As part of British Columbia’s 150th anniversary, the provincial government has given the City of Vancouver $10 million to transform the 40 block area, anchored by the Woodward’s redevelopment project, into the social centres they historically were.

We are told to imagine artist-designed community gardens in Oppenheimer Park and to envision the empty store fronts up and down East Hastings St displaying cutting-edge pieces from some of the city’s finest visual artists.

These are apparently just a few of the changes that may be coming to our inner city.

The $10 million is to cover a three-year restoration period, beginning in 2008, for historic neighbourhoods like Gastown, Downtown Granville, Chinatown, Japantown and Strathcona.

This fund is to also cover street-cleaning, repairing windows and awnings, graffiti removal, erecting banners and murals, new street lighting and other general maintenance.

The program sounds good but will it bare any fruit … we are still waiting for the long planned Carroll St greenbelt to come to Gastown.

When placing your property on the market a realistic list price is essential.

I attribute the increase in new listings to developers, in greater numbers than previously, placing their properties on the MLS®, investors listing properties that lack appeal because they are encumbered by long term rental leases and LISTINGS THAT ARE OVER PRICED.

What I see is over priced listings becoming stale while accurately priced listings sell quickly, many receiving multiple offers and selling for more than list price.

Buyers are no longer panicked and are taking their time to make a sound decision before committing to a purchase.

This changing dynamic is simply a necessary adjustment in the market place.

If you are considering selling your property call me for current and accurate market information. Together we will establish a list price which will result in a profitable sale.

If you are considering buying property call me, I will negotiate a profitable purchase on your behalf.

Pricing your property right is critical.

An adjustment in the market place is positive as it offers Buyers more time to consider their purchase and it encourages Sellers to be realistic.

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FROM THE REAL ESTATE BOARD OF GREATER VANCOUVER PRESS RELEASE

New listings outpace sales to start the spring cycle

VANCOUVER, B.C. - May 2, 2008 - An influx of new listings entered the Greater Vancouver housing market in April 2008, while residential sales reduced slightly compared to the same period a year ago.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totaled 3,218 in April 2008, a decline of five per cent from the 3,387 sales recorded in April 2007, and a 3.8 per cent drop from the 3,345 sales in April 2006.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties increased 25.6 per cent to 7,010 in April 2008 compared to April 2007, when 5,580 new units were listed.

“Residential sales continue to be strong, but there is a lot more choice on the market today. This is good news for a market that has been defined by record-breaking activity for most of this decade,” said REBGV president, Dave Watt.

“Despite this seeming re-balance between sales and listings, it took, on average, six fewer days to sell a home in Greater Vancouver compared to the previous year, with a days on market average of 33 in April this year,” said Watt.

Sales of detached properties declined 7.8 per cent to 1,293 from the 1,403 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2007. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLS Link Housing Price Index®, for detached properties rose 11 per cent from April 2007 to $771,321.

Think City, in partnership with The Centre for City Ecology, is celebrating the legacy of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs.

On May 3rd & 4th a series of free walking tours, called Jane’s Walks, will be held in various neighbourhoods throughout the city.
Guided by locals, each guide will highlight the people, places, and public spaces that make their particular community interesting and unique.

The Central Waterfront & Gastown tour will be guided by Robert Gillispie and myself.

We will meet at Waterfront Station (601 West Cordova) by the statue of the Fallen Soldier on Sunday May 4th at 1:00 pm. Our tour will be approximately 90 minutes long.

Beginning at Waterfront Station, we will walk along Water St. east to Cambie, then south to Hastings.

Heading east on Hastings we will pass the Woodward’s site on our way to Carroll St. where we will go north to the intersection of Carroll and Alexander St.

Proceeding east along Alexander we will walk over the Main St. overpass to Crab Park and continue west along Front St. back to Waterfront Station.

Features to view on the tour will include historical buildings and alleys, upscale shops and leading edge restaurants.

We will stop at 55 Alexander where we will show you a panoramic view of the Port of Vancouver, the Central Waterfront and Crab Park.

Discussions will cover the history of Gastown and the current city planner’s ability to allow Gastown to reach it’s potential.

Included in our discussions will be, the Carroll St. green belt, the lack of a plan for the last remaining waterfront in Vancouver, the soccer stadium and its potential hinge on high rise condominium development and no obvious plan for a seawall linking our community to the rest of the city’s waterfront walks.

I am just back from attending a show at the PANTAGES THEATRE.

What an uplifting experience and sense of community!

Who would have thought the run- down structure at 150 East Hastings St. could be revived … some forward thinkers do and a huge movement is underway to do just that.

From the website

It seems to me that Canada stands a good chance to benefit from the financial woes existing in other parts of the world.

Vancouver is globally attractive on many levels and we all know good deals and solid decisions for investment can be made in every market.

Sitting on the fence in Vancouver may not be your best choice.

from The Globe and Mail, April 10, 2008
LORI McLEOD, Real Estate Reporter

There’s no shortage of housing markets that look like bubbles waiting to burst, but economists say Canada has become one of the safer places in the developed world to own residential real estate.

