Warm and contemporary design showcased at Summit in Surrey

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Summit

What: 89 townhomes with rooftop patios

Where: 14058 61 Ave., Surrey

Residence sizes and prices: 1,770 — 2,046 square feet; from $639,900

Developer and builder: Hayer Builders Group

Sales centre: 14058 61 Ave., Surrey

Sales centre hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

The display spaces at Summit, Hayer Builders Group’s community of townhomes in Surrey, show a fine attention to artistry and detail. It’s no surprise, then, that the interior designer is Samantha Muller, principal of Kleen Design, an individual who digs deep into her strong background in painting and sculpture, earned in her studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Muller’s selections in décor, furnishings and storage have created interesting, contemporary spaces that showcase warm, urban design.

“Shape and form are very big to me, and I love how you can keep to a tonal palette by adjusting simple elements like the base of a table, lighting or in the shape of a mirror and millwork,” Muller says.

Muller added interest in the Summit display space, courtesy of such touches as a diamond-shaped bedroom wall mirror, funky black and white geometrically-patterned pillows, and a strategic placement of wide mirrors in the family room, which emphasize ceiling height. Exposed bulbs add to what she calls a “sculptural approach.”

Geometric patterns in furnishings and accents give her liberty to express her own sense of artistry.

“In a way, it’s like you’re adding a sculptural piece of art …you create subtle layers, which [allow you to] slowly peel the layers of the room and not be hit with everything visually at once.”

In another space, she added an oversized diagonal gable across each section of bookshelves. Some of the more arresting details are found in Kleen Design’s incorporation of storage within furniture, such as shelves in-laid in the kitchen island’s side and bench seating in the dining area.

Working with — and transforming — storage into furniture, and vice versa, is a pet passion for Muller, a minimalist at heart.
“I feel at peace when things aren’t cluttered and everything has its place,” she says. That bench seating married with storage offers the room an efficient “visual cleanup”, for instance.

“The banquette also lends gives you additional storage options, whether it’s cabinetry or storage beneath the seating.”

In one bedroom, she achieves a blend of contemporary and industrial themes, thanks to the white “brick” wall, the brick being easily installed tile Muller sourced from Julian Tile.
“I’m not always keen on a room that is too feminine or too modern. I’m all about a balance, so if for example in this case, if I have a brick industrial looking wall I may soften things up a bit by florals, patterned prints, or an elegant woven carpet.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Are blind bids going, going, gone?

CHERYL CHAN
The Province

Harcourts Canada, a newcomer to Metro Vancouver’s real estate scene, wants to make housing auctions a common and accepted way of buying and selling homes. 

“It’s just an alternative option we want to make available to people,” said CEO Hayden Duncan.

Harcourts, a New Zealand company which set up its first Canadian office in North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale six months ago, has sold $10 billion worth of real estate around the world through property auctions, said Duncan.

In March, it will launch its first public auction in Canada with two properties on the auction block. 

One is a 1,093-square foot luxury condo overlooking False Creek in downtown Vancouver with a starting bid of $1.5 million; the other, a two-bedroom unit in New Westminster with a starting bid of $400,000. 

With auctions, “you’ll know you have a fair, transparent chance to purchase a property rather than what’s very common in Vancouver where people put bids or offers blind,” said Duncan. 

Housing auctions are rare in British Columbia, but common in New Zealand and Australia, where about half of all property sales are sold through auctions.

The idea, said Duncan, is to “not focus on the price, but focus on what the property has to offer, and let (buyers) determine what they are willing to pay.”

Auctions would bring more transparency to the industry, especially in cases of bidding wars where buyers are left in the dark about the value of the competing bids. In Canada, realtors aren’t allowed to tell clients the amount of a rival bid, only that one is on the table.

Auctions also give buyers time to conduct due diligence, said Duncan. Information and documents about the property are available a few weeks before the auction date. Typically, several open houses are scheduled, allowing people to visit the unit, do their homework, and get their financing in order before the actual auction.

But auctions have a poor track record in B.C. Two auctions last summer — in Victoria and Burnaby — were flops.

One reason could be most people associate housing auctions with distressed properties which are under foreclosure or a short sale. But in Metro Vancouver’s competitive real estate market it’s more realistic to compare property auctions to auctions for art or high-end collectibles, said Duncan.

An auction can only be successful if both sellers and buyers are educated about the process and have all the information they need to feel confident to participate in the process, said Duncan. 

Parties have to preregister with Harcourts and the auctions are subject to an undisclosed reserve price. 

Sellers also retain the right to withdraw from the auction in case a buyer puts in a pre-auction bid that’s too good to turn down. About 60 per cent of Harcourts’ auctions in the U.S. sell before the auction — a sign, says Duncan, of a buoyant market. 

Listing agent Theo Birkner said he has fielded a lot of interest about the two-bedroom unit in New Westminster. An open house will be held on Thursday, with another two scheduled this weekend, and two more next weekend.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the Vancouver marketplace to see an addition to the way homes are sold,” said Birkner. “Lots of people are excited about it after they wrap their minds around it.”

