Langley townhomes close to transit, shopping

Simon Briault
The Vancouver Sun

Woodland Park

Project location: 8570 204^th Street, Langley

Project size: 106 townhomes with two, three and four bedrooms;  1,263 — 1,825 square feet; priced from the $400,000s

Developer: Infinity Properties

Architect: RCA – Robert Ciccozzi Architecture

Interior designer: Gannon Ross Designs

Sales centre: #1 — 8670 204th Street

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Telephone: 604-532-6060

Website: http://www.infinityproperties.ca/projects/woodland-park/overview/

Occupancy: summer 2016 – summer 2017

Units at the new Woodland Park townhome development in Langley have been selling robustly and Tim Bontkes, owner of developer Infinity Properties, believes location is a big reason why.

“We’ve already sold the first four of our five releases, which was unexpected and wasn’t exactly our plan,” he said. “But we had people lining up for hours in the rain and I wanted to offer them a home to buy. People were still coming in and making buying decisions at 9.30 at night.”

“It’s not just the market hype that’s going on in Metro Vancouver right now,” Bontkes added. “I think people are very excited about the location.”

Woodland Park is just south of the Trans Canada Highway, close to the Yorkson Creek trail system and within walking distance of shops and amenities. Major commuter and transit routes are within easy reach. This includes the Carvolth Exchange, a large bus loop and park and ride facility serving the northern part of Langley.

It’s a neighbourhood that Jennifer Calbick, who has bought a Woodland Park home with her husband, knows well.

“My husband and I are renting a condo in the same neighbourhood,” she said. “We were looking for a bigger place because we just got married and are planning to start a family in the next two years or so.”

“We were familiar with Infinity because they had previously built a row of townhouses in our neighbourhood that we really liked, although we weren’t in a position to buy at that point,” Calbick added. “We have family that live close by and we like that it’s in a quieter spot, but still within walking distance to the shops.”

But according to Bontkes, it’s not just location that’s driving sales at Woodland Park. He believes that the townhome format is surging in popularity, so much so that “townhomes have become the new single-family [home].”

“The price gap between condos and single-family housing is really driving the interest in townhomes right now,” said Bontkes. “On top of that, downsizers definitely don’t want to have to worry about the upkeep involved in a single-family home. And even young families these days are often so busy they really appreciate a situation where that stuff is all taken care of. I think the attitudes of that demographic have definitely changed.”

“Typically, our buyers are more attentive than they used to be,” Bontkes added. “First-time buyers tend to be a little less picky, but the move-up buyers and the downsizers especially are looking very carefully at what they’re getting. That means the specifications we use and the fit and feel of the site itself in terms of things like walkability, open spaces and parking, are becoming extremely important.”

Bontkes was keen to point out that Woodland Park homes are all supplied with gas, allowing for gas-powered appliances and furnaces that provide forced-air heating, an important feature for many buyers who are downsizing from single-family homes.

Kitchens at Woodland Park feature stainless steel appliances by Whirlpool, including five-burner gas ranges and convection ovens, refrigerators with bottom-mount freezer drawers and dishwashers with ProWash Cycles. There are Venmar chimney-style stainless steel range hoods, polished quartz countertops and tile backsplashes.

The bathrooms have tiled floors and bath/shower surrounds, tempered glass shower doors and single-lever, polished chrome faucets and shower heads by Grohe. There are also under-mount or drop-in sinks, high-efficiency elongated toilets by Sterling and (in select homes) main-floor powder rooms. All homes have nine-foot-high ceilings on the main floors, laminate wood flooring and flat-stock wood baseboards and door casings.

Infinity has already sold 87 out of a total of 106 homes at Woodland Park and Bontkes said that the strong market allowed them to provide buyers with flexibility in their purchasing decisions.

“In a slow market, developers will often not take the risk of selling homes at the end of their site in case the market slows down,” he explained. “You might want to hold off on those units. But because the market is so strong right now, we were able to release homes throughout our site. That means people can get every type of unit with a choice of move-in dates, depending on their situation. People really appreciated that flexibility.”

Bontkes said that the breakdown of buyers so far has been approximately 50 per cent first-time buyers, 45 per cent downsizers or upgraders and five per cent investors.

“This was the first development we were really serious about and we were happy to get in,” said Calbick. “We’ll be moving in June 2017 and we’re super excited to start making the place our own.”

