Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The Bank of Canada forged ahead with another interest rate hike in a nod to the country’s surging economy, while signalling its appetite for further tightening may be curbed by a rising currency and sluggish price pressures.

Policy makers raised their benchmark rate 25 basis points to 1%, the second increase since July. At the same time, they cited risks including continued excess capacity, subdued wage and price pressures, geopolitics and the higher Canadian dollar, along with concern about the impact of rising interest rates on indebted households.

“Future monetary policy decisions are not predetermined and will be guided by incoming economic data and financial market developments as they inform the outlook for inflation,” the Bank of Canada said Wednesday in a statement from Ottawa.

Governor Stephen Poloz is trying to strike a balance between bringing interest rates back to more normal levels amid the strongest growth spurt in more than a decade, without harming an economy that is only now beginning to fully recover from an almost decade-long downturn. Markets, shrugging off some of the more dovish language, sent the Canadian dollar to the highest level in more than two years as it interpreted the statement as confirmation the central bank is firmly on a rate hike path.

“What they are saying to me is they are leaving the door open to future hikes,” said Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Bank of NovaScotia in Toronto. He changed his forecast last week to correctly predict the rate increase.

Investors are anticipating as many as two hikes from the Bank of Canada over the next year, including one by the end of 2017, according to swaps trading, on the expectation the central bank is worried quickly vanishing economic slack will soon fuel inflation.

Canada’s currency climbed as much as 1.8 percent after the decision, reaching C$1.2146 against its US counterpart, the highest intraday level since June 2015, and extending the gain this year to 10 percent. Bonds yields surged, with the two-year note jumping seven basis points to 1.42%, the highest in more than five years.

Only six of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News expected the central bank to hike its benchmark rate. Traders had assigned about a 40 percent chance of an increase.

Adding to the market reaction was the fact the bank didn’t repeat language from previous statements about the current degree of stimulus being “appropriate,” which suggests it will stay on its tightening path.

‘Fairly Hawkish’

“It didn’t say that the current level of stimulus is now ‘appropriate,’ which has been a phrase used in the past and would have been a way of signalling a pause in hikes from here,” Andrew Grantham, an economist with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said in a note to investors. “It was a fairly hawkish move and statement today.”

Few developed economies are growing as quickly as Canada. The economy accelerated at a 4.5% pace in the second quarter – tops among Group of Seven countries – led by the biggest binge in household spending since before the 2008-2009 global recession.

Quarterly growth has averaged 3.7% over the past four quarters, compared to 2.2% in the US. Economists are now projecting growth of above 3 percent in Canada for all of 2017, a full percentage point above the U.S. The surge may have already brought the country to full capacity more quickly than the central bank estimated only two months ago. That would typically be a strong signal to policy makers that interest rates need to rise.

Considerable Stimulus

The bank cited Canada’s stronger-than-expected economic performance for the hike, warranting a removal of some of the “considerable” stimulus in place. In effect, the bank fully removed the two rate cuts from 2015, which were meant to counter the negative impact of falling commodity prices.

Recent better-than-expected data supports the view that growth is more “broadly-based and self-sustaining,” the bank said, citing more “widespread strength” in business investment and exports, and “stronger-than-expected indicators of growth” globally.

Yet, there was an introduction of cautionary language, and new worries about financial market developments, that weren’t in the last rate decision and suggests the central bank isn’t quite ready to declare victory on the economy totally eliminating its slack.

“There remains some excess capacity in Canada’s labour market, and wage and price pressures are still more subdued than historical relationship would suggest,” according to the statement.

Poloz may also be attempting to restrain market expectations it will get too far ahead of the Federal Reserve, citing worries about recent “financial market developments.”

The bank said there remains “significant geopolitical risks and uncertainties” around international trade and fiscal policies that have weakened the U.S. dollar. The suggestion is the Canadian dollar gains aren’t totally reflective of Canadian growth and it was the first reference to the Canadian dollar in a rate statement since March.

The bank also said it will pay close attention to the “sensitivity” of the economy to higher interest rates given “elevated” household indebtedness, and added it will pay “particular focus” to the evolution of the economy’s potential growth rate, possibly a suggestion that the economy can run at a faster pace than the bank originally thought without triggering inflation.

Copyright Bloomberg 2017

Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in August increased compared with July.

The agency says housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 223,232 units for August, up from 221,974 in July.

The increase came as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 0.8 per cent in August to 207,524 units.

