AMAZON VANCOUVER OFFICE TO OPEN AT NEW TELUS GARDEN WITH 1,000 EMPLOYEE

AMAZON VANCOUVER OFFICE TO OPEN AT NEW TELUS GARDEN WITH 1,000 EMPLOYEE

Worldwide electronic commerce giant Amazon.com will be opening a massive new office in downtown Vancouver.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Amazon will be opening a Vancouver office. However, instead of following the suburban office park model, it has taken the same route many other companies have increasingly taken by choosing downtown Vancouver – an highly urbanized location – as their new home.

According to Techvibes, Amazon plans to open a 91,000 square foot (possibly up to 156,000 square feet) office at the new TELUS Garden development. It will take up approximately 20 per cent of the space at the new 22-storey office building at the intersection of Richards and West Georgia Streets.

The building is currently under construction with completion expected in 2015. Close to 1,000 people could be employed at Amazon’s new Vancouver office.

The new office tower is built jointly by TELUS and local developer Westbank. It will serve as the new TELUS headquarters with the relocation of its thousands of employees from “the boot” office tower at Kingsway and Boundary Roads in Burnaby.

Bull Houser will also join TELUS and Amazon as one of the office tower’s major tenants. The 140-year old law firm has spent 40 years at Royal Centre and its move will bring 250 employees to 67,000 square feet of office space over three floors at TELUS Garden.

The office building is also part of a wider $750-million TELUS development project that will include a 44-storey residential tower with 420 units at the intersection of Robson and Richards on the other end of the city block. Each of the two buildings consists of approximately 500,000 square feet of space and will include public plazas, restaurants, retail spaces and pedestrianized laneways – a first for Vancouver.

The office tower component is targeted to be Canada’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certified building based on the new 2009 LEED standards.

TELUS Garden is one of the largest and most significant projects in Vancouver’s recent office tower building boom, which includes MNP Tower, the large floor plate office space above Nordstrom, The Exchange Tower, 745 Thurlow Street, 601 West Hastings and the office building at Marine Gateway in South Vancouver.

Amazon’s new Canadian office in Vancouver will bring this arm of the global giant conveniently close to the company’s headquarters in Seattle. The revelation of the new Vancouver office comes after the May 2013 announcement of Amazon’s new headquarters office development in downtown Seattle.

The company was founded at Seattle in 1994 and has 15,000 employees in the city and nearly 90,000 globally. Its new multi-tower office project in Seattle’s city centre holds a capacity for 12,000 employees.

Courtesy of http://www.vancitybuzz.com

REBGV Commercial Edge Report - Q3 2013‏

REBGV Commercial Edge Report - Q3 2013‏

Value of Lower Mainland commercial property transactions climbs in third quarter

 

While the number of commercial property transactions in the Lower Mainland continues to trend below recent years, the third quarter of 2013 saw an increase in the dollar value of properties sold, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

The total dollar value of commercial sales in the region reached $1.411 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2013. This represents a 16.6 per cent increase from Q3 2012 and a 35.7 per cent increase from Q2 2013.

There were 393 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, according to Commercial Edge. This is a 17.4 per cent decline compared to the 476 sales recorded in Q3 2012, a 20.6 per cent decline from the 495 sales recorded in Q3 2011, and a 2 per cent decline from the 401 sales recorded over the same period in 2010.

“The total dollar value of commercial sales increased in the Lower Mainland last quarter thanks in large part to activity in the office and retail sector,” Sandra Wyant, REBGV president said. “The total number of commercial sales in the region this year continues to trend behind what we saw between 2010 and 2012.”

The Commercial Edge system includes all commercial real estate transactions in the Lower Mainland, excluding Pitt Meadows and Chilliwack, that have been registered with the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) of British Columbia since 2009.

Q3 2013 activity by category:

• Land: There were 131 commercial land sales registered with LTSA in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, down 10.9 per cent from the 147 land sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of land sales in Q3 2013 was $479 million, down 16.5 per cent from $573 million in Q3 2012.
• Office and Retail: There were 141 office and retail sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, a 15.1 per cent decline from the 166 office and retail sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of office and retail sales in Q3 2013 was $575 million, a 95.6 per cent increase from $294 million in Q3 2012.
• Industrial: There were 92 industrial land sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, down 30.8 per cent from the 133 industrial land sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of industrial sales in Q3 2013 was $226 million, a 5.3 per cent decrease from $239 million in Q3 2012.
• Multi-Family: There were 29 multi-family sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, which is virtually unchanged from the 30 sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of multi-family sales in Q3 2013 was $131 million, a 26 per cent increase from $104 million in Q2 2012.

 

Full Report:

www.issuu.com/annaasi/docs/commercial_edge_release_q.3_2013?e=1402552/5865590

 

Balanced conditions continue in the Greater Vancouver housing market

 

Balanced conditions continue in the Greater Vancouver housing market

Home buyer and seller activity continues to mirror historical averages in the Greater Vancouver housing market. These trends have helped keep the region in a balanced state for the last nine months.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,661 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October 2013. This is a 37.8 per cent increase compared to the 1,931 sales recorded in October 2012, and a 7.2 per cent increase from the 2,483 sales recorded in September 2013.

