It’s all in the details at Fern Grove

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Fern Grove

Where: 24012 127B Ave. (128^th and Fern Crescent), Maple Ridge

What: 34 single-family Craftsman-style homes on lots ranging from 3,732 to 8,000 sq. ft. Available in three- to six-bedroom models, some with legal basement suites

Price: From $929,996 for a 2,954-square-foot home with an unfinished basement.  The largest home, being the Alouette model show home at 3,820 square feet, includes a finished two-bedroom basement suite and sells for $1.1 million

Developer and builder:  Epic Homes

Sales centre: Fern Crescent and 128^th Ave., Maple Ridge

Centre hours:  noon to 6 p.m., daily

Sales phone: 604-477-2959

At the Fern Grove new-home project in Maple Ridge, Leanne Leon has created a home that no doubt already lives in the imaginations of so many homebuyers: it’s a haven of familial warmth with an appealing adult formality.

“It’s all about the details and making sure each space looks beautiful and balanced from every perspective,” says Leon, a designer with E2 Homes Ltd., and the lead in the project for Fern Grove’s developer, Epic Homes.

In a display home’s grand living room, Leon created a dominant focal point with the gas fireplace at its heart. Cabinetry beneath matching artwork on each side creates a vertical line straight to high square windows and up to the ceiling, creating perfect symmetry on either side of the fireplace for a regal, columnar look. “I think we definitely achieve a balance with the fireplace wall as the focal point, and the beautiful combination of colour and rough and smooth texture bring a sleek tone and feel to this room,” Leon says.

Epic Homes is marketing the community for both empty nesters and first-time buyers, two demographics that may seem generations apart. However, they share some preferences — the open-concept space being the most popular, Leon says.

“People seem to be looking for more definition of the rooms, although they still like to retain the shared open-space aspect of the open floor plan, which this home offers. It appeals to all age groups.”

While the main room is defined by its formality, Leon adds favourite pieces for a touch of casual warmth. A large, square caramel leather ottoman was a find from Vancouver-based Article, surrounded by traditional furnishings and a light neutral palette of greys and browns. That caramel tone also stands out in the dining chairs in the spacious open-concept kitchen-dining area.

In an upstairs den, a sofa from local decor outlet CF Interiors is so inviting, she says, “you fall right into it. It’s perfect for lounging in, to watch your favourite show.”

In the kitchen food-prep area, quartz countertops and two-toned Shaker wood cabinetry in painted white or maple stain add a classic touch against the subway tile backsplash.

The master ensuite comes with Italian ceramic tile, frameless glass shower enclosure and a stand-alone soaker tub. Leon has worked on the design of display homes with Epic Homes since 2006. Twelve years of partnership has given her an opportunity to reflect on how her style changes and develops with every project, she says. “I love looking back at my old show homes and seeing how my work has evolved over the years.”

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Third tower proposed for Burrard Place in downtown Vancouver

Kenneth Chan
Livabl

Artistic rendering of Tower C of Burrard Place at 1261 Hornby Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Reliance Properties)

Reliance Properties is moving forward with its plans to build the third tower on its Burrard Place redevelopment, which is a partnership with the Jim Pattison Group.

A development application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver to redevelop a remaining 15,000-sq-ft parcel at 1261 Hornby Street – located immediately south of the 7-Eleven store – into a 368-ft-tall, 35-storey, mixed-use tower.

Site of Tower C of Burrard Place at 1261 Hornby Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Reliance Properties)

Site of Tower C of Burrard Place at 1261 Hornby Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Reliance Properties)

The proposal incorporates 233 homes, including 207 market strata units and 27 market rental units, with the unit mix established as 16 studio units, 116 one-bedroom units, 100 two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom units.

There will also be a 5,120-sq-ft retail space with access from the street and 40,252-sq-ft of office space within the lower floors above ground level.

Like the rest of Burrard Place, a deep excavation is required as the developer plans to build nine underground levels to hold 375 vehicle parking stalls. This parking facility will be interconnected with another new building that is a part of the Burrard Place complex.

Artistic rendering of Tower C of Burrard Place at 1261 Hornby Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Reliance Properties)

Architectural firm IBI Group describes their tower design as “a kind of supergrid of ‘modules’, here articulated by dark grey metals against low iron glazing, that reads distinctly different than the lighter grids” of the other two towers at the complex.

