Fears that the Cambie Bridge could be used as a launching point for terrorist attacks led to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Village site being moved a few blocks east, says the head of a city advisory group.

“The real logic is to move the athlete’s village away from the bridge for security purposes,” John Irwin, co-ordinator of the Southeast False Creek Working Group, said yesterday.

“It was really close to Cambie. Now the thinking is . . . it would be far enough away from the bridge that it would be hard to do something crazy.”

The village was originally in a strip of buildings along First Avenue but the latest plan puts it in a central cluster.

Irwin, who has been working on the community group since 1996, said security was one of the reasons given to him yesterday by city planners for the move.

“The logic, unfortunately, boils down to the whole problem with the Olympics itself and that is, ‘How do you stage world events in an increasingly unstable world?'” added Irwin.

He said he’s attended meetings where there’s been talk of private homes across from the Olympic Village having their windows boarded up while the Games are on.

“So security is going to become the bane of 2010,” he added.

Bruce Maitland, the city’s director of real estate, said the 600-unit Olympic village was moved to make it a more compact core for the $167-million overall development of the industrial lands.

Maitland admitted that the proximity to the Cambie Bridge would have become a security issue, but added, “We hadn’t talked to the security people when we moved it.”

The Olympic Village will be leased to organizers for the Games for $30 million and then turned over for market and low-cost housing.

Maitland said plans for the village won’t be finalized until the official development plan is approved by council.

There are major issues surrounding security for the Games, said Coun. Jim Green.

“By the time the Olympics get here, Vancouver will have 100,000 people living downtown, and they’re from all over the world,” he said. “We’ll have security issues in the heart of our city, which is residential, and that’s going to be a real problem.”

John Furlong, Olympic organizing committee CEO, wouldn’t comment on security concerns with regards to the village, saying it’s part of ongoing planning.

“Securing the venues and the village is a priority for us,” he said.

Rene Fasel, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s co-ordination commission, said he hadn’t heard of plans to move the village.

Last month Vancouver officials admitted they may have to move the $68-million speed-skating oval from SFU

due to cost overruns and geotechnical problems.

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Greater Vancouver‘s real estate market is still sizzling.

Fuelled by a hot condo market, sales increased almost 20 per cent in May over May 2003, according to real-estate statistics released yesterday.

“There is still a huge pent up demand for real estate in Greater Vancouver,” said Andrew Peck, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. “It’s still a very hot market.”

Sales rose to 3,918 in May compared to 3,279 in May 2003.

The condo market is particularly hot, with sales increasing 45.9 per cent in May to 1,767 sales, compared to 1,211 in May 2003.

“Everything that came on the market is being sold,” said Peck.

“As long as we’ve got continued low interest rates, I don’t think anybody is expecting the market is going to take a tumble at all.

“There ain’t a bubble.

“The things that make a bubble market is huge speculative investment. This market has been fuelled by young couples that are buying their first property and moving into it. It is not speculative the way it was before.”

Low interest rates are “the biggest thing” driving the upsurge, said Peck.

“We’re still very positive about the market [and] I can’t see anything changing for the foreseeable future.”

The market is so active because there’s not enough finished inventory, said realtor Bob Rennie of Rennie Marketing Systems.

“Some inventory would be welcome to keep the market at a nice level pace,” he said.

“The sellers are seeing real confidence in the market.

“And nowhere like Vancouver is the condominium so socially acceptable. In a lot of cities, when you live in a condo, it means you’ve gone broke or you’re going through a divorce. Here in Vancouver, it’s socially acceptable. We value our time.”

Sales and prices are also up in the Fraser Valley.

The average price of a single-family home in the Valley last month increased by 20 per cent to $356,865 over May of last year.

Townhouses rose 13.5 per cent to $217,064. Apartments went up 11.8 per cent to $142,605.

Since 1999, the average price of a single-family detached home has increased nearly 40 per cent in the Valley.

“No question, the market is active,” said Moss Moloney, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

“The steady price increases we’ve seen over the last three years are very welcome to sellers . . . who are seeing some great returns on their investment.”

