Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Demand for condos in Vancouver is escalating prices sharply with detached home prices showing moderate gains.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says that its MLS Home Price Index was up 7.9 per cent year-over-year and 1.8 per cent month-over-month in June to $998,700.

The detached home benchmark hit $1,587,900, up 1.4 per cent year-over-year and 1.1 per cent month-over-month.

Apartment prices surged 17.6 per cent in the year to June, and were up 2.9 per cent from the previous month to $600,700.

“Two distinct markets have emerged this summer. The detached home market has seen demand lease back to more typical levels while competition for condominiums is creating multiple offer scenarios and putting upward pressure on prices for that property type,” Jill Oudil, REBGV president said.

Sales for all property types eased to 3,893 in June 2017, an 11.5 per cent decrease from a year earlier which set an all-time record; and a decrease of 10.8 per cent compared to May.

Detached sales were down 15.5 per cent and condo sales were down 9.6 per cent year-over-year.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Live the Seaside Dream at White Rock?s Newest Community

REW

Have you ever imagined waking up to fabulous sunrises and stunning sea views from one of the Metro Vancouver ’s most desirable seaside communities? Now’s the time to fulfill that dream by buying at White Rock Town Centre’s newest and most exciting condominium community – Foster Martin on White Rock Commons.

This summer, Landmark Premiere Properties is launching the first tower of Foster Martin on White Rock Commons, a visually stunning collection of three 24- and 25-storey towers.

This first tower, the Martin, features an exclusive collection of 113 residences, consisting of one-, two- and three-bedrooms condominium homes and two penthouses, ranging in size from 806 to more than 3,700 square feet. Homes are priced from the high $400,000s to penthouses over $6,000,000.

Foster Martin is situated on White Rock Commons, a public plaza, that anchors the urban centre with a sprawling expanse of green. As such it is intentionally a place for people and will feature health and wellness related retail, commercial and civic experiences.

Designed by the award-winning architecture firm IBI Group, its director, Martin Brückner, says the inspiration for the towers came from “…the organic movement of the sea, the lively Pier and iconic mountain views. The dynamic built-form and public realm expressions of these towers have been designed to integrate with and complement the surrounding seaside community.”

“Elegant architecture accentuates views of the sea from every balcony. This wonderful form is mirrored internally with beautiful homes, defined by their generous size and sophisticated finishes.” says Brückner.

The homes are designed with an obsession for detail and timeless quality, featuring an elegant mix of materials, like wide plank Canadian engineered hardwood, natural tiles, and an oval shaped soaker tub in the master ensuite. The sleek gourmet kitchens are equipped with high performance Miele appliances, which are seamlessly integrated into the cabinetry – adding a truly sophisticated aesthetic.”

The City of White Rock is the choice for those seeking a real sense of community and a relaxed lifestyle and access to the diverse entertainment, recreational and cultural experiences locally and through Metro Vancouver. This is the place for those who desire a life that is not only easier, but better – the best it’s ever been.

This first tower at Foster Martin is expected to sell out quickly. The sales centre, with a fully furnished two-bedroom show home, is set to open in late July at #105-1688 152nd Street, Surrey. It will be open Saturday to Thursday from 10am to 6pm and Fridays from noon to 4pm. Occupancy is expected for late 2019.

© 2017 REW.ca

Joannah Connolly
REW

Strict new measures to regulate and tax short-term rentals under systems such as AirBnB, HomeAway and VRBO were announced by Vancouver Mayor Gregor this week, as the City looks for ways to ease the sub-1% rental vacancy rate.

The no-nonsense measures are designed to encourage the “home sharing” aspect of short-term rentals, but to ban investors from renting out investment units on a short-term basis, in order to free those units up for the long-term rental pool.

The new rules were expected, as the City had previously announced its intention to crack down on short-term rentals, particularly on investor-owned units, but the details had not been released until July 6.

“Housing is first and foremost for homes, not to be operated as a business,” Mayor Robertson told reporters on Wednesday.

Under the new system, residents (home owners or renters) will only be able to rent out rooms in their principal residences on a short-term basis. To do so, they will be required to obtain a business license, which will cost $49 a year, and publish their business licence number on all advertisements. They will also have to pay as much as a 3% “transaction fee” tax on each stay, which will be taken by the rental operator (such as AirBnB) and passed on to the City.

Short-term rentals of secondary suites, laneway homes and investment properties will be banned. City staff said they would crack down on those found to be violating the new rules, and they will be subject to a $1,000 fine.

The new rules are set to be approved by Council next week and then enacted by April 2018. 

