Thursday, February 16, 2012 Property sales dip in Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley, climb in rest of B.C.by Keith Vines on Thu, Feb, 16, 2012 05:08 PM
While home sales in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley dipped at the start of 2012, other regions across B.C. heated up, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association.
Photograph by: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER -- While home sales in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley dipped at the start of 2012, other regions across B.C. heated up, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association.
The number of houses sold in the Vancouver region through Multiple Listing Service was down 13.4 per cent in January from the same month last year, the industry group said Wednesday.
In addition, the average price of a Vancouver home declined slightly, from $762,562 in January 2011 to $752,380 this year — a difference of 1.3 per cent.
In the Fraser Valley, sales dipped by 3.1 per cent during the same time period. However, prices rose 6.4 per cent from an average of $441,544 last year to $469,635 in 2012.
Meanwhile, B.C.’s northwest and northeast regions, Kamloops and Victoria saw sales gains of more than 10 per cent.
The biggest jump occurred in B.C.’s northwest region, where the average house price increased 14.2 per cent — from $214,357 to $244,872 — in the 12 months from January 2011.
Powell River, with an average price of $209,636, recorded the least expensive homes in the province — a figure down 1.2 per cent ($212,078) over January 2011.
Cameron Muir, chief economist with the BCREA, said consumer demand driven by low mortgage interest rates saw modest improvements in January from a year ago, despite a decline in provincial sales activity.
Across Canada, home sales were down 4.5 per cent in January from the same month one year earlier, while the number of newly listed homes edged down 1.4 per cent.
“This marks the first monthly decline in national activity since August 2011 and the biggest monthly decline since July 2010,” the Canadian Real Estate Association stated.
“The monthly decline reversed a string of monthly increases over the closing months of last year, and returned national activity to where it stood at the end of the third quarter of 2011.
January’s sales declines were led by Greater Toronto and Montreal, as well as a softening in other major centres such as Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa.
Still, unadjusted sales last month were up four per cent from January 2011 and were even with the five- and 10-year averages for January sales, it said.
“The national housing market is stabilizing and remains well balanced,” said CREA president Gary Morse.
“That said, forecasts for economic and job growth going forward vary widely for different parts of the country, suggesting a possible continuation of a softening trend in some markets, as well as the potential that demand will pick up based on strong fundamentals in others.”
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Vancouver: North America's most expensive cityby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 15, 2012 07:58 PM
Vancouver overtook U.S. cities to become the most expensive in North America, ranked 37th in the world.
Photograph by: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun
CANBERRA - Zurich has topped Tokyo to become the world's most expensive city, as surging currencies push up the cost of living in countries like Switzerland and Australia, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Vancouver overtook U.S. cities to become the most expensive in North America, ranked 37th in the world. Los Angeles was the most expensive U.S. city - equal 42nd with Shanghai - while New York came in 47th.
The Swiss Franc's allure as a safe haven for investors moving their funds out of Euro zone nations propelled Zurich to the top spot from fifth last year, while Geneva came in third.
Five Australian cities made it into the top 20, led by Sydney and Melbourne in seventh and eighth places, according to The Worldwide Cost of Living survey, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Exchange rates have been the greatest influence for the Australian cost of living, with the Australian dollar seeing its value to the U.S. dollar double in a decade," said survey editor Jon Copestake in a statement.
The survey of 130 cities worldwide compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products, including food, clothing, transport, rents and private schools.
Asian cities moved up the ranking, with Singapore gaining one place to 9th spot and Seoul climbing nine places to 27th.
Asia was also home to some of the cheapest cities. Three of the four cheapest were in the Indian subcontinent: New Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Karachi in Pakistan, which was the cheapest of cities surveyed.
Reporting By Maggie Lu YueYang; Editing by Richard Pullin
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Richmond population grown by 9 per centby Keith Vines on Thu, Feb, 9, 2012 09:24 PM
Richmond’s population grew by 9.2 per cent between 2006 and 2011.
Photograph by: submitted, for Richmond News
British Columbia's population continues to grow rapidly, with new residents preferring urban metropolitan areas rather than rural centres.
And while Metro Vancouver is still taking its share of the growth, Squamish and Chilliwack metropolitan areas saw the biggest gains in population between 2006 and 2011, according to Statistics Canada.
Richmond’s population has grown by 9.2 per cent in that time. The city’s population now stands at 190,473, which means 1,473.5 people living per square kilometre.
The latest Census figures show B.C.'s population increased by seven per cent between 2006-2011, pushing the population to 4.4 million, and making B.C. the second fastest growing province next to Alberta. The Western provinces welcomed 30.7 per cent of Canada's population growth for the five-year period, for the first time surpassing that of the Atlantic provinces and Quebec combined (306 per cent).
Canada's population grew by 5.9 per cent in the five-year period to 33.5 million. The growth credited to the rise to immigrants, is the highest of the G8 nations.
In B.C., the Squamish metropolitan area posted the strongest growth at 14. 6 per cent, followed by Chilliwack at 11.9 per cent and Kelowna at 10 per cent and Metro Vancouver at 9.6 per cent. On the other end of the scale, Prince Rupert and Williams Lake were among the cities with the biggest population declines.