New listings for attached, detached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totaled 4,315 in October 2013. This represents a 0.2 per cent decline from the 4,323 new listings reported in October 2012, and a decrease of 14.2 per cent compared to the 5,030 new listings reported in September of this year.

Last month’s sales were 2.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month, while new listings for the month were 1.9 per cent below the 10-year average.

“We continue to see fairly typical activity when it comes to monthly home sale and listing totals,” Sandra Wyant, REBGV president said. “Today’s activity is helping to keep us in balanced market territory, which means that prices tend to experience minimal fluctuation.”

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver is 15,257, a decline of 12.2 per cent compared to this time last year, and a decline of 5.3 per cent compared to September 2013.

 

 

The sales-to-active-listings ratio is currently at 17.4 per cent in Greater Vancouver.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver is $600,700. This represents a 0.5 per cent decline compared to this time last year.

Sales of detached properties reached 1,067 in October 2013, an increase of 35.1 per cent from the 790 detached sales recorded in October 2012 and a 9.5 per cent increase from the 974 units sold in October 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties decreased 0.5 per cent from October 2012 to $922,600.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,098 in October 2013, an increase of 36.7 per cent compared to the 803 apartment sales recorded in October 2012, and an increase of 14.6 per cent compared to the 958 sales in October 2011. The benchmark price of an apartment property decreased 0.9 per cent from October 2012 to $365,600.

Attached property sales totaled 496, an increase of 46.7 per cent compared to the 338 attached property sales recorded in 2012 and a 29.8 per cent increase compared to the 382 attached property sales recorded in October 2011. The benchmark price of an attached property is $458,000, which is virtually unchanged from October 2012.

Complete Report:    http://issuu.com/annaasi/docs/rebgv_stats_package__october_2013

 

Cat: REBGV Report October 2013

Job growth to sustain Vancouver housing market in 2014

Job growth to sustain Vancouver housing market in 2014

A pick up in B.C.’s economy next year and the associated increases in jobs will bolster B.C.’s residential real estate market in 2014.

According to the latest housing market outlook released October 31 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), existing home sales are expected to rise 8% next year with the average price on the Multiple Listing Service forecast to edge up 1% in 2014.

In its report, the CMHC said demand for homes next year is “expected to ride the momentum of a rebounding market and post some positive gains.”

The improving market will be based on improved economic prospects for the province next year stemming from increased demand for B.C. goods from the province’s key export markets.

That is expected to bolster B.C.’s job market which is forecast to see a 1.5% increase in employment next year after marginal growth in 2013. After flat migration growth this year, an increase in the number of people migrating to B.C. should also boost demand for homes next year.

Housing starts, however, aren’t expected to rise substantially in 2014. The CMHC is forecasting 18,200 of new housing units this year and 18,400 units in 2014.

The relative glut of new, unoccupied homes is the main reason for the muted increase in activity over the next year. As of the end of September, there were 3,961 new housing units yet to be occupied, a 28% increase from the amount available a year ago.

Mortgage rates are expected to rise marginally next year, but CMHC suggested lending rates will remain “supportive” for the housing market given rates remain low by historical standards.

By the end of 2014, CMHC is forecasting the one-year posted mortgage rate to rise 0.25% from 2013 levels to between 3.25% and 3.75%, and the five-year posted mortgage rate to rise to between 5.25% to 6% from between 5% and 5.50% in 2013.

Courtesy of Business Vancouver

Vancouver’s house prices still climbing

Vancouver’s house prices still climbing

Prices for single-family houses in Vancouver are on the rise again as the affordability gap widens between detached homes and multifamily units.

On Vancouver’s West Side neighbourhood, the benchmark price index last month for detached homes reached $2,086,800, up 1.2 per cent from October, 2012. On the city’s East Side, prices rose 1 per cent to $850,500.

Over the past five years, prices for West Side detached properties have surged 45.3 per cent while they have jumped 35.2 per cent on the East Side, according to statistics released Monday by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

For Greater Vancouver as a whole, including suburbs such as Burnaby and Richmond, single-family detached prices climbed 24.4 per cent to $922,600 over the past five years. By contrast, prices for townhouses rose 7.8 per cent to $458,000 while condo prices increased 4.5 per cent to $365,600.

The Vancouver region’s single-family detached homes are on track to get ever-more expensive in the long term, while price hikes for townhouses and condos are forecast to be restrained by increased supply for those multifamily developments, said Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association.

“In the long term, single-family detached homes are going to become an increasingly smaller proportion of the housing stock becau se we’re building 80 per cent of new homes that are townhouses or condominiums,” Mr. Muir said.

“Over time, the housing stock will be shifting toward multifamily. Single-family detached homes are going to be a smaller proportion of the total number of homes in the marketplace. As such, theory tells us that prices of those particular home types are going to get bid up relative to the other ones because they are an increasingly finite and scarce resource,” he said.

October sales for detached homes, townhouses and condos in Greater Vancouver climbed 37.8 per cent from the same month last year as the real estate market finds its balance. There were 2,661 resale properties that changed hands last month on the Multiple Listing Service, up from 1,931 sales in October, 2012.

The increased activity marks the sixth consecutive month that Greater Vancouver has experienced a year-over-year gain in monthly sales, following a 19-month slump in volume.