© 2017 REW.ca

Chinese investors put Canada in top five buys for property

Joanne Lee-Young
The Vancouver Sun

A large Chinese real estate website claims Chinese investors at home and abroad spent over US$100 billion on overseas property investments in 2016.

This is a 25 per cent increase over Juwai.com’s 2015 estimate of US$80 billion.

The website named Canada as one of five top destinations for this record amount of money, after the U.S., Australia and Hong Kong.

The estimate includes purchases made by corporate and individual buyers and are based on the website’s own data as well as industry and government information, according to Juwai, which was started by Australian expatriates in Hong Kong and has offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Juwai report comes as new data released by the B.C. provincial government shows the total value of property transactions involving foreign buyers in May accounted for 3.1 per cent of the total in Metro Vancouver, and six per cent across B.C.

Meanwhile in Ontario the provincial government said Tuesday that between April 24 and May 26, 4.9 per cent of homes sold in the so-called Golden Horseshoe region were to foreign buyers.

Local critics and some in the real estate industry say keeping track of the number of foreign buyers like this doesn’t allow for understanding the amount of overseas money flowing into Canadian markets because purchases are being made with offshore trusts, shell companies and the use on land titles of proxy names to obscure the identity of beneficiary owners.

They cite a 2016 Transparency International study that says 50 per cent of the 100 most expensive properties in the City of Vancouver are held by such means.

Others such as Sotheby’s International Realty Canada CEO Brad Henderson say that Juwai’s estimate of Chinese buyers spending “$100 billion all over the world, helps to put (their spending) into perspective.”

It’s a milestone to break through the $100-billion mark, but this figure isn’t significant compared to overall Canadian real estate sales, said Henderson. “It is only a very small portion,” he said.

Juwai said by analyzing what information its users seek, it expects “2017 to be another near-record year for Chinese outbound property investment, although flows will likely be lower than in 2016.”

For example, in the first quarter of 2017, Juwai users made fewer inquiries than in the first quarter of 2016, but “almost an identical number of inquiries as in the first quarter of 2015, a year which set a peak only surpassed by last year.”

“Despite its torrid pace of overseas acquisitions in the last decade, China has been buying for such a short period of time that its investors have only accumulated a relatively small stock of overseas property and other foreign assets,” said the Juwai report.

Sotheby’s has been working with Juwai “to reach the Chinese market and to compile data on Chinese inquiry trends,” but did not participate in this latest report, said Henderson. “We want to know what buyers are looking for and understand their intentions.”

Sotheby’s aren’t the only realtors eager to connect more directly with buyers that prefer Chineselanguage sources of information online. West Vancouver-based luxury realtor Malcolm Hasman advertises a connection with Juwai on his website. The real estate arm of American investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced a marketing agreement with Juwai in April.

Henderson said that aside from breaking the language barrier, Juwai’s ability to host sites on both sides of Chinese government internet censors allows it to more readily upload listings information and offer a smoother browsing experience.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Joyce balances esthetics and function

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Joyce

What: 256 homes, in a family-oriented 30-storey tower next to Joyce-Collingwood SkyTrain station

Project Address: 5050 — 5080 Joyce St., Vancouver

Developer and builder: Westbank Projects Corp.

Residence sizes: one-bedroom, 439 and 529 square feet; junior two-bedrooms, 617 square feet; two-bedrooms, 771 square feet; three-bedrooms, 911 and 959 square feet. Prices available upon request

Sales centre address: 5050 Joyce St.

Centre hours: noon — 5 p.m., daily

Sales phone: 604-431-0892

At Joyce, Westbank’s condo community planned for the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood, architects and designers respond to the call for homes that give families the room they need to function well and adapt to the ways that everyone in the household lives, works and plays.

Open, adaptable space was essential to the calculation and artistry behind the work of both designer Michael Leckie’s interior design team, which crafted the interiors, Henriquez Partners Architects, the architectural team, and Westbank Projects Corp., the developer that built amenities to act as a functional part of life for every homeowner.
“The orientation toward families is a key point of distinction for this project,” says Leckie, principal of Leckie Studio Architecture and Design. He refers to the suite sizes — more than half of the suites contain either two or three bedrooms — and the uncommon amenity spaces that expand space and opportunities for homeowners.

Renderings show a space that offers an open-concept plan, with the kitchen prep area tucked neatly away on one wall. It’s purposefully family friendly, with an emphasis on giving homeowners with kids the room to relax, work and socialize.

 “We endeavoured to strike a balance between esthetic and functional considerations. Streamlining the seamless integration of the appliances into the galley kitchens and maximizing the opportunities for storage allows the kitchen casework to feel more like furniture, which contributes to the open feeling of the floor plans.”

