BURNABY / NEW WESTMINSTER Dec 16 - Dec 30, 2015 Real Estate Weekly
4
REAL ESTATE WEEKLY BURNABY NEW WESTMINSTER info@rew.ca • 604-435-7977 Watch out for our next issue, published January 6, 2016. Happy Holidays to all our readers and customers! GO TO REW.CA /NEWS TO READ THESE STORIES AND MUCH MORE REAL ESTATE NEWS AND ADVICE Early Warnings Issued Over High-Growth Property Assessments: BC Assessment New Home Price Growth in Vancouver Continues but Slows: StatCan Ask the Expert: Should I Hire a Chinese Listing Agent to Sell my House? WEDNESDAY DEC 16, 2015 - DEC 30, 2015 A s we wrap up the final edition of REW.ca for 2015, it’s time to take a look back at the year in local real estate. Which early pre- dictions came true and which were wildly off the mark? And which real estate stories blew everyone’s mind this year? Here’s a month-by-month breakdown. In January, home prices in Van couver were predicted to see a mod- est 2.8 per cent rise in 2015, accord- ing to a Royal LePage survey (a fore- cast that turned out to be way off the mark, with prices up 18 per cent year over year in November). Later that month, and after predic- tions of rises in 2015, the Bank of Canada surprised everyone by cut- ting its overnight rate to 0.75 per cent in the wake of sliding oil prices. Premier Christy Clark made headlines in February by telling the Surrey Board of Trade that it was the BC government’s plan to scrap the Property Transfer Tax. “It is abso- lutely part of our long-term plan to get rid of it,” Clark said. February also saw some conflict- ing real estate sales forecasts for 2015, with the CMHC predicting that sales across BC would actually drop 5.8 per cent this year. Even RBC’s assertion that home sales in BC would rise 10.5 per cent in 2015 fell far short of reality. One of the hottest March stories was our Frank O’Brien’s coverage of the disparity between prices of homes in West Vancouver and those a 35-minute ferry ride away. The average house in West Vancouver was selling for just over $2 mil- lion, according to March figures, compared with the Sunshine Coast, where the average house was selling for less than $350,000. Splashing across all the local and national media headlines in April was the assertion by Laurence D. Fink, head of the world’s big- gest asset management company BlackRock Inc., that Vancouver con- dos – along with those in London and New York – were a “better invest- ment than gold.” April also saw some of the key brokerages hustling to amend their earlier sales and price forecasts on the back of scorching first-quarter results – including Re/Max, which doubled its annual price rise forecast for Vancouver from three to six per cent in 2015. And they thought that was bullish... A fun lookie-loo story from May was the listing of Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Kitsilano home for $1.8 million ahead of the open-house weekend. The lovely ocean-view duplex was marketed for $223,000 more than the mayor and his then- wife bought it for two years previ- ously. The Vancouver market heated up still further, with the statistics out in May showing sales up 37 per cent year over year in April and the sell- ers’ market firmly in place. June saw a well-read and some- what controversial story about the British Columbia Real Estate Association’s assertion that foreign buyers are having an insignificant impact on Vancouver’s housing mar- ket. Skyrocketing demand and rapid price acceleration is “largely driven by land scarcity and densification policies,” while foreign investment is “insufficient to impact such a large and diverse market.” Reflecting the hot summer weath- er, statistics released in early July revealed June 2015 as the hottest June on record in terms of real estate sales. That was the second-highest sales volume ever recorded, beaten only by May 2005. Prices continued to break records, as they have every month this year, rising in June 10 per cent year over year. Also in July, the year’s second interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada dominated the headlines. REW.ca published a popular story in which finance expert Penelope Graham of RateSupermarket.ca explained what this meant for the economy and the housing market. With many alarmed at the seeming unsustainability of Vancouver real estate price rises, the CMHC reported in August that Vancouver, Victoria and Canada all remain at “low risk” of a significant price correction. And RBC forecast that prices in BC would keep rising across the rest of 2015 and into 2016, but at a slowing rate. However, as of December, there has been