The last phase of Woodland Park homes will be going on sale soon, with prices between the low $400,000s and the high $600,000s. Final completion is scheduled for August 2017.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

A NEW TWIST IN REAL ESTATE

Carla Wilson
The Vancouver Sun

A Rockland mansion built in 1910 is going up for live auction in what is an unusual method to sell a house in Greater Victoria.

“We think we are going to have a nice crowd of people there,” said agent Andy Stephenson of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.

Anyone interested in the Samuel Maclure-designed strata property can view it in daily open houses from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The open houses began this week and continue until auction day, June 22. A professional auctioneer will take bids that day, Stephenson said.

An undisclosed reserve price has been set for the property.

The home is being marketed through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service, at $1.998 million, with a two per cent commission to an agent representing a buyer.

Contract details for the updated 7,200-square-foot house are set out beforehand. Possession is July 29. The only item to be filled in is the price, to be determined at auction. The decision to sell through an auction came from the property owners, who are originally from Australia where homes are often sold this way, Stephenson said Sotheby’s also offers auction services.

Mike Nugent, president of the Victoria Real Estate Board, said he is not aware of any home auctions taking place in Victoria in the past. But he noted auctions are common in other countries such as Ireland and England.

Stephenson, who has represented buyers at house auctions in Calgary, called the Rockland event “a good trial to see if there is an appetite for it.” The property is being marketed internationally, he said.

In Greater Victoria’s hot housing market, properties are increasingly changing hands after bids are accepted on a set date and time once the home has been on the market for several days. Sale prices have been tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond asking prices.

The Rockland house is known as Grierson Mansion. Contractor E.D. Grierson lived in the house from 1910 to 1922, according to the Victoria Heritage Foundation, which describes it as a “stunning example of the British arts and crafts tudor revival.”

It has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, re-leaded stained glass windows and a 32-foot-long ballroom. There’s a billiards and media room, 2,000-bottle wine cellar, mahogany panelled walls and ornate fireplace. Maclure also designed the garden.

The home was originally built on one acre, which has since been strata-titled with other homes built on the original site. The house is used as a single-family property, but consists of two strata titles, meaning that a buyer could divide it, subject to approvals, Stephenson said.

Much of the furniture has been removed to give visitors the chance to view the house and its features as a gallery to highlight Maclure’s work, Stephenson said. Storyboards illustrate its history.

Maclure was a prolific architect in the early part of the last century, designing several stately homes as well as Hatley Castle in Colwood and the Temple Building downtown.

Pianists will play a Bechstein concert grand piano in the ballroom during the open houses.

Bidders must register in advance for the June 22 auction, which starts at 5 p.m. in the ballroom of the house, at 906 Pemberton Rd. A $100,000 bank draft will be due from the successful bidder.

Greater Victoria’s luxury housing market has increased in strength year-over-year, said a Sotheby’s report released this month.

In the first five months of this year, a total of 388 single-family houses priced at $1 million and more were sold, up from 114 houses in that price category in the same months in 2015, it said.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Limited supply has prices soaring

Garry Marr
The Vancouver Sun

You may not want to hear this, but the reality of today’s housing market is that young people need to kiss the dream of owning a single family detached home goodbye. It’s over.

If you live outside the metro areas of Toronto and Vancouver, you’re probably tired of all the whining — this doesn’t even apply to you — and if you own a detached home in Calgary, you wish likely someone would just buy your house, because the market is stagnating.

Prices were up about 30 per cent in Vancouver in May from a year ago and 16 per cent in Toronto during the same period, putting pressure on Ottawa to “do something.”

Bank chief executives are weighing in, calling for action to restrict borrowing, and would-be homeowners, egged on by anecdotal media reports, seem to perceive all can be fixed by just limiting foreign ownership of homes.

Missing is discussion of whether government policy, which has restricted development and constrained supply, is part of the reason elevated prices exist in both Vancouver and Toronto.

Builders have been discussing it for years. But this week the federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau waded into the issue and suggested that, maybe, among the many other issues, it’s not all about demand.

“We have supply issues,” Morneau said during the Canada Summit conference, held in Toronto Wednesday. “There’s 5.5 families for every single detached home in Vancouver. There’s 1.8 families across the country for every single detached home.”