Imagining themselves as homeowners, the Leckie designers suggest furnishings that serve multiple purposes, to keep the room spare and free of cluttter. The furnishings shown in the renderings are defined by clean modern lines.
“We tend to prefer functional minimalism,” Leckie continues, “focusing on a few key pieces of furniture and artwork that work across a variety of functional scenarios: for example, a dining table that can also potentially function as an extension of the kitchen counter work surface.”

Henriquez Partners Architects included a library space, study rooms, a music room), a workout room, landscaped rooftop gathering and play space in plans, set against the views of the North Shore mountains and Burrard Inlet. These amenities add to the functional space for every homeowner, Leckie says.
These amenity spaces are among his team’s favourite features of the building, as they reflect the playful, community-centred tone of the work of designers, architects and the developer alike. “It is designed to enhance the sense of community for families residing in the building. We hope that people will use it as a functional extension of their living space to support work, play, gathering, and social interaction.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

The Province

Vancouver’s housing sales have divided into two separate markets with condominium’s being snatched up while detached homes remain on the market longer.

Figures released Wednesday by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver showed an 11.5 per cent drop in the market last month compared with the over-heated market in June last year.

However, the board says last month’s sales were still 14.5 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month of June.

The ratio of sales to listings for June by property type is 24.5 per cent for detached homes, 62 per cent for townhomes and 93.2 per cent for condominiums.

The board says analysts expect downward pressure on home prices when that ratio dips below 12 per cent and say there is upward pressure when the figure goes over 20 per cent for several months.

“Home buyers have more selection to choose from in the detached market today while condominium listings are near an all-time low” on the Multiple Listing Service, board president Jill Oudil said in a news release.

She said two distinct markets have emerged this summer.

“The detached home market has seen demand ease back to more typical levels while competition for condominiums is creating multiple-offer scenarios and putting upward pressure on prices for that property type.”

The MLS composite benchmark price for all residential property types in Metro Vancouver was $998,700 — a 7.9 per cent increase from a year ago and up 1.8 per cent compared with May 2017.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Short-term rentals facing crackdown

Cheryl Chan
The Province

Faced with a rental-housing crunch and the country’s lowest vacancy rates, the City of Vancouver is proposing new regulations aimed at curbing short-term rentals — a move it estimates could restore about 1,000 units for long-term renters.

The rules, which also require online rental platforms such as Airbnb or Expedia to only allow listings with valid business licences, could be a litmus test in terms of how these companies operate in Canada. 

“Short-term rentals have gobbled up a lot of the long-term rental supply,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson on Wednesday. “Right now there’s not enough rental housing to keep the city functioning as it should.”

With vacancy rates hovering below one percentage, and the popularity of Airbnb — which Robertson said makes up 30 per cent of tourist accommodations, effectively making it the city’s largest hotel — the city said it’s advocating a balanced approach: Protecting long-term rental spaces while allowing some people to earn additional income from their homes.

It proposes a ban on short-term rentals in secondary homes, which would in effect cut out large, commercial hosts. Homeowners and renters would be allowed to rent out part or all of their principal residence, but rentals of secondary suites or laneway homes are prohibited.

Operators are required to get a $49 annual business licence, in addition to a one-time $54 “activation fee.” Platforms are expected to levy a transaction fee of up to three per cent, to be paid by guests then remitted to the municipal coffers in order to fund enforcement and administration of the new licensing scheme.

The city requires hosts to post a valid business licence number on their postings; it also stipulates that short-term-rental sites only list rentals with valid business licences. That means the city expects the online platforms to take on some of the burden of enforcement, said Karen Sawatzky, a Simon Fraser graduate student who had studied the impact of Airbnb in Vancouver.

“That is key,” she said. “That’s not happening in very many places.”

Airbnb has been reluctant to take on enforcement duties, even going so far as to sue San Francisco when the city passed regulations that would see companies like Airbnb fined for facilitating listings not registered with the city.

But Sawatzky believes Vancouver’s move is a good one. “It’s necessary. It’s a direction municipalities need to go to,” she said, noting that Vancouver is the first major city in Canada to deal with short-term rentals and could, therefore, serve as a model for other cities.

Thorben Wieditz, a researcher with the Toronto-based tenant advocacy coalition Fairbnb, welcomed the proposed push toward more platform accountability.

“If Airbnb actually works with the city and … were made accountable for only listing properties with permits, I think we are in a good position,” said Wieditz.

Canada is “in a better position to establish platform accountability measures that are enforceable because we don’t have these amendment rights,” he said, referring to Airbnb’s legal argument that holding it accountable for content produced by users undermine its First Amendment rights.