Peter Liang, a spokesman for Statistics Canada, noted the populations are different for individual cities. Langford, near Victoria, for instance, posted the strongest population gain at 30.1 per cent, followed by Lake Country in Kelowna, Port Moody (19.9 per cent) and Surrey at 18.6 per cent. Pitt Meadows was at 13.5 per cent, while cities like New Westminster, Burnaby, Langley, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge saw a 10-12 per cent increase.
The city of Vancouver's growth rate was at 4.4 per cent - with most of the new population settling downtown, Mt. Pleasant and Fairview.
Meanwhile, some areas of Surrey, Langley and Port Moody and Coquitlam posted population growth of more than 100 per cent between 2006 and 2011 , according to the results. In Surrey's Clayton area, the population more than tripled from 4,132 to 14,034, while a section of Port Moody saw its population grow from 1,276 to 3,684 since 2006.
Read more: http://www.richmond-news.com/Richmond+population+grown+cent/6121263/story.html#ixzz1lvEqlq8L
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Task force on affordable housing cuts across real estate sectorsby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 8, 2012 10:50 PM
Developers, academics, operators to work at producing interim report by March 12
By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has drawn deeply on all sectors of the housing industry to represent his new "housing affordability task force" in the hope of finding realistic solutions to the city's housing problems.
From developers and builders to academics, housing finance groups and operators of not-for-profit housing, the 14 members will assist the mayor and co-chair Olga Ilich to try to find ways to soften the effects of the city's systemic housing afford-ability crisis.
They will prepare an interim report by March 12, which will then be opened for public consultation. A final report is due June 30.
Robertson announced the task force in December as his first order of business after his Vision Vancouver council was returned with a majority in the civic election.
At the time he said Vancouver faced extraordinary challenges in creating affordable housing and he wanted the task force to look at ways to both protect existing housing and to create more. The city has a 10-year housing and homeless strategy of creating 38,000 new affordable homes, including 5,000 new purpose-built rentals and 20,000 new housing units.
Over the years, successive councils have grappled with the seemingly intractable problem of stimulating affordable housing without destabilizing the existing stock. In the 1980s, as rental buildings once seen as stable stock were torn down to fuel the strata development industry, the Gordon Campbell administration brought in restrictions on demolitions and also set aside city land in an ill-fated effort to create purpose-built rental units.
Subsequent councils also brought in bylaws restricting the rate of change in neighbourhoods, and also further limited the conditions under which landlords could apply for demolition permits as developers continued to try to gentrify low-income areas.
But with Vancouver remaining one of the most expensive places to live in the world and facing geographical constraints in where it can build, finding affordable housing remains a barrier to the city's economic and social growth, Robertson said.
On Monday, he announced the list of volunteers who will sit on the task force. In addition, Michael Geller, an architect, planner and former president of Simon Fraser's UniverCity project, will chair a separate working group that will examine "how the form and design of new housing affects affordability," the mayor said.
"Vancouver must be a city where our children can afford to live and raise their families. This is not a simple challenge but it is one that we have to address," Robertson said in an emailed statement.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 LEGO Super Bowl Stadiumby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 1, 2012 02:48 PM
An awesome Lego scale model of Lucas Oil Stadium was unveiled at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis today. It took designer Brian Alano three years and 30,000 pieces to construct. The working video screens are an impressive touch.
1.Alano dusts off his masterpiece
(AP / ...)
3.Actual Lucas Oil Stadium
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Len Barrie gets the bootby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 1, 2012 02:29 PM
Globe and Mail, January 27, 2012
Len Barrie was finally kicked out of his opulent mansion near Victoria.
HSBC Canada, which had mortgages on the 12,500-square-foot house for more than $14-million, finally had to resort to a court order to remove Barrie from the property on Thursday. The bank was supposed to take over the house on Jan. 16 but Barrie and his family were still living there, which prompted the bank to obtain a court order evicting the former co-owner of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s one of those things,” Barrie told CHEK television in Victoria. “It’s disappointing but you move on. Now there’s some closure.
“We finally settled everything with the bank. It’s been three years and everything’s settled.”
Even if everything is settled with HSBC Canada, Barrie is still facing legal problems on a number fronts related to the collapse of the Bear Mountain golf resort and real-estate development in the fall of 2010. Barrie was in charge of the development, which went into bankruptcy protection after its debts grew to more than $300-million. Most of that money was owed to HSBC, which took over the development.
Barrie is the subject of a criminal investigation by the RCMP’s commercial-crime unit on Vancouver Island as the result of a complaint filed by Sean Burke, a former NHL player. Burke is one of 18 current and former NHL players who lost a total of more than $13-million when Bear Mountain went into bankruptcy.
In addition to numerous civil lawsuits related to Bear Mountain, Barrie is also facing one from The Bellagio, an upscale casino and hotel in Las Vegas. The Bellagio wants $2.2-million in unpaid casino credits, interest and legal fees.
Barrie’s former house is on Skirt Mountain, which overlooks Victoria. As shown in this report from CHEK News, it is a spectacular property with six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and an amazing swimming pool.
The Victoria Times Colonist reported the house is now assessed at $8.49-million and is up for sale. The asking price was recently lowered from $13.9-million to $9.99-million.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Bankers and Brokers may be in agreementby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 1, 2012 02:23 PM
A new survey suggests Canadian bankers may be less concerned about mortgage credit risk than they were two years ago or, indeed, the government is now, given speculation it will again tinker with the country’s mortgage rules.