Hani Lamman, vice-president of development and acquisitions with Cressey Development Group, said the City of Vancouver is facing opposition from long-time residents in historic neighbourhoods as civic politicians seek to encourage builders to pack more housing units onto lots traditionally zoned single-family detached.

Land is precious within the City of Vancouver due to mountains to the north and the ocean to the west, Mr. Lamman said. While it will be a slow process, Cressey intends to build townhouses and condos in the East Side neighbourhood that includes Commercial Drive, assuming city hall officials are able to rezone the area to make it easier to construct townhouses, row houses and condos.

Housing sales over the past six months look rosy when comparing the figures with last year’s slump. In July, 2012, Ottawa reduced the maximum period on government-backed mortgages to 25 years from 30 years, a move that contributed to the slowdown in housing sales and drop in prices in the second half of 2012 and early 2013. On Vancouver’s West Side in March this year, for instance, single-family detached prices were down 9.1 per cent, compared with the same month in 2012.

The sales volume in Greater Vancouver last month was 2.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for October, said board president Sandra Wyant. Greater Vancouver’s MLS home price index for single-family detached houses, townhouses and condos was $600,700 last month, or a 0.5-per-cent decline from the same period in 2012. There were a total of 15,257 active listings last month, down 12.2 per cent from a year earlier.

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Nov. 04 2013

New home construction could be a ‘real grind’ for Metro Vancouver in 2014

New home construction could be a ‘real grind’ for Metro Vancouver in 2014

 

The new home industry can expect 2014 to be a “real grind” as impending municipal elections in Metro Vancouver could slow down the rate of approval for new housing projects, Vancouver real estate guru Michael Ferreira said Thursday.

  Ferreira warned a meeting of the Urban Development Institute to expect “to see more of this,” and he showed a slide of a protest signs that can be seen around Marpole in South Vancouver saying “Stop Marpole Rezoning.”

  The signs are protesting the city’s proposed housing densification of the Marpole neighbourhood.

“In terms of supply of new homes, I think we will continue to see it constrained — especially over the next year. One of the biggest reasons is the municipal elections coming up in 2014.

  “I think those on council and those people seeking re-election will be loathe to make any kind of controversial decision (on new housing),” said Ferreira, who is a principal of the Vancouver company Urban Analytics.

“So it really freezes our market and, for those politicians who wax on about wanting to provide affordable product, it doesn’t help if we go a year without adding more supply,” Ferreira said.

  “As an industry I think we are going to have to work a lot harder to show people in neighbourhoods that we are working with them,” he said.

In his overall assessment of the new housing market this year, Ferreira said it has been a lot like the weather.

  “It’s been a bit hard to figure out — a bit tough to see through the fog in some places — but certainly some bright spots,” he said.

As an example, he pointed to concrete condominium sales levels, which were higher than he had expected.

  Ferreira said 4,253 units had been sold in Metro so far this year, compared to 2,546 to the same date in 2012. Bright spots included Richmond, with 878 concrete condos sold this year, and the Tri-cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody), with nearly 500 concrete condos sold to date, a 74-per-cent increase over last year.

  However, Metro’s wood-frame condominium sales were “not quite as good,” with 1,832 sold so far in 2013, compared to 2,502 to the same date in 2012. Townhomes showed a similar trend.

 

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate

Vancouver home sales rebound with 64-per-cent upturn

Vancouver home sales rebound with 64-per-cent upturn

 

Housing sales surged 63.8 per cent in Greater Vancouver last month as the area’s real estate market regains its footing.

There were 2,483 homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service in September, up from 1,516 sales in the same month last year, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Wednesday. “There is a lot more confidence in the Vancouver market now,” board president-elect Ray Harris said in an interview.

The increased activity marks the fifth consecutive month that Greater Vancouver has experienced a year-over-year gain in monthly sales, following a 19-month slump in volume.

Greater Vancouver’s benchmark index price for single-family detached homes, condos and townhouses fell 0.7 per cent year-over-year to $601,900 last month, but has increased 2.3 per cent since January.

In Vancouver’s closely watched west side, the index price for single-family detached sales last month was $2,089,700, up $1,000 from September, 2012. While that is an increase of only 0.05 per cent, it marks an improvement from January, when the West Side’s detached index price dropped 7.5 per cent year-over-year.

A balanced market has emerged, with buyers in a calm state of mind instead rushing to do deals, Mr. Harris said. On the selling side, baby boomers thinking of downsizing by listing their detached homes aren’t hurrying to move since prices are expected to be relatively healthy, he said.

The total number of active listings on the MLS was 16,115 last month in Canada’s most expensive housing market, down 12.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Mr. Harris said Greater Vancouver’s resale housing prices could increase roughly 3 per cent over the next 18 months to two years – a stable outlook that should contribute to sales volume staying near historical averages. Last month’s sales were 1 per cent below the 10-year average of 2,509 for September.

The sales-to-active-listings ratio was 15.4 per cent in Greater Vancouver last month. B.C. real estate agents consider it a balanced market when the ratio ranges from 15 to 20 per cent.