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– – –

MAY HOUSE PRICES

MEDIAN SELLING PRICES Detached homes Attached homes Apartments

May 2004 May 2003 % change May 2004 May 2003 % change May 2004 May 2003 % change

Abbotsford $285,268 $239,900 18.9% $180,000 $154,000 16.9% $108,000 $84,900 27.2%

Burnaby $478,000 $380,000 25.8% $282,000 $238,109 18.4% $193,900 $155,000 25.1%

Coquitlam $425,000 $355,000 19.7% $288,000 $235,000 22.6% $172,000 $140,000 22.9%

Delta North $332,000 $258,000 28.7% $205,000 $205,000 0.0% $172,000 $66,000 160.6%

Delta South $412,500 $365,500 12.9% n/a $365,500 $183,900 n/a n/a

Langley $345,000 $286,400 20.5% $220,500 $190,700 15.6% $131,000 $117,000 12.0%

Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows $330,000 $275,000 20.0% $187,500 $169,000 10.9% $120,250 $169,000 -28.8%

Mission $229,900 $189,000 21.6% $110,000 $150,000 -26.7% $95,000 $129,500 -26.6%

New Westminster $379,000 $290,000 30.7% n/a n/a $157,000 $119,000 31.9%

North Vancouver $610,000 $475,000 28.4% $364,900 $318,500 14.6% $239,000 $188,000 27.1%

Port Coquitlam $356,000 $297,000 19.9% $220,000 $214,000 2.8% $126,000 $100,000 26.0%

Port Moody/Belcarra $445,000 $376,000 18.4% $214,000 $183,000 16.9% n/a n/a n/a

Richmond $438,000 $364,000 20.3% $280,000 $232,000 20.7% $188,000 $149,000 26.2%

Squamish n/a $282,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Surrey $364,000 $280,000 30.0% $216,000 $185,000 16.8% $132,500 $114,000 16.2%

Vancouver East $414,000 $333,000 24.3% $292,000 $248,000 17.7% $171,000 $131,000 30.5%

Vancouver West $765,000 $675,000 13.3% $405,350 $383,000 5.8% $285,900 $213,500 33.9%

West Vancouver/Howe Sound $1,007,000 $695,000 44.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a

White Rock $514,000 $404,000 27.2% $271,500 $256,000 6.1% $189,000 $159,900 18.2%

Sources: Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Helena Tam, at the sales centre of the Magnolia tower where she purchased a penthouse apartment. CREDIT: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun

Condominium sales continued to drive Greater Vancouver’s sizzling real estate market in May, when 1,767 units sold at a record average price of $256,800, breaking the previous mark set in April by $2,200.

Overall, a total of 3,918 detached houses, townhomes and condos changed hands last month through the Multiple Listing Service, a year-over-year rise of 19.5 per cent from 3,279 properties sold the previous May.

Last month’s average detached price of $530,300 and the average townhome price of $306,100 remained virtually unchanged from the record levels, also established in April, of $532,500 and $306,100 respectively.

The 1,767 condos sold in May represented a 46 per cent increase over 1,211 sales the previous year. On Vancouver‘s west side and downtown — the Lower Mainland’s hottest condo market — 799 units were snapped up last month, up 60 per cent from 499 units a year ago.

The west side and downtown’s average condo price hit $329,300 in May — unchanged from the record level set in April — and was up 36 per cent from $242,000 the previous May.

Other hot spots for condo sales last month included Vancouver‘s east side, Burnaby and Richmond.

This past Saturday, purchasers lined up for a block for the opening of a new 18-storey condo tower in Richmond, called Magnolia. By Sunday, 70 of the 135 available units were sold at prices ranging from $189,900 for a 690-square-foot one-bedroom unit, to $480,000 for a 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom-and-den penthouse.

Among the buyers was Richmond resident Helena Tam, who purchased one of the penthouses.

“I’ve always dreamed of owning a penthouse,” said Tam, an entrepreneur who emigrated from Hong Kong nine years ago with her husband, Winston.

“And I think there is much more security living in a highrise building. I’ve had bad experiences living in a house. We were broken into twice.”

Magnolia’s listing realtor Jason Craik said Tuesday he has never seen real-estate buying frenzy like this outside the Vancouver core.

“We’re used to this kind of excitement in Yaletown, but not in the suburbs,” said Craik, co-owner of Vancouver-based McNeil and Craik Real Estate Solutions.

“We actually had buyers standing in the rain to avoid missing the deal this [past] weekend.”

Earlier, Craik’s marketing firm sold all 255 units, totalling $70 million, in the first two buildings of the three-phase residential project, called Hamptons Park, being built by Cressey Development Corp.

“We sold out the first two towers within a couple of months each, but neither of them got off to a start like Magnolia,” Craik said.

Last month’s bright spots in Greater Vancouver for detached sales included Burnaby, Richmond and Maple Ridge. Among townhomes, sales were brisk in Vancouver east, Burnaby and North Vancouver.

“There is still a huge pent-up demand for real estate in Greater Vancouver,” said Andrew Peck, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. “It remains a hot, hot market.”

In the six Fraser Valley communities, a total of 1,935 homes sold on the MLS last month, up 19.4 per cent from 1,621 sales in May 2003.

Detached properties in the valley sold at an average price of $356,900 in May, a 20.4-per-cent increase from $296,400. Townhomes fetched an average of $217,100, up 13.5 per cent from $191,200, and condos averaged $142,600, up 11.8 per cent from $127,500.

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REAL ESTATE BOOM:

Highlights from May’s real estate sales figures:

Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows:

Condo sales up 106.7%

Burnaby:

Condo sales up 81.3%

South Delta:

Condo sales up 71.4%

Vancouver West:

Condo sales up 60.1%

East Vancouver:

Condo sales up 53.4%

Burnaby:

Sales of detached homes up 20.6%

Coquitlam:

Sales of attached homes up 59.3%

East Vancouver

Sales of attached homes up 50%

Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows

Sales of attached homes up 29.8%

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Homeowners who might otherwise love to see the value of their Lower Mainland properties soar may sour at the thought of tax notices arriving right about now.

Assessed values are climbing, skyrocketing in some cases. And, even though the nominal tax rates might dip downward as councils recognize that they can’t raise taxes as fast as house prices rise, the bottom line on most tax notices is still getting more onerous every year.

But keep smiling. It could be worse — and I’d argue that perhaps it should be. We homeowners have friends in both high and low places, and, thanks to a long-standing provision of the B.C. property tax system, they’ll team up to help us handle these nasty tax bills once again.

Our friend in high places is a provincial government that seems — for political reasons that are easy to understand — content to maintain and even bolster a 47-year-old subsidy that homeowners have come to love and rely on.

Your friends in low places are all the many renters who, along with businesses and a relative handful of rich property owners, must help you pay your tax bill whether they want to or not.

Now you might think that renters, who are by no means always poor but who nonetheless often can’t afford to buy a home in today’s super-heated Lower Mainland market, would be a whole lot less fond of a policy that has them paying someone else’s taxes. And you might think they’d squawk pretty loud.

Judging from their usual silence on the matter, however, I can only assume that most of them don’t notice. Because there are surprisingly few voices raised against this policy which says, in effect, that people who can’t afford to own a home must chip in to help pay the taxes of most of us who can.

The annual provincial grants soften the property tax bite to the tune of up to $470 (and up to $275 more for seniors, disabled people and veterans) for all British Columbia homeowners, except for the 4.5 per cent whose property is assessed at more than $632,000.

These handouts have been around since 1957, untouched by administrations of sharply different political stripes, no doubt because they’re both popular with the people who get them, and helpful to those who are stretched too tight by big mortgages.

But the policy isn’t fair.

Simply put, Victoria must tax all of us — the rich and the poor — to give the grants to those of us who already have enough money to own our homes.

It’s true, as the grants’ defenders like to point out, that homeowners’ tax money also goes into the pool that pays the money out. But not a cent of it goes back to people who don’t own property. That makes it discriminatory.

Meanwhile, those of us who are lucky enough to already own property in the red-hot Lower Mainland market are seeing the value of our assets soar, thus widening the gap between those who have and those who’d like to.

Homeowners, who will see the grants spelled out on their property tax bills when they arrive in the mail any day now, are a much more cohesive lobby group than renters, who aren’t ever told they’re being stuck with an unfair tax burden. So it would no doubt be political suicide for the Campbell Liberals to suddenly pull the plug on these grants.

Indeed, the government upped the threshold of assessed value at which they start to be clawed back. Where once it was $525,000, now it’s $585,000, meaning that the grant is not completely phased out until a property is worth $632,000 for most taxpayers, or $659,000 for a senior or disabled citizen.

If the government’s interest was tax fairness, not political points with a powerful group of voters, it would be tweaking the grants in the other direction. It would at least start to phase out a policy that simply isn’t defensible under any measure of sound tax policy. People who don’t own their own homes shouldn’t have to pick up the tax tab for people who do. It’s as simple as that.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004