While credit risk topped the list of concerns for Canadian bankers participating in the 2010 Banking Banana Skins survey – produced by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation in association with PwC – it fell to fifth place in this year’s polling.
More pressing concerns for Canadian respondents were macro-economic risk, liquidity and regulation, with the availability of capital also moving up ahead of any risk associated with their mortgage and consumer loan portfolios.
The survey results lend support to brokers and others who continue to challenge the need for additional tightening of mortgage rules.
The new survey suggests there are other risks to contend with, more specifically thoes from Europe.
“While Canada may be better prepared to handle some of these risks, the issues are intertwined with the global banking system,” says John MacKinlay, national leader of the Financial Services Consulting practice for PwC in Canada. “Everyone is concerned about contagion from more troubled economies, particular in the U.S. and Europe.”
What bankers in this country are less concerned about is the ability of Canadians to manage their mortgage and other consumer debt. That’s even with the real possibility of recession and a resulting correction in housing prices, mostl likely in the condo market.
The survey results may help quiet concerns that the government is now preparing to introduce more changes to mortgage rules, including axing the 30-year amortization for default-insured mortgages.
Both mortgage and consumer credit debt spiked in the third quarter of last year, increasing to $1 trillion and $448 billion, respectively, according to a StatsCan. Those individual debt levels increased even as personal disposable income remained unchanged.
In December, top bankers were among the first to sound the alarm about those new national debt numbers, little more than a month before this recent survey suggesting bankers see little risk of a spike in defaults.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Vancouver condo market on watch list as real estate balloon deflatesby Keith Vines on Wed, Feb, 1, 2012 02:20 PM
Vancouver Sun, January 31, 2012
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 income, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg under freedom of information law request from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
“Non-income qualified” lending has been added to a list of issues to be considered by OSFI’s “emerging-risk committee,” Bloomberg reported the documents showing.
Pastrick disputes this finding.
“We’re not subprime, not by a long shot,” he said.
Lenders in Canada have “credible lending criteria and standards.” And while lenders will lower rates to grab market share “credit isn’t easy like it was in the U.S.,” he said.
Somerville believes the problem is with home equity lines of credit which have become more popular over the year and don’t always require income verification.
Not only are lines of credit given out without the same level of super-vision or the same standard of care that is applied to mortgages, they are also junior in seniority to mortgages, Somerville said.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Catch-up loans make sense if you have RRSP roomby Keith Vines on Wed, Jan, 25, 2012 01:13 PM
By Jonathan Chevreau, Financial Post
It was front page news recently when BMO's five-year mortgage rates dipped below 3% for the first time in its 190-year history. other banks followed with similarly sweet deals: RBC offered a four-year special 2.99% fixed-rate mortgage and a 3.99% rate on a seven-year term.
When a week later the Bank of Canada held the line on interest rates, it should have been clear these historically good times for indebted homeowners may continue for some time.
But is it an equally auspicious time to borrow to maximize retirement savings plans?
RRSP "top-up loans" are available for up to $22,000 to maximize this year's contribution, for those who lack the cash. The idea is to repay a big chunk of it with the resulting tax refund come April, then pay off the rest over the next six months, in time to start the cycle again a year from now.
But there's a bigger opportunity if you're among the many Canadians with tens of thousands of dollars in unused RRSP contribution room built up over previous years. Consider "catching up" with RRSP catch-up loans.
Most banks will happily lend good customers $50,000 or even $100,000 for the noble purpose of padding retirement accounts.
Unlike borrowing for non-registered (taxable) portfolios, interest on rrSP loans is not tax deductible. But if you believe the combination of reasonable stock valuations and low interest rates is compelling, it's worth considering. Even if you contribute the whole amount you don't have to deduct it all this year: you may want to deduct some of the contribution in future years if you're in a higher tax bracket.
Apart from the large tax refund RRSP catch-up loans may generate, there is potential for this investment to grow over time. Uncertainty in financial markets has kept a lid on stock prices. Financial educator Talbot Stevens says data since 1956 shows that when the Canadian market is down at least 10% one year, as in 2011, it often rises more than that the next. Borrowing to invest is safer when markets are down. But if you borrow for your RRSP, avoid the temptation to spend the refund: pay off the loan and/or re-invest the refund into the following year's RRSP contribution.
Under certain circumstances, RRSP borrowers can get rates al-most as low as their mortgaged counterparts. John Turner, national director of specialized lending for BMO Financial Group, says customers can get RRSP loans with rates as low as its prime rate of 3% if they invest in BMo products. If investing in non-BMO products, it's prime plus half a per cent, or a total 3.5%.
note that these are variable-rate loans so it's not quite analogous to the 5-year fixed rates of 2.99% homeowners are enjoying. "Given this rate and refund environment, most customers are opting for the variable rate," Turner says. It's not a requirement but most pay off their rrSP loans right away, he adds. These loans are fully open, with no restriction on repayments: payments can be bumped up or lump sums can be applied to pay down some or all outstanding balances at any time.