Multiple urban starts increased by 2.7 per cent to 145,618, while single-detached urban starts fell 3.2 per cent to 61,906 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,708 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts increased to 219,447 in August compared with 217,339 in July.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Home sales increased in the Fraser Valley last month compared to July but remained lower than a year ago.

Townhomes and apartments took the lion’s share of home sales (54%) with 1,018 of the 1,879 total sales in August. Total sales were up 10.9% month-over-month but down 3% year-over-year.

“It’s not surprising to see demand like this still so late into the summer; the Fraser Valley has never been a better place to live than it is now,” said Board President Gopal Sahota. “Our communities are thriving, and there are still affordable options throughout our region. Also, it doesn’t hurt that removing the bridge tolls gives us even greater access to the Lower Mainland.”

Inventory was down 4.3% month-over-month and 6.4% year-over-year to 5,712 while new listings tumbled 20.2% from July and 7.3% from August 2016.

The benchmark price for single-family detached homes was down 1% from July and 10.2% from August 2016 to $976,000. Townhome prices gained 1.2% month-over-month and 16.6% year-over-year to a benchmark of $491,900. Apartments reached $349,300, up 2.4% from July and 32.8% from August 2016.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Chinese investors discover peaceful Point Roberts

Larry Pynn
The Province

For decades, the sleepy U.S. backwater of Point Roberts, Wash., has been overrun by foreigners — Canadians.

They’ve come to buy recreational property, buy cheap gas and dairy products, and drink way too much beer at The Breakers and Kiniski’s Reef Tavern on the Strait of Georgia waterfront.

More recently, as the value of the Canadian dollar dictates, they’ve also come to collect online purchases from shipping and receiving outlets, some so close to the border that individuals can walk across to get their parcels.

Today, a new wave of foreigners is hitting the scenic shores of Point Roberts, south of Tsawwassen — Chinese investors, buying up a marina, golf course and waterfront property for housing developments.

Businessman Wayne Knowles, a Canadian-U. S. citizen who’s lived in Point Roberts for 25 years and has a finger in all the big projects, believes Chinese buyers could be the economic saviour for the 13-square-kilometre peninsula.

 “I believe so, thank goodness,” he said. “Their money is coming into Point Roberts, which we desperately need.

“We’ve seen a whole bunch of activity. Point Roberts will be much different five years from now.”

While the vast majority of property buyers in Point Roberts remain non-Chinese (mostly people looking for relatively inexpensive recreational homes), they don’t represent the big-ticket property buyers.

“They (Chinese) are looking for good opportunities and Point Roberts has just been sitting here,” Knowles said. “It’s been a diamond in the rough forever. People are finally coming down here and seeing how beautiful it is.”

Others are taking a more cautious approach. 

Point Roberts has always had economic ups and downs, but little ultimately changes.

Realtor Paul Rusk, another dual citizen, said that when he started in the industry 26 years ago he sold lots for $20,000 apiece and that’s still the case. It can take two years to buy or sell a property, simply because prices fluctuate little and no one has a sense of urgency.

A sampling of recent property sales include: US$164,900 for an 800-square-foot home, built in 1955, with beach rights; $649,500 for a 3,420-square-foot home, built in 1993, on Marine Channel; and US$1.18 million for an architecturally designed 1,833-square-foot home, built in 1995, on a waterfront bluff overlooking the Strait of Georgia.

“Waterfront or view properties have gone up a little,” said Rusk. “But I tell my clients it’s a lifestyle purchase not a financial purchase.”

His clients are not Chinese investors interested in money-making ventures, but those making recreational or lifestyle choices. He laughs at suggestions that people on witness-protection programs are relocated to Point Roberts. “This is the last place. There’s no jobs, and you know everybody who’s here.”

Some of the more high-profile residents of Point Roberts in recent years have included ex-Canucks coach John Tortorella and actor Katee Sackhoff, who rented a home during filming of the TV series Battlestar Galactica in Vancouver. 

As in any community, the interests of business do not necessarily match those of ordinary residents.

Mark Robbins, president of the Point Roberts Taxpayers Association, notes that about 1,300 permanent residents enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the point and can be wary of change.

“A lot of people are intuitively uneasy with change,” he said. “You cross that border and it’s a giant relief, especially at night time — a dark rural community, no sidewalks, no street lights. That’s what a lot of people like.”

But they also recognize the need for more services in the community, where residents are often forced to drive to Tsawwassen to eat out. And few people would complain if development spurred an increase in property values, which have stagnated compared with the soaring values in recent years in Metro Vancouver. Robbins hasn’t heard locals express any negative sentiments toward the Chinese investors, who are spotty visitors to the community.

