Three new towers proposed for Rogers Arena vicinity - Vancouver New Development
Public consultations beginning this month on the development of towers around the Rogers Arena mean Vancouver's skyline could change in an area that has seen plenty of controversy.
Aquilini Development's proposal to build three new residential and commercial towers may upset some residents, but community activist Sandy Garossino supports the idea.
She believes the project could convince the B.C. Pavillion Corporation to abandon reviving the idea of building a mega-casino in favour of condo and office tower development in Yaletown.
"We're still concerned the casino idea is going to come back," Garassino said. "There is just such a strong feeling that this is a community; this is a residential neighrbourhood." Public consultation on the three towers will begin on Feb. 20.
While the proposed changes to the skyline and the density of the neighbourhood make the project noteworthy, it's also the first to consider what would happen if city council approves demolishing one of the two viaducts in Vancouver.
Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs has long championed the contentious idea of removing the viaducts in favour of more public and residential development.
He says the long-term possibility of a fourth tower where the Dunsmuir Viaduct now runs fits with the city's vision for the area.
Threshold being raised to $850,000 effective April 1, 2012
The Honourable Kevin Falcon, Minister of Finance held a press conference today in Victoria to announce transition rules for the harmonized sales tax and the affect it will have on the home building industry. Effective April 1, 2012 the threshold for new housing rebates will be increased from $525,000 to $850,000, including secondary homes.
"We are elated the Provincial Ministry of Finance and the Federal Finance Department asked for our input and that our provincial government listened to the lobbying efforts of CHBA BC," said CEO, M.J. Whitemarsh. "We had the confidence the Government would take our concerns to heart and implement the best solution for our industry, the news today was worth the wait and is even better than we could have anticipated."
Since the referendum results to rescind the tax, the Canadian Home Builders' Association of BC (CHBA BC) has worked diligently providing information from members to the government requesting the implementation of the transition rules be done as simply and quickly as possible to prevent any further stalling of the residential housing industry.
"The out-of-box forward thinking from the Government has created a stable situation for all CHBA BC members who build secondary homes," Whitemarsh said. "Houses purchased as of April 1st will ultimately be receiving a $42,500 discount, now that the threshold has been raised."
Releasing the transition rules on housing early was a wise and bold move on government's part, one that is mutually beneficial. CHBA BC lobbied for a tax rebate to be created for consumers on new home purchases and renovations, so the industry could move forward and gain momentum once again.
"Raising the threshold is a brilliant decision that is fair and equitable, a huge benefit to all consumers that will spur the market," said Doug Wittal, President of CHBA BC. "Including the second home market outside the GVRD and CRD will create a huge boom, creating jobs and pushing the industry forward in very innovative ways."
General price declines in B.C. make province 'nation's new weak spot,' according to report
Canada's housing market is not a bubble, it's a balloon. And unlike the catastrophic decline the U.S. housing market experienced in 2008, the market in Canada will deflate slowly rather than pop, according to a report by BMO Capital Markets.
The sole possible exception is Vancouver, where the number of unoccupied condominiums is high due to building the Olympic Village, economists Sherry Cooper and Sal Guatieri wrote in "Will Canada's Housing Boom Forge On, Fizzle Out, or Flame Out?"
But generally, the report says that despite rising household debt, low interest rates and rising home prices, it is unlikely that a sudden correction will take place.
"The main take-away is that the national housing market appears some-what pricey, but is far removed from bubble territory," the report stated.
It compares average resale prices with median family incomes and finds the ratio is 4.9 nationally, compared to 3.2 a decade ago.
In Vancouver, though, where house prices have gone up 159 per cent in the last 10 years - compared to 104 per cent nationally - the ratio of price to income is 10, nearly double what it was a decade ago, the report said. Victoria is also high, at 5.7, but not as high as Toronto, which has a price to income ratio of 6.7.
Montreal has also seen prices rise dramatically - by 153 per cent - and its price-to-income ratio double, but that ratio remains low at 4.5.
Despite rising home prices in most of Canada's major cities, the growth doesn't seem to be excessive, the report said. But elevated valuations could lead to trouble in the event of a shock.
For example, if interest rates were to spike by about four percentage points, the affordability of homes would quickly drop throughout the country. A severe recession would also affect affordability.
But the chance of either of those events happening is unlikely, the report authors stated. Also, except for a few markets, the national housing boom has already cooled.
And British Columbia is now "the nation's new weak spot, with prices generally declining," the report said.
Some of that decline reflects fewer sales of high-end homes.
"[But] some real underlying softness is at play, and will likely continue until valuations improve," the report stated.
Tsur Somerville, director for the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, said BMO's report is one of many predicting slight drops or slight increases in the housing market rather than a major correction.
"The kinds of things you need to get major corrections, like oversupply or radical change in the financing environment, just aren't there," Somerville said.
And just because the overall market will be flat, it doesn't mean that certain portions of it - such as areas that have had higher run-ups in prices over the past few years - aren't in for a correction, he said.
Helmut Pastrick, chief economist with Central 1 Credit Union, believes that while there may be a soft landing at some point in the future, it won't be in 2012.
"The market is holding up generally well and it looks like 2012 is going to be fairly similar to 2011 in terms of overall unit sales," Pastrick said. "Housing prices will go up by some amount, sales will also increase by a small amount."
And while the economy isn't booming, it is growing, interest rates are low and there is job growth, he said.
"So the conditions to me aren't ripe for a correction."
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Canada's banking regulator fears that Canadian lenders are loosening standards on mortgages that are similar to U.S. subprime loans, posing an "emerging risk" to financial institutions.
Banks and other lenders are becoming "increasingly liberal" with mort-gages and home-equity credit lines that don't require individuals to prove their...