no sign of price growth rates slowing... Another hot August story was REW.ca’s feature on families who have made the most of Vancouver’s high prices by selling up to move permanently to their vacation cabin. September saw the much-publi- cized results of the REW.ca reader survey, which was picked up by multiple local TV and radio news shows. One key headline figure was that the Bank of Mom and Dad was enabling 75 per cent of young home buyer respondents with their down payments. Also in September, the Canadian Real Estate Association predict- ed that, by the end of the year, BC would see by far the coun- try’s biggest rise in home sales for the whole of 2015. And a much- hyped report by a CIBC economist asserted that Vancouver was see- ing Canada’s “most asymmetrical” price rises, with detached homes rising at a much faster rate com- pared with condos. The big news of October was of course the election of the new Liberal federal government under Justin Trudeau. The most-read news story of the month was the editorial on Liberal housing poli- cies and how these could affect the Vancouver housing market. Another well-read story cov- ered the sale of the first market- listed home in BC built to passive house standards (although not certified as such). The state-of- the-art property was sold in a sin- gle day at an undisclosed record price for a detached home on a 33-foot lot in East Vancouver’s Renfrew neighbourhood, accord- ing to listing agent the Klein Group. By far November’s most read REW.ca article was a photo gal- lery story showcasing the listing of a luxury West Side home for $12.8 million. REW.ca was given a tour of this magnificent home by the developer Tavan Group, and we just had to share the stun- ning photos. Right at the end of November, local mortgage broker and finance expert Peter Kinch told REW.ca that ahead of the antici- pated US Fed interest rate rise on December 16, Canadian banks have been quietly raising new variable-rate mortgages by 0.5 per cent. As REW.ca went to press in early December, the most-read story is staggering monthly statistics com- ing out of the Fraser Valley – and mirrored in Greater Vancouver – that November saw the highest sales activity for the month in 26 years. On December 11, the new Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced plans to raise the mini- mum down payment on a sliding scale from February 2016. For all these stories and much more, go to REW.ca/News. JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER Looking to BUY or SELL a home? To assist you in making the best decisions, a professional Realtor can provide the most up to date information on the real estate market, price, financing and comparative properties in your area. Find your EXPERT Real Estate professional right here in REW.ca! YEAR IN YEAR IN REVIEW REVIEW
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Since 1978 Real Estate Weekly has been synonymous with outstanding coverage of the Greater Vancouver residential real estate market. Today, published with recycled newsprint from its own high-speed presses in Vancouver, Real Estate Weekly is delivered by British Columbia's largest courier force to over 450,000 homes across the Lower Mainland. A total of 11 separate editions comprise the Real Estate Weekly, each featuring homes for sale, new developments and quality editorial coverage of the housing industry and the communities. Real Estate Weekly, quite simply, lists more homes for sale from more Realtors than any other publication in British Columbia. Real Estate Weekly is the number one source for Lower Mainland residential real estate and the first choice of both homebuyers and Realtors for more than three decades.
Transcript of BURNABY / NEW WESTMINSTER Dec 16 - Dec 30, 2015 Real Estate Weekly
R E A L E S T A T E W E E K L Y
BURNABY NEW WESTMINSTER [email protected] • 604-435-7977
Watch out for our next issue, published January 6, 2016. Happy Holidays to all our readers and customers!
GO TOREW.CA /NEWS
TO READ THESE STORIESAND MUCH MORE REAL ESTATE
NEWS AND ADVICE
Early Warnings Issued Over High-Growth Property
Assessments: BC Assessment
New Home Price Growth in Vancouver Continues but
Slows: StatCan
Ask the Expert: ShouldI Hire a Chinese Listing Agent
to Sell my House?
WEDNESDAY DEC 16, 2015 - DEC 30, 2015
As we wrap up the fi nal edition of REW.ca for 2015, it’s time to take a look back at the year
in local real estate. Which early pre-dictions came true and which were wildly off the mark? And which real estate stories blew everyone’s mind this year? Here’s a month-by-month breakdown.