“Like cells in an analogue film strip, these modules track up the building in four bays, each slipping past one another, suggesting motion and revealing the ‘action” within each module,” reads the architect’s design rationale.

“This composition plays in elevation with the symmetry of the typical floor plan through the interlocking material logic of clear/silver glazing systems and the gray metal panel system. To further refine this supergrid, black ceramic frit is used as a kind of graphic tailoring that includes radiused and thickened corners.”

Overall, the project will have a total floor area of 228,000-sq-ft, giving it a floor space ratio density of 17.3 times the size of its lot.

Artistic rendering of the Burrard Place office tower. (Burrard Place)

Construction on the two other towers at Burrard Place is well in progress; the 550-ft-tall, 53-storey One Burrard tower with 394 homes is slated for a completion next year while the 184-ft-tall, 13-storey ‘The Offices’ office tower is slated for an opening in 2020.

Artistic rendering of the Burrard Place office and residential towers. (Burrard Place)

Additionally, Reliance Properties also owns the 7-Eleven site, and it is proposing to redevelop the corner property into a 300-ft-tall, 25-storey residential building with a white-coloured design and quartz-shaped qualities.

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering showing the general form of 902 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects / Reliance Properties) 

© 2021 Vancouver Urbanized

BOC lifted interest rate from 1.25 to 1.5 per cent

Andy Blatchford
Mortgage Broker News

OTTAWA _ The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday in an economy that it predicts will remain resilient even as it faces an even bigger bite from deepening trade tensions.

The rate hike was the central bank’s first interest rate move in six months and lifted the trend-setting rate to 1.5 per cent, up from 1.25 per cent. It was the bank’s fourth rate increase over the last 12 months.

The decision, a move that will likely prompt Canada’s big banks to raise their prime rates, arrived in the middle of a trade dispute between Canada and the United States that’s expected to hurt both economies.

The bank took the step even as it predicts larger impacts from the widening trade uncertainty, particularly after the United States imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Ottawa’s retaliatory measures. The tariff fight, the bank estimated, will shave nearly 0.7 per cent from Canada’s economic growth by the end of 2020.

However, the bank expects the negative blow of the trade policies recently put in place to be largely offset by the positives for Canada from higher oil prices and the stronger U.S. economy.

“Although there will be difficult adjustments for some industries and their workers, the effect of these measures on Canadian growth and inflation is expected to be modest,” the bank said in a statement.

But in addition to steel and aluminum tariffs, Canada is facing a significant trade-related unknown that many believe would inflict far more damage on the economy: U.S. duties on the automotive sector

U.S. tariffs on the auto sector’s integrated cross-border supply chains would have “large impacts on investment and employment,” the Bank of Canada warned Wednesday in its accompanying monetary policy report.

The bank, however, didn’t quantify the possible effects of auto tariffs on Wednesday. Governor Stephen Poloz has signalled in the past that he’s focused on data he can measure rather than the impacts of trade policies that have yet to materialize.

Canadian businesses must also contend with the uncertainty surrounding the difficult renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, for which talks have stalled.

The Bank of Canada also has its eye on how widening global trade disputes, including an intensifying battle between the U.S. and China, will affect the world’s economy. It warns that “escalating trade tensions pose considerable risks to the outlook” at the global level.

Even with the trade issues, the Bank of Canada is now predicting slightly stronger growth for Canada over the next couple of years, according to updated projections it released Wednesday in its quarterly monetary policy report.

It expects real gross domestic product to grow 2.2 per cent in 2019, up from its April call of 2.1 per cent, and by 1.9 per cent in 2020, compared with its previous prediction of 1.8 per cent. The economy’s growth projection for this year remains at two per cent, the bank said.

Looking ahead, the bank predicts Canadian growth will continue to see bigger contributions from exports and business investment, which were both stronger than expected in the first three months of the year.

At the same time, household spending will represent a smaller and smaller share of overall growth due to the dampening effects of higher interest rates and stricter mortgage rules, it said.

Leading up to the announcement Wednesday, Poloz was widely expected to raise the interest rate following a run of healthy economic numbers, including the Bank of Canada’s own survey on business sentiment, tightened job markets and growth in wages.

Moving forward, the bank said it expects higher interest rates will be necessary over time to keep inflation near its target, however, it intends to continue along a gradual, data-dependent approach.

