calculation:

$1700 X 12 = $20,400 divided by $435,000 = 0.047 X 100 = 4.7%

So, even at $435,000 according to Pinto, that townhouse just sold was overpriced. Wow, this is really interesting.

Am I understanding this correctly? Any thoughts?