Afterwards, talking to reporters, he hinted more broadly that perhaps some of the responsibility for the state of housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto may lie at another government level.

“I think, as you’ll recognize, the housing market is one where we have to work together with provinces and municipalities. That’s an ongoing consideration for us. We wouldn’t want to talk about actions without ensuring that we’ve fully considered all the evidence and all of the drivers. That’s the stage we’re at,” said Morneau, whose government is also looking at other factors including foreign ownership.

Good for him. The supply side of the housing equation is mostly ignored by both municipal and provincial governments — even though they are at least partially responsible for prices today.

The Toronto-based Building and Land Industry Association says the gap between a high-rise condo and low-rise home has never been wider, with the average new detached home in the Greater Toronto Area now $1,059,263. Toronto’s Greenbelt — land around the city that can’t be developed — is actually set to grow and with it more price disparity.

Single family house hunters now travel as far as Niagara Falls for a dream home that includes a 90 minute commute to the city on a good day. Concerns about a glut of condos in Toronto seemed to have faded as even at $1,000 per square foot, they seem like a viable option to commuting.

“What we are seeing is rapid price growth, it’s in single detached homes and that’s because we are not building them,” said Craig Alexander, vice-president of economic analysis at the C.D. Howe Institute. He added that the latest housing start numbers show we are building two multiples for every detached home, and that’s a national ratio.

We can have low density or low prices, we are not entitled to both

Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets, says Toronto is simply 10 years behind Vancouver because Canada’s largest city didn’t put in its greenbelt restriction until 2006.

The situation in Vancouver has been exacerbated by a lack of rental accommodation, which has created a stock that is mostly 50-plus years old, says David Goodman, a principal at HQ Real Estate Services. “It takes two and half years to get the approval process before you can even build,” Goodman said, adding the vacancy rate in the city has dipped to a “preposterous” 0.6 per cent.

Government policies are finally coming back to haunt his city, says Bob Rennie, a marketing specialist known locally in Vancouver as the “condo king.” He says Vancouver is 56 per cent zoned for single family, leaving not much room for high-rise development.

“We can have low density or low prices, we are not entitled to both,” said Rennie, adding that 193,000 out of Vancouver’s 657,000 homes are owned clear title by those aged 55 or over; one in 11 are owned by people over age 75.

The problem with these restrictive land policies in both Vancouver and Toronto is they confer a benefit on people who got in there first. Everybody else: you’re too late.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

VEGAS POWER COUPLE NOW VANCOUVERITES

MIA STAINSBY
The Vancouver Sun

In Las Vegas, you don’t see the names Elizabeth Blau and Kim Canteenwalla without them being linked to the words “power couple.”

Blau, founder and CEO of restaurant development company Blau & Associates, works with heavy hitter Vegas hotels and restaurants. Canteenwalla weighs in with culinary muscle and a record of successful restaurants.

They’ll soon be names in Vancouver, in charge of food and beverage for the $600 million Parq Vancouver development, adjacent to B.C. Place. It opens in the fall of 2017 and will be the largest private development in B.C. with two luxury hotels (JW Marriott and The Douglas with a combined 517 rooms), eight restaurants and bars, a casino and 62,000 square feet of conference space.

The couple are setting roots in the city and have an apartment on Georgia Street and their young son will be attending school here.

“We’ve been working on it for about five years now and it’s a labour of love for us. There’s an incredible bounty here and as visitors, it’s been extraordinary. We’ve loved embracing the restaurant scene for five years as research and now, it’s coming to fruition,” said Blau in a phone interview.

“I always knew Vancouver was a great foodie city, famous for seafood and Chinese food but I never thought I was going to develop an obsessive compulsion for chicken wings at Phnom Penh. And we fell in love with Vij’s. Kim’s heritage is Indian and Parsi. His family left India when he was five or six,” she says. (Canteenwalla grew up in Montreal.)

David Hawksworth’s food, she feels, is brilliant.

“While he’s not as famous as Jean Georges, he competes equally at that level. Then there’s Pidgin, I’ve eaten there a half dozen times. The food is so creative without being overdone. The last time I was in town, I went to Juniper and the female chef (Sarah Stewart) puts her own spin on things. Some were really fun and there were glimpses of brilliance.”