The Harcourts auction will be held March 2 at a downtown Vancouver location. 

Greg Klemke of Macdonald Realty Westmar will be watching how the auctions go.

Klemke, the listing agent for the Burnaby home that went on auction last summer, believes Vancouver was ready for auctions and was baffled by the property’s failure to sell, despite tens of thousands of dollars spent on advertising by Able Auctions, which conducted the auction. It only got one bid, which failed to reach to reserve price.

“Maybe people weren’t ready for it,” he said. “It’s too aggressive. Or progressive.”

Klemke said he’d be open to doing it again, but would do some things differently. He’d require buyers to get pre-registered, hold it indoors instead of out on the lawn, and not allow media, which he speculated could have intimidated buyers, to attend. “We didn’t do it right because we didn’t sell it.”

Duncan, however, is confident Canadians are ready to embrace auctions as a new method of buying and selling property. 

“Consumers are screaming out for transparency and real estate prices that are clear, concise and fair,” he said. “It’s something I think will resonate well with Canadians.”

Time, and the market, will tell. 

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

There’s a housing bubble in Toronto and we need to “drop the pretence” and face it, BMO’s chief economist said Wednesday.

Douglas Porter said that prices rising 22.6 per cent in a year was the fastest pace since the 1980s and is also 21 per cent above inflation. He said prices were “dangerously detached” from economic fundamentals.

Porter said that it isn’t just Toronto itself, but some of the cities around it that are in a bubble and he called into question the widely-held view that tight supply will maintain prices.

“Housing starts in Toronto and Vancouver have been chugging along at almost 70,000 units per year recently, an all-time high, while overall Canadian starts are above demographic demand at 200,000 units in the past year,” the report says.

However, a the Canadian Real Estate Association’s latest report suggests that any bubble isn’t set to burst in the short-term.

“The shortage of homes available for sale has become more severe in some cities, particularly in and around Toronto and in parts of BC,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Unless sales activity drops dramatically, the outlook for home prices remains strong in places that face a continuing supply shortage.”

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

The Vancouver Sun

The British Columbia Real Estate Association says the province’s housing market has tumbled from record highs posted in 2016 to return to what it calls historic, long-term averages.

The association says 4,487 condos, townhomes and detached homes sold in B.C. in January, down 23 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The total sales value also dropped 36.5 per cent over the same period to $2.79 billion, while the average home price was off 17.5 per cent to $621,093.

Figures from the real estate association show the change was most pronounced in Vancouver where fewer detached homes sold and sales of all property types made up just 35 per cent of sales across B.C., an eight per cent decrease from January 2016.

With fewer expensive, single-family homes changing hands compared with condos or townhomes, the association’s news release says the average price of a property in the Vancouver area skewed downward.

It says the residential benchmark price in Greater Vancouver declined 3.7 per cent over the last six months, but record hikes last year mean prices are still 15.6 per cent higher than they were in January 2016.

“A marked decrease in the average residential price (across B.C.) is largely the result of relatively more home sales occurring outside of the Lower Mainland,” association chief economist Cameron Muir says in the release.

He said Victoria’s sales showed above average performance in January, but overall, the market is returning to long-term average levels.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Additional roadblock hindering foreign buyers

Justin da Rosa
REP

The Chinese government announced surprise rules for the exchange of the yuan, which will restrict the outflow of currency. 

“As capital flight intensified, China’s reserves have plunged, causing the country to sell US treasury bonds. In response, China has introduced new rules, which now require disclosure of the intended use of the Yuan being converted,” Dr. Sherry Cooper, chief economist with Dominion Lending Centres, wrote in a recent note to brokers. “In addition, they must pledge the money won’t be used for the purchase of property, securities, or insurance products.”

So much for parking money in overseas currency.

Chinese nationals are now forbidden from borrowing or lending on behalf of others; those caught will be barred from exchanging funds for two years and will be subject to money laundering investigation. 

Despite the existence of prior rules which which limit the amount of capital that can be exchanged to $50,000, many found workarounds that have allowed for the outpouring of $1 trillion yuan from 2014-2016.

It remains to be seen what this new rule will do to curb the outflow of cash but, as Cooper notes, there will always be some who are willing to skirt the law. 

“Much of this money found its way into global real estate markets causing prices to boom. Property prices surged in some parts of Canada, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Australia, all countries that had relatively low barriers to importing large volumes of capital and liquid currencies,” Cooper wrote. “Some analysts believe that the party might be over. However, China has a massive underground banking market that operates in the shadows. In August 2016, the Chinese government shut down one operation in Shenzhen, but no one knows just how many more such shadow banks there are.”

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Anna Sobrevinas
other

Real estate photography company VHT Studios was awarded $8.32 million by a jury after suing Zillow for copyright infringement, according to HousingWire.

Zillow will have to pay VHT $79,875 in actual damages and $8.24 million in statutory damages.