But what if you choose a larger catch-up loan that requires several years to repay? It would be nice to pay only 3% on a variable-rate loan but what if you believe rates will start rising in two or three years? Can you lock in an RRSPloan at a low rate that can be repaid over five years, just like homeowners? Yes, but at BMO the rate is quite a bit higher if it's an unsecured loan: a whopping 9% unless the loan is backed by real estate or non-registered investments. In that case, investors could get the same 2.99% fixed-rate over five years as homeowners.
The problem with straight mortgages is they have less flexibility if reborrowing. An alternative is BMO's HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit), which it calls Homeowner readiLine. This lets you borrow both variable and fixed in a single instrument, which Turner likens to "dollar cost averaging for mortgages."
For small loans of $10,000 or $15,000 to be repaid in two years, Turner says it makes sense to go with variable at prime or prime plus a half. For such a short term, the security of opting for a fixed rate isn't worth it. rates are a bargain currently and the market some-what depressed.
Scotiabank's catch-up loan lets you repay over 15 years and lets you defer three monthly payments. CIBC's RRSP Maximizer Loan lets you borrow over terms of one to five years. At TD Canada Trust, RRSP loans start at prime plus 1% to prime plus 1.5%, says associate vice-president personal lending Shahz Beig.
not everyone is keen on RRSP loans. Jeffrey Schwartz, executive director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Ser-vices of Canada, Inc., thinks Canadians are too responsive to marketing pitches based on ultra-low interest rates.
It's worth noting you may be able to catch up on your RRSP without borrowing, if you also have a non-registered portfolio. You can "transfer-in-kind" securities to an RRSP (or a TFSA), but may have to pay capital gains tax if you have a profit on what the taxman views as a "deemed disposition."
- Jonathan Chevreau is the author of Findependence Day, from findependenceday.com
Thursday, January 19, 2012 Locking in never looked betterby Keith Vines on Thu, Jan, 19, 2012 11:24 AM
Long-term mortgage rates have dropped to the lowest point in Canadian history — and the stampede to lock in is expected to pick up.
Bank of Montreal became the first major Canadian financial institution to bust through 3%, with its 2.99% closed fixed rate mortgage for five years. Others are sure to follow.
If five years isn’t long enough for you, ING Direct has weighed into the current mortgage discussion with a 10-year fixed rate product at 3.89%. The added bonus of going longer than five years is that under Canadian law after half a decade you can break your mortgage for as little as three months’ interest.
TD Canada Trust, which had already lowered rates on six and seven-year fixed rate terms, now has lowered the four-year fixed rate to 2.99%. Farhaneh Haque, director of mortgage advice and real estate-secured lending at the bank, says the argument has never been stronger because there is no guarantee these deals will be available in two years. The two new deals from TD and BMO are limited time offers.
“Buyers have to evaluate if they want to stay in variable,” says Ms. Haque, suggesting even those with deep discounts might want to consider scrapping those deals to take advantage of the historical bargains.
It’s hard to argue against locking in, unless you are one of the lucky people with a variable rate mortgage tied to prime that came with a whopping discount. Some consumers have deals with as much 90 basis points off prime, meaning they are borrowing at 2.1%. That’s not the same as negotiating today when you’re only get 10 basis points off or 2.9%.
“You’ve got a dinosaur, you are living in Jurassic Park with something that doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t get that again,” says Vince Gaetano, a principal broker at Monster Mortgage, who suggests you keep the low rate and use the savings to pay down your mortgage as fast as possible. “You cut your mortgage in half and you don’t care as much what the interest rate is when you renew.”
Mr. Gaetano says keep on eye on some of the new products and stipulations that might include things like prepayment terms and amortizations.
Bank of Montreal’s new product demands you get a 25-year amortization, instead of the maximum 30 years, and will only let you pay 10% per year of the original mortgage amount. TD Canada Trust’s new four-year product will let you prepay 15% while ING Direct goes as high as 25% prepayment
Thursday, January 19, 2012 There’s a flip side to the BMO 2.99% mortgageby Keith Vines on Thu, Jan, 19, 2012 11:22 AM
Ratehub, January 16, 2012
The Bank of Montreal (BMO) made a splash last week with the announcement of its 5-year 2.99% fixed mortgage rate, the lowest in history. This follows months of lenders’ being able to access cheap mortgage funding in the bond market.
If you think 2.99% is too good to be true, you may be on to something. Although borrowers can access 2.99% (aka it’s not a ‘bait and switch’), the mortgage does come with its share of restrictions. The BMO Low-Rate mortgage is what is often referred to as a ‘no frills mortgage’, meaning it comes with a low rate but limited ‘frills’ or add-ons.
A typical mortgage has a rate hold of a few months (60-120 days), generous monthly and lump sum prepayment options (20% is the norm but the monthly allowance can reach 100%), and an amortisation period of up to 30 years.
The BMO Low-Rate 2.99% mortgage falls short of these stipulations.
1. The maximum amortisation period is 25 years. The actual maximum amortisation period on insured mortgages in Canada is 30 years, five years more than offered on the BMO mortgage rate. BMO is spinning this gap as a positive by focusing on the ability of borrowers to be mortgage-free in 25 years. However, this also means you will qualify for less mortgage and limit your affordability.
2. You are granted only 10%/10% prepayment privileges. This is less than with a standard mortgage and means you are limited in how fast you can pay off your mortgage should the desire or ability arise.