As Knowles tells it, the new wave of investment started five years ago when a Chinese lawyer friend of his in Vancouver put him in touch with Beijing businessman Gao Zhu, who went on to acquire 51 per cent of Seabright Farm, a relatively pricey strata project being developed by Knowles and another business partner, Anders Kruus of Seattle.

Seabright consists of 62 building lots on 25 hectares on a bluff with ocean views, swimming pool and fresh vegetables for your dinner.  

Knowles said that Zhu is a friend of Beijing billionaire Chen Yihong, chair of China Dongxiang, a sportswear company boasting the popular Kappa-brand products in China and Japan.

Yihong visited Zhu and “fell in love with Point Roberts” and the two teamed up in May 2015 to buy Point Roberts Marina for $27 million, with Yihong owning a 90-per-cent share, Knowles said.

The marina’s old docks are being upgraded and the number of slips reduced to 600 from 900 to accommodate larger pleasure craft. Long-term plans call for housing, a spa, clubhouse, restaurant/nightclub, swimming pool and tennis courts, said Knowles, who is also vice-president of development for the marina. 

Yihong has also purchased two houses and a 2.5-hectare piece of high-bluff waterfront property on Marine Drive worth a total of US$4.6 million, Knowles said.

His purchases may have stirred interest in Point Roberts among other Chinese. “He’s very ambitious … and very well known,” Knowles said. “Once he purchased here, others found out about it. ‘If he’s investing, it must be a good deal.’”

In July this year, Coco Luo, a Canadian permanent resident living in Richmond for the last three years, but originally from Hunan Province, bought the 18-hole Point Roberts Golf and Country Club for US$4.5 million with two partners, all of them real-estate developers from China.

Luo is managing partner, an avid golfer with a 12-handicap, and owns two golf courses in China.

In an interview with the help of an interpreter, she said work is underway to bring the golf course up to snuff, with a projected reopening date no later than spring 2018 as Bald Eagle Golf Club at Point Roberts.

There are also plans to develop a clubhouse and 60 homes around the golf course, with land clearing beginning this month. 

Luo said Yihong is a friend and that investments by him and other Chinese people in Point Roberts “more or less” proved a factor in her decision to buy the golf course. 

She was also impressed by the fact the soils under the course allow for golfing over winter when other courses are sopping wet, and the site’s close location to Vancouver and Richmond, with its high proportion of Chinese immigrants and potential golf clientele.

“It’s not just a commercial project, to just sell all the lots and get the money,” she said, emphasizing the investment coincides with her passion for the sport.

Knowles added that another Chinese-owned company, 1350 Lundrigan LLC, with Richmond investors, in October 2016 paid US$3 million for 10 hectares of waterfront bluff property across from the golf course on Marine Drive in hopes of developing 19 estate lots. Knowles is a consultant on that development.

It’s also worth noting that Kiniski’s Reef Tavern, the last bar standing on the point, is for sale for US$1.6 million. The owner, Nick Kiniski, is son of the late wrestling champion Gene Kiniski, who described himself as “Canada’s greatest athlete,” despite living in Blaine, Wash. “If I had big bucks … I’d redo it all and put a nice condo on top and keep the bar open and live here, but that’s not in the cards for me,” Kiniski told Postmedia News. 

And nearby at an old cannery site on Marine Drive, the faded yellow paint on a prominent wood-frame waterfront building may finally get some sprucing up.

The 17,000-square-foot facility, built in the late 1990s, is proposed for expansion to 37,000 square feet as part of the $15-million development of the 30-room Blackfish Resort — offering much-needed accommodation on the peninsula, complete with a spa and restaurant dining, styled after Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn.

The dream of Steve O’Neill, a carpenter, is not new. In 2009, the Bellingham Herald trumpeted O’Neill’s plan to create Blackfish Resort. He said at the time he hoped to start construction in 2010 and have the resort open by spring 2012.

What’s taken so long? “I ran out of money,” concedes O’Neill, who holds a contract to develop the property and is in talks with investors. “I’ve put more than $1 million into the project. My whole life savings have gone into this.” He hopes to have the necessary building permits secured soon and a sod turning perhaps by year end. “It’s taken a long time, but it certainly is moving forward.” 

Whether all these good intentions change the face of Point Roberts forever or are simply more bumps on a sleepy country road remains to be seen. 