Brau has worked with Las Vegas hotel giant Stephen Wynn on his property jewels, including the luxurious $1.6 billion Bellagio Hotel, where she took the culture of celebrity chefs to a whole new level, installing Todd English, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Michael Mina, Nancy Silverston and Sirio Maccioni in the one hotel.

There were 27 food and beverage outlets to plan, says Blau, who was vice-president of restaurant development for Wynn’s Mirage Resorts.  She also worked on Wynn Las Vegas, a $2.7 billion resort shepherding 22 dining, bar, lounge and nightclub venues for the property. She’s also been involved with New York’s Rainbow Room, Celebrity Cruises and Trump Casino.

Preparing for the Vancouver project, the couple has visited local producers and spent a week in the Okanagan.

“We must have visited a dozen farms, as well as wineries. We had the most extraordinary meal at Mission Hill Winery. Granville Island Public Market, for my husband, is paradise.”

The flagship restaurant at Parq Vancouver will be a fine dining Chinese restaurant, similar to Wing Lei at Wynn Hotel.

“It will sit overlooking a beautiful park area,” she said. There’ll also be a market, “inspired by the Singapore night markets rather than a food court. It’ll be an area with all kinds of southeast Asian foods.”

Other venues include a whisky and tea lounge, an artisan coffee bar, a cocktail lounge with an outdoor terrace, and a bar in the casino.

And, following the success of their Las Vegas farm-to-table restaurant Honey Salt (in the Summerlin neighbourhood), there will likely be another in Vancouver. The couple also are partners with television star Buddy Valastro (Cake Boss) and operate Buddy V’s Ristorante in the Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip and run Made L.V., an American tavern.

At Honey Salt, the food is delicious, temptingly plated and family-friendly. I was impressed with the elevated, fresh flavours of familiar comfort dishes, including a scrumptious beet salad and killer blueberry lemon ricotta bread pudding.

“The inspiration for Honey Salt came from how we entertain at home and on vacation,” says Blau. “Our food is ingredient driven and travel inspires us. We always rent houses on vacation and spend a great deal of time finding that perfect bakery.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

‘Talk down’ of hot housing market futile: Analysts

PETER O?NEIL
The Province

The Bank of Canada’s bid on Thursday to “talk down” Vancouver’s skyrocketing housing market will likely fail, say B.C. economists.

In an unusual move, Governor Stephen Poloz warns in a report that soaring housing prices in Toronto and especially Vancouver are unsustainable and that a “correction” is possible if the economy falters.

Poloz also says the surge appears to be driven in the two markets on the assumption by buyers that the recent, staggering increases will continue.

The benchmark price for a detached home in Metro Vancouver soared to more than $1.5 million in March, 37 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The governor is engaged in an age-old practice by central bank leaders of using words rather than action to temper enthusiasm, said B.C. Central 1 Credit Union chief economist Helmut Pastrick and B.C. Business Council chief economist Ken Peacock.

But that warning, and government hints of possible policy changes to deal with the impact of deep-pocketed foreign investors, won’t likely frighten determined buyers, they said.

“I don’t see the market cooling any time soon,” said Pastrick, though he agreed that annual increases in the 20- to 30-per-cent range are unsustainable.

But he said only a major recession would, as Poloz acknowledged, cause a significant market “correction” that would move prices south, according to Pastrick.

Peacock said the central bank is hoping to avoid a real estate “bubble” that could cause serious economic damage if it bursts. One of the key elements of a bubble — purchases made solely on the assumption price surges will continue — is clearly driving many purchases, he said.

Like Pastrick, he said it will take more than a Bank of Canada press release to contain the speculative frenzy in many Metro Vancouver markets.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, warned Thursday that the affordability crisis in Toronto and Vancouver is a “drag” on the national economy.

“Rising home prices, uncertainty around being able to buy your first home or upgrade as you want to grow a family, is a real drag on our economy and a real drag on Canadians’ opportunities,” the prime minister said.

The government has been studying data on the dynamics driving higher prices, but Trudeau cautioned that Ottawa is limited in its options in areas like foreign investment.

“When you talk about federal government action we have such heavy levers that impact the entire country; we have to be very careful about how we engage,” he said.