In January, home prices in Van couver were predicted to see a mod-est 2.8 per cent rise in 2015, accord-ing to a Royal LePage survey (a fore-cast that turned out to be way off the mark, with prices up 18 per cent year over year in November).
Later that month, and after predic-tions of rises in 2015, the Bank of Canada surprised everyone by cut-ting its overnight rate to 0.75 per cent in the wake of sliding oil prices.
Premier Christy Clark made headlines in February by telling the Surrey Board of Trade that it was the BC government’s plan to scrap the Property Transfer Tax. “It is abso-lutely part of our long-term plan to get rid of it,” Clark said.
February also saw some confl ict-ing real estate sales forecasts for 2015, with the CMHC predicting that sales across BC would actually drop 5.8 per cent this year. Even RBC’s assertion that home sales in BC would rise 10.5 per cent in 2015 fell far short of reality.
One of the hottest March stories was our Frank O’Brien’s coverage
of the disparity between prices of homes in West Vancouver and those a 35-minute ferry ride away. The average house in West Vancouver was selling for just over $2 mil-lion, according to March fi gures, compared with the Sunshine Coast, where the average house was selling for less than $350,000.
Splashing across all the local and national media headlines in April was the assertion by Laurence D. Fink, head of the world’s big-gest asset management company BlackRock Inc., that Vancouver con-dos – along with those in London and New York – were a “better invest-ment than gold.”
April also saw some of the key brokerages hustling to amend their earlier sales and price forecasts on the back of scorching fi rst-quarter results – including Re/Max, which doubled its annual price rise forecast for Vancouver from three to six per cent in 2015. And they thought that was bullish...
A fun lookie-loo story from May was the listing of Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Kitsilano home for $1.8 million ahead of the open-house weekend. The lovely ocean-view duplex was marketed for $223,000 more than the mayor and his then-wife bought it for two years previ-ously.
The Vancouver market heated up still further, with the statistics out in May showing sales up 37 per cent year over year in April and the sell-ers’ market fi rmly in place.
June saw a well-read and some-what controversial story about the British Columbia Real Estate Association’s assertion that foreign buyers are having an insignifi cant impact on Vancouver’s housing mar-ket. Skyrocketing demand and rapid price acceleration is “largely driven by land scarcity and densifi cation policies,” while foreign investment is “insuffi cient to impact such a large and diverse market.”
Refl ecting the hot summer weath-er, statistics released in early July revealed June 2015 as the hottest June on record in terms of real estate sales. That was the second-highest sales volume ever recorded, beaten only by May 2005. Prices continued to break records, as they have every month this year, rising in June 10 per cent year over year.
Also in July, the year’s second interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada dominated the headlines. REW.ca published a popular story in which fi nance expert Penelope Graham of RateSupermarket.ca explained what this meant for the economy and the housing market.
With many alarmed at the seeming unsustainability of Vancouver real estate price rises, the CMHC reported in August that Vancouver, Victoria and Canada all remain at “low risk” of a signifi cant price correction. And RBC forecast that prices in BC would keep rising across the rest of 2015 and into 2016, but at a slowing rate.
However, as of December, there has been no sign of price growth rates slowing...
Another hot August story was REW.ca’s feature on families who have made the most of Vancouver’s high prices by selling up to move permanently to their vacation cabin.
September saw the much-publi-cized results of the REW.ca reader survey, which was picked up by multiple local TV and radio news shows. One key headline fi gure was that the Bank of Mom and Dad was enabling 75 per cent of young home buyer respondents with their down payments.
Also in September, the Canadian Real Estate Association predict-ed that, by the end of the year, BC would see by far the coun-try’s biggest rise in home sales for the whole of 2015. And a much-hyped report by a CIBC economist asserted that Vancouver was see-ing Canada’s “most asymmetrical” price rises, with detached homes rising at a much faster rate com-pared with condos.
