Explore Strange Homes of the Future

 

We’re now a full decade past 2001, but a quick look outside shows that the home of the future as depicted in films never quite caught on. Contenders are still being built, however. It’s just that society's priorities have changed—homes are being designed with an eye toward sustainability and energy efficiency. These concerns are giving architects opportunities to push boundaries, break taboos, and try new things. Some of the designs are bold, some are bizarre, and some seem unlikely to get past the drafting table. However, they all address current challenges and create new rules. What are some notable examples of the new homes of the future? Check out these cool, futuresque homes:

Birds Island

 

Birds Island is a dwelling designed by Graft architects that addresses an age-old quandary—how do you enjoy the great outdoors and sit in your house at the same time? Located in Kuala Lumpur, the home has a silicone glass exterior “skin” that makes this very thing possible. It changes the transparency of the walls, allowing residents to drink in the views in all their splendor, get a canopy of shade, or shut everything out entirely.

Birds Island is also a sustainable dwelling, and its outer skin collects rain water, and harnesses solar energy and wind power. The structure’s placement on a pier is another nod to energy efficiency. It allows the natural cooling of the water underneath and permits energy collection and distribution from nearby lotuses.

 

Airdrop House

 

 

The Airdrop House is so futuristic and forward-thinking that it has yet to get past the artistic rendering stage, so anyone who wants one will have to wait until some distant tomorrow. However, they are being designed to provide emergency shelter to disaster survivors, so hopefully the need for them won’t come up too often.

The home is designed by Andrew Maynard Architects in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The home is intended to be air-dropped into disaster areas and used as a temporary shelter. Its design also permits the growing of plants on its surface, to provide both food and shade.

Dupli Casa

 

Many dwellings have been built with what its creators call a “futuristic design.” However, Dupli Casa, from Germany’s J. Mayer H. Architects, truly lives up to the description. In fact, the website Digsdigs.com covered it in a 2009 article titled, “The Most Futuristic House Design in the World.” Dupli Casa is a three-story dwelling near Ludwigsburg, Germany. On the top floor, bedrooms jut out dramatically from the structure’s core, each with a window strategically angled to provide optimum views of the surrounding area. One such view is of David Chipperfield’s Museum of Modern Literature, which sits across the valley in the town of Marbach am Neckar.

Komb House

 

Karim Rashid is the architect behind the striking-looking Komb House. Rashid was born in Egypt and studied in Canada and Italy, and according to his own website, he has more than 3,000 designs currently in production. Komb House uses state-of-the-art technology to minimize its environmental impact. The water is heated by solar panels, and the structure reuses grey and pluvial water. It’s composed entirely of reusable materials, such as wood and glass, and it can be taken apart and put back together again should the need to do so ever arise.

Shell House

 

If one were flying over Karuizawa, Japan, and saw the roof of the Shell House, it’s possible that one could entirely miss the fact that it’s a house. The dwelling was created by the Japanese architecture firm ARTechnic, and its unusual exterior design resembles nothing so much as a cannoli transforming into a spaceship. Described as “out of this world” on the website Trendir, the structure’s curves and ellipses give it a look like nothing before or since. It has sound design principles behind it, however, and takes advantage of natural light and interior textures, so you can feel at home once you’re actually inside of it.

Copyright: By Daniel Bukszpan , CNBC.com

Cat: Housing

Technorati Tags: House Housing Future Homes Future Houses

CREA revised Report on Resale Housing Forecast 2011-2012

National sales activity is forecast to reach 450,800 units in 2011, up less than one per cent from levels in 2010. Erosion in affordability due to higher prices has prompted a small downward revision to the outlook for sales in 2012.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has revised its forecast for home sales upward for 2011, citing stronger-than-expected sales and prices in the second quarter and ...good momentum entering the second half of the year.

But economists warn Canadians should expect a gradual slowdown in the housing market to begin next year, as sales in Toronto and Vancouver cool and interest rate hikes eventually kick in.
The association also revised its estimate for 2012 sales to fall seven tenths of a percentage point to 447,000 housing units.

“Less favorable economic fundamentals, combined with new mortgage rules in place, are beginning to clip the wings of the Canadian housing market activity,” TD economist Sonya Gulati wrote in a note.

Average home prices are expected to moderate in the second half of the year following an unusually high surge of expensive Vancouver home sales.

Sales in July stayed flat in Toronto and fell slightly in Vancouver, according to CREA, and national housing prices were at their lowest level since January 2011 last month, at $361,181.

