Canada Real Estate Roundup - 01/28/10 05:45 PM
The average Canadian real estate price in December 2009 saw the big cities of  Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal all  higher than a year ago. As well, all Provincial average prices were higher than December 2008, except for Prince Edward Island. Fredricton was the only exception to the rule, being a tad less than a year ago.
The following is a release by CREA, you can hold your mouse over a specific city or province and view the current average price and the average price one year ago.  Read the latest summary.
Bank of Canada is committed to holding rates til last half of … (1 comments)

New Vancouver Condos - 01/28/10 05:42 PM
Looking for a new condo to purchase? Here are a few suggestions for you
1) Lumen at Granville Island. Completed and ready to move in. Lowrise concrete building. Starting at $339,000. A limited selection (36) of studios, l bedrooms, l & dens and 2 bedrooms remain.  Grand Opening January 30th from 12 noon
2) Pinnacle Living on Broadway. (Kits) Presale. lowrise concrete building. Pre-register now available
3) Ginger @Main & E. Georgia (Chinatown) Ready to move in. Most condos are under $400,000
4) Kore (Kits). Now pre-selling for completion April 2010. Lowrise concrete. Starting at $348,000
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… (0 comments)

Five Things Buyers should know about Stigmatized Properties - 01/26/10 09:35 PM
from REBGV 
When selecting a property to buy, most often the physical appearance of a property and location will be obvious. However, consumers may have other areas of concern that would cause them to avoid a property, such as stigmatized properties.
The term is sometimes applied to a property that has had some circumstance occur in or near it, but which does not specifically affect the appearance or function of the property itself.
Examples in a residential context might include - a) a sexual offender is reported to live in the neighbourhood b) a former resident was suspected of being an … (3 comments)

Bank of Canada sees no Housing Bubble Yet - 01/26/10 09:32 PM
OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada Monday dismissed talk of a housing bubble in Canada as "premature," warning that calls for higher interest rates now in an effort to temper real-estate markets would be akin to "dousing" the economic recovery with cold water.It delivered this message through a speech in Edmonton, and marked the first time the central bank tried to address directly myriad concerns that the country's real-estate market is appreciating too quickly, too soon."Recent house price increases do not appear to be out of line with the underlying supply-demand fundamentals," David Wolf, an advisor to the governor, Mark Carney, … (0 comments)

2009 Best Year for Vancouver Luxury Real Estate - 01/26/10 09:29 PM
Surprisingly 2009 has been the best on record for luxury sales of homes and condos, with a total of 143 sales over $3 million. Of those, 24 were condos and the remainder houses. Five condos sold over $5 Million, one in Shangri-la and the remainder on the Coal Harbour waterfront. The highest sale price was in The Shaw Tower at $6,500,000  ($1625psf) but Three Harbour Green fetched the highest $psf at over $2000psf for the n.e. corner.
Properties  sold over $3 million - 2005 had 35 sales. 2006 had 83. 2007 had 100. 2008 had 93 and this year has had 126 … (0 comments)

Vancouver downtown building height rejected by city council - 01/26/10 09:24 PM
Today Vancouver's City Council rejected the staff report which proposed four sites in Downtown Vancouver be redeveloped into condo buildings over 40 storeys.
Instead they will allow two fifteen storey buildings in the Victory Square neighbourhood and some others in Chinatown South.
view my recent post on the topic
As our city grows the demand for accommodation Downtown will grow. City Council passed a moratorium on all but one third of the Downtown Peninsula (east to cambie street bridge) last year. The one third that will be permitted to have new condo projects must be mixed use.  Long term effect on … (1 comments)