Vancouver’s West Side has seen its index price for single-family detached homes jump 40 per cent over the past five years, but suburbs such as Port Coquitlam haven’t undergone such volatility, Mr. Harris added. Port Coquitlam’s detached property index price is up 6.3 per cent over the past five years.

As well, the region’s condo market hasn’t experienced huge price gains. Greater Vancouver’s condo prices have risen 1.9 per cent since 2008. Sales jumped 32 per cent last month in the Fraser Valley, which includes the sprawling and less-expensive Vancouver suburb of Surrey.

There were 1,131 properties that changed hands on the MLS, up 32 per cent from 857 sales in September, 2012. Last month’s benchmark index price in the Fraser Valley slipped 0.2 per cent year-over-year to $428,400.

Fraser Valley Real Estate Board president Ron Todson said he sees signs of first-time buyers returning to the market, though it has become more expensive to obtain financing due to the recent rise in mortgage rates. The residential property market is gradually recovering from Ottawa’s tightening of mortgage rules in 2012, he said.

In July, 2012, Ottawa reduced the maximum period on government-backed mortgages to 25 years from 30 years. Real estate experts say the change, which knocked some first-time buyers out of the market, contributed to the slowdown in housing sales a year ago.

Courtesy of The Globe and Mail

Cat: Vancouver Real Estate

Sears applies to build seven towers at its Metrotown site

Sears applies to build seven towers at its Metrotown site

Sears Canada has applied to the City of Burnaby for a rezoning of its Metrotown store site to allow a total development that would include up to seven highrise towers and be worth up to $1 billion.

The company is going through a transformation and one of its strategies is to look at ways to create value through the assets it owns, said Sears president and chief executive officer Calvin McDonald.

“The nine acres at Metrotown are a great opportunity for us to share in a development project that will create significant value and bring a brand-new store to the community,” McDonald said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to create something exciting on a piece of land we own for our community, our business and our transformation.”

Sears first opened in Burnaby in 1954 on the site at 4750 Kingsway, which Sears and Toys R Us occupy in what is now Metropolis at Metrotown. The rest of the property is taken by a parking lot, loading facilities and a public plaza at Kingsway and Nelson, the documents filed with the City of Burnaby show. Across Central Boulevard is the Metrotown SkyTrain station.

The new development would include two office towers and five residential towers of undetermined height, all of which would be above commercial retail space on the ground floor, the documents show. A new public plaza is also part of the plans.

“We think this is a great location,” McDonald said. “It’s preliminary, but we went to the city and we’re going to continue to work with stakeholders and a great developer. It’s in the early stages, but we’re excited.”

Burnaby has agreed to work with Sears in creating a plan to develop the property and Sears is close to choosing a developer to work with, McDonald said.

The project could be worth $1 billion or more, given today’s real estate prices and the potential density of the site, Stephen Champion, vice-president, real estate at Sears Canada, said in an email.

“However the final value will be a function of what makes sense from a city planning perspective and from an economic perspective,” Champion said.

There are a lot of residential towers planned for Burnaby, said Michael Ferreira, principal at Urban Analytics, a company that provides analytical interpretation of real estate market data.

“There’s an absolutely tremendous number of towers being planned in a number of different areas of Burnaby,” Ferreira said, adding that as long as the condominiums don’t all flood the market at once, the number should be sustainable.

“Everybody has to go forward with modest expectations of absorption, given the amount of product that’s going to be competing against each other.”

Ferreira said that similar deals have already been done in other areas of the city and there is potential for many more.

“As the cities have matured and evolved, some of these retailers are looking at different ways to get value out of their property,” Ferreira said. “If you look at the location of some of these stores — look at Safeway on Fourth Avenue or West Tenth — who wouldn’t want to put a tower there?”

This is the first project of this type that Sears has considered, but the company is exploring the possibility of similar deals elsewhere, said Sears spokesman Vincent Power. The so-called “transformation” program is also looking at improving the core retail operations and finding efficiencies in operations, Power said.

Sears Canada Inc. posted a $31.2-million loss as well as lower revenue in its latest quarter but says its transformation program is showing results. The department store retailer says same-store sales fell by 2.6 per cent while total revenue for the 13 weeks ended May 4 was $867.1 million.

Sears returned its lease last year on the Pacific Centre store it had occupied for more than a decade since Eaton’s departure, along with two other locations in Calgary and Ottawa, for $170 million to Cadillac Fairview. Iconic U.S. retailer Nordstrom will open in the former Sears building downtown in 2015. McDonald took over as Sears president and CEO in 2011, Power said.

 

Technorati Tags: Vancouver Real Estate Vancouver Housing

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Donald Trump's Vancouver visit next week confirms speculation about tower

Donald Trump's Vancouver visit next week confirms speculation about tower

 

VANCOUVER -- Donald Trump is coming to Vancouver next week, confirming speculation that the Holborn Group will be bringing a Trump International tower to the city.

The Holborn Group wouldn’t elaborate on the announcement, saying only that the iconic Manhattan developer is bringing his family — including son Donald and daughter Ivanka — to a news conference Wednesday to announce details of what is described as “one of Vancouver’s most iconic buildings.”

But branding expert Steven Kates isn’t convinced Vancouverites have an appetite for Trump and everything he represents.