“Going forward, a correction is ripe for these cities in order to bring both markets in line with balanced territory. However, we expect such a retreat in prices and sales to be gradual in nature taking place over several quarters, with the brunt occurring in late 2012 into early 2013,” Ms. Gulati wrote.

CREA said Tuesday it expects activity will increase by less than one per cent this year compared with 2010, up slightly from its previous forecast of a one per cent decline in sales. National sales are expected to reach 450,800 homes in 2011, the association said, and average sales prices will be 7.2 per cent higher than the previous year.

“While there had been some talk of potential interest rate increases, that hasn’t happened,” Gary Morse, the association’s president, wrote in a statement. “In fact, rates have actually come down, and are now expected to remain low for the remainder of this year and into 2012. It’s a great opportunity to purchase a property with financing at very favourable rates.”

Cat: Canada Real Estate

Technorati Tags: Real Estate CREA Canada Housing

Canada Real Estate - Housing starts rise in July, CMHC reports

Canada Real Estate - Housing starts rise in July, CMHC reports

OTTAWA — A stronger than expected housing market has helped propel growth in the Canadian economy this year, but economists say recent economic and market tumult could jeopardize momentum in the sector.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday that national housing starts rose to 205,100 units on a seasonally adjusted basis in July, 11.6 per cent higher than the 188,900 reported in the same month last year and up 4.3 per cent from the 196,600 recorded this June.
However, the pickup, driven by strong construction on condos and apartment buildings in urban centres, is likely due to builders catching up to robust demand last year, rather than expectations of coming growth.

Home building activity has been increasing through the first seven months of 2011, but starts are still down 4.6 per cent from a year ago.

During the first half of last year, the market was rebounding from recession and buyers were on a tear, prompting an influx of demand and the need to build more units.

Housing starts tend to lag activity in the resale market, and economists believe the recent strong construction activity is the result of increased demand last year.

But they doubt whether the pace can continue as the prospect of a double dip recession in the U.S. forces them to rethink the prospects for economic growth in Canada.

"While many economic indicators have pointed to much softer growth through the summer, Canadian housing starts is not one of them, still likely responding to a firm rebound in sales activity in the second half of 2010," said Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic.

"Going forward, expect underlying household formation (about 175,000) and current economic concerns to apply some gravitational pull to starts."

Stock markets -- although they rebounded sharply on Tuesday -- have seen severe selloffs in recent days over fears about U.S. and European debt loads and the potential for a double-dip recession south of the border.

The Canadian economy is so closely linked to the U.S. that slower American growth translates into less demand for Canadian goods, and lower employment and income growth in Canada.

Those worries could soon sour the mood of real estate investors who may not want to bet on an improving economy by the time new builds go on the market.

Buyer sentiment is "vulnerable to recent market turmoil," as the large decline on stock markets has a negative effect on consumer wealth and confidence, making them less inclined to make big purchases, said CIBC economist Peter Buchanan.

"That of course can cut both ways, it can make investors fearful of buying real estate, on the other hand it does mean the Bank of Canada won't be tightening quite as early," Buchanan said.

"The other thing is that if people are worried about putting their money into the equity market, hey real estate may not look so bad."

Many observers believe the Bank of Canada may now its overnight rate -- which affects variable mortgage rates tied to bank prime rates -- at the current low one per cent until next spring. Fixed rate mortgages could also fall as bond markets react to government debt issues.

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will likely keep interest rates at record lows near zero through mid-2013. The Fed had previously said only that it would keep it low for "an extended period" and the more explicit time frame was aimed at giving nervous investors a clearer picture of how long they will be able to obtain ultra-cheap credit.

Low mortgage rates are a big incentive for buyers to get into the market, and led to rampant activity last year.

But even with low rates that make the cost of carrying a mortgage cheaper, pent up demand in the housing market could be largely exhausted.

Many buyers rushed into the market during the closing months of 2009 and early 2010, when the Bank of Canada rate was set at an emergency low of 0.25 per cent. Others decided to buy before the implementation of the new HST in Ontario and British Colombia in July 2010, or to beat two rounds of tighter lending rules.

Some observers say it's unlikely Canada's housing market can continue at a strong pace, with prices continuing to rise relative to rent and income levels, even as home prices in the U.S. market have tanked about 30 per cent since the recession.

Home sales began to moderate in January, owing to a combination of high household indebtedness and recently implemented tougher lending rules, which should take some of the heat out of home building activity, said Francis Fong, an economist at TD Economics.

"All said, the current pace of home building activity is well-beyond the fundamental level of household formation and we expect a slow decline over the next 18 months," Fong said.