3. You cannot skip or double up a payment. An annual ‘skip a payment’ provision is an increasingly common feature with standard mortgages, and provides some flexibility if you are faced with financial hardship at any time over your mortgage term.
4. You cannot refinance or switch your mortgage to another lender for five years. This provision is perhaps the most restrictive because it is not uncommon for borrowers to break their mortgage early. You would want to be certain you are committed to the full five year term and do not expect your circumstances to change.
The BMO rate of 2.99% is undoubtedly very attractive, but beware the fine print. You should evaluate whether the cost savings of a slightly lower mortgage rate outweighs the cost of limited flexibility.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Vancouver has been named one of the “Top 10 Beach Cities in the World” by National Geographicby Keith Vines on Tue, Jan, 17, 2012 12:06 PM
Here’s what the magazine says about Vancouver:
“Canada’s most adventurous metropolis is home to ten beaches, from the family-centric Jericho to the clothing-optional Wreck Beach, many of which offer commanding views of the Vancouver skyline and majestic North Shore Mountains. Sporty types prefer Kitsilano or “Kits,” a six-minute drive from downtown, for its free tennis and basketball courts, and its super-size heated saltwater pool.”
Friday, January 13, 2012 Tech Vancouver park board launches iPhone appby Keith Vines on Fri, Jan, 13, 2012 11:08 AM
Vancouver Parks is a rudimentary app.
|
Looking for info on Vancouver’s parks? There's an app for that.
Vancouver Parks—available free for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad—hit Apple's App Store in December. Released by the Vancouver park board, the app displays city parks on a map and lets you see which ones are near to your location.
You can also browse parks alphabetically, and bring up photos and basic details about each park, such as its address and facilities. For more information, the app links to each park's webpage.
Thursday, January 12, 2012 More gains in Canadian home prices predicted for 2012by Keith Vines on Thu, Jan, 12, 2012 04:19 PM
Canada's housing market will continue to be strong this year real estate brokerage firm Royal LePage said Thursday.
Photograph by: Marcos Townsend, Gazette file photo
OTTAWA — Canada's housing market will continue to be strong this year, with rising property values expected in all major markets, real estate brokerage firm Royal LePage said Thursday.
The company's forecast called for prices across to country to rise 2.8 per cent by the end of 2012, after stronger gains last year.
Even pricey housing markets in Metro Vancouver and Toronto — where standard two-storey homes averaged $1.1 million and $629,188, respectively, in the last quarter — will see continued price appreciation in 2012, though the gain for Metro will be more muted, according to the brokerage firm's forecast.
Metro Vancouver is expected to see its average house price climb 2.3 per cent to $802,000 in 2012, while Toronto is expected to see a 2.6-per-cent jump.
"Widespread calls for a major real estate correction in 2012 simply can't be justified," Royal LePage CEO said in a statement. "The industry has significant momentum entering the year, and buoyed by the stimulative effect of very low interest rates, we expect the market to continue to expand — albeit at a slower pace."
However, Royal LePage said stronger gains will be seen in cities benefiting from commodity-based economies, such as Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg, where price gains will be in the range of four to five per cent.
According to the company, in the fourth quarter of 2011, the average price of a standard two-storey home was $375,427, up 4.2 per cent from a year earlier. The average rate of a detached bungalow was up 6.1 per cent to $344,392, while condominiums gained 3.6 per cent to $234,680.
Statistics Canada reported Thursday that its new housing price index rose 0.3 per cent in November, following on a 0.2 per cent increase in October, and was up 2.5 per cent year-over-year.
Price increases in Toronto, Oshawa and Montreal offset declines in Calgary, Metro Vancouver and the Ontario metropolitan regions of Sudbury and Thunder Bay, the agency said.
In Vancouver, Statistics Canada said some builders offered promotional pricing in order to sell units, which helped push new-home prices 0.3 per cent in November from October, and made the
Builders in the other areas reported lowering prices in order to stimulate sales and remain competitive, while price increases elsewhere were attributed to higher material and labour costs.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has forecast the average price of a listed homes for resale to be $363,900 this year, up 1.2 per cent from 2011. The Canadian Real Estate Association predicted that the average price would be relatively flat at $362,700. Both forecasts were made in November.
By Derek Abma, Postmedia News
Thursday, January 5, 2012 Metro Vancouver real estate growth cooled in 2011 after a hot start: reportby Keith Vines on Thu, Jan, 5, 2012 02:16 PM
Metro Vancouver's housing market cools considerably after starting the year with a bang, according to report.
Photograph by: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun
Metro Vancouver’s 2011 housing market cooled considerably after starting the year with a bang, according to a Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver report released Wednesday.
“2011 started with very strong demand, especially in [Vancouver’s] west side, Richmond and West Vancouver, but then it peaked in June and closed the year with greater balance between sellers’ supply and buyers’ demand,” Greater Vancouver board president Rosario Setticasi said in an interview.
“[Prices] dropped about 1.5 per cent from June to the end of the year. But overall, the benchmark price for all residential properties increased 7.6 per cent for the year.”
According to the report, nine municipalities saw double-digit increases in the benchmark price of a single-family detached home over the last 12 months, with the overall price for all residential properties rising to $621,674 between December 2010 and December 2011.
Although comparisons can change considerably on a month-to-month basis, little Port Moody ended the year with the largest increase in the benchmark price for a single detached home, a 34-per-cent rise from December 2010 to December 2011 to $933,000.