Kates, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, said the man seen by some as “the public face of capitalism” may have soured many Canadians on his brand.

“On the one hand he is quite a divisive figure, especially with his antics during the presidential campaign of last year questioning whether President Obama was in fact born in the U.S. — that borders on ‘crazy town,’” said Kates. “Canadians don’t go for that, they think it’s absurd.

“On the other hand, there may be a small target segment of consumers who just don’t care about that and believe the Trump brand is associated with top luxury and opulence.”

Thursday’s announcement follows media reports earlier this year that a deal was close for a Trump Tower on the site of the cancelled Ritz-Carlton hotel-condo project, which was designed by Arthur Erickson as a twisting 60-storey tower that would have been Vancouver’s second tallest building.

The Ritz-Carlton project, on Georgia between Bute and Thurlow, was cancelled in 2009 because “worldwide economic turmoil” affected the sale of units in the project, a letter from Holborn’s lawyers stated at the time.

At the time of the 2009 cancellation, Holborn had sold about 62 of the 123 condos in the tower, where prices ranged from $1.4 million to $28 million. A 127-room luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel was supposed to occupy the first 20 floors of the building, with condos taking up the top 40 floors. Construction was halted at the site in 2008.

Real estate marketing and consulting groups said Thursday they believe there is room for another luxury condo highrise in Vancouver, although price points will be very important.

Although Holborn wouldn’t comment on their plans, Jon Bennest, principle of Vancouver-based real estate and urban planning consulting company Urban Analytics, said there’s widespread belief that the units in a redesigned building bearing the Trump brand would be slightly smaller and possibly slightly less extravagant than what was originally planned for the Ritz-Carlton project.

There are several other hotel-condo projects in Vancouver, including the Shangri-La, which was completed in 2009 and is Vancouver’s tallest building at 62 storeys.

“I think there’s a potential demand for (luxury condos),” said Bennest. “A lot of people on the west side of Vancouver who want to stay in the area want to sell their single family home and have some money left over.

“The idea is that the product would be luxurious, but at a lower overall price point so they could attract a larger pool of buyers. That is anecdotally what we’ve heard is the direction of the building. And their intention is to make the units slightly smaller than the previous offering.”

Scott Brown, senior vice-president, Colliers International’s project marketing group, said that although he’s never sold a Trump building, he’s sold several other top brands including Four Seasons Hotels, Raffles Singapore, Westin Hotels and Resorts, and Hard Rock Hotels.

“Generally, a market associated with these brands do bring a premium,” said Brown. “However, since 2008, the premium those brands could fetch has not been as high. They (Holborn) should get some premium, it’s a question as to how much.”

“It will be interesting what the Asian response is to the Trump brand.”

Holborn Group bought the West Georgia property from Cadillac Fairview about eight years ago and demolished a partly built concrete structure that had sat derelict for years, after failed attempts to build a private members’ club and a strata-title office building.

In February, Amanda Miller, Trump’s vice-president of marketing, said members from the Trump Hotel Collection development team had recently visited Vancouver looking at various opportunities in the market. “It is a great city with tremendous access to the Asian market and we look forward to continuing to explore the potential of bringing the Trump flag to this location.”

Holborn president and CEO Joo Kim Tiah said Thursday in an emailed response to a request for an interview: “We look forward to sharing more details with you next week.”

Roxanne Reid, president of Hestia Marketing Group Inc. in Vancouver, was senior vice-president of marketing for S & P Destination Properties when she oversaw the marketing of the Trump International Waikiki Hotel project in Hawaii in 2006, which she said had a one-day sellout of $700 million.

She said the Trump brand brings an international appeal. “The Trump brand is synonymous with high service and quality. It’s pure luxury, although not ostentatious. It’s a more refined luxury.”

She also noted that Ivanka Trump has taken a real lead in the brand “and has a good following on an international basis.”

Kevin McNaney, assistant director, central area planning for the city of Vancouver, said Thursday that the city has had a development permit in place on the site since November 2011 for a 64-storey hotel/residential tower. “The building is under construction,” he added, in an emailed statement. “The only thing not known is the hotel brand.”

Talon International, the Toronto developer of the Trump tower in that city, is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from a group of investors, who allege that they were targeted by “an investment scheme and conspiracy based upon reckless and negligent misrepresentations” of the luxury hotel’s financial prospects, the National Post reported in 2012.

Talon directors maintained that they delivered what they promised in the five-star hotel, which rises 65 storeys at the corner of Bay and Adelaide streets.

In their 54-page lawsuit, which also names Donald Trump as a defendant, the four plaintiffs seek to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits, along with more than $2.5 million apiece in general damages for “loss of opportunity and consequential damages, negligent misrepresentation and conspiracy.”

The statement of claim says the plaintiffs had limited or no experience investing in real-estate when they opted to purchase hotel units in the Trump tower, which is divided at the 32nd floor between residential and hotel space.

 

Technorati Tags: Vancouver Real Estate Vancouver Housing

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Spring months bring balance to Greater Vancouver housing market

Spring months bring balance to Greater Vancouver housing market

VANCOUVER, B.C. – June 4, 2013 – While the number of home sales in Greater Vancouver continued to trend below the 10-year average in May, the balance of sales and listings meant continued market stability this spring.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 2,882 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in May 2013. This represents a one per cent increase compared to the 2,853 sales recorded in May 2012, and a 9.7 per cent increase compared to the 2,627 sales in April 2013.