Dean Jones, owner and CEO of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle, said he is not surprised Point Roberts is starting to catch the attention of Chinese investors. Jones said that over the past several years Chinese investors have become dominant buyers in Seattle’s real estate market and driven price increases, in an echo of the Chinese-investor boom that he said has occurred for the past 20 years in Metro Vancouver. 

He said that increasingly in Seattle and “tertiary” markets across Washington state, institutional and individual Chinese investors are seeking out residential, commercial, and “lifestyle” property assets such as golf courses, vineyards and vacation property.

The trend is partly driven by large investors who realize tourism and immigration from China is on the rise in Washington. Some of these Chinese investors are seeking large assets such as marinas and hotels in immigration-investment programs, he said. Also, as prices skyrocket in major urban centres favoured by international investors in B.C. and Washington, investors are turning their attention to undiscovered markets, according to Jones.

“Point Roberts is a unique little slice of real estate, because it is America, but it’s accessible through B.C.,” Jones said. “It doesn’t surprise me that someone wants the Vancouver lifestyle at a fraction of the price.”

But do a few big investments from China predict a Point Roberts boom?

Jones said believes that the volume of real estate investment from China is so large that buyers are recognizing they can follow fellow Chinese investors into newer pockets of interest and “create self-fulfilling prophecies of rising markets.”

“Once these relatively obscure markets are on the map, it becomes like a self-priming pump,” Jones said.

Rusk, the local realtor, is accepting of the status quo, which includes running through the woods or cycling the back routes with a good chance of not seeing another human being.

“This is how we want it,” he concludes. “This is why we’re here.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

20-storey tower, Ella, offers homes in heart of bustling Bernard district

Michael Bernard
The Vancouver Sun

Project: ELLA

Project Location: 1588 Ellis Street, Kelowna

Project Size/Scope: A total of 116 condominium suites in a LEED-certified concrete 20-storey highrise in Kelowna’s Bernard district with lake and mountain views. Homes range from 311 to 2,150 square feet

Prices: Studios from mid-$200s, one-bedroom-and-dens from mid-$300s, two-bedrooms from mid-$400s, luxury two-bedroom-and-den corner homes from low $800s

Developer: Mission Group, Kelowna

Architect: IBI Group Architects

Interior Design: i3 Design Group

Presentation centre: 489 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna

Website: http://www.liveatella.com

Occupancy: 2020

When one of Kelowna’s most progressive developers shifts gears and begins building up instead of out, it’s a sure sign that the city is entering a new phase.

Mission Group is launching sales this fall of its first highrise in the Okanagan city, a 20-storey, 116-unit concrete tower called ELLA, astutely located in the Bernard district, Kelowna’s newest and trendiest neighbourhood. All the homes will be guaranteed views of Okanagan Lake or the surrounding mountains because the residences start on the sixth floor, with retail outlets and parking occupying the first five storeys.

Luke Turri, the company’s vice-president of development and a Kelowna native, points to his own area-resident parents as an indicator  of how ELLA’s neighbourhood is attracting people.

“My parents live in a 3,000-square-foot home in the suburb of Wilden (about 15 minutes away). And every weekend they come down here to walk their dog. They will grab a coffee and get some breakfast. They want to be in the centre of things.

“They don’t like the malls,” he said, adding his mother loves to shop the smaller boutiques typical of the area.

Turri said he, his spouse and their two young children also live in Kelowna’s downtown. They used to go to Vancouver to enjoy a downtown environment, but now they can enjoy the same experience in Kelowna.

Mission Group has built a number of different projects in Kelowna over the last few years, including the low-rise Central Green residences, and the U1 and U2 rental developments designed for student living just off University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus.

It made the decision to acquire the land and build ELLA after observing the success of the city’s 21-month $14-million revitalization of Bernard Avenue, said JoAnne Adamson, Mission Group’s vice-president of marketing and sales.

That revitalization project, completed in May 2014, transformed the lakeside district by widening sidewalks and narrowing streets, adding street furniture, constructing a public pier, a new Kelowna Yacht Club building, a lakefront board walk and a city park, which encouraged boutique stores, restaurants and cafes to move in. At its opening, city officials described the area as “a people place and a destination.”

“ELLA is the right product for that location,” Adamson says. “Kelowna is ready for a sophisticated concrete tower in the Bernard district.”

The building’s residential top eight floors each have eight suites — studios, one bedroom, two bedrooms and two-bedroom-and-den homes — and penthouses on the top floor.