At the other end of the scale was Squamish, where the benchmark price for a single family home dropped 7.3 per cent to $458,000 over the same period.
For single detached homes, Metro Vancouver saw prices increase year-over-year by 11.2 per cent to $887,000, while Vancouver’s west side rose 20.7 per cent to $1.99 million, West Vancouver, 15.8 per cent to $1.69 million, Richmond, 11 per cent to $1.1 million, and North Vancouver, 13.3 per cent to $978,000.
Metro Vancouver apartments rose in price 3.7 per cent to $401,000.
The Greater Vancouver board’s report concluded that total sales of all residential 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 10-year average for sales in the region.
Meanwhile, the Fraser Valley’s real estate market in 2011 was below the 10-year average in property sales and above average in the number of new listings, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.
Fraser Valley board president Sukh Sidhu also said that there was a wide variation in pricing.
“For example, in my community of Abbotsford, sales of single family homes dropped by almost seven per cent compared to 2010, pushing prices down slightly, while in South Surrey/White Rock sales increased year over year by 45 per cent resulting in double-digit price increases.”
The Fraser Valley board processed 15,529 sales in 2011 compared to 14,891 the previous year, while the number of new listings remained about the same — 31,592 in 2011 compared to 31,437 in 2010.
The board said that although 2011 ranks the third slowest year for sales since 2002, it was only 10 per cent less than the 10-year average of 17,210 sales.
In December, the benchmark price of a detached home in the Fraser Valley was $522,998, an increase of 3.3 per cent compared to $506,145 in December 2010.
The trend toward slower price growth is expected to continue in 2012 as more listings temper demand.
“We’re expecting much less price growth this year compared to 2011,” Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst, Metro Vancouver, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said in an interview. “We’re calling for about a two-to-three-per-cent increase in price growth in 2012, close to the rate of inflation.”
Tsur Somerville, director, centre for urban economics and real estate, Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., agreed. “My sense is that flat or little growth [in prices] is likely.”
2012 will also be largely influenced by confidence levels in the global economy, and reduced levels of investment from China or Chinese immigrants, he said.
Somerville said renovations that don’t change the envelope of the home weren’t a major factor in the region’s price growth in 2011.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Housing boom levelling off: reportby Keith Vines on Tue, Jan, 3, 2012 10:00 AM
Canada's real estate market is strong compared with its global counterparts that are struggling, but the boom has lasted longer than in most other countries and shows signs of waning, a Scotiabank report said.
Photograph by: Jason Lee, Reuters Files, Vancouver Sun
Canada's real estate market is strong compared with its global counterparts that are struggling, but the boom has lasted longer than in most other countries and shows signs of waning, a Scotiabank report said.
"The Canadian housing market remains an outperformer among advanced nations, with real home prices up 4.8 per cent year over year in [the third quarter]," Scotiabank's Global Real Estate Trends report said.
"While the sector's continued buoyancy is impressive, monthly data through November suggest prices have levelled off since the spring, with conditions in the majority of local markets in 'balanced' territory."
The report credits "ultralow" interest rates with continuing to attract buyers, while economic uncertainty and some recent slowing in hiring are possible dampers on demand in Canada.
Canada is at the top of the 10 countries included in the Sco-tiabank report.
Five countries - the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Spain and (to a lesser extent) Italy - show average house prices significantly lower than their peak values, while the other five countries - Canada, Australia, France, Sweden and Switzerland - still show average prices at or near record highs. The cycle of rising real home prices is long, lasting on aver-age 12 years, according to the Scotiabank report.
"Italy's boom was the shortest at eight years, while Ire-land and Sweden count 15 years. Canada's ongoing housing boom is in its 13th year," the report states.
Canada's house prices did not rise as steeply as those in other countries, with inflation-adjusted average home prices up 85 per cent since 1998, according to the report.
"Canada's residential real estate boom started several years later than many of its counterparts, with the economy still feeling the effects of the deep recession of the early 1990s and weak labour markets through mid-decade," the report states.
tsherlock@vancouversun.com
Friday, December 30, 2011 CMHC forecasts real estate prices will show more modest growth in 2012by Keith Vines on Fri, Dec, 30, 2011 12:33 PM
After surprising growth in 2011, Greater Vancouver real estate prices will rise just two per cent in 2102, Canada Mortgage and Housing is forecasting.
In 2011, CHMC predicted price growth of just three per cent, tempered by an expectation of higher interest rates, but interest rates stayed low and prices ultimately jumped 16 to 17 per cent.
In 2012, the market will stabilize and show modest growth in line with inflation, said Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst with CMHC in Vancouver.
“I’d say it’s a pretty stable market out there. We’re not expecting to see a lot of change going forward,” Adamache Thursday said in an interview. “We have seen the market moving to more balanced conditions over the past five or six months, and that’s expected to continue.”
She said job growth and migration, including people from within Canada and immigrants, are the factors driving the housing market, and they should continue.
“So far, for the first 11 months of 2011, we’ve seen about 30,000 additional jobs created in the Metro Vancouver area,” Adamache said. “We’re forecasting that we’ll see 35,000 to 40,000 people moving here each year, going forward.”