In the aftermath of the global credit crunch Canada is less vulnerable to a large drop in house prices than any other major advanced economy except Austria, according to the Washington, D.C.-based International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

“I’d be much more worried if I was from Barcelona than if I was from Toronto right now,” said Roberto Cardarelli, senior economist at the IMF. “The dynamics of house prices in Canada are in line with what we would expect based on the fundamentals of the economy.”

Canada and Austria were the only two of 17 countries included in the study in which house prices appeared to be at or lower than where they should have been at the end of the period from 1997 to 2007, Mr. Cardarelli said. His study was based on growth in house prices as a function of macro-economic issues including income growth and interest rates.

For each country in the study, house price growth was modelled as a function of the following: an affordability ratio, growth in disposable income per capita, short and long-term interest rates, credit growth, changes in equity prices and changes in the working age population. The study used data from 1997 to 2007.

A “gap” occurred when house prices were higher or lower than where these economic fundamentals suggested they should be.
Canada is in better shape than many other countries and home prices here aren’t expected to drop this year, said Benjamin Tal, senior economist at CIBC World Markets Inc. But that doesn’t mean home owners should expect, or want, to see the big gains of past years, Mr. Tal said.

“If we see continued double-digit price growth in Canada over the next two or three years then we would enter bubble territory, but this is unlikely,” Mr. Tal said. “I believe this spring, for the first time in seven years, there will not be a sellers’ market in Canada.”

In the first quarter of 2008, home prices rose in every major Canadian market except Edmonton, according to recent data from Royal LePage Real Estate Services. The average price of a detached bungalow was $336,836, up 8.3 per cent from the year before. Two-storey homes rose 7.1 per cent to $400,647 and standard condo units by 6.9 per cent to $240,423.

Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom fared the worst in the IMF study, with house prices at the end of 2007 sitting about 30 per cent higher than what economic fundamentals would suggest. House prices have already started to fall in Ireland and the U.K., and other vulnerable countries identified by the study include France, Spain and Norway.

A decline in interest rates is part of the reason Canadian home prices haven’t shot past the country’s economic fundamentals, Mr. Cardarelli said. Canada was also in the bottom five countries in the study in terms of real house price growth over the past 10 years, he added.

The U.S. came out better than many countries in the study, but that was partly because a correction was already under way there and this was captured by last year’s data.

Fewer speculators and more conservative lending practices have helped protect Canada from a big housing market downturn like that in the U.S. and some European markets, said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

“There’s been a real market for flipping homes [in those countries]. We just haven’t seen that develop at all in Toronto or even out West, where we have seen big increases in house prices,” Ms. Cooper said.

In 2004, the U.S. was in the same state of “equilibrium” Canada is now in, but blew it when banks started providing exotic mortgages, creating an artificial demand for houses, Mr. Tal said.

Canadians should take this lesson to heart when considering products such as longer amortization mortgages and those with lower down payments, which add flexibility to the market but shouldn’t be abused, Mr. Tal said.

“Remember that things were fine there [in the U.S.] in 2004. Then rates went up, and bankers with imagination created this bubble,” he said.

In Toronto- a four bedroom detached home on a 51- by 93-foot lot.

In Dublin- a four bedroom semi-detached home in Clonsilla.

In London- a three bedroom 1930’s property in Neasden, England.

In Barcelona- an apartment.

from The Globe and Mail, April 10, 2008
LORI McLEOD, Real Estate Reporter

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Athough only four cities are compared, I find these are telling statistics.

To commemorate our 95th anniversary and to give something back to communities where we live and work, we are campaigning to raise $95,000 for women’s shelters and violence prevention.

Throughout the month of May, Royal LePage REALTORS® are being asked to make a $95 commission donation from a house that is sold or closes in May, or by pledging $9.50 from each housing sale during the 2008 calendar year.

On average, healthy year-over-year house price gains were recorded during the first three months of 2008. While more modest price increases were observed when compared to previous quarters, the solid appreciations noted in the first quarter are largely due to the shared effects of resilient local economies, high immigration levels, and relatively low interest rates – all leading to enduring buyer demand, according to a House Price Survey report released on April 3 by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

House prices in Vancouver continued to climb during the first quarter of 2008 due to strong local and international buyer demand. In Vancouver, the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games has added extra fervor to the already strong economy. The city’s high employment levels and relatively low cost of borrowing money continues to attract an in-flux of buyers to the market. While affordability in Vancouver appears to be decreasing, current rising wages and relatively low interest rates enable buyers to enter the housing market.

IMPACT AN EVENT FOR CHANGE! The gala night is set to happen at 5:30pm on April 15, 2008 at Birks (Granville and Hastings).

An anticipated 500 people will gather at the historic Birks building in downtown Vancouver for this exciting live and silent auction featuring fine artwork, jewelry, trips and more. Attendees will also learn more about Dress for Success Vancouver and the vital difference it has made in the lives of so many Lower Mainland women. Indulge, mingle, drink and big, in support of this worthy cause.

Dress for Success (www.dressforsuccess.org) is a registered charity that helps low-income women make tailored transitions into the workforce. Each Dress for Success client receives her first suit to interview and her second when she gets the job. The Dress for Success Professional Women’s Group program then provides ongoing support to help the client build a successful career. The suits symbolize Dress for Success’ faith in every woman’s ability to succeed.