The country’s inflation rate is expected to rise to 2.5 per cent _ above the two per cent mid-point of the bank’s target range _ due to temporary factors such as higher gasoline prices before settling back down to two per cent in the second half of 2019. 

The Canadian Press

Copyright © 2018 Key Media

Canadian housing starts surged in June

by Theophilos Argitis and Greg Quinn
REP

Canadian housing starts surged in June to one of the highest levels over the past decade, driven by new condominium developments in Toronto that reached a 30-year high for the month.

Housing starts jumped 30 percent to an annualized 248,138 units, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said Tuesday. Multiple-unit urban starts were up 46 percent, with a 231 percent increase in Toronto for that segment of the market.

The June numbers reveal a resiliency that continues to surprise policy makers and analysts, particularly since sales in some of the country’s priciest real estate markets have been cooling. Economists forecast annualized housing starts of 210,000 units in June, from 193,902 in May. Demand for condos seems to be high given low levels of inventory, the Ottawa-based housing agency said.

“The national inventory of newly completed and unabsorbed multi-unit dwellings has remained below its 10-year historical average so far in 2018, indicating that demand for this type of unit has absorbed increased supply,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist said in a statement.

Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, also posted strong gains, with a 68 percent jump in annualized multiple-unit construction. Vancouver recorded declines last month.

In a separate report, Statistics Canada reported more evidence the market remains firm amid higher interest rates and stricter mortgage rules, with building permits for new Canadian homes reaching the second-high value on record in May. 

Copyright Bloomberg News

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

Online estate agent buys flat-fee real estate service in Canada

REM

Purplebricks, an online estate agent based in London, England, has acquired the DuProprio/ComFree Network from Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited.

The deal is for $51 million, the companies say.

It expanded to North America in September 2017 in Los Angeles and moved into San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno earlier this year. It is also planning to expand to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

“DuProprio/ ComFree developed a strong presence in delivering a flat-fee, cost-effective, professional real estate service to the people of Canada, challenging the conventional agency market,” says Michael Bruce, global chief executive of Purplebricks. “Their model of bringing a range of service packages and support, with access to expertise, from coaches to legal professionals, is proving highly attractive to the Canadian public, and has aspects in common with the Purplebricks model and ethos in the U.K., Australia and the U.S.”

The company says DuProprio/ ComFree has built up a 20.2-per-cent market share of the real estate market in the province of Quebec and has a two-per-cent market share in Ontario and 2.3 per cent in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

It will continue to be led by the existing management team headed by CEO Marco Dodier, CFO Jean Bruno Lessard, COO Lukas Lhotsky and CLO Marie-Christine Blain.

“We admire Purplebricks for what they have achieved across three continents in just four years,” says Dodier. “We share their ambition and desire to offer consumers a new and better way to buy and sell property. To have their support, expertise and financial backing will help propel DPCF to even greater heights and allow us to replicate our success in Quebec across the rest of Canada.”

DuProprio/ComFree employs about 400 people in offices in Quebec, Montreal, Hamilton, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Under the DuProprio brand in French-speaking Quebec, the company offers homeowners a flat fee listing service for property sales. Under the ComFree banner in the rest of Canada, the company operates an online brokerage model that also offers a flat fee. “Customers only select and pay for the services that they want and the DPCF platforms provide customers with the tools and information needed to manage the sale of their homes successfully,” the company says.

© 2017 REM Real Estate Magazine

Home prices remain the same as few buyers looking

Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail

Home sales in the Vancouver region have tumbled to their lowest level in six years while prices flatline, with listings languishing on the market.

There have been fewer home buyers recently but prices tend to be slow to react before declining, said real estate economist Tom Davidoff of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

“Prices are slow to adjust,” Mr. Davidoff said in an interview on Wednesday. “But there are reasons for optimism if you’re a millennial buyer. The price momentum has certainly slowed and there is reason to think you will see a further softening of the market going forward.”

Total residential sales volume last month fell to 2,425 transactions, down 37.7 per cent from 3,893 sales in June, 2017. Last month’s sales, the lowest for June since 2012, were 28.7 per cent under the 10-year average for the month, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

“Before prices fall, you tend to see sales activity fall first,” Mr. Davidoff said.

The benchmark price for all housing types in Greater Vancouver has flattened, slipping to $1,093,600 − down $400 from the previous month but up 9.5 per cent since June, 2017.

The benchmark price is an industry representation of the typical home sold in an area.