Canada Immigration and Tax - 01/26/10 09:22 PM
Currently on the table at City Hall are two staff reports pertaining to 1) the future of the city's 27 view corridors and whether they should be retained. The second pertains to the Historic Area Height Review (Gastown, Victory square, Chinatown and Main/Hastings).
Brent Toderian, Chief City Planner, reports that in recent years many buildings have been permitted to intrude into the view corridor space, breaking the promise of Eco-Density and allowing developers to have exceptions.
In a recent survey 53% of the public told the city they'd accept a higher building policy and City Staff has proposed 4 possible buildings … (0 comments)

GREATER VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE PRICES INCREASE 16% IN 2009 - 01/25/10 12:36 PM
From REBGV 
After beginning the year at near record low sales levels, buyers' confidence in the Greater Vancouver housing market quickly returned, allowing for significant and sustained increases in the number of residential property sales for much of 2009.The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total unit sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2009 reached 35,669, a 44.8 per cent increase from the 24,626 unit sales recorded in 2008, but a 6.3 per cent decline from the 38,050 residential sales in 2007. The number of homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in … (0 comments)

VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS FOR FALSE CREEK NORTH - 01/25/10 12:32 PM
Vancouver real estate analysis for False Creek North bucked the trend and saw listings up from 111 to 133, the first month in 2009 that listings increased.   Sales down from 36 to 17.  Days on the market down from 42 to 34. The average selling price and $psf were both due to more sales at the bottom end. The average supply of condos in this waterfront n'hood more than doubled to 7.8 months.
Listings -  133  four listed under $400,000 and 13 listings between $400,000 & $500,000. 24 listed between $500,000 and $700,000. 41 listed between $700,000 and $1 million.  36 listed between  $1 & $2 million (up from 26 last month) and 15 listed over $2 million. 13 condos did not sell (up from 7 last month) … (0 comments)

VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS FOR DOWNTOWN - 01/25/10 12:30 PM
Vancouver's Downtown condo market in December saw listings increase 8% over November  and equal to a year ago. Sales dropped 60% and were the lowest since February 2009. The largest increase in listings was under $500,000. The supply is the highest since Feb'09.  The market under $400,000 selling the best and no sales over $850,000. Average days on the market remained constant at 26, as did the average $psf at $623.   Condos that  "expired" and didn't sell increased to 76, from 44 in Nov and 33 in October and 78 in Jan'09.  List price to sales price ratio dropped from 98% to 97%, the first time in 2009 that it dropped.  Vancouver's downtown market … (0 comments)

City of Vancouver Reviewing Downtown Building Heights - 01/25/10 12:27 PM
Currently on the table at City Hall are two staff reports pertaining to 1) the future of the city's 27 view corridors and whether they should be retained. The second pertains to the Historic Area Height Review (Gastown, Victory square, Chinatown and Main/Hastings).
Brent Toderian, Chief City Planner, reports that in recent years many buildings have been permitted to intrude into the view corridor space, breaking the promise of Eco-Density and allowing developers to have exceptions.
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… (0 comments)

vancouver real estate analysis for olympic village - 01/22/10 03:27 PM
Less than 26 days to go! Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics commence on February 12, 2010. View Events
The Olympic Village is Vancouver's last waterfront community.  Vancouver real estate statistics for False Creek South (Olympic Village) saw December sales the best for the year and listings flat. Average sold price $419,000 and list price to sales price ratio 99%.
In her report to council in October, city manager Penny Ballem confirmed that 420 units of the 1,100 total units on the site (including affordable housing) have been "inspected, approved and locked down by VANOC".  MilleniumWater will be pre-selling the remainder in May
We can only track … (0 comments)