The big news of October was of course the election of the new Liberal federal government under Justin Trudeau. The most-read news story of the month was the editorial on Liberal housing poli-cies and how these could aff ect the Vancouver housing market.
Another well-read story cov-ered the sale of the fi rst market-listed home in BC built to passive house standards (although not
certifi ed as such). The state-of-the-art property was sold in a sin-gle day at an undisclosed record price for a detached home on a 33-foot lot in East Vancouver’s Renfrew neighbourhood, accord-ing to listing agent the Klein Group.
By far November’s most read REW.ca article was a photo gal-lery story showcasing the listing of a luxury West Side home for $12.8 million. REW.ca was given a tour of this magnifi cent home by the developer Tavan Group, and we just had to share the stun-ning photos.
Right at the end of November, local mortgage broker and fi nance expert Peter Kinch told REW.ca that ahead of the antici-pated US Fed interest rate rise on December 16, Canadian banks have been quietly raising new variable-rate mortgages by 0.5 per cent.
As REW.ca went to press in early December, the most-read story is staggering monthly statistics com-ing out of the Fraser Valley – and mirrored in Greater Vancouver – that November saw the highest sales activity for the month in 26 years.
On December 11, the new Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced plans to raise the mini-mum down payment on a sliding scale from February 2016.
For all these stories and much more, go to REW.ca/News.
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Looking to BUY or SELL a home? To assist you in making the best decisions, a professional Realtor can provide the most
up to date information on the real estate market, price, fi nancing and comparative
properties in your area.
Find your EXPERT Real Estate professional right here in REW.ca!
YEAR INYEAR IN REVIEW REVIEW
•2 REW.ca » BURNABY / NEW WESTMINSTER » WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16, 2015
• 308 SALES AWARDS SINCE 1984 • REBGV LIFE MEMBER WESTCOAST
www. .com
166 Sales so far in 2015!
OUTSTANDING AGENT ... OUTSTANDING RESULTS
BOSAʼS “LA MIRAGE II”801-6055 NELSON AVENUE
$339,800
Well managed & healthy complex. 2008 RAIN-SCREENED; 2005 REPIPED; newer roof, vinyl windows & balcony railings. 908 sq ̓unit featuring EXTRA LARGE MASTER BEDROOM + 11ʼ6”x8 ̓DEN. Spacious kitchen. Semi-ensuite. SOUTH FACING LARGE BALCONY. Perfect for empty nesters or professional couple. One owner since 1990. UNIT IS IN MINT & MOVE-IN CONDITION. Pride of ownership evident thru-out. GREAT VIEW. Secured underground parking, bike storage & EXTRA LARGE LOCKER. Easy to show!
ONE-LEVEL TOWNHOME$379,900
Rarely available one-level townhome in the Villa Montecito. This beautiful home has been cared for by the same owner for over 25 years. Situated in a serene park-like setting, has a spacious interior with updates to the kitchen, fl agstone fl ooring and newer carpets. Huge laundry/storage room, master walk-in closet, and Huge patio give the feeling of a detached house. The complex features an outdoor pool & party room, and is only minutes away from Montecito Elementary.
4-7333 MONTECITO DR.
Happy Happy Holidays!Holidays!
fromfrom The TeamThe Team atat
Centre Realty 604.435.9477
Tony Alves604.889.7008
www.tonyalves.ca • [email protected] [email protected]
Teresa Pang604.617.0189
2565 FRANKLIN ST. • $1,398,000Welcome to this fabulous oversized Vancouver Special on the great location of Hastings & Nanaimo area. A convenient & easy walk to the cafes, shops, restaurants & public transit of trendy Hastings Sunrise area. Very spacious main floor with 3 bdrms, 2 baths, LR & DR combo & large kitchen with eating area that steps out to a huge covered deck of 20x12’, with wonderful water mtn. & downtown views. The ground level bsmt offers a good size 2 BDRM LEGAL SUITE. High ceiling & professionally finished with laundry access, one owner, well minatained home. High efficiency furnace in 08 & torched on roof 06. Move in condition. Don’t miss first showing & open house Sat & Sun 2-4, Dec. 19 & 20.