“Buyers are less active today. This is allowing the supply of homes for sale to accumulate to levels we haven’t seen in the last few years,” board president Phil Moore said in a statement.

The total number of listings soared to 11,947 last month, up 40.3 per cent from 8,515 in June, 2017.

“Rising interest rates, high prices and more restrictive mortgage requirements are among the factors dampening home buyer activity today,” Mr. Moore said.

Prices were flat month-over-month for townhouses sold, with the benchmark reaching $859,800 in June, up $300 from May and a 15.3-per-cent gain over the past year.

Prices began surging regionally in mid-2013. Those huge spikes ended in mid-2016, shortly before the B.C. government introduced the foreign-buyers tax in August of that year for the Vancouver area.

The average price for detached houses sold in Greater Vancouver reached $1,754,795 last month, up 2.4 per cent from a year earlier. The region’s condo market saw a 5.7-per-cent gain over the past year to hit an average of $693,626.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board saw a total of 1,452 sales last month, down 43.5 per cent from a year earlier. In the board’s territory, which includes the sprawling suburb of Surrey, the average price for all residential property types dipped to $748,709 last month, down 0.4 per cent from June, 2017.

On the higher-end part of the market, prices are dropping. On Vancouver’s west side, the benchmark price for detached properties slipped to $3,392,500 in June, down 1.1 per cent over the past month and a 6.5-per-cent decrease over the past year.

An annual 0.2-per-cent property surtax will be imposed by British Columbia’s NDP government on the portion valued above $3-million and up to and including $4-million; for the portion above $4-million, a 0.4-per-cent annual rate applies.

For example, the owner of a property assessed at $4-million will fork over extra taxes of $2,000 next year, while the owner of a $6-million home will cough up an extra $10,000.

The NDP got the idea of the surtax from Rhys Kesselman, professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy, who proposed the concept in early 2016, although he envisaged a formula that would have lessened the surtax burden on homeowners who pay B.C. income tax.

Mr. Davidoff, who supports the surtax, has been the target of booing at protests against the NDP’s housing policies.

He said many homeowners perceive their large price gains are the result of hard work and skill in investing in housing as an asset, but that clashes with the NDP’s view that the time is ripe to tax millionaires who benefited through sheer luck from the real estate boom. “Of course you want to avoid taxing those who scrimp and save,” Mr. Davidoff said.

Benchmark prices in Greater Vancouver for detached houses are up 0.7 per cent over the past year to $1,598,200. Whistler, B.C., has been one of markets escaping the cooling-off trend, with the benchmark price for detached properties rising 9.5 per cent over the past year to hit $1,716,200 in June. 

© Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc.

The Crestline has eyes focused on Pemberton

Michael Bernard
The Vancouver Sun

The Crestline

Project address: 1422 Portage Rd., Pemberton

Project scope: Located about two hours north of Vancouver, 36 townhouse and garden apartments ranging from one-bedroom-plus-den units through three-bedroom homes with rooftop decks or ground-floor patios. Units from 800 through 1,350 square feet.On offer is a wide range of recreational activities from skiing and snowmobiling in winter to hiking, mountain biking, golf, canoeing, kayaking and swimming in summer

Prices: From $385,000 to $655,000

Developer: Alture Properties, Burnaby

Architect: Lovick Scott Architecture

Interior designer: Debbie Evans

Sales centre: Whistler Real Estate Co., 4308 Main Street, Whistler

Sales centre hours: By appointment; register on website for access to salespeople

Sales phone: 877-242-2448

Website: www.crestlinepemberton.com

Occupancy: Spring 2020

While rent and housing prices can make it hard for all but the well-heeled to work or play in Whistler, up the road about 30 minutes, the village of Pemberton is fast becoming the home of choice for the more modest wage earner.

That’s why The Crestline, a new development of 36 townhouse and garden apartments, has attracted a waiting list of some 350 people anticipating the July 22 sales launch, says Stephen Duke, executive vice-president of Alture Properties, the firm developing the project.

In Pemberton, Duke notes, the youth factor is strong.

“It’s people who work, younger working couples who have an upper limit to what they can pay,” he says. “It’s a very young community with an average age in the mid-thirties.

“These are attainable homes that are priced at half of what you would pay in Whistler,” he said, adding: “This is where the couples go to have babies.”

