Southside reflects both polish and practicality

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Southside

Where: 16480 22nd Ave., South Surrey

What: 50 single-family wood-framed homes with detached garages and finished basements

Residence sizes and prices: Four-bedrooms; 2,418 — 3,600 sq. ft., from $1.98 million, including GST

Developer and builder: Miracon Development Inc.

Sales centre: 16488 22nd Avenue

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

While there’s much to be said about the attractive furnishings and family-friendly layout in the interiors of Southside, Miracon’s community of single-family homes in South Surrey, designer Jas Rai knows that beneath the beautiful surfaces, families need something to rely on: a resilience and durability in the materials and a design crafted for convenience and ease over many years.

It’s noteworthy that Rai’s favourite item in the display homes at Southside an oval marble table, which has a feminine sophistication that underscores its durability.

 

 “The subtle veining in the marble adds style. Because it’s durable, hot items can be placed directly on the top and scratches can be polished and buffed so it will showcase beautifully for years,” Rai says.

Although she designed the interiors in a contemporary vein, Rai added warmth with a few traditional touches. Acacia wood-frame and woven leather-stripped seats in the kitchen and a small cabinet painted in a folksy whitewash stand out among the more crisp, contemporary pieces but still perfectly suit Rai’s style.

 “It’s important to add elements of character in a space so that it’s interesting. An all-white kitchen can appear cold if not contrasted with warm accents…I chose the whitewash finish because it adds softness and a touch of femininity. The piece creates flow in the room in an unassuming way.”

Southside joins Westside, Miracon Developments’ previous single-family home offering in the neighbourhood. The success of Westside among buyers influenced her approach to the newer collection of homes, particularly in the spaces designed for social gatherings, she says.

“Our buyers loved our all-white kitchens and lighter floors and the many other features. In Southside, I wanted to design the space so that it had that familiar Westside look, but yet still felt fresh and new.”

Miracon is seeing interest from small families and buyers moving up from less spacious homes. Once they make one of the biggest purchases of their lives, young families may not be too eager to splurge on new household items. At the same time, many know that it’s important to invest in one or two high-end furnishings or items — particularly if their investment is made of resilient materials or it’s an item that helps save time and stress, Rai notes.

“Splurge on the things that make your life easier or save you time. A hand-held shower head is not only convenient when showering, but also makes cleaning the shower simple; a kitchen faucet with a pull-down spray makes clean-up a breeze. Reducing stress in our busy lives is worth the investment.”

She advises homeowners to save on inexpensive tableware and bed linens, which are more expendable than bigger investments like a well-made sofa in a neutral style that can anchor the living room. Look for impact in a kitchen backsplash as well, she adds. “Beautiful tile can not only be functional but also serve as artwork.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The process of getting a development permit in the City of Vancouver has improved over the past year and is expected to continue to do so.

The city’s mayor says that efforts to speed up processing times for new permits have proved successful even as the City deals with a record level of development.

Single-storey laneway home permits can now be expediated within a week and further improvements are being implemented this fall.
These include:

• a single point of contact to all projects;
• service-level agreements and committing to specific customer return times for permits for affordable housing and low-density housing projects, to ensure projects move forward in a timely way;
• setting time limits and separated queues to reduce lineups for permit applicants.

“Delays to get basic permits are frustrating, and not acceptable. A swift and simple permitting process at the City is critical for addressing Vancouver’s housing challenges and to help facilitate housing delivery of all kinds across the City,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

OSFI has published its update for the tightening of mortgage lending regulations known as Guideline B-20 and set the date that it will apply.

The revised Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures will take effect from January 1, 2018 and include several key changes that the regulator says is part of its expectation that federally-regulated mortgage lenders remain vigilant in their underwriting practices.

• Stress test – the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages to be the greater of the five-year benchmark rate published by the Bank of Canada or the contractual mortgage rate +2%.
• Enhanced LTV measurement – federally regulated financial institutions must establish and adhere to appropriate LTV ratio limits that are reflective of risk and are updated as housing markets and the economic environment evolve.
• Restriction of certain lending arrangements –  federally regulated financial institutions prohibited from arranging with another lender a mortgage, or a combination of a mortgage and other lending products, in any form that circumvents the institution’s maximum LTV ratio or other limits in its residential mortgage underwriting policy, or any requirements established by law.

“These revisions to Guideline B-20 reinforce a strong and prudent regulatory regime for residential mortgage underwriting in Canada,” said Superintendent Jeremy Rudin.

The full guideline update is available from the OSFI website

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd.

other

Office Of The Superintendent Of Financial Institutions (OFSI) has finalized NEW mortgage rules applicable on all federally regulated banks.  The new rules officially start January 1, 2018.  This will dramatically change the lending landscape.

The new rules apply to all bank mortgages and will make borrowing more difficult even for clients who have substantial down payments, strong income and excellent credit.  Alternative lenders with relaxed qualification will be only option for many clients next year.

People who are considering buying or refinancing in the near future, may want to get approved NOW or very soon.  Until the end of this year, borrowers may take advantage of today’s qualification rules at lower rates.  Come January 1, 2018 most bank clients will lose a significant amount of buying and refinancing power.

