Charlie Kiers

Tracking home prices in today's market?

Are housing prices trending up or down? The state of home prices in Greater Vancouver is a much discussed topic at the moment. Last month several organizations issued reports examining the current and future direction of home prices in our market.     The BCREA Fall Housing Forecast recently reported that average home prices for residential properties, meaning detached, townhome and condo units, in Greater Vancouver are expected to increase three per cent this year compared to 2007. On the heels of this release, the Canada Mortgage and Housing

We are holding a Buyers Seminar on Saturday october 25 at 2:00. Location is Britannia Community Centre 1661 Napier Street in East Vancouver, just off Commercial Drive. This will be informative for 1st time Buyers, Investors and anyone wanting to know the in and outs of buying in todays market.

Did you know??? Canada ... Is the 2nd largest country in the world, 9,971,000km of land Is the 9th biggest economy of the world Is the 5th largest energy producer Is the 8th biggest trader Has the 4th lowest population density in the world Housing-related spending in 2006 accounted for just under one-fifth of total economic activity in Canada at $275 billion dollars Has the world’s longest coastline Has more lakes than the rest of the world combined (approx. 2 million) Has nearly one quarter of all fresh water in the world Has one tenth of the world’s forests Comes from the Native Indian word ‘kanata’ meaning ‘village’ Is home

The public www.mls.ca web site will officially change its name to www.REALTOR.ca on Monday June 30th, 2008.

 Year after year, Vancouver continues to post average to above-average increases in property values. A two-storey home is already nearing $650,000 — 35% above the average price of a comparable home in Toronto and almost twice as expensive as the national average this year. That’s good if you already own a rental property, but not so good if you’re looking to enter the market as either a landlord or a homeowner. Still, Vancouver continues to be a strong seller’s market, with solid employment growth last year backing it up. RBC is predicting a 7% gain in home prices this year.

 

Source: Canadadian Business

  elly Sinoski

Vancouver Sun

Sunday, April 06, 2008

CREDIT: Steve Bosch/Vancouver Sun

A busker on Commercial Drive in Vancouver.

VANCOUVER - House prices in Vancouver's Commercial Drive area have tripled in the past decade, drawing yuppies to the now-million-dollar homes, yet some of the grittier problems in the city's vibrant urban village remain.

Homeless people sleep in alcoves. Crack dealers deal openly on street corners. On the periphery

   

Canada's current housing boom is the strongest and longest in the country's history, and is still "remarkably buoyant," says Adrienne Warren, chief economist at Scotiabank. Despite the housing downturn in the United States, last year Canada set an all-time record for resale home sales. Most economists don't think 2008 will match those levels, but the market continues to be healthy across the country.

"Between 1998 and 2007, average inflation-adjusted home prices have soared some 65 per cent, easily besting the 32 to 65 per cent appreciation of the prior three housing cycles of the 1960s, 1970s

Even if now doesn't seem to be the ideal time to sell your home, you can take heart in knowing that small actions may make a difference in getting your home sold. "Scentmosphere" isn't exactly new but it is rapidly becoming a way to attempt to attract buyers. "When buyers walk into a house before they actually see anything in that house, because they breathe, they are smelling. So they are actually getting an impression, whether it's conscious or subconscious, of your home -- just by the way it smells," says Rick Ruffolo, senior vice president of brand, marketing, and innovation for Yankee Candle Company. So, right now take a deep

CMHC Jan 09, 2008 OTTAWA, January 9, 2008 — Housing starts in 2007 are estimated at 229,600, surpassing 2006 starts, and reaching their second highest level in nearly two decades. However, the seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of housing starts in December decreased to 187,500 units from November's 233,300 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). “Growth in 2007 housing starts was driven by low mortgage rates, solid employment, income growth and a high level of consumer confidence, said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Even with the weakness in residential construction in December,

  From the Westender

By Mary Frances Hill

Just a few blocks north from the Pantages, at Commercial near Frances, stands the York Theatre (for the last decade renamed the Raja Cinema), where Tom Durrie is struggling with a restoration problem of a different sort. Durrie has been instrumental in organizing to save the York Theatre space since the 1980s. With only a few months left before the new owner, Vintage Developments, plans to break ground for new townhouses on the site, he, with the Save The York Theatre Task Force, is on a deadline to save it.

“The City is aware of the interest in preserving this theatre,