Last month’s sales were 19.4 per cent below the 10-year sales average for the month, while new listings for the month were 7.4 percent below the 10-year average.

“We’ve seen some steadying trends over the last three months,” Sandra Wyant, REBGV president said. “The number of homes listed for sale has been keeping pace with the number of property sales, leading to a balanced sales-to-listings ratio. This is having a stabilizing influence on home price activity.” 

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,656 in May. This represents an 18.3 per cent decline compared to the 6,927 new listings reported in May 2012 and a 3.7 per cent decline from the 5,876 new listings in April of this year.

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver is 17,222, a 3.4 per cent decrease compared to May 2012 and a 2.9 per cent increase compared to April 2013.

The sales-to-active-listings ratio currently sits at 17 per cent in Greater Vancouver. This is the third straight month that this ratio has been above 15 per cent. Previous to this, May 2012 was the last time this ratio was above 15 per cent.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver is currently $598,400. This represents a decline of 4.3 per cent compared to this time last year and an increase of 1.8 per cent compared to January 2013.

Sales of detached properties reached 1,212 in May 2013, an increase of 2.7 per cent from the 1,180 detached sales recorded in May 2012, and a 22.8 per cent decrease from the 1,570 units sold in May 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties decreased 5.2 per cent from May 2012 to $917,200.

Continued Sales of apartment properties reached 1,136 in May 2013, a decline of 1.7 per cent compared to the 1,156 sales in May 2012, and a decrease of 7.5 per cent compared to the 1,228 sales in May
2011. The benchmark price of an apartment property decreased 3.7 per cent from May 2012 to $365,600. Attached property sales in May 2013 totalled 534, an increase of 3.3 per cent compared to the 517 sales in May 2012, and a 7.8 per cent decrease from the 579 attached properties sold in May 2011. The benchmark price of an attached unit decreased 3.2 per cent between May 2012 and 2013 to $454,900.

The real estate industry is a key economic driver in British Columbia. In 2012, 25,032 homes changed ownership in the Board’s area generating $1.07 billion in economic spin-off activity and creating an estimated 7,125 jobs. The total dollar value of residential sales transacted throughout the MLS® system in Greater Vancouver totalled $18.6 billion in 2012. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is an association representing more than 11,000 REALTORS® and their companies. The Board provides a variety of member services, including the Multiple Listing Service®.

Complete Report:

http://issuu.com/annaasi/docs/rebgv_stats_package_may_2013/1

Canadian home sales rise in April

Canadian home sales rise in April

 

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales edged up slightly on a month-over-month basis in April 2013. Activity has generally held to within short reach of current levels for the past nine months.

Highlights:

• National home sales rose 0.6% from March to April.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 3.1% below levels in April 2012.
• The number of newly listed homes fell 0.9% from March to April.
• The Canadian housing market remains firmly in balanced territory.
• The national average sale price rose 1.3% on a year-over-year basis in April.
• The MLS® HPI rose 2.2% in April, its smallest gain in more than two years.

Growing Interest in Vancouver Real Estate from China Prompts Vancouver Movers & Overseas Relocation Specialists to Overhaul their 2013 Online Marketing Strategy

Growing Interest in Vancouver Real Estate from China Prompts Vancouver Movers & Overseas Relocation Specialists to Overhaul their 2013 Online Marketing Strategy

2013 reports indicate that real estate in Vancouver remains a hot commodity for investors and new migrants from China with many expecting this trend to continue into the near future. Vancouver movers Best Choice Moving specializes in overseas relocations and in a reaction to recent reports has launched a new website to better communicate with and help capture both local and overseas customers that are considering a move to Greater Vancouver.

On May 22, 2013 the Epoch Times reported on the international surge of funds and migration flowing from China, much of which has labeled the port city of Vancouver as its primary target. Vancouver real estate has long been popular with overseas parties in China that look not only for investment opportunities but seek a place for their families to migrate to. While such activities keep local real estate professionals on their toes in hopes of accommodating this demand, other industries are also immediately impacted by the trend. Vancouver moving companies that offer overseas relocation services in particular are directly affected. For Best Choice Moving, a Vancouver moving and storage provider that specializes in overseas relocations, focusing marketing efforts in this direction is essential. Because of this, Best Choice Moving understood that it was time to launch a new website to better communicate their services to their audience – local and international alike.

In addition to local residential, retail, and office relocations, Ben Wang of Best Choice Moving is proud to state that as Vancouver movers they have long been a part of the overseas moving process for many businesses and families migrating from China. While Ben positions that Best Choice Moving indeed caters to all demographics and contingencies in the diverse market of Greater Vancouver, his team does in fact consider themselves to be specialists in overseas relocations.