TD Economics expects starts fall to a monthly average of about 164,000 starts in 2012.
The trend toward much higher construction on multiple-unit dwellings, and a decline in single family starts, could indicate the housing market isn't as strong as it appears at first glance. Single family homes are usually the barometer of growth in household formation and more multiple unit homes could signal more people are looking to rent.

Multiple urban starts were 13 per cent higher at 120,200 units, while urban single starts decreased by 7.8 per cent to 65,000 units.

It was only the fifth time since 1990 that multiple units outpaced single family builds by such a wide gap, the Bank of Montreal's Kavcic said.

For the first seven months of 2011, multiple units starts are up 16.4 per cent year over year while single units are down 22.1 per cent.

"Clearly the trend continues to be multis over singles, and that has created more ample supply conditions for condos in Canada," he said.

"As of June, newly completed and unoccupied multis sat 51 per cent above the 10-year average (mostly due to Vancouver and Calgary, with Toronto close to average), while that of singles was four per cent below."

CMHC overall urban starts were up 36.1 per cent in the Atlantic region, 33 per cent in British Columbia and 1.7 per cent in Ontario. Quebec posted a decrease of 7.8 per cent in July, while urban starts were off 0.3 per cent in the Prairies.

Cat: CHMC Real Estate Report

Technorati Tags: Canada Real Estate CMHC Real Estate Canada

Housing crash lures marijuana growers to U.S.: RCMP

 

Cheaper real estate means higher profits for traffickers

The U.S. housing crash has lured some marijuana growers to move their operations south of the border, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

"Some VOC [Vietnamese Organized Crime] groups have moved their marijuana grow operations to the United States where the lower cost of real estate (in some regions) allows them to operate a more profitable enterprise and where they can also avoid police/customs detection at the border," states the RCMP report.

The report, obtained by The Sun through the Access to Information Act, also argues that the "softening of marijuana laws" in some states has made the U.S. a more attractive destination for growers than it once was.

For more than a decade Canada has been home to a multibillion-dollar marijuana-growing industry, the bulk of whose product has been shipped to the U.S.

B.C., where the largest number of those operations are located, has generally been seen as an attractive place for drug gangs to set up shop because the legal penalties for growing marijuana here are more lenient than in the U.S.

However, the RCMP report suggests the dramatic plunge in U.S. house prices has caused some gangsters to re-evaluate whether B.C. is really the best place to do business.

Since 2007, house prices in the U.S. have dropped by roughly a third nationwide and in some markets, like Las Vegas, by more than half.

During that same period, prices in most Canadian cities have been flat or rising, with particularly large price gains in Metro Vancouver.

Growing operations tend to be located in residential properties so real estate is one of the biggest expenses for growers.

Lt. Richard Wiley of the Washington State Patrol's narcotics division said he's seen an increase in the last few years in Asian crime groups from Canada setting up growing operations in the state.

"There's no doubt that organizations involved in marijuana production in Canada have moved to the United States in large numbers," he said. "There's a significant number of them in the Puget Sound area, but they're also in many other parts of the United States: the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston. They're quite spread out in the United States now."

However, Wiley said he thinks avoiding border patrols, rather than cheap housing, is the main reason for the shift.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Julie Gagnon wrote in an email that while the force is aware of the trend, so far it hasn't caused a major dent in the number of growers in this country.

"As the report indicates, we have only seen 'some' take advantage of the current U.S. situation by moving their operations entirely south of the border," wrote Gagnon, adding other Vietnamese gangs are sharing information on growing marijuana with their counterparts in the U.S.

In recent years, Vietnamese gangs have come to dominate the marijuana trade in B.C., with some experts suggesting the majority of growers in B.C. are now of Vietnamese origin.

The information on marijuana growers was contained in an annual Crime Threat Assessment prepared last year by the RCMP's criminal intelligence branch.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Cat: Canada Real Estate

Technorati Tags: Canada Real Estate Expensive Condo Grow-op Marijuana VOC Gro-op Grown op

REBGV July 2011 Housing Market Update

Active home sellers bring greater selection to the Greater Vancouver housing market.

While the balance between home buyer and seller activity remains in an equilibrium range in the Greater Vancouver housing market, last month’s home sale total was below the 10-year average for July.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales of detached, attached and apartment properties on the region’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) reached 2,571 in July, a 14 per cent increase compared to the 2,255 sales in July 2010 and a 21.2 per cent decline compared to the 3,262 sales in June 2011.