Not all municipalities saw this kind of growth in housing prices in 2011; the west side of Vancouver and Richmond led the way with 20-per-cent or higher increases for single family homes, while other municipalities and multi-family homes saw lower growth.
For the five years leading up to 2010, the compound annual growth rate in Greater Vancouver for all types of homes was 10 per cent, while the 20-year average was six per cent, Adamache said.
In some areas, such as Maple Ridge, prices of condominiums have not recovered to pre-recession prices, Adamache said.
The average price of a home in Greater Vancouver, including single-family and multi-family homes, for 2011 up to Nov. 30 was $796,000. CMHC is calling for that average to rise to just over $800,000 by the end of 2012.
For November only, the monthly average was down slightly to $736,000, and Adamache said that trend might continue into the first half of 2012.
“I think we will see prices staying fairly flat until later in 2012,” Adamache said.
Across the country, prices were 5.8 per cent higher in 2010, to an average $339,042.
Forty-eight per cent of households in Vancouver own their own homes, while nationally the average is 68 per cent.
In Greater Vancouver, housing starts will see growth of about five per cent in 2012, compared to 12 to 15 per cent in 2011, and the number of houses sold will also increase about nine per cent over 2011, Adamache said.
Meanwhile, CMHC released its 2011 Canadian Housing Observer Thursday, showing that Canadians owed more than a trillion dollars on their mortgages as of March, which when added to other household debt is a “serious issue.”
The CMHC reported that housing-related spending of about $330 billion a year in 2010 has risen by 67 per cent since 2001 and now comprises 20.3 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product in 2010 — which underlines the importance of that debt load, and what might happen to the economy if for any reason Canadians crack under its burden.
CMHC figures show that mortgages made up about 68 per cent of total household debt in 2010 — up from 63 per cent in 1971 but down from the peak of 75 per cent in 1993. Consumer credit, which makes up the other 32 per cent, has been growing faster than mortgage debt over the past two decades, it says.
A breakdown of these numbers for B.C. was not available; however, the report shows that B.C. has a high percentage of mortgage-free homeowners at 47 per cent, a number second only to Cape Breton.
“The major risk in the mortgage market is impairment in a household’s ability to pay, often due to job loss. Recession or other adverse economic scenarios, such as rising interest rates, could certainly pose a challenge for some Canadian households,” the report states.
Canadians’ debt levels have been growing fairly steadily since the 1960s, the report notes, but adds that a number of more recent factors have allowed debt to grow to its current record level, including low interest rates, rising household incomes and financial product innovations, which have allowed Canadians to make lower payments on higher debt loads.
While about 6.5 per cent of Canadian households are financially vulnerable according to Bank of Canada guidelines, the CMHC says continued employment growth, increasing net worth of households and a growing population are all positive factors for housing demand.
By TRACY SHERLOCK and Kim Covert, Vancouver Sun and Postmedia News
Thursday, December 29, 2011 Vancouver rated top Canadian travel destination by U.S. travel agentsby Keith Vines on Thu, Dec, 29, 2011 09:56 AM
Vancouver was chosen as the top Canadian travel destination for the ninth year in a row, in a recent survey of U.S. travel agents
Photograph by: Ric Ernst, PNG
U.S. travel agents chose Vancouver as the top Canadian travel destination for the ninth year in a row.
American travellers are “critically important” to Vancouver’s $4-billion a year tourism industry, representing about 20 per cent of hotel visits and one-quarter of the city’s 8 million overnight visitors, said Stephen Pearce, vice-president of leisure travel and digital marketing at Tourism Vancouver.
“It’s a nearby market with a great potential for repeat visitation,” Pearce said. “They become great fans of Vancouver and ambassadors for us.”
In a sluggish market, we need all the influences we can get, Pearce added.
“If we get travel agents who are fans of Vancouver, they’re playing a very important role for Americans doing travel planning,” Pearce said.
Travel trade publication Travel Weekly announced its Readers Choice Awards — selected by accredited U.S. travel agents — on Dec. 15. The awards are widely recognized as reflecting the professional opinion of travel agents who are not only avid travellers themselves, but also hear feedback every day from thousands of American consumers.
This accolade is a great way for Vancouver to end its 125th birthday celebrations this year, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a news release.
“The city is already renowned for its natural beauty and vibrant culture, and this award shows that we also have some of the best hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in Canada,” Robinson said. “We will continue to build on our world-class reputation in the years to come and ensure that Vancouver remains a favoured destination among travellers worldwide.”
Dayna Miller, Tourism Vancouver’s director of sales, accepted the award in New York.
“These front-line agents can be extremely influential in their clients’ buying decision, and it’s gratifying to know they hold our city in such high esteem,” Miller said when accepting the award.
The Best in Destinations: Canada award is the latest in a list of honours that Vancouver has received over the years; other recent awards include being named one of the world’s most livable cities (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2011) and top city in the Americas (Mercer’s annual Quality of Living survey, 2011), Tourism Vancouver said in a news release.
By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun
Friday, December 23, 2011 Demand for smoke-free housing on the rise in Metro Vancouverby Keith Vines on Fri, Dec, 23, 2011 10:06 AM
Currently, it's nearly impossible to find smoke-free dwellings in Vancouver.
Nonsmoking multi-unit dwellings are next to impossible to find
California’s Sonoma County is going to be the envy of Lower Mainland residents who have to put up with the secondhand smoke of their neighbours.