VANCOUVER'S CONDO KING BOB RENNIE'S TAKE ON VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE IN 2010 - 01/22/10 03:25 PM
Vancouver is going to face a shortfall of apartment units following its hosting of next month's Winter Olympics Games, said the realtor known as the city's "CondoKing," responding to the local realty company Royal LePage's recent forecast that property in western Canada's largest city would rise 7.2 percent this year.
Bob Rennie, principle of Rennie Marketing Systems, Canada and USA, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that Vancouver properties would conservatively rise 4 to 4.5 percent in 2010, which would present an ideal opportunity for investors.
The high-profile designer and marketer of condominium developments said with the city going … (0 comments)

vancouver city meter rates set to rise - 01/22/10 03:23 PM
From Glen Korstrom , BIV Vancouver’s projected $61M budget shortfall will cost drivers more money every time they we plug the city meters. Vancouver’s Mayor supports proposals in a report presented to council December 1st that include hiking the pricest downtown parking rate to $6 per hour from $5 per hour. That would place Vancouver among the highest priced cicties in North America for street parking. The report also suggests extending hours covered by parking meters to 10pm from the current 8pm, and be in effect from 9am.
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what's ahead for metro vancouver's real estate? - 01/22/10 03:21 PM
by James Schouw BIV, December 14, 2009.  James Schouw is the owner of James Schouw and Associates Inc. and is a former BIV Forty under 40 award winner
A year ago Vancouver was hit by the global economic and credit tsunamis and the 7 year real estate boom was declared dead. Sales were sluggish and may expected recovery to be slow and painful.
REBGV reports that sales year over year to October 2009 increased 171.6%, representing 171.6% of October 2008's tally.
What happened and what's next?
 To answer, it's important to recognize some often misunderstood dynamics driving our real estate market.  … (0 comments)

Pacific Palisades Hotel to be converted to Residential - 01/22/10 03:18 PM
Anthem Properties Group who owns the 233 unit Pacific Palisades Hotel on Robson Street is converting the 44 year old property to residential use later this year.
The hotel will be closed at the end of April. The hotel was built as an apartment building and would require a large investment to make it competitive with other new hotels in the neighbourhood - the Shangri-la, the Loden and the Coast (just opening in Coal Harbour and closing the one on Comox Street).
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Vancouver Real Estate Analysis for Kitsilano - 01/03/10 07:47 AM
Listings and sales down.  Kits condo supply at a record low for the year.  Vancouver real estate market analysis for Kitsilano condos for November saw the average sale price dipped to $428,000 as more lower condos sold.  Average $psf for solds $566.  Average Days on the market for sold condos up to 26.  List price to sale price ratio  99%, indicating a seller's market.   October saw 80% of the sales under $500,000.  5 listings didn't sell or were cancelled, same as October and up from 2 in Sept and 6 in August.  Overall a good year, market still in need of listings.
Listings- 65 . 3 listed under $300,000.  9 listed between $300,000 and $400,000,  25 listings between $400,000 and $500,000. 11 listings between $500,000 and $600,000 and 16 listed between  $600,000 & … (4 comments)

Vancouver Real Estate Analysis for West End - 01/03/10 07:43 AM
down in November,  resulting in less than 3 months of inventory.  The days on the market for condos that sold dropped from 47 to 30.   The average selling price dropped to $568,000 but is higher than any November in the last 5 years.   The sales under $500,000 dropped from 75% to 51% and the $700,000 to $1M price range increased by 50%. The list price to sale price ratio is 99% . In February the market under $300,000 was selling the best -currently less than 10% of the sales.  
Listings - 130.  9 listed under $300,000 (including 1 under $200,000). 29 listed between $300,000 and $400,000. 14 listed between $400,000 and $500,000.  45 listed between $500,000 and $1M.  21 listed between $1M … (1 comments)

What you should know about Vancouver property taxes - 01/03/10 07:38 AM
If you own Vancouver real estate, the first half of your property taxes are due at the end of January every year.
You can appeal your assessment but not your taxes. Your assessment will arrive the first week of January and you have til month end to appeal. BC Assessment assesses properties as of the previous July 1st. The market may have changed and may not correlate with the assessed value. When purchasing a property you are liable for all outstanding taxes.  Your Homeowners Grant can be claimed on an annual basis, not accumulated.
Your tax bill includes Regional District tax, … (0 comments)

 

maggie chandler

Vancouver, BC

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