OPEN HOUSE
SAT. & SUN. 2
-4 PM
103 5000 IMPERIAL ST., METROTOWN $288,000
• Luna, contemporary designed• One bedroom + den• Ground floor with private entrance & private patio• Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, high ceilings• Walking distance of Metrotown,
recreation and transportation• Great opportunity for 1st time buyers or investors• Shows like new• Make your appointment to view before it sells
203-5655 INMAN AVE., BURNABY$358,000
Functional 1 bedroom and den unit with a private deck unit located on a quiet tree lined Inman Ave. Steps from Central Park, Kingsway and Patterson Sky Train Station. High end finishing, 9’ ceiling, stainless steel appliances, quartz kitchen and bath countertops and quality laminate floor. Great opportunity for investors and first time buyers.
1st TIMESHOWING
Merry Christmas & Happy New YearMerry Christmas & Happy New Year
NORM FLOCKHART
604-328-2111
‘THE KING OF KENSINGTON’SOLD IN 2015….
4990 SHERBROOKE STREET1003 EAST 39TH AVENUE1395 EAST 34TH AVENUE
5050 SOMERVILLE STREETPLUS 20 OTHER HOMES
WISHING YOU A HEALTHY,WISHING YOU A HEALTHY,HAPPY & PROSPEROUS 2016!HAPPY & PROSPEROUS 2016! NormNorm
www.normfl ockhart.com
REW.ca » BURNABY / NEW WESTMINSTER » WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16, 2015 3•
8
W E D N E S D A Y , D E C 1 6 , 2 0 1 5 - D E C 3 0 , 2 0 1 5BURNABY • NEW WESTMINSTER
Looking for a newhome? Start here.
R E A L E S T A T E W E E K L Y
I n P r i n t > O n l i n e > Y o u r c o m p r e h e n s i v e s o u r c e f o r l o c a l r e a l e s t a t e n e w s a n d l i s t i n g s
Next issue: January 6, 2016
In wrapping up for the 2015 hol-iday season, it’s always worth taking a glance back over the
year and taking a look at how real estate has fared in our fair region.
Some of you will see the front cover article of this edition is our 2015 Year in Review (depending on which geographical edition you receive) – and for those of you who don’t see it, take a look at REW.ca/News to read the full-length article.
This look back over 2015 reveals what a year it really has been. Early predictions of slowing real estate price rises have been blown out of the water, with not only new record prices being set every month, but also – and more signifi cantly – the percentage rate of year-over-year increases escalating every month. Add to that a dearth of listings and sky-rocketing sales volumes, and
you’ve got one of the busiest real estate years on record.
It was also a year in which hun-dreds of you shared your real es-tate goals and opinions with us in our comprehensive REW.ca reader survey, which revealed the ex-tent to which generational wealth transfer is supporting these high prices to a considerable extent. And it was a year of record-low in-terest rates, another factor that is underwriting the high cost of local housing.
But as with previous recent years, it was the topic of overseas buy-ers that dominated mainstream media headlines when it came to real estate. However, much of the information published and the rhetoric around it did little to fur-ther the discourse or provide help-ful answers, and a great deal of disappointing fi nger-pointing and
blaming has been going on.At this time of year, it’s impor-
tant to take a look at the big pic-ture and understand how lucky we all are to even live in one of the world’s most desirable cities. A city that has been built by immigrants and pioneers from overseas.
With the Lower Mainland begin-ning to welcome the fi rst of hope-fully thousands of Syrian refugees, we at REW.ca deeply hope that our region will demonstrate to these newcomers the principals of hos-pitality and inclusiveness for all of the many creeds and cultures that make up our wonderful, diverse communities.
It looks like 2016 is shaping up to be another fascinating year and REW.ca will be back on January 6 to begin again.
Wishing you all a wonderful hol-iday season and a Happy New Year.
REW.ca would like to wish all our readers and customers a verymerry festive season and a 2016 fi lled with happiness and prosperity