Starting on May 10 next year, all new multi-unit residences in the county will be smoke-free. Then, as of January 12, 2013, the ban will extend to all existing multiple-dwelling units like apartments and condos.
While Sonoma’s smoking prohibition may appear to be too ambitious for Canadian jurisdictions, a more modest approach could work.
Vision Vancouver’s Tim Stevenson is open to the idea that future multi-unit premises should be completely smoke-free.
“Even the people who smoke say if they try to live together, it’s so much smoke, they’re practically choking to death on each other’s smoke,” Stevenson said in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight.
However, the four-term councillor also noted that he’s concerned about how this measure would impact a certain sector of the city’s population. Having served on the board of the First United Church, he has seen how cigarettes are important to many Downtown Eastside residents dealing with addictions and mental illness.
“To ask them not to smoke or tell them they can’t smoke, they would be faced with the choice of not having living space or being out on the street—or trying to lie,” Stevenson said. “And the problem that that gets into is other residents in the building who don’t smoke report them, and then you get conflict.”
But, outside the Downtown Eastside, Stevenson sees no problem with having new smoke-free residential buildings. According to him, the city doesn’t have a smoking ban in its housing properties.
The proposal of putting in smoking bans in future buildings in Canadian municipalities was among the recommendations made by UBC endocrinologist Stuart Kreisman.
Writing in the October issue of the B.C. Medical Journal, the St. Paul’s Hospital doctor stated that this will help meet the demand for smoke-free homes.
When he was living on the top floor of a condo building in downtown Vancouver, Kreisman had to endure the secondhand smoke wafting up from units below him. He later asked to be transferred to the bottom floor.
“It’s justifiable,” Kreisman told the Straight by phone regarding smoke-free multi-unit dwellings. “You’re not allowed to blast music at 3 a.m. Why are you allowed to put smoke into your neighbour’s home?”
In his BCMJ article “Toward smoke-free multi-unit dwellings”, Kreisman also suggested other measured steps. One is to designate a contiguous portion of existing buildings as smoke-free. Another is to amend the Residential Tenancy Act to tag secondhand smoke as a nuisance, and a violation of the “right to quiet enjoyment”.
Kreisman also proposed that landlords state in leases the smoking status of floors and units in their buildings. He likewise recommended that strata councils and rental-building owners be given incentives to convert their properties into nonsmoking premises.
Despite the demand for smoke-free dwellings, Kreisman said that it is close to impossible to find one in the Greater Vancouver area. Only the Envy and Verdant condominiums in North Vancouver and Burnaby, respectively, are known to have antismoking strata bylaws.
In 2007, Metro Vancouver designated a section of Heather Place, one of its public housing properties, as a no-smoking area. It was supposed to be a pilot project that would be replicated in its other housing buildings. The regional body did not make a spokesperson available to provide an update on this initiative before the Straight’s deadline.
New Westminster councillor Bill Harper anticipates a number of issues arising if smoking is prohibited in multi-unit buildings. One, according to him, is the mobility challenges of many seniors who are smokers.
Harper also told the Straight by phone that he wants to see more of the research into the effects of secondhand smoke, information that Kreisman may perhaps be more than willing to share.
Thursday, December 22, 2011 New baby whale joins pod off Pacific coastby Keith Vines on Thu, Dec, 22, 2011 10:37 AM
The endangered southern resident killer whales have a new calf, bringing the population in the three pods up to 89 animals.
Photograph by: Handout, .
VICTORIA — Whale enthusiasts are celebrating the arrival of a colourful Christmas baby for the endangered southern resident killer whales.
The calf, with characteristic pinky-orange patches, was spotted Saturday in Puget Sound by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers and the birth was confirmed Wednesday.
As the calf had fetal folds when the first photos were taken, it is likely it had been born only hours earlier.
"We are really pleased to have another calf in the population," said administration wildlife biologist Brad Hanson.
"The numbers are slowly creeping up, but they're still a concern. They can drop back down just by losing a couple of animals."
The new calf is the third born in 2011 and brings the population in the three pods, which cruise the coast of southern Vancouver Island and Washington State, to 89 animals.
However, mortality rates for calves can be up to 50 per cent, so everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the J-Pod calf, known as J-48, will make it through the winter.
Odds should be stacked on the side of J-48, said Susan Berta of Orca Network.
Mother is 39-year-old J-16, known as Slick. Her previous four calves have survived.
"The first calf always gets the biggest off-loading of toxic chemicals so this one should be getting pretty clean milk," Berta said.
The reason that later calves do not get so many contaminants is that there is less time for the mother to accumulate toxins from food, Hanson said.
Chinook salmon, the primary food for resident killer whales, are heavily contaminated with pollutants such as PCBs and flame retardants.
Other populations of fish-eating killer whales, such as the northern residents and Alaska populations, are recovering faster than the southern residents and researchers are comparing notes and looking for reasons, Hanson said.
"We're continuing to work on all fronts to figure out what factors contribute to that," he said.
Canada's killer whale recovery plans have pointed to lack of chinook salmon, pollution and noise as major factors.
The historic population of southern resident killer whales is believed to have been about 120 animals. The low was in 1973, when, after decades of hunting and captures, the number fell to 71.
|
| |
Email