Duke said he expects the buyers for this project will be mostly management-level couples from Whistler who want to start a family or perhaps already have children. He said some empty nesters who are getting out of older homes in the area have also expressed interest in buying.

Just a half hour’s drive from Whistler Village, and about two hours from Vancouver, the village of 2,500 sits on the floor of the Pemberton Valley, which has warmer summers and cooler but drier winters than in Whistler.

This is one of Alture’s “specialty developments” said Duke, noting another luxury townhome project now under construction on Cultus Lake near Chilliwack, where each home has its own boat slip.

The Crestline consists of two buildings with the homes built with one, two or three levels. Some will have rooftop spaces providing panoramic views of Mount Currie and the Coast Range peaks encircling the area.

Renderings of the project show the influence that Whistler exerts with the use of natural stone and timbers, and small dormer-like peaks and gables.

“Our location is our selling feature,” says Duke, adding that it is being built for the lifestyle of people who live in and around Pemberton. The development will be located next to a new community centre, library, day care, a water and skateboard park and a planned community garden.

Predictably, the underground parking has room for storing snowmobiles, which locals use to reach the Pemberton Ice Cap and Birken, which Duke says makes Pemberton one of the most popular snowboarding areas west of the Rockies.

“It’s the lifestyle that appeals to the people who are there, and we have factored that into buildings themselves,” said Duke. “All the homes have outdoor living space with a roof deck or garden patio. There is parking for pickup size trucks and we put storage lockers right next to the parking so you can unload your kayak or snowboards or your golf bags.”

Inside the homes, all the open-living plans have nine-foot ceilings, Shaker-single panel interior doors, flat stock trim and baseboards painted white. Flooring is wide-plank wood-look V-groove engineered laminate in a smoked finish Nordic Oak. There is broadloom in all bedrooms and staircases, and large-format black porcelain tiling in the entryway.

The kitchens come with a complete standard package of Blomberg appliances, including an induction range, refrigerator, dishwasher, hood fan, microwave and washer and dryer.

Kitchen cabinetry is a two-tone design with wood-look flat slab doors on the base cabinets and gloss white slab doors with concealed hardware. There are quartz countertops and a porcelain backsplash.

Bathrooms have modern “floating” vanities with quartz countertops and rectangular sinks, and master ensuites have spacious two-person shower stalls and a natural finish porcelain floor tile.

Buyers can choose from a few upgrade options, including remote-controlled motorized roller blinds on living, dining and master bedroom windows and over-height cabinetry with flat stock moulding trim that reaches to the ceiling.

Mechanical includes a heat pump combination that provides both heating and cooling, with a central hot water system.

Cailey Wilkes and her husband Alex both work in the area, Cailey as a wedding planner and Alex for Tourism Whistler. Cailey, from northern England, and Alex, from Australia, have lived in the area for a few years. “We’ve done quite a lot of hiking and camping and have fallen in love with the Sea-to-Sky corridor.”

They’re not the only ones to be smitten by Pemberton. Cailey’s mother and father, who live in Spain, fell in love with the area visiting Cailey and her brother. They now dream of retiring there, Cailey said, and have plans to help her and Alex buy a home at Crestline.

Duke said Cailey’s mother Linda has been calling him every month over the last year, asking when sales would begin.

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Rize?s Linea sure to be a standout in Surrey City Centre

Simon Briault
The Vancouver Sun

Linea

Project location: 13318 104 Ave, Surrey

Project size: 236 homes ranging in size from 474 to 1,491 square feet. Prices start from the high $300,000s for one-bedroom homes, the high $400,000s for two-bedroom homes and the low $600,000s for three-bedroom units.

Developer: Rize

Architect: IBI Architects

Interior designer: False Creek Design Group

Sales centre: Opens today at 10249 King George Boulevard, Surrey

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Telephone: 778-395-1126

Website: http://www.liveatlinea.com

Occupancy: 2021

When Linea takes its place in Surrey City Centre, it will be a standout in more ways than one.

Rising to 28 storeys, the 236-home project from developer Rize will have a look that the company’s Steven Cox says will distinguish it from its counterparts.

“The tower provides for incredibly efficient floor plans and the exterior appearance of the building is quite striking and overwhelmingly organic,” said Cox, Rize’s head of creative. “There will be free-flowing, curved balconies surrounding the entire outside of the building.

“It almost looks like it’s undulating and each suite will have an enormous, over-sized balcony, much larger than the pegged-on balconies that you sometimes see on other towers. It will look very different from its more rectilinear neighbours.”

