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Average Metro price rose 12 per cent to $681,000 in August, compared to the same month last year

Housing sales dropped 35 per cent this August compared to last year, to 5,590 units, according to a report released Tuesday by the B.C. Real Estate Association.

But sales increased seven per cent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to July 2010.

The average price of a B.C. home climbed 3.6 per cent to $487,804 in August compared to the same month last year. “August home sales posted the first month-to-month increase since March of this year,” said BCREA chief economist Cameron Muir in a statement. “Lower mortgage interest rates and an improving labour market are inducing additional consumer demand. The number of new residential listings in the province has fallen 30 per cent since April,” added Muir. “With fewer new listings, total active listings are now on the decline, signalling that an end to the buyers’ market may be on the horizon.”

Year-to-date, B.C. residential sales’ dollar volume has increased eight per cent to $26.9 billion, compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales rose two per cent to 53,717 year-to-date, while the average residential price climbed 10 per cent to $501,226 over the same period…

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Written by: Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun
Date: September 15, 2010

Anyone hoping that the real estate market turned around for the better in August probably won’t want to hear the latest news from Vancouver and Toronto. The real estate boards in each city are among the first to release their monthly sales data, and tend to foreshadow the broader national data that will be released on Sept. 15 by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Here’s what they’re seeing:

SALES

The two cities released their August data late last week, and real estate boards in both cities have conceded that the heady days of the seller’s market are over. In Vancouver, sales were down 36 per cent from August, 2009. In Toronto, sales were 22 per cent lower.

“The prospect of interest rate hikes and new mortgage lending rules prompted some households to purchase a home sooner than they otherwise would have this year. The result has been a larger than normal dip in sales over the summer months,” Toronto Real Estate Board president Bill Johnston said…

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Written by: Steve Ladurantaye for CTV News

Minimalism may be attractive right now, for example, but once upon a time the excessive was attractive

This observation might be challenged by video-game aficionados, but I believe the first video game was Tennis for Two, developed in 1958. The game was played on a laboratory oscilloscope. Today’s kids wouldn’t be caught dead with an oscilloscope sticking out of their backpacks. For real.

Remember the early cellphones? I had one of the first car phones. Man, was that something. The first week I had the phone, I was on it all the time. “Guess where I’m calling you from. Yeah, that’s right, from my car! Can you believe it? Call me back so I can hear it ring.”

My dad, trying to keep up with his cool son, installed a fake car phone in his Pontiac Parisienne, complemented by a fake suction-cup antenna on the trunk. Didn’t fool anyone, bless his soul.

These days, even toddlers have cellphones. And, alas, my new cellphone — which does everything but wash my socks — will likely be obsolete by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.

The same can be said for homes…

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Written by: Peter Simpson, Vancouver Sun
Date: September 11, 2010

A well-written report has been published by the RBC Economics Department. It talks about the recent decline in housing resale activity in the past few months and the speculations of the Canadian market crash. According to the report, while the decline in housing sales is apparent, a market crash is not likely to follow. It is an interesting read and you can find the full report written by Robert Hogue by clicking here.

It was a long, dry summer for Vancouver real estate, especially when compared to the halcyon days of the summer before.

Vancouver real estate sales were down 36 per cent from August 2009, according to the latest monthly report for August from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Prices, however, have stayed strong despite the fact that people aren’t buying like they were just a few months ago. Over the last year, the benchmark price for all Vancouver housing increased from $539,600 to $576,597.

Homeowners may have been reluctant to get with the times and lower their prices, even though the average house currently takes 59 days to sell, according to the Real Estate Board figures. They might have been stuck on the 2007 mindset, when houses sold in mere days, amid bidding wars. Whatever their incentive, there are signs that home sellers are adjusting…

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Written by: Kerry Gold
Date: September 2, 2010

City’s housing affordability problem boils down to too many people on too little land

What drives Vancouver’s house prices so relentlessly to levels four times higher than Winnipeg’s, and more than half again what Torontonians pay?

It’s simple, says Tsur Somerville of UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate.

“If you want Winnipeg-level house prices here, all you have to do is tear down the mountains and fill in the ocean.”

Well, that puts slow or stop to the steady influx of people — though the massive loss of amenities if our landscape were to be suddenly levelled might do that automatically.

“Depending where you draw the circle,” Somerville says, “70 per cent of the land isn’t developable. It’s mountains or water or the United States.”

Then, on top of this insurmountable geographic limitation, add the relentless population growth that, in good years and in bad, ranges from 1.3 to 1.5 per cent a year.

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Written by: Don Cayo
Date: August 21, 2010

Buyer’s market improves opportunities at bottom of ladder; HST threshold unlikely to create stumbling block for real estate newbies

Real estate pundits are starting to announce -albeit somewhat apologetically, in some cases -that the Metro Vancouver real estate market is now leaning away from sellers in favour of buyers.

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a buyer’s market. If market balance and sharper pricing allow more folks to climb on to the property ladder, bring it on. And history teaches us market conditions in Lotus Land-by-the-Sea can shift quickly. The buyer’s market might be short-lived, a summer fling.

I have also noticed that real estate organizations believe the HST has caused some confusion among homebuyers, perhaps stalling their purchase decisions. These organizations want consumers to know there is no HST on resale homes. Hmm, I wonder if this messaging, given the increase in listings, is aimed at steering buyers to resale homes. That tactic would be way too obvious, wouldn’t it?

That would be like me promoting, say, the many benefits of a brand new home: superior design and leading-edge technology, enhanced building and fire codes, energy-efficiency upgrades, health-related features, competitive pricing and the strongest warranty in North America. I would never do that…

Written by: Peter Simpson
Date: August 14, 2010

Strong mainland interest in global real estate is boosting housing prices and house-hunting activities near and far.

And Vancouver has been the biggest gainer in this race for prime overseas housing over the past few years, as the Canadian city is among the favorites of Chinese big spenders.

“Chinese buyers have at least doubled or even tripled in the last five or six years,” said Vancouver realty agent Geoff Chiu. “The origin has shifted from Hong Kong in the 1990s to the mainland now.”

More than 70 percent of Chinese buyers are from the mainland, compared to less than 20 percent from Hong Kong or Taiwan, Chiu noted.

“Buyers from the mainland don’t hesitate to pay for the properties they want,” he explained, “and prices go up accordingly.”

Britain has also been touched by the trend. “Buyers of our properties are very diversified,” said Alasdair Nicholls, chief officer at British developer Native Land…

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Posted by: Tony Liaw from The Standard
Date: August 09, 2010