B.C. property assessments skyrocket but appeals drop off
VANCOUVER — Despite skyrocketing and sometimes uneven property assessments that will mean property tax increases for some homeowners, appeals are down in key areas compared to this time last year, according to BC Assessment.
With 10 days to go before the Jan. 31 deadline, appeals have fallen 15 per cent in the Vancouver-Sea to Sky region and 18 per cent in the Richmond-Delta region, two areas that saw assessments in some areas jump by as much as one-third, said Grant McDonald, deputy assessor for BC Assessment’s Vancouver Sea to Sky region.
The average assessment increase in Vancouver was 16.4, 15.9 in West Vancouver and 16.5 in Richmond.
Some assessments went up much more than the average increase, such as a two-storey house built in 1972 on a 60-by-120-foot lot on Riverdale Avenue in the Thompson area of Richmond that went up $300,000 from $780,200 last year to $1,083,500 this year, said Richmond realtor Shafik Ladha.
McDonald gave an example of a house on the west side of Vancouver on a 50-foot lot that went from $1,189,000 last year to $1,645,000 this year, an increase of $456,000. Both of these examples are up 38 per cent, more than double the average increase in their cities.
People who saw their property go up more than the average will likely see a bigger-than-usual increase in their tax bill, although the amount of that increase will depend on the assessed value of their home and how much the city’s budget is increased.
Vancouver Councillor Raymond Louie, who chairs the city’s finance and services committee, said it’s not automatic that the city will get more money when people’s property assessments go up.
“When your property value goes up, the city takes that assessed value and divides that into what it takes to run our city,” Louie said. “The amount it takes to run our city generally stays about the same. The city does not get additional revenue just because your property value goes up.”
Former Vancouver city councillor Gordon Price said it’s fair that taxes are linked to a property’s assessed value, but that it’s important to remember there isn’t a one-to-one relationship between property assessments going up and property taxes going up.
“Whatever your percentage increase is above the average, you can expect that you will be paying a greater percentage of the city’s property tax,” said Price, who is director of the City Program at SFU. “It would be very difficult to come up with anything else that would be more fair.”
In Vancouver, assessed values are averaged over three years to mitigate the effect of large single-year value increases, Louie said. He and Price also noted that property taxes do not all go to the city, a portion goes to school taxes, TransLink and other levies.
This year certain neighbourhoods went up more than others, something McDonald said is simply based on what actual sales reveal. Both Vancouver realtor Tom Gradecak and Ladha said good schools made a big difference in an area’s popularity.
Sometimes that will mean that houses on one side of the street sell for much more than those on the other side, if the school boundary is drawn down the middle, Gradecak said.
Gradecak said assessments are traditionally lower than market value, but that they’re moving closer.
“Some of the assessments are now quite close to the market value, but most are still a little bit low,” Gradecak said. “If it’s an older home, some of the assessments can be fairly close [to market value] because they’re looking mostly at the land value. For the newer homes, the assessments could be a bit low because they don’t always take into account all of the improvements.”
Assessments are a snapshot of market value on July 1 of the previous year. By the time homeowners receive them in early January, they are already six months out of date.
One reason appeals are down may be the amount of...
Balanced real estate market prevailed through much of 2011
REBGV Stats December 2011
The 2011 Greater Vancouver housing market began with heightened demand in regional hot spots and concluded with greater balance between seller supply and buyer demand.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2011 reached 32,390, a 5.9 per cent increase from the 30,595 sales recorded in 2010, and a 9.2 per cent decrease from the 35,669 residential sales in 2009. Last year’s home sale total was 6.3 per cent below the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales in the region.
The number of residential properties listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver increased 2.7 per cent in 2011 to 59,549 compared to the 58,009 properties listed in 2010. Looking back further, last year’s total represents a 12.8 per cent increase compared to the 52,869 residential properties listed in 2009. Last year’s listing total was 11.1 per cent above the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) property listings in the region.
“It was a relatively balanced year for the real estate market in Greater Vancouver with listing totals slightly above historical norms and sale numbers slightly below,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said.
Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,658 in December 2011, a decrease of 12.7 per cent from the 1,899 sales recorded in December 2010 and a 29.7 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 2,360 home sales occurred.
More broadly, last month’s residential sales represent a 34.1 per cent decrease over the 2,515 residential sales in December 2009, a 79.4 per cent increase compared to December 2008’s 924 sales, and a 12.6 per cent decrease compared to the 1,897 sales in December 2007.
The overall residential benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for Greater Vancouver increased 7.6 per cent to $621,674 between Decembers 2010 and 2011. However, prices have decreased 1.5 per cent since hitting a peak of $630,921 in June 2011.
“Our market remained in a balanced state for most of the year, although higher levels of demand for detached properties in the region’s largest communities caused prices in certain areas to rise higher than others,” Setticasi said. “For example, the benchmark price of a single-family detached home experienced double-digit increases in nine areas within the region over the last 12 months.”
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,629 in December 2011. This represents a 4.1 per cent decline compared to the 1,699 units listed in December 2010 and a 49.4 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 3,222 properties were listed.
Sales of detached properties in December 2011 reached 630, a decrease of 18.1 per cent from the 769 detached sales recorded in December 2010, and a 30.2 per cent decrease from the 902 units sold in December 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 11.2 per cent from December 2010 to $887,471.
Sales of apartment properties reached 774 in December 2011, a decline of 4.6 per cent compared to the 811 sales in December 2010, and a decrease of 32.9 per cent compared to the 1,154 sales in December 2009.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.7 per cent from December 2010 to $401,396.
Attached property sales in December 2011 totalled 254, a decline of 20.4 per cent compared to the 319 sales in December 2010, and a 44.7 per cent decrease from the 459 attached properties sold in December 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 4.2 per cent between December 2010 and 2011 to $511,499.
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