As a multilingual company, Best Choice Moving has been able to easily cross the communication barrier with those seeking to move from China to Canada. Ben credits word of mouth and networking to be a big key to the success of Best Choice Moving thus far in the realm of overseas moving but will also admit that this very same strength may have been a weakness in their digital marketing strategy. With so much business coming from referrals their website did not keep up with the demands of today’s online community, until this month that is. In the first week of May 2013 Best Choice Moving secured the services of a Vancouver website marketing firm and built a brand new website to capture the online attention of both local and overseas parties considering moves to Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Ben Wang comments, “It’s easy to get caught up in the word of mouth success that we have created for Best Choice Moving within the international communities within Greater Vancouver. Reviewing recent statistics regarding continued migration from China towards Vancouver real estate was a wake-up call. We had to remind ourselves that there was an entire audience out there looking for overseas Vancouver movers online and the websites that communicate their service better than the rest would be the ones to capture this demand. Best Choice Moving is proud to announce that we have not only joined the party, we now have a superiorly optimized website that clearly defines our ability to accommodate overseas interest from China.”

Best Choice Moving encourages anyone considering a business or household relocation for either themselves or for family located overseas to contact their Vancouver moving and storage company today for an estimate.

ABOUT Best Choice Moving
Best Choice Moving understands the international/overseas moving process in depth because we have been serving households and businesses in this capacity for many years. We work with many diverse ethnic communities within Greater Vancouver and understand that developing trust and clear communication is important in achieving an optimum overseas relocation. Overseas moves are huge undertakings for any home or business. Be sure to secure international movers Vancouver area residences and businesses have been turning to for years.

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Courtesy of PRWeb

Almost half of Canadians are keen to buy property, despite cooling market

 

Almost half of Canadians are keen to buy property, despite cooling market

 

 

A new report suggests nearly half of Canadian homeowners intend to buy a property in the next five years, despite a cooling off in the housing market.

The BMO Housing Confidence Report says the 48% figure is mostly unchanged from late 2012, suggesting continued confidence in the housing market.

Among major cities, the report found a five-point gain in buying intentions in Vancouver while Calgary was down by 13 points.

Buying intentions in the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal have held steady, while Atlantic Canada has seen a 15% jump in buying intentions.

The bank‘s report further suggests close to half of all homeowners under 40 intend to purchase a larger home within the next five years.

Ten percent of homeowners plan to buy a recreational property in the next five years, down two points from last fall.

“The relative strength of the Canadian housing market continues to bolster homeowners confidence, said Martin Nel, BMO‘s vice president of lending and investments.

The BMO report by Pollara was based on online interviews with a random sample of 1,008 Canadian homeowners between Feb. 21-27.

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Flaherty discounts fears over housing market, calls slowdown a ‘healthy’ development

 

Flaherty discounts fears over housing market, calls slowdown a ‘healthy’ development

 

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is dismissing fears about Canada’s housing market, saying the current slowdown is welcome news and that there is no need for further government intervention.

While some observers are expressing fears that a steep correction is underway that will bring down housing values and possibly affect bank credit ratings, Flaherty said Tuesday that he believes government mortgage tightening last July actually helped avert what could have turned into a housing bubble.

“I’m comfortable about where we are,” he said in a telephone interview from France where he announced new government financing for the construction of a visitor’s centre at the Vimy Ridge war memorial.

“I’m pleased in particular that the condo market in big cities has fallen back. I’m also pleased with some other moderation in new house construction and in demand for mortgages. I think these are healthy developments because I think we were beginning to see some indications of the beginning of a bubble.”

He called the recent slowdown “healthy” and at least in part a consequence of his decision to tighten mortgage rules last July.

A new Teranet house price report released Tuesday showed home price increases slipped to two per cent in April from 2.6 per cent in March. Analysts noted that was the weakest performance since the recession for April, traditionally a good month for sales and prices.

While home sales have fallen nationally, and starts are now in the 180,000 a year range, well down from over 200,000 last year, home prices have stubbornly resisted that trend in most markets.

However, analysts note that prices are often the last indicator to kick in when a residential market falls, and some have speculated that prices could plunge by as much as 25 per cent, even further in the overheated Vancouver market.

The Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions has told banks it is looking at their holdings of non-insured mortgages — those with at least 20 per cent equity — to determine the systemic risk should values plunge.

But Flaherty said he has no plans to further tighten government-backed mortgages for homebuyers with as little as a five per cent down payment. After tightening rules four times in the past four years, Flaherty said he has done enough.

“I’m not going to intervene in the mortgage market, I don’t need to,” he said.

Over the weekend, Flaherty participated in a Group of Seven meeting in England, where he warned about waning resolve to reduce deficits and debt among southern European countries.

Flaherty said he had not changed his mind even though austerity is being blamed for depressing growth and in some cases exacerbating governmental deficits, since lower growth usually means lower tax revenues and higher costs.

Northern European countries agree with his position, he said, describing the U.S. stance on fiscal restraint as “ambiguous.” “If you don’t get your fiscal situation correct in government, then you can forget about getting education, health-care, research and development and other important initiatives because you won’t have the fiscal means to do it.”

As well, governments risk not having the means to respond to the next economic crisis, he warned.

The minister said that governments can still stimulate economic activity while controlling spending.

“As I said to my G7 colleagues, it isn’t an all or nothing game, it’s about trying to get the right balance,” he explained, pointing out that his March budget retained previously-introduced austerity measures while committing funds to infrastructure projects and job training.