In July 2015, VHT filed the complaint in July of 2015. The lawsuit alleged that Zillow’s home improvement and design division, Zillow Digs, used VHT photos without permission.

In January of last year, VHT added a claim of copyright infringement on Zillow’s listings site to the lawsuit, but that claim was dismissed by the court the same year.

Despite the heavy penalty, Zillow is not giving up just yet.

Zillow spokesperson Amanda Woolley said they believe the suit was “without merit.”

“We take copyright protection and enforcement seriously and will continue to respect copyright permissions across our platforms,” Woolley said. “While we are pleased that the majority of original claims were dismissed in this case, we regret that the jury did not find for us completely on those that remained, and will vigorously pursue all options to overturn their verdict.” 

Zillow’s SEC filing states “The Company intends to file motions in the district court seeking judgment for the Company on certain claims that are the subject of the verdict, and for a new trial on others.”

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Justin da Rosa
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The Canadian Real Estate Association has released its first report of 2017, highlighting the challenges homebuyers are poised to face this year.

“Canadian homebuyers face some challenges this year, including new mortgage rules that make it harder to qualify for a mortgage and regulatory changes that will push up mortgage financing costs,” CREA President Cliff Iverson said. “It will take some time to gauge the extent to which these challenges will weigh on home buyers in different housing markets across Canada.”

Home sales fell 1.3% in January from December’s total. Sales activity was down in half of all local markets, led by the GTA, Greater Vancouver and Montreal markets.

Inventory continues to be an issue.

“The shortage of homes available for sale has become more severe in some cities, particularly in and around Toronto and in parts of BC,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Unless sales activity drops dramatically, the outlook for home prices remains strong in places that face a continuing supply shortage.”

The number of newly listed homes fell 6.7% in January – that’s the second consecutive monthly decline. New listings, meanwhile, were down in two-thirds of all markets.

“With the monthly decline in new listings surpassing the decline in sales, the national sales-to-new listings ratio jumped to 67.7% in January compared to 64.0% in December and 60.2% in November,” CREA said in a release. “A sales-to-new listings ratio between 40 and 60 is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets respectively.”

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Ephraim Vecina
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Still one of the nation’s most expensive residential real estate markets, Vancouver continues to push middle-class families and hopeful home owners out despite a conspicuous slowdown in sales volume.

While Vancouver’s job creation and economic fundamentals remain strong, vacant or momentarily occupied homes have increased by more than two-fold in the 15 years since 2001, up to 66,719.

Many of these unoccupied properties cost a million dollars or more. Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, noted that this sharp growth in the number of empty homes reflects the middle-class consumer base’s particular difficulties in getting into the market.

“[Many homes] have become just luxury items like Ferraris,” Yan wrote in his recent analysis, as quoted by Bloomberg. “They’re not affordable for most local incomes.”

In particular, the median price of a single-family home in Vancouver’s west side is now at $4.9 million, roughly 65 times the city’s average household income.

Analysts have pinned much of the blame on wealthy foreign nationals, many of which purchase homes that they otherwise leave empty, and are acquired only for flipping purposes.

Demand for Vancouver’s homes is showing no signs of stopping at the moment. Earlier this year, the Goodman Report on the city’s apartment sector highlighted the area’s lack of supply amid the ever-growing clamor for rental housing in the city.

“It’s anticipated that the regional population will increase by an average of 35,000 per year until 2040,” authors David and Mark Goodman wrote in January.

Outsized demand has inflated Vancouver’s average price per suite to $377,000 in 2016, up by 52 per cent compared to the year before that. The report authors dismissed the possibility of this trend ending any time soon.

“The Goodman Report expects local landlords to remain insulated from any apparent decline in tenant demand or softening of rents,” the duo stated.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Advanced Equity Lending Corp. Mark Fidgett
other

Here is the new form and the new rule relating to the sale of real estate.
Taxpayers must NOW REPORT the sale of their home on their tax return.
If you’re claiming an exemption from the capital gains tax, in the past that exemption was automatic.

The CRA will have authority at assess capital gains tax
on real estate that is not reported on the tax return for the year in which it is sold.
Ottawa will work with provincial governments (which maintain land registry operations)
to ensure that all residential real estate transactions are recorded and taxed as required.

Tax returns, starting this April, will require details on the date a property was acquired,
the proceeds of disposition and a description of the property.

To qualify for a capital gains tax exemption,
you must complete and file a separate Schedule. (attached)

The full exemption may not be granted, depending on the details provided.

**If you sell your home but forget to include this information on your return,
the CRA will not allow the proceeds to be tax-free. In that case you must ask the CRA to amend the return. This amendment will be granted “in certain circumstances” but may also come with a penalty equal to the lesser of $8,000 or $100 per month from the sale date to the request date.

**If you have a suite in your home, then sell it, the selling price must be split and reported.
Part of it will qualify to the tax exemption and part will not.

In markets with elephantine gains in home prices, this could be quite the bombshell.