“What we have designed ELLA to be is for the end user, a diverse, but like-minded group of people that want to be downtown, want to be in the action and want to live in a vibrant and engaging neighbourhood,” Adamson said. “That could be a young professional working in the tech industry or it could be a downsizer coming from a 4,000-square-foot single-family home.”

Not surprisingly, the neighbourhood has a high walk score, a rating based on several factors including proximity of amenities, at 97 out of a possible 100.

Inside, two high-speed elevators will take homeowners and visitors to their units, which feature expansive floor-to-ceiling windows that provide panoramic views of the mountains and Okanagan Lake. All homes have eight-foot-six inch ceilings and generous patios and spacious balconies (studios have ‘Juliet balconies’) with glass-panel railings. Balconies are equipped with natural gas outlets for barbecues.

Flooring is wood-style vinyl planking throughout the kitchen and living areas, and in the second bathroom, powder room and laundry centre. Bedrooms and walk-in closets feature cut-and-loop nylon carpeting.

Kitchens are constructed with European-style cabinetry with soft-close hinges, designer pulls and convenient under-counter drawers, quartz countertops with undermount sinks and polished chrome single-lever faucets. Kitchen islands also have quartz countertops with waterfall gable ends, double-bowl undermount stainless steel sinks and recessed pot lights overhead.

Certain homes come with a built-in pantry with adjustable height shelving.

Depending on the home chosen, appliance sets are a natural gas cooktop or range, an electric wall oven or range, microwave with stainless steel trim kit, a contemporary, chimney-style hood fan and a cabinet-integrated refrigerator and dishwasher.

Bathrooms are spa–inspired and feature quartz countertops, custom frameless glass shower doors, large-format porcelain floor tiles, and master ensuite mirrors with integrated medicine cabinets.

The building offers a private club for owners for entertaining family and guests or for holding everything from meetings to cocktail parties. On the parking levels, residents have access to a pet wash area, bicycle wash and maintenance room, and resident bike storage with bike parking at the head of parking stalls or in a common bike room.

There are electric vehicle charging stations for ELLA residents and guests. As well, there’s a furnished guest suite for overnight visitors and separate parking for homeowners and guests. Rentals are permitted, but have a minimum 30-day occupancy requirement.

Adamson notes the best way for potential buyers to learn more and to see the presentation suite is to register on ELLA’s website. The company will be holding viewing sessions throughout the fall.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Residents of Terraces at the Peak will have stellar outlooks from their homes atop Burnaby Mountain

Simon Briault
The Vancouver Sun

Terraces at the Peak

Project location: 8940 University Crescent, Burnaby 

Project size: 117 homes in a 13-storey condo building. Two-bedroom homes of up to 1,397 square feet are priced from $599,900

Developer: Intergulf Development Group

Architect: Ramsay Worden

Interior designer: Lot30

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Telephone: 604-559-5795

Website: http://www.terracesatsfu.com

Throw the word “Vancouver” into any online image search and you’ll get dozens of picture-postcard photographs of city skylines and snow-topped mountains surrounded by sparkling inlets. Most people who live in the city don’t get these kinds of views from their living room windows and those that do often have had to pay big bucks for it.

Not so at Terraces at the Peak, a 117-home condo development by Intergulf set for SFU’s UniverCity, a master-planned community on top of Burnaby Mountain. Here, homeowners will get panoramic views of the region’s sea-to-sky backdrop at prices below what you would expect to find in much of the Lower Mainland.

“Because this is one of the highest points of land in the whole of Metro Vancouver, the views even from the lower floors will be stunning,” said Kristen Bull, marketing director at Magnum Projects, which is marketing the development on behalf of Intergulf. There’s a whole vista from the north east to the north west and even to the south there will be wide-open views over the Lower Mainland. I would use the word majestic. I know it seems a little over the top, but it really is – you’re on top of a mountain.”

Before the development of UniverCity, the vast majority of homes at SFU were student residences. The creation of the new community, in collaboration with the City of Burnaby, significantly diversified the living options at SFU. The neighbourhood also includes commercial and retail buildings, an elementary school and a daycare, all based on sound principles of sustainability.

“I actually went to SFU from 2001 to 2006 and when I started, there was very little up there,” Bull said. “It was a quiet and quite remote campus. Since then, it’s really blossomed into a fully functioning and healthy community, which is really nice to see.”

Intergulf was one of the pioneers of the UniverCity with its Novo 1 and Novo 2 developments, completed in 2004. In 2016, the company completed The Peak, a development on a parcel of land just to the west of Terraces, where the homes sold out within three months.