From Canada’s perspective, he says the government remains committed to balancing the budget in 2015.

Going forward, Flaherty said next month’s G8 (including Russia) meeting in Northern Ireland will again seek to tackle the issue of country hopping by multinational corporations seeking the best tax advantage.

“We’re all agreed we have to make sure that large corporations that operate globally pay their fair share of tax and that they don’t try to use one or the other of our jurisdictions not to pay their fair share. We are firmly resolved on that,” he said.

 

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Housing starts in Metro Vancouver remain strong despite lower sales, according to CMHC

Housing starts in Metro Vancouver remain strong despite lower sales, according to CMHC

Metro Vancouver housing starts trend lower

Housing stats in Metro Vancouver were up in 2012 over 2011, but Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says starts are trending lower.

“For several months, the trend numbers have been coming down,” said Robyn Adamache, CMHC’s senior market analyst for Vancouver. “The pace is starting to slow a bit.”

The trend measure is a six-month average of seasonally adjusted annualized numbers. Adamache said it was fairly stable through 2012, with between 18,000 and 20,000 annualized starts each month.

“This trend is expected to continue into 2013, with 19,100 total housing starts forecast for the year,” Adamache said.

There were 19,027 housing starts in Metro Vancouver for the year 2012, up more than six per cent from the year and from the 10-year average, CMHC reported.

In December, there were 1,187 starts, including 251 single-detached houses and 936 multi-family units. The ten-year average for December is 1,275, Adamache said.

For the year, single-family starts were down 8.2 per cent, while multi-family starts were up 10.3 per cent, according to CMHC.

“I think developers in Vancouver have shown themselves to be very quick at responding to consumer trends,” Adamache said. “I think you see that in the types of homes that are being built. There is more demand for more affordable, lower-priced homes.”

She said Vancouver’s rental vacancy rate is 0.9 per cent, which is very low — a boon to real estate investors.

“Because there is a good, strong rental market, people are buying multiple-unit homes as de facto rental properties that they will hold onto and rent out as investment properties,” Adamache said. “That’s part of the reason we’re seeing more multiple-units.”

Nationally, housing starts declined for the fourth consecutive month in December.

The pace of housing starts slowed by a modest 1.7 per cent last month to 197,976 on an annual basis, the fourth drop in as many months, CMHC said. The decline was less than analysts expected.

On Tuesday, Canada’s leading bankers judged the country’s real estate market as “relatively solid” despite the slowdown and concerns about overbuilding in the condominium segment, forecasting that 2013 would see a “soft landing” in the market.

But December’s relatively strong numbers also gave skeptics more reason to warn of a future reckoning.

David Madani of Capital Economics said Canada’s real estate market is exhibiting the same cracks as the United States before the 2007 crash.

While lower, December’s starts were still well above the 175,000 to 185,000 annual growth requirement needed to accommodate population growth. Meanwhile, sales are heading south. Vancouver sales are down 31.1 per cent from last year, while Toronto resales of existing properties have fallen 19.5 per cent from a year ago.

“The upshot is that too many housing units have and are still being built, excesses that will eventually upset the balance of demand and supply,” Madani warned. “We will stand by our long-held view that home prices are likely to fall by around 25 per cent over the next year or two.”

Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic said he expects homebuilding activity to slow to about 180,000 this year, which “would meet underlying demographic demand, and be just the scenario that policy-makers ordered.”

 

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Vancouver suburbs continue to attract home buyers at slow steady pace

The lure of smaller centres outside Vancouver is, and always has been, affordability, realtors say

Derek Love is gearing up for another busy year selling real estate in suburban Vancouver.

After a brief lull in business in the latter half of 2012, when properties lingered on the market a little longer than usual and prices stalled, activity is once again starting to pick up.

“We’ve noticed, in the month of December, a lot more confidence. We are getting calls for from all different types of buyers who are eager and asking questions about homes we’ve had for sale for six months,” said Love, who’s worked for 20 years primarily in the Tri-Cities for the family-run firm Coldwell Banker Love Realty.

The slow times don’t worry him too much.

The allure of places like Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody is, and has always been, affordability.

Where property prices in some areas of Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby climbed by as much as 30 per cent last year, prices in the Tri-Cities and New Westminster stayed the course.

“We didn’t really have that big increase,” said Love, noting $600,000 to $800,000 will still buy “a really good family home — well kept, basement suite, nice yard, quiet street.”

Now that the 2013 assessments are out, that slow and steady pace is once again reflected in the numbers.

According to B.C. Assessment, the total change in assessed property values, as of July 1, 2012, was about five per cent in Coquitlam, Surrey and New Westminster.

Changes were more notable in Vancouver, which rose just two per cent this year, and Richmond, which dipped 0.64 per cent.  

The total change includes assessed values of existing properties, new construction, and other factors such as renovations and rezoning.

Katrina Amurao, a realtor with Re/Max 2000 Realty, said the stability in Surrey’s market is driven largely by an equally strong demand for and supply of single-family homes.

“There are a lot of them and they are selling,” she said.

Amurao said the average price of a single-family home in Surrey in December 2012 was $560,000 — a figure virtually unchanged from twelve months earlier.

“The prices here have not necessarily been jumping the way they did in Vancouver,” she said.

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