The biggest change will be for people with more than 20% downpayment or equity in their homes.  They now have to undergo a financial stress test to prove they can continue to make mortgage payments if bank interest rates rise.

This will effect peopke who are planning to purchase, or refinance their homes, regardless of the mortgage term or product they choose.

The stress test requires all borrowers to qualify at the greater of the Bank of Canada benchmark rate, or 2% higher than the actual interest rate.

The Bank of Canada Benchmark rate today is 4.89%.

Given that the 5 year fixed interest rate currently is approx. 3.40%…this means borrowers will have to qualify at 5.40% as it is higher than 4.89%.

For most borrowers, this is a 22% reduction in the size of mortgage they qualify for.

In the event a borrower has purchased a pre-sale that is under construction, it is very important that they contact us as this will affect you at completion.

Adding a secured line of credit on to a home now while the current rules are still in efffect, allows home owners to have access to their equity for the future use.  Lines of credit do not require any payments until such time that the money is used.  It is fully open and readvancable so you may use the money and then pay it off at anytime.  There is a legal fee to set it up.

This may be the last change to take equity out of your home and qualify at 3.44%.

© Copyright 2017 – Synergy Mortgage Inc.

China-backed Fine Peace Canada plans to upgrade the 152-acre course with waterfront homes and hotel

Frank O’Brien
Western Investor

The sale of the Furry Creek Golf & Country Club closed on October 10, as China-backed Fine Peace (Canada) Holdings Ltd. bought the 18-hole course and related lands from the Burrard Group, which has been operating Furry Creek under GolfBC Holdings Inc.

 

Michael Geller of Geller and Associates, the Vancouver property developer and consultant who helped stickhandle the deal for Fine Peace, confirmed the sale but would not disclose the sale price.

The course is on the Sea-to-Sky Highway south of Squamish and north of West Vancouver.

Furry Creek’s 152 acres was assessed at $3.63 million on July 1. Its 15.54 acres of vacant waterfront land is assessed at $11 million.

Fine Peace is a subsidiary of China-based Gentle Group, a noted developer of residential-heavy golf resorts in China. Fine Peace Canada was incorporated on September 25 in Canada and was first registered as Fine Peace Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong one year ago.

Geller said the new owners intend to upgrade the clubhouse and the golf course. He added that the company is also considering developing a mixture of approximately 250 townhomes and low-rise apartments on the waterfront.

According to BC Assessment, townhouses in the area were assessed last July at an average of more than $1.3 million

“There was also a marina in the original plans for Furry Creek [in the 1980s],” Geller said, adding that it could be among upcoming discussions with the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and that future plans could include a resort hotel.

Before the Burrard Group bought it, Furry Creek was developed by Tanac Development Canada, a subsidiary of Japan’s Tanabe Corp. It opened in 1990.  

© Copyright 2017 Western Investor

OSFI releases final B20 guidelines

Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Canada’s banking regulator has published the final changes to its guidelines for residential mortgage underwriting, including a financial stress test for buyers who don’t need mortgage insurance.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said Tuesday the changes will come into force by Jan. 1, 2018.

Even homebuyers who don’t require mortgage insurance because they have a down payment of 20 per cent or more will have to prove they can continue to make payments if interest rates rise.

Other changes include restrictions on co-lending, or bundled mortgages, aimed at ensuring financial institutions do not circumvent rules that limit how much they can lend.

The final guidelines are generally similar to what OSFI had proposed in July, when the regulator put out a draft for public consultation.
The proposed changes, however, have been criticized for including potentially increasing costs and limiting access to mortgages for some home buyers.

“These revisions to Guideline B-20 reinforce a strong and prudent regulatory regime for residential mortgage underwriting in Canada,” said Superintendent Jeremy Rudin in a statement on Tuesday.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

other

Chinese buyers are expected to spend close to $80 billion on overseas property in 2017, but how do we tell where they intend to invest in?

We look at the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking of the world’s most liveable cities, which gives an excellent indicator of where Chinese residential investors could be putting their capital into, and why. 

Where are the world’s most liveable cities?

Home to seven out of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world, Australia and Canada both dominate the EIU’s rankings.¹

 

Australia’s Melbourne reigned as the most liveable city in the world for the seventh year in a row, while Adelaide and Perth secured the sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

Canada’s Vancouver ranked third, followed by Toronto and Calgary in fourth and fifth places, while New Zealand’s Auckland also managed to grab one spot in the top 10.¹

The remaining three cities are located in Europe, namely Austria’s Vienna (#2), Finland’s Helsinki (#9), and Germany’s Hamburg (#10).¹

 

5 deciding liveability factors for Chinese homebuyers

The factors that decide the EIU’s liveability ranking are also those that are vital reasons for Chinese buyers to invest in overseas property, especially as seeing how these rankings sync with Juwai Data that puts Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as some of the most popular countries with Chinese buyers on Juwai.com.