There is still a need, he said, to attract foreign investment to create jobs and boost economic growth across the country.

n his twice-a-year assessment of the health of Canada’s financial system, Poloz says economic fundamentals — strong growth and a steady inflow of migrants from the rest of Canada and overseas — aren’t strong enough to support continued sharp price increases in the two cities.

The report warns that these trends raise “the possibility that prices may be supported by self-reinforcing expectations, making them more sensitive to an adverse shock to housing demand.”

The resulting high prices and heavy household debt in the two cities could result in “shocks throughout the financial system” if a major event, like a severe recession and resulting spike in unemployment, leads to a “broad-based” correction in house prices.

But the central bank cautions against an overreaction to its warning.

“The probability (of a severe recession) remains low as the economy continues to grow, supported by continued expansion in the United States, and accommodative monetary policy and fiscal stimulus in Canada.”

Neither Poloz nor Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins would comment at a news conference on the bank’s possible policy recommendations to deal with sky-high housing costs.

One of the challenges is determining the role of offshore money, Wilkins said.

The data on the impact of foreign investment is “particularly poor, although some studies show that it is a factor in terms of adding to demand.”

She said the federal government, which committed $500,000 in the March budget to let Statistics Canada study the housing affordability phenomenon, is doing important work to find answers.

Among other key risks cited in the report is the possibility of a sudden sharp rise in interest rates, and the potential for economic weakness in China driving down commodity prices, and therefore hurting Canada’s economy.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Poll shows 70 per cent of B.C. public angry at all levels of government over house prices

SAM COOPER
The Province

As debate over skyrocketing home prices and foreign investment boils over in B.C., a new poll by Insights West shows 80 per cent of British Columbians support a tax on absentee owners.

And for the first time, Insights West has measured anger directed at B.C. politicians over housing costs. All three levels of government got scathing reviews in the poll. The provincial government was hit hardest, with 76 per cent of British Columbians expressing dissatisfaction with Victoria’s inaction.

Insights West pollster Mario Canseco said public support for taxing vacant homes in B.C. has climbed steadily from 72 per cent in 2014. Current support is broad, Canseco said, with all generations, ethnic groups, and income levels backing an absentee tax.

“It is very rare to get a number as high as 80 per cent, and it is very rare to get three generations and people from all income levels to agree,” Canseco said.

The poll comes as average single-family home prices in Vancouver have seen surreal price jumps of about 40 per cent over the past year. A ripple effect now is pouring across the region, with suburban areas such as Tsawwassen seeing benchmark prices jump as much as 48 per cent year over year.

A growing consensus of experts point to a surge of money from Mainland China as the major force driving housing price gains in Metro Vancouver.

Canseco noted that his poll “really takes away from the notion you are targeting a specific group for race, because you are only targeting investors because of their absence.”

Support for the absentee tax peaks with millennials, aged 18 to 34, at 89 per cent. Voters aged 55 and over show 75-per-cent support for the tax. The cross-generational agreement also applies to views of politicians.

“Anger is widespread, voters are upset with all levels, and most of all Victoria,” Canseco said. “It is inaction that is leading to more cynicism against the provincial government, which is understandable given the cosy nature they have with developers, including their chief fundraiser, (condo marketer) Bob Rennie.”

In a widely reported speech this week, Rennie said that Vancouver should “get out of the affordable ownership business” — and that investment from Mainland China should not be tampered with, and foreign investors should not be taxed.

In Metro Vancouver, 82 per cent support the absentee owner tax, Canseco said.

After playing down concerns about investment from Mainland China as “ridiculous” in 2013, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson this week said that because of “unregulated, speculative global capital flowing into Metro Vancouver’s real estate, we are seeing housing prices completely disconnected from local incomes.”

Robertson told Bloomberg News that his government is considering a number of measures, including a vacant home tax.

Vancouver millennial Eveline Xia, who several years ago launched “donthaveonemillion” — a popular social media campaign criticizing unaffordability driven by offshore investment — said she is gratified that politicians like Robertson have adopted the protest’s message.

“I think there has been an awakening that housing affordability is a global issue and we need to address global capital’s role in Vancouver,” Xia said. “We are behind other cities like Sydney and London, on taking action.”

UBC real estate economist Thomas Davidoff is among a large group of B.C. economists advocating a plan to decrease taxes paid by local workers and increase the property tax bills of investors who can afford to pay for vacant B.C. homes.