Rize, a company whose leaders describe themselves as boutique developers of large-scale projects, has been operating exclusively in Metro Vancouver for the past 25 years, developing both residential and commercial buildings. The company’s residential developments under construction include The Independent at Main and Broadway and a Metrotown project called Gold House.

“We’ve got a rich history of interesting and unique projects in and around Vancouver,” Cox said. “We’ve also worked in Richmond and Burnaby and now we’re building homes in Surrey. We’re a fairly small group, but we take on some pretty big developments.”

Rize’s previous projects include The Ralston at the north end of Granville Street bridge, as well as Metropolis, one of the first projects to take advantage of the City of Vancouver’s heritage density bonus program. Under this program, developers were given permission to create new residential density in exchange for rehabilitating and legally protecting heritage buildings.

“One of the things that’s unique about Rize compared to other developers is that we produce homes that are pretty unique architecturally,” Cox said. “This means that we tend to cater more to end users, people who love their homes because they speak to them emotionally.”

Linea, which will take its place at 13318 104 Avenue, is the work of IBI Architects and False Creek Design Group. The condos will have one to three bedrooms and the project will include an as-yet-undisclosed number of townhomes.

Cox said that Surrey represents a big opportunity for Rize, describing the city as having an optimistic and diverse population that’s open to new and innovative ideas.

“We see Surrey City Centre as the downtown of the future for Metro Vancouver,” Cox added. “Surrey’s population will surpass Vancouver’s within a decade and with the rapid transit that is being developed or is already in place, there’s no reason for it not to continue to grow at an incredible pace. It’s got the beginnings of the key infrastructure that people want from a livable city as well as academia, business and culture. These things will really set it up for the future.”

Linea will have more than 14,000 square feet of amenities, including a 7,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard, an outdoor patio combined with an indoor lounge area, a two-storey gym, a yoga studio, a games room, a common kitchen and a shared co-working space.

“A lot of people in this neighbourhood were talking about wanting to have better home office options,” said Cox. “As a result, we’ve developed a substantial space that will go on the ground floor of the building for people who want to work from home.”

Homes at Linea will have eight-foot, eight-inch ceilings, air conditioning, wireless smart thermostats and wide-plank laminate wood flooring in warm grey or pearl throughout living spaces. Kitchens include quartz countertops and backsplashes, as well as single-bowl, under-mounted sinks with Baril pull-down faucets. There are Blomberg built-in refrigerators, Fulgor Milano convection wall ovens and induction cooktops. Homes above 800 square feet will come with 30-inch appliances and all homes include Blomberg front-load washers and integrated dryers.

Large-format 24-by-24-inch porcelain wall tiles will match the 12-by-24-inch floor tiles in powder rooms, bathrooms, and ensuites. There are Caesarstone quartz countertops in bathrooms with rectangular under-mount sinks, skirted soaker tubs and showers with Baril chrome faucets and fixtures.

“In Surrey, we’re expecting buyers from a younger demographic – people who may have entered the market in the last five years or so and are looking to get into something a little bit larger. We’re also seeing a sizable group of first-time buyers who are looking to get into the market in one of the few remaining locations in the Lower Mainland that is still within reach in terms of affordability.”

The sales centre for Linea at 10249 King George Boulevard, which is within walking distance of the Surrey City Centre Skytrain station, will be opening its doors today. Homes range from 474 to 1,491 square feet. Prices start from the high $300,000s for one-bedroom homes, the high $400,000s for two-bedroom homes and the low $600,000s for three-bedroom units.

“You’re close to everything at Linea,” Cox said. “On top of that, you’ll be living in a home that is really innovative in terms of its design and it’s at an affordable price point.”

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Home prices remain the same as few buyers looking

Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail

Home sales in the Vancouver region have tumbled to their lowest level in six years while prices flatline, with listings languishing on the market.

There have been fewer home buyers recently but prices tend to be slow to react before declining, said real estate economist Tom Davidoff of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

“Prices are slow to adjust,” Mr. Davidoff said in an interview on Wednesday. “But there are reasons for optimism if you’re a millennial buyer. The price momentum has certainly slowed and there is reason to think you will see a further softening of the market going forward.”