We examine how liveability factors sway the purchase decisions of Chinese property investors below:
 

#1 Education

Education is a prime motivation in Chinese buyers’ overseas investment plans, and cities in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand score a maximum 100 score in the EIU’s education rankings that are based on both the quality and availability of both public and private education.¹

This is a crucial element for agents to note, because the harsh enrollment qualifications and stiff competition for placement in good schools in China make the more varied curriculum overseas and better quality institutions available abroad doubly enticing.

Furthermore, an overseas education is seen by many Chinese students and families as a stepping stone to emigration abroad.

#2 Healthcare

Nine out of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world score a full marks on their healthcare rankings¹, so that’s definitely food for thought for agents and brokers targeting the Chinese market, who are growing more focused on healthcare issues and retirement planning.

50% of Chinese HNWIs ranked healthcare as their #1 topic of interest in a Hurun survey last year², and Chinese heading overseas for health tourism grew by 500% in 2016 alone, according to China’s leading online travel portal, Ctrip.³

#3 Culture & Environment

Chinese are increasingly driven by surrounding factors, such as living environment quality, climate, censorship, food and drink standards, as well as access to a range of goods and services. These are just some of the factors putting Vancouver, Toronto, Auckland, and Melbourne at the top of the EIU’s global liveability rankings.¹

#4 Stability and security

Investment security and stability counts, particularly for Chinese investors looking to venture overseas. Chinese buyers are big on safety, hence most look for the security of private, freehold property rights, political stability, and safe living environments.

That’s where cities like Toronto and Calgary scored highly, seeing as they have some of the lowest crime rates in the world, which could greatly resonate with Chinese homebuyers who put safety as one of their top priorities when selecting where to purchase property.

82% of Chinese respondents in a Juwai survey last year cited a safe neighbourhood as their most important criteria when investing in overseas property.⁴

#5 Infrastructure

Chinese buyers are mostly generational investors, and that means most want houses that last for a lifetime, if possible. However, new buildings in China generally only have an average life span of 20-30 years – compared to 74 years in the US and 132 years in the UK⁵ – which brings us to the reason why many Chinese buyers are fixated on housing quality when looking overseas.

This factor, plus the standard of roads and public transport, is where Melbourne and Perth have scored full points for, and was the deciding factor that helped Melbourne trump over other cities to settle comfortable at the top as the most liveable city in the world for 2017.

 

Low urban density is a unifying factor

Beyond the five liveability elements mentioned above, the cities in the top index all have something in common, and that is that their urban density is notably low by international standards.

With China currently home to 15 megacities⁶ – cities with over 10 million residents – and a total urban population of 771 million people even back in 2015⁷, more and more Chinese are looking overseas as their solution to less crowded living environments, where there is not only more open spaces but also less competition for school places.

That said, these five liveability factors give you a good idea on what and how Chinese investors tend to assess when property hunting overseas, so be sure to tailor your pitch to market to these motivating factors.

017 © Juwai. All Rights Reserved.

Condo affordability has plunged in key Vancouver suburbs

Michael Mata
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Increased housing supply is often touted as the panacea to Metro Vancouver’s affordability crisis, with a developer group urging mass rezoning of single-family neighbourhoods to accommodate higher-density residential developments.

“What’s causing the supply shortage is the restrictive single-family home neighborhood zoning on 85% of our residential land base. That keeps out young families, middle income earners and renters, who can’t afford single-family homes,” said Anne McMullin, president and CEO of the Vancouver-based Urban Development Institute.

“We clearly need a regional housing strategy with more homes for more people. That means more high-rise apartments along rapid transit corridors and more townhomes, rowhomes [and] multi-family low-rises,” she added.

However, recent studies indicate that the reverse trend is true: Fewer people can afford to buy condos in Metro Vancouver suburbs that have seen the greatest increase in supply over the past two years.

Spurred by the extension of rapid transit, Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey have seen explosive growth in strata projects. At the same time, housing affordability has plunged.

After record-breaking construction last year, Surrey had more multi-family housing starts in the first half of 2017 than in any other Metro Vancouver municipality. However, condo affordability has dropped by 7.8% compared to a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by credit union Vancity.

Burnaby, which had the second-highest strata starts, saw condo affordability drop almost 10%. In the Brentwood area, where the most new condos are being built, the benchmark price of a resale condo is the highest, and least affordable in Burnaby, at $747,400.  

Coquitlam’s condo affordability dropped 20.8% this year, despite posting the third highest number of multi-family starts in the region, up 35% from last year, to 941 units.

To make matters worse, developers are driving local residential land prices higher. According to Colliers International, a well-connected transit system is spurring new condo development, particularly in areas adjacent to existing town centre malls, such as Brentwood and Lougheed, which have been rezoned for ultra-high-density housing.  

“Historically, wherever we’ve seen rapid transit developed in Metro Vancouver, we’ve seen an increase in new development along the corridors and [in] particular around stations,” said Michael Ferreira, principal of research company Urban Analytics. “The form of housing is going to be more affordable; a condominium will be more affordable than a single-family home.”

Based on a comparison of starts and affordability, the condo affordability factor is waning fast, even as supply surges.

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