“We’re seeing less multiple offer situations in the market today compared to the last few months, but our members tell us that homes priced competitively continue to sell at a relatively swift pace,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “It’s taking, on average, 41 days to sell a property in the region, which is unchanged from June of this year.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,097 in July. This represents a 23.2 per cent increase compared to July 2010 when 4,138 properties were listed for sale on the MLS® and a 12 per cent decline compared to the 5,793 new listings reported in June 2011.

Last month’s new listing total was 8.6 per cent higher than the 10-year average for July, while residential sales were 17.3 per cent below the ten-year average for sales in July.

At 15,226, the total number of residential property listings on the MLS® increased 0.8 per cent in July compared to last month and declined 7.3 per cent from this time last year.

“The number of homes listed for sale in the region has increased each month since the start of the year, which is giving buyers more selection to choose from and more time to make decisions,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said.

The MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 9.2 per cent to $630,251 in July 2011 from $577,074 in July 2010.

Sales of detached properties on the MLS® in July 2011 reached 1,099, an increase of 21 per cent from the 908 detached sales recorded in July 2010, and an 31.9 per cent decrease from the 1,614 units sold in July 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 13.3 per cent from July 2010 to $898,886.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,040 in July 2011, a 6.2 per cent increase compared to the 979 sales in July 2010, and a decrease of 39.1 per cent compared to the 1,708 sales in July 2009. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 4.5 per cent from July 2010 to $405,306.

Attached property sales in July 2011 totalled 432, a 17.4 per cent increase compared to the 368 sales in July 2010, and a 45.5 per cent decrease from the 792 attached properties sold in July 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 6.9 per cent between July 2010 and 2011 to $524,909.

Open publication - Free publishing - More anna asi

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate

Technorati Tags: Vancouver Real Estate REBGV Housing July 2011 Market Update

Macrealty Market Update (August 2011)

 

There's no doubt that real estate is an interesting topic of conversation for the public. The media, in an attempt to feed this appetite for real estate news, often publishes interesting pieces of real estate information that help sell papers. Due to this heavy dose of constant real estate news, it's important to understand how the data is collected and how to interpret the information.

Below are the 3 most commonly misunderstood statistics in the media:

1) Housing starts rise 1.9%!
(http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Housing+starts+cent+June/
5083165/story.html)

This shouldn't really matter to buyers or sellers out there. While this is related to the real estate market, it is more relevant for the construction industry than it is to the resale housing market.

Remember, these are new home construction figures: not sales or pricing numbers. Unless you're a construction worker or materials' supplier, this type of information is largely irrelevant to your real estate decision-making process.

2) Home sales drop 42%!
(http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/10/02/bc-real-estate-values-vancouver-september.html)

This kind of information is important for buyers and sellers to know and also helpful for realtors to use. A drop in home sales is sometimes a precursor to lower prices down the road. That said, there are a multitude of reasons that home sales could slow that wouldn't also result in a corresponding drop in prices.

It is therefore important to remember that these are unit sale figures, not price figures. These statistics are generally also seasonally adjusted to reflect the fact that sales tend to be slower in the winter and summer as opposed to the spring and fall. You should talk to a professional to see whether a drop in sales velocity is because of a slowing market or because of some other extraneous event.

 

3) Average House Prices Expected to Rise 13% this year!
(http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Home+prices+rise+cent+this+year+report/5030251/story.html)

This is the most misunderstood of the media reports that come out. Yes, it is true that Average Canadian Home Prices in 2011 will likely show a significant increase over 2010; however, as we're already half way through the year, much of the increase has already occurred.

Many real estate boards also release data that shows the Benchmark price of a home. This is a much more accurate look at the current state of the real estate market than the average price. The Benchmark price is the current price of an average home in a given market area rather than the average price of all of the homes in a given market area. The difference is subtle, but substantive. The average price simply takes the price of all units sold in a given market area and divides it by the number of units sold. It therefore can be skewed by a strong luxury market, like the one currently being experienced in many Metro Vancouver markets.

Remember to always read real estate statistics with an eye to these issues and you'll become a more accurate analyst of the market.

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate

Technorati Tags: Market Update Real Estate Vancouver Greater Vancouver Housing Price Index

First Fully Automated Parking in North America – Jameson House (838 W HASTINGS ST)

 

Simply pull into the secure transfer section, lock your vehicle and go. Your car will be whisked away safely while you entre the main elevator. When you’re ready to depart, your vehicle will be quickly returned to you.

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate ( Jameson House )

Technorati Tags: Jameson House 833 Seymour St Hastings New Condo Apartment Vancouver Downtown Self Parking Automated Parking