Fort Langley waterfront condo development in historic district under fire
While some municipalities like West Vancouver are buying back waterfront for public recreation, Fort Langley residents are fighting to save the community’s last strip of riverfront.
Residents in the Fraser Valley heritage town have come out en masse — packing three nights of public hearings — to oppose a revamped rezoning by ParkLane Homes to build a pair of four-storey condo and townhouse blocks on the river as part of the final phase of the Bedford Landing development.
Demand sparks bump in rental units
Rental apartments are frustratingly difficult for developers to build in Metro Vancouver’s high-priced real estate markets, but builders have started work on more of them in the first half of 2010 than in similar periods over the past five years.
The total number is quite small, 475 compared with 6,881 housing starts overall in Metro Vancouver, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Friday. However, market analyst Robyn Adamache said it reflects that developers may be responding to the city’s demographic needs.
Adamache said the new units are spread across five buildings, which include mixes of market-rental housing, seniors’ housing and other unit types.
Negotiate Your Best House Buy
Buying a home can be emotional, but negotiating the price shouldn’t be. The key to saving money when purchasing a home is sticking to a plan during the turbulence of high-stakes negotiations. A real estate agent who represents you can guide you and offer you advice, but you are the one who must make the final decision during each round of offers and counter offers.
Activity steady to start the summer season
The Greater Vancouver housing market experienced steady activity to begin the summer season. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,972 in June 2010, a decline of 30.2 per cent compared to the 4,259 sales in June 2009, which was the second highest selling June on record.
“Activity in June marked a healthy balance between the near record setting pace of June 2009 and the considerably slower activity witnessed in June 2008, a period of recession as we all know,†Jake Moldowan, REBGV president said.
Grouse Grind: Seek the Peak Relay – Sunday July 4, 2010
Merrell is pleased to present the 7th Annual Seek The Peak Relay raising funds for Rethink Breast Cancer. The challenging 16-kilometer course starts on the beach at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver, winds its way through North Vancouver, then heads up the legendary Grouse Grind® to the Peak of Vancouver.
Wealthy Chinese put house hunting on Vancouver vacation itinerary
Mainland Chinese interest in Metro Vancouver property is so strong that it’s fuelling a market for real estate tourism, with groups of wealthy travellers scheduling visits to the city for the sole purpose of house hunting.
Think tank says many will benefit from HST
Low and middle income families will be better off with the HST according to new research from the Fraser Institute.
The think tank has found famiies making less than 80-thousand dollars a year will pay less tax over-all thanks to the new HST Credit and Provincial Income Tax Reductions.
Study author Niels Veldhuis says the HST won’t even affect when tax freedom day is held next year. “We calculated that the tax freedom day would basically not change as a result of the HST,” he says, “so we’re not going to be working more for government, we’re not going to be paying more taxes. that of course is not to say that tax freedom day is too early.”
In Vancouver, the third wave hits
The economic impact of wealthy buyers from Mainland China has gone all but unnoticed by the average Vancouverite — but it’s no secret to the city’s real estate industry.
New rules, rate hike cool housing market
Existing-home sales fell 9.5% in May from the previous month as Canada’s housing market began to wind down from near-record activity as new mortgage rules had their first full month in effect.
Sales totalled 37,576 on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 41,502 in April, largely because of a decline in purchases in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa, the Canadian Real Estate Association said yesterday. The all-time high is 45,266 in February 2007.