Total residential sales volume last month fell to 2,425 transactions, down 37.7 per cent from 3,893 sales in June, 2017. Last month’s sales, the lowest for June since 2012, were 28.7 per cent under the 10-year average for the month, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

“Before prices fall, you tend to see sales activity fall first,” Mr. Davidoff said.

The benchmark price for all housing types in Greater Vancouver has flattened, slipping to $1,093,600 − down $400 from the previous month but up 9.5 per cent since June, 2017.

The benchmark price is an industry representation of the typical home sold in an area.

“Buyers are less active today. This is allowing the supply of homes for sale to accumulate to levels we haven’t seen in the last few years,” board president Phil Moore said in a statement.

The total number of listings soared to 11,947 last month, up 40.3 per cent from 8,515 in June, 2017.

“Rising interest rates, high prices and more restrictive mortgage requirements are among the factors dampening home buyer activity today,” Mr. Moore said.

Prices were flat month-over-month for townhouses sold, with the benchmark reaching $859,800 in June, up $300 from May and a 15.3-per-cent gain over the past year.

Prices began surging regionally in mid-2013. Those huge spikes ended in mid-2016, shortly before the B.C. government introduced the foreign-buyers tax in August of that year for the Vancouver area.

The average price for detached houses sold in Greater Vancouver reached $1,754,795 last month, up 2.4 per cent from a year earlier. The region’s condo market saw a 5.7-per-cent gain over the past year to hit an average of $693,626.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board saw a total of 1,452 sales last month, down 43.5 per cent from a year earlier. In the board’s territory, which includes the sprawling suburb of Surrey, the average price for all residential property types dipped to $748,709 last month, down 0.4 per cent from June, 2017.

On the higher-end part of the market, prices are dropping. On Vancouver’s west side, the benchmark price for detached properties slipped to $3,392,500 in June, down 1.1 per cent over the past month and a 6.5-per-cent decrease over the past year.

An annual 0.2-per-cent property surtax will be imposed by British Columbia’s NDP government on the portion valued above $3-million and up to and including $4-million; for the portion above $4-million, a 0.4-per-cent annual rate applies.

For example, the owner of a property assessed at $4-million will fork over extra taxes of $2,000 next year, while the owner of a $6-million home will cough up an extra $10,000.

The NDP got the idea of the surtax from Rhys Kesselman, professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy, who proposed the concept in early 2016, although he envisaged a formula that would have lessened the surtax burden on homeowners who pay B.C. income tax.

Mr. Davidoff, who supports the surtax, has been the target of booing at protests against the NDP’s housing policies.

He said many homeowners perceive their large price gains are the result of hard work and skill in investing in housing as an asset, but that clashes with the NDP’s view that the time is ripe to tax millionaires who benefited through sheer luck from the real estate boom. “Of course you want to avoid taxing those who scrimp and save,” Mr. Davidoff said.

Benchmark prices in Greater Vancouver for detached houses are up 0.7 per cent over the past year to $1,598,200. Whistler, B.C., has been one of markets escaping the cooling-off trend, with the benchmark price for detached properties rising 9.5 per cent over the past year to hit $1,716,200 in June. 

© Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc.

Sales down 14 percent in June

Mortgage Broker News

Vancouver’s housing market showed continued signs of weakness in June, as affordability worries curb demand from buyers.

Sales were down 14% compared with May, the first monthly decline since January when tougher federal mortgage rules took effect, according to a report by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. The number of transactions was 29% below the 10-year average for the month of June, the group said.

Adjusting for seasonality, sales fell by about 5% to the lowest since 2013, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The figures add to evidence Canada’s hottest housing markets are cooling after price gains that topped 30% early last year led governments to step in with tougher regulations, including a mortgage stress test. While prices remain robust, the slump in sales is fuelling a rise in unsold inventories that could act as a drag on home values down the line.

 “Buyers are less active today. This is allowing the supply of homes for sale to accumulate to levels we haven’t seen in the last few years,” Phil Moore, the Vancouver board’s president, said in a statement. “Rising interest rates, high prices and more restrictive mortgage requirements are among the factors dampening home buyer activity today.”

Benchmark home prices were little changed at $1.09 million, leaving them 9.5% higher than in June 2017. The number of properties for sale is the highest in three years, and is up 40% from a year ago, the board said.

Buyers may soon get more negotiating power, though. The ratio of sales to active listings for detached homes declined to 11.7% in June, and prices often come down when the ratio holds below 12% for a sustained period, the realtor group said.

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