In a statement, Alex Dagg, public policy manager for Airbnb, said the company welcomes the city’s move toward regulating home-sharing. The San Francisco-based company declined to answer specific inquiries about Vancouver’s plan, saying it needs to review the city’s report in detail first.

Kathryn Holm, Vancouver’s chief licence officer, said Airbnb has been “very co-operative” to date. “We have talked with them about requiring business licences in their listings, and we are looking to work with them to ensure the business licences posted are actually valid and do some data reconciliation over at our end.”

Vancouver has 5,100 Airbnb hosts, 80 per cent of whom rent out their primary homes, said Airbnb.

The regulations, if adopted, would legalize up to 70 per cent of existing “entire-unit” listings and virtually all “private-room” listings in Vancouver, said the city.

Holm said the city plans to encourage compliance through communication and education, and will focus its crackdowns on large commercial operators. It would keep a registry of all licensed operators in Vancouver, conduct audits to address fraud and either issue $1,000 fines or pursue legal action against violators.

Vancouver’s rules are tougher than proposed measures in Toronto, which allows for short-term rentals of secondary suites. However, Vancouver takes a less restrictive tack than Richmond, which earlier this year voted to ban short-term rentals of less than 30 days unless a homeowner obtains a bed-and-breakfast licence.

If approved at next week’s council meeting, Vancouver’s regulations will take effect April 1, 2018.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The Government of British Columbia has released its latest land transfer tax data, which contains some interesting trends about that province’s real estate market.

Sales surge

The province recorded 14,824 total transactions in May, which was up from 9,773 in April. It’s also up significantly from the five month average of 10,205.

Foreign sales jump

Foreign purchases of homes in British Columbia were up 68% in May – increasing to 436 from 259 a month prior. The average number of foreign transactions over the past five months was 332.

Despite the increase, the percentage of all purchases by foreign buyers was steady in May.

A mere 2.94% of purchases went to foreign buyers in May, compared to 2.65% in April. Foreign buyers have accounted for 3.25% of all transactions so far this year, according to BC’s land transfer tax data.

Foreign sales tax saw immediate impact

“It turned out that the impact of the tax was much more immediate than in our simulation, owing to sales being brought forward to July to avoid the tax. Indeed, total REBGV sales fell 19 per cent in August 2016 compared to our projection of just 8 per cent,” BCREA said in its quarterly forecast. “However, since then, sales have evolved broadly as expected in our scenario analysis. In fact, since the end of 2016, other than a weather-induced blip in January, home sales have been on an upswing and are where we would have expected them to have been at this point, without the tax.

“Some of that added momentum in the market is due to a return of some foreign buyers, though to less than half of the levels observed in the summer of 2016.”

BC Real estate to maintain record

The province is forecasting a third consecutive year of more than 100,000 transactions, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association.

“The province is in its fourth year of above-trend economic growth,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Strong employment growth, consumer confidence and an influx of inter-provincial migrants are important drivers of the housing market this year.”

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

REP

 

The need to address double-ended deals is due to a few bad apples, according to one veteran, and new rules will likely punish certain agents more than others.

“Here’s the thing. It’s totally the result of a few bad apples. The majority of realtors are good, honest, fair people who do what’s right for their clients. However, we as an industry, have to keep consumers best interests at hearts,” Christopher Alexander, regional director at RE/MAX Ontario Atlantic Canada, told REP. “There are other provinces that have designated agency, which they are proposing, which could be a good thing. Our concern is large brokerages will be better off; the little guy in rural parts of Ontario that primarily double-ends for their business, that could be a challenge (and they will have to hire additional agents).”

Ontario is proposing banning the practice of double ending, in which a real estate agent represents both a buyer and a seller in a transaction.

The province’s Liberal government announced a 16-point housing plan earlier this year, with centrepiece planks of a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax and expanded rent controls.

Another plank was reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented. The government has now published several proposals for changes to real estate agent rules and penalties, and is seeking public consultation on them.

One of the proposals is to ban — with some limited exceptions — agents from representing both the buyer and seller or more than one potential buyer in a trade.

“The seller will want the highest possible price and most favourable terms they can get, and the buyer will want to pay the lowest price or negotiate the most favourable terms possible,” a government discussion paper says.

“These competing interests may make it challenging for registrants involved in these types of transactions to meet their obligations to their clients or to be able to advocate effectively on behalf of either party.”

The Ontario Real Estate Association welcomed the review since the governing legislation dates back to 2002, said CEO Tim Hudak.

“The world of real estate has changed tremendously in the last 15 years _ much higher home prices, more sophisticated consumers, greater technology,” he said.

Consumers have raised concerns that the financial incentives in double-ended deals might lead to agents engaging in unethical behaviour, the government says in its paper.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd