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| For
information about Green Real Estate and how you can make educated environmentally
friendly decisions about your home,
check out my new Green
Living Section for some great Green links. Find out about grants for Green
renovations. GREEN
EVENTS & INFO: Vancouver
Heritage House Tour - June 1st, 2008 The
award winning Heritage House Tour, now in its 6th year, is a one-day self-guided
tour of 10 unique heritage homes in Vancouver. Each year, a different selection
of private homes is opened. Ticket-holders use a 30 page guidebook to read about
each home's history and architecture and to make their way through some of the
city's most fascinating neighbourhoods. 68
houses have opened to over 10,000 visitors in the last 5 years. The
tour has raised over $250,000.00 to fund the VHF’s education and public awareness
programs around Vancouver’s built heritage and has become a sold-out annual
event that you won't want to miss! For
more info & tickets; www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org PRE-TOUR
LECTURE: Tuesday, May 20th at 7:30 pm at the Vancouver Museum"The
Greenest Building is One that is Already Built: Heritage & Sustainability"
Martin
Neilsen, MAIBC, MRAIC, P.Eng, LEED AP
FREE FOR TOUR TICKET HOLDERS (Limited
seats left) - General
public $12 |  |
| | What's
In the News...
February
20, 2008 - First Time Home Buyers’ Program – Thresholds Effective
for registrations after February 20, 2007, the fair market value threshold for
eligible residential property under the First Time Home Buyers' Program is increased
and will apply throughout the province. The new threshold
will be $425,000 which is increased from $375,000 in all areas
of the province. A proportional exemption is provided for eligible residences
that have a fair market value of up to $25,000 above the new threshold. Also,
there is no longer a requirement for 70% financing. Click here for a guide to
the Property
Transfer Tax Exemption. For more information: Government
of BC | | 
Click
Here For Full Story
| The
Vancouver Sun Reports on the 15 Myths & Realities of Vancouver/Lower Mainland's
Real Estate Spring
has sprung and Lower Mainland residents' fancy has turned to real estate. Is
it time to buy or time to sell? What room should you renovate? What needs to be
landscaped? Lower
Mainland residents spend more on real estate than anywhere else in the country,
and generally, are as knowledgeable about the subject as anyone. But how much
do they really know about their homes? The
Vancouver Sun sought to challenge a few of the myths that a lot of people have,
asking the research firm Landcor Data Corp. to put real data to confirming or
dispelling those ideas. We
consulted other experts, from appraisers to realtors and economists to answer
our questions, such as whether renovating your kitchen gives you the best lasting
bang for your buck, and whether the dramatic rise the Lower Mainland has seen
in real estate prices has reached its peak. | | Vancouver
Real Estate Market Update - March 2008( Historical
Statistics for Real Estate Board ) There
is often a lot of confusion, and misinformation about the real estate market in
Vancouver. The media likes to create "news", so often, real estate market
information is given a sensational "breaking news headline" - that perhaps
sometimes misconstrues the facts somewhat. My
attempt with this market update is to give you the facts about what has been happening
in the Vancouver market focusing on the Vancouver West Side and Vancouver East
Side. Remember, if you need an East Vancouver Realtor or someone equally familiar
with the West Side market don't hesitate to call, as I specialize in both West
Side and East Vancouver Real Estate.
| Type
of Property | AREA |
Benchmark
Price* | 1
Year Change % | 3
Year Change % | 5
Year Change % | | | | | | | |
| DETACHED |
East Vancouver | |
10.6% |
52.3% |
100.0% |
| | Vancouver
West | |
16.9% |
67.9% |
119.2% |
| ATTACHED | East
Vancouver | |
13.7% |
61.4% |
113.1% |
| | Vancouver
West |
$711.645 |
9.4% | 43.8% |
113.1% |
| APARTMENT | East
Vancouver | |
14.9% |
72.0% |
126.4% |
| | Vancouver
West | $496,214 |
11.5% |
51.8% |
105.0% |
*BENCHMARK PRICE:
Estimated sale price of a benchmark property. Benchmarks represent a typical property
within each market. Click
on Graph for Full 30 Year Historic Trend. | Housing
market moderates for spring-time buyers
VANCOUVER,
B.C. – April 2, 2008 – The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
(REBGV) reports that while there were fewer housing sales in March 2008 compared
to last year, residential prices continued to climb.
Residential property
sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,997 in March 2008, a decline of 16.3 per
cent from the 3,582 residential sales recorded in March 2007, and a decline of
25.7 per cent compared to the 4,033 sales in March 2006. New listings for detached,
attached and apartment properties increased four per cent to 5,674 in March 2008
compared with March 2007, when 5,456 new units were listed.
“The market
is continuing to balance, with sales and listings beginning to re-align with our
10-year averages,” says REBGV president, Dave Watt. “The selection of
inventory hitting the market is wider than we have seen in the past few years,
which gives prospective buyers more choices.”
Sales of detached properties
declined 20.2 per cent to 1,116 from the 1,399 detached sales recorded during
the same period in 2007. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing
Price Index®, for detached properties rose 12.1 per cent from March 2007 to
$764,616.
Sales of apartment properties in March 2008 declined 10.6 per
cent to 1,370, compared to 1,532 sales in March 2007. The benchmark price of an
apartment property increased 11.5 per cent from March 2007 to $389,609.
Attached
property sales in March 2008 are down 21.5 per cent to 511, compared with the
651 sales in March 2007. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 10.6
per cent between March 2007 and 2008 to $473,543.
Bright spots in Greater
Vancouver in March 2008 compared to March 2007:
Attached:
New
Westminster............................up 142.9 per cent (17 units sold up from
7)
Apartments:
Port Moody/Belcarra......................up 31.6 per
cent (50 units sold up from 38)
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows............up 48.5
per cent (49 units sold up from 33) The
Real Estate industry is a key economic driver in British Columbia. In 2007, 38,050
homes changed hands in the Board’s area generating $1.065 billion in spin-offs.
Total dollar volume of residential sales set a new record at $22.25 billion and
total dollar volume of all sales set a record at $22.77 billion. The Real Estate
Board of Greater Vancouver is an association representing more than 9,500 REALTORS®.
The Real Estate Board provides a variety of membership services, including the
Multiple Listing Service®. For more information on real estate, statistics,
and buying or selling a home, contact a local REALTOR® or visit www.realtylink.org.
*In August 2004, the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley boards upgraded our
existing MLS systems to a common system called MLSLink. MLSLink® HPI is the
latest version of the Board’s Housing Price Index (HPI) and is designed to
accommodate the MLS upgrade and improve the legacy HPI product. For more information
on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home,
www.realtylink.org. Information
provided with permission by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) |
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