“On the back of that project, Intergulf launched Terraces at the Peak,” said Bull. “We’ve been incredibly successful again, with more than 80 per cent sold so far.”

The secret to that success, according to Intergulf’s vice-president Shaadi Faris, is the company’s approach to the development process.

“We apply insights gathered from our 35 years of experience — a collection of principles and processes known as ‘Intergulf Intelligence’ — that ensure uncommon attention to detail at every phase of a project’s progress,” he said. “We are capable of managing the entire development process, from land acquisition through design, construction and handover. We start by selecting sites that offer access to a wide range of amenities, then we consult with a carefully selected team of architects, engineers and other specialists to create projects that are tailored to their location and function.”

The result at Terraces at the Peak is a 13-storey concrete building with architecture by Ramsay Worden in a stepped form that is designed to maximize the views. There’s more than 3,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a gym, a private dining, study and entertainment room with a chef-inspired kitchen, a children’s play area, and a huge outdoor terrace with a barbecue area. The building also features a secure, fob-controlled lobby, underground parking with spots for 24 visitors and a carwash station.

Higher up in the building, kitchens come with European-inspired cabinets, LED under-cabinet lighting, quartz countertops and porcelain tile backsplashes. The full-sized stainless-steel appliance packages are by KitchenAid with the exception of the 30-inch Blomberg refrigerators with bottom-mounted freezers.

Bathrooms feature large-format wall and floor porcelain tiles, built-in niches in the ensuite showers, soaker bathtubs, quartz counters and polished chrome fixtures.

“People have loved the views and the value can’t be beaten,” said Bull. “The prices are significantly lower than you would find in Burnaby, Coquitlam and Vancouver so the offering is exceptional for first-time buyers. There’s also a lot of people who have been buying at SFU, moving up and upgrading with each new development or every other one. We’ve seen a loyal SFU community who want to stay in the area and want to upgrade their homes.”

Bull said that the terraced architecture has also attracted downsizers, who are keen to maintain their love of expansive outdoor living.

“There’s been interest from investors too because the return is among the best around,” she added. “The rents are still quite high because it’s at a university with a captive market for rentals just like UBC. The difference here is that the prices are significantly lower so there’s a more positive return on investment.”

The studio and one-bedroom homes at Terraces at the Peak are already sold out. Two-bedroom homes start at $599,900 and completion is expected for the summer of 2020.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The state of the nation’s finances continues to produce some worrying stats and the latest report from the Canadian Payroll Association reveals how fragile some households are.

Its latest survey reveals that 47% of Canadians would struggle if they were paid just one week late. It’s even worse for millennials (55%) and those in their 40s (51%).

It also found that 42% of employees spend all or more of their net pay every week – bad news for those saving to buy their own home.

The issue is exacerbated by the high levels of debt carried by many households.

The CPA survey shows that over a third of working Canadians feel overwhelmed by their debt levels and 31% say they took on more debt over the past year.

Almost all (94%) of respondents have debt with 28% having a mortgage, 18% have car loans, 17% have lines of credit, and 17% have credit cards.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Proposed new rules address problems in real estate industry

David Carrigg
The Vancouver Sun

B.C. real estate agents will be generally banned from acting as dual agents for both buyers and sellers under tough new rules drafted by the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate and obtained by Postmedia News. 

The draft rules were based on recommendations from the report of an independent advisory group released in June 2016 to address problems in B.C.’s real estate industry. Those problems included some realtors putting their own interests ahead of clients, some not abiding by rules around reporting requirements to prevent money laundering, realtors failing to disclose assignment of contracts (known as shadow flipping).

The draft rules will be provided to realtors and the public, with superintendent Michael Noseworthy open to feedback over the next month. 

Changes to rules, under the Real Estate Services Act, would be effective on Jan. 15, 2018. 

The key rule change has to do with dual agency — where a realtor acts for both the buyer and seller of a property, or for several potential buyers.

The proposed rule states “a brokerage must not engage in dual agency.”

An exception to the rule would be if the deal occurs in a remote area with limited access to realtors. 

The other key change is around disclosure of commission sharing. Currently, a realtor must disclose how much commission they will earn on a sale. 

But under the new rules, the realtor must also say how, if at all, that commission will be shared with another realtor. 

That seller could then use that information to renegotiate the contract with their realtor before signing the deal. 

B.C.’s real estate industry, which has had unprecedented growth over the past decade, is governed by the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate and the Real Estate Council of B.C.  

The realtors’ trade organization is the B.C. Real Estate Association. 

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.