Davidoff said that in recent years money from Mainland China appears to be driving B.C. housing prices, but he can foresee that investment from Russia and the Middle East that is prevalent in New York City could soon pour into Vancouver.

“Something needs to be done or you have this two-tiered society where local people are pushed out, and international money is partying in Vancouver,” Davidoff said. “And then suddenly you have someone like Donald Trump winning an election in B.C.”

Vancouver resident Jason Czorna, 34, said he would support laws allowing only permanent residents and Canadian citizens to own homes in B.C.

“The state of our housing market is a disaster and (Premier) Christy Clark will never do what it takes to fix it,” Czorna said. “Real estate as an investment only benefits the rich and crushes the average person’s chance to live affordably.”

Not all Vancouver millennials support a tax on absentee investors.

“This will do absolutely nothing to change housing affordability. Do you not understand how much money these foreign buyers have?” said 33-year-old realtor Brad Richert. “Demand is insanely high and supply is falling. A tax isn’t going to stop or even slow down anything.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Top 10 hottest countries with Chinese buyers

Juwai
The Vancouver Sun

The top 10 countries most viewed and enquired by Chinese buyers remained stable from Q4 to Q1, except those in the last two spots.

The US remains at the top as country most viewed and enquired by Chinese buyers, followed by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand, the UK, Japan, and Spain.

Interestingly, while France took the ninth spot ahead of Singapore in terms of views by Chinese buyer, Singapore pulled in more enquires, putting it at ninth most-enquired country.

Germany also made a debut in Q1 as #10 most enquired on country.

 

Top 10 most-viewed cities by Chinese buyers

Breaking it down further, let’s look at the top 10 cities receiving the most Chinese perusal these top countries and regions on Juwai.com.

United States (US)

Chinese are charting an all-time high in terms of property investments in the US – CNBC reported the Asia Society and Rosen Consulting Group’s latest study charting and forecasting Chinese investment in the US revealed Chinese investors spent $8.5 billion on commercial property in 2015 alone.

Combined with the $28.6 billion in US residential property as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), that makes a combined $37.1 billion spent by Chinese investors on US residential and commercial real estate in 2015.¹

The study also predicts that by 2025, Chinese residential investments could potentially hit $50 billion, while Chinese commercial purchase could peak at $20 billion.¹

This suggests that Chinese overseas property investment is largely unaffected by the economic slowdown back home.

Where are Chinese buying in the US, though? Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles and New York City (NYC) both retained their ranks as the #1 and #2 most-viewed US cities. New US cities appearing in the top ten in Q1 2016 include Las Vegas (#5), Beverly Hills (#9), and San Diego (#10).

Australia

According to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), Chinese invested A$24 billion (US$17.6 billion) in Australian property last year.

And now, with a new 10-year visitor visa for Chinese combined with another new visa for foreign students set to go into effect from 1 July 2016 onwards, Chinese buyer interest in Australia should be getting off on the right foot.

Already, Australia is the second favourite property investment destination for wealthy Chinese, and this trend should continue, with the ever-popular cities of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane being the top three cities.

Interestingly, Adelaide and Canberra experienced a jump in Chinese popularity in Q1 quarter, while Airlie Beach was the sole newcomer to the list. 

New Zealand

While Chinese investment interest in Kiwi properties dipped slightly in Q4 2015, possibly due to new requirements of IRD numbers and bank accounts for foreign investors, real estate experts predict Chinese buyer interest in New Zealand homes will rise this year.

This prediction is further bolstered by two factors: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s recent state visit to China in April, which has helped raised New Zealand’s profile in the minds of Chinese, as well as the New Zealand government’s strong efforts to draw more Chinese tourists arrivals.

400,000 Chinese visited New Zealand in 2015, a 42% growth that makes China the second largest tourism source for New Zealand.²

In fact, Chinese tourist arrivals are projected to grow 30% each year, according to Key² –  a growth that will most likely stimulate New Zealand’s property market as well.

This quarter, we see three new Kiwi cities enter the fray: Strathmore Park, as well as Levin and Hamilton – two of the biggest jumpers on the list. 

United Kingdom (UK)

Could 2016 be a year in which the UK monopolises Chinese buyer interest? Some might say it’s not impossible, given its new China-friendly visa policies, as well as its enduring allure as a top educational destination for Chinese students.

(Oxford and Cambridge, need we say more?)

While London will no doubt remain the most popular city, a number of up-and-coming new infrastructure projects have seen other UK cities emerging on the radar to contend for Chinese buyers.

Among some of the biggest surprises in the first four months of 2016 were former #3 Liverpool’s shocking exit from the list, and Glasgow’s (formerly #2 in Q3 2015 and #5 in Q4 2015) continued downward spiral to the ninth spot.

Certain fringe cities however, are basking in increased Chinese buyer attention, including Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, and Brighton, as well as newcomers Bournemouth and Bristol. 

Europe

As in the US, Chinese buyers in Europe have been on a property shopping spree. In the first four months of 2016 though, we note the emergence of a rising star and a major overhaul in top European cities garnering Chinese investor activity.

As Berlin (Germany) dropped to third, Barcelona (Spain) made a giant leap from #7 to take the top spot, while Valencia (Spain) clambered up a rank to claim fourth.

Besides that, three other new Spanish cities make their presence known in the list: Madrid, Benahavis, and Alicante. Without a doubt, Spain is the Chinese hotspot in Europe for the first quarter of 2016.

As for the other cities, asides from Paris (France) which retained its spot as #2 on the list, Athens (Greece), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), and Vienna (Austria) all played backseat roles compared to Spain.

 

Chinese buyers grow increasingly adventurous

Rather than merely focusing on gateway cities, many Chinese buyers are now opting for relatively uncharted territories as they continue growing in terms of wealth, sophistication, and opportunities.

What’s more, countries all over the world – in hopes of cashing in on the Chinese tourism wave – are increasingly opening up their borders by revamping their visa policies to offer Chinese travellers easier and faster visa applications with longer duration.

This, in return, will not only drive more and more wealthy Chinese to flock overseas to broaden their horizons, but increase property shopping abroad as well.

As to where the future investment hotspots would be for the rest of 2016, we look forward to updating you in our next quarterly update, as we continue to monitor the ever-fluid China market.

2016 © Juwai

TRANSITIONAL STYLE: Downsizers look for comfort as they move into smaller spaces

? Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Greenway at South Ridge Club

Where: Mountain View Drive, Surrey

What: 67 town houses of three and four bedrooms

Residence sizes and prices: 1,550-1,960 square feet, from the mid-$500,000s

Developer: Adera Development Corporation

Sales centre: 1 – 15918 Mountain View Drive, Surrey

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., daily

Creating a style that could be described as transitional — traditional, but not too old school; with some touches of the contemporary, without being too slick — Morgan Thomas finds a perfect balance in the display homes at Greenway at South Ridge in Surrey.

In doing so, Thomas designed a look that can offer something for every visitor.

She is well aware that many members of the downsizing demographic, the population that has shown much interest in Adera Development Corporation’s South Ridge community, aren’t always thrilled about the square footage they’ll lose when they move from a grander home into a smaller space. To address this concern, she brought in large furnishings.

“It was important to show how large groupings of furniture can be arranged, while still feeling open and light,” she says.

In the open-concept space, the dining room table and chairs lean toward the traditional, while a chandelier over the table has a more modern industrial feel.

It often becomes a bit of a trial and error with various pieces when you’re in the space, “but generally speaking it’s all about balance,” she says. “Thought has to be given not just to the ends of the spectrum, traditional and industrial, but also to the area in between. In this particular project, it became more about using many neutral pieces that gave a nod to some of the details in the more standout pieces.”

Where neutrals appeal to a universal crowd, deep blue accents add a decorative curve ball, adding some contemporary flair to more traditional pieces.

“Psychologically, blue is certainly a calming colour,” Thomas says. “The neutral tones create a great foundation to let the moments of colour stand out. Many of these neutral tones were brought in through natural materials such as wood or stone (to give a) richness to the space.”

Thomas also considers that new homeowners at Greenway may not want to splurge on new and expensive furnishings.

She recommends customizing budget-friendly pieces so they look more luxurious.

“That Ikea sofa can quickly be transformed into a style you love and the money you save can be spent on other standout pieces. It’s all about the splurge/save.”

At the same time, she suggests it may be worthwhile to make an investment in a piece of decor that can act as a social centrepiece.

“I’d recommend focusing money on items that will get a lot of use and attention — pieces that you touch often or that people gather around.”

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