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FIRST HALF MLS SALES DROP 22%; PRICES RISE 9.6%
Number of B.C. homes sold through MLS, first six months of this year: 42,907
% change from the first six months of last year: -22
Average selling price, first six months of this year: $473,536
% change from the first six months of last year: +9.6
–“Fewer Sales and Large Inventory Cool Housing Market,”
B.C. Real Estate Association news release on Wednesday
REALTORS RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
RE/MAX realtors Sandy So and Patsy Hui are not only in the business of selling homes. They’re also in the business of raising money – for BC Children’s Hospital. So and Hui have been involved with the hospital’s fundraising efforts for more than 10 years, and this year are working to raise $1 million for the hospital’s Campaign for BC Children.
So and Hui have put aside $500,000 and will match up to 50 donations of $10,000 to the campaign. Last month, they reached out to fellow realtors to donate to the cause and are now extending the match challenge to the public in order to make sure that they each donate their full goal of $250,000. The Campaign for BC Children is working towards the construction of a new children’s hospital and is focused on raising $200 million through public donations. For more information, contact philanthropy officer Marcie Mark at 604-875-2857 or [email protected].
ISLAND COMMUNITIES ARE BRAIN MAGNETS
The Vancouver Island communities of Colwood, Langford, View Royal, Esquimalt and Metchosin are “magnet cities,” according to the Conference Board of Canada, meaning by their mountain-and-ocean geography and benign climate they are attractive to knowledge-based industries and workers.
— news release, “Bear Mountain Resort’s village . . . means less driving a car and more time to drive a golf ball”
Metchosin is “a municipality of eccentrics.”
— Tom Henry, Small Farm Canada (Story, K4 – 6)
LOCATING CLOSE TO SHOPS CAN BE A PRUDENT MOVE
Why the household that locates nears shops and services is a prudent household in expensive-fuel times, from a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. newsletter . . .
19: The percentage of trips in a work day attributable to commuting to and from work, according to a 2005 survey done in Ottawa.
35: The percentage of trips attributable to “shopping, leisure, school, pick-up and drop-off and medical reasons.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
