|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
|
|
Monday, 08 January 2007 |
House millionaires double in BC
The number of real-estate millionaires in B.C.'s real estate market nearly doubled in 2006.
Data from the 2007 property assessments, crunched by Landcor Data Corp., shows that B.C. is home to 51,059 residential properties valued at more than $1 million.
That figure was 26,557 in 2006.
Most new paper millionaires own single-family houses. There are 38,027 such homes worth more than $1 million according to 2007 property assessments -- 18,459 more than a year ago.
And the number of condominiums assessed at more than $1 million increased by almost three quarters to 3,260 properties.
The B.C. Assessment Authority released its 2007 assessments earlier this week, based on property values as of July 1, 2006.
Provincewide, the data extracted by Landcor showed that single-family-home assessments increased just over 20 per cent on average, with many communities seeing increases that were much larger.
The average house in Tumbler Ridge in B.C.'s northeast shot up almost 73 per cent to $158,384.
Since Vancouver's average house assessment was up 23 per cent to $896,979, Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association, said people shouldn't be surprised by the dramatic increase in million-dollar homes.
The run-up in real estate prices over the past few years had pushed many homes into the $800,000 to $900,000 range already, which "all bumped up over the year into the million-dollar range," Muir said.
As well, Muir said, BC Assessment's valuations cover the period between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006, which was "one of the strongest 12-month periods" as there has been in the current real estate market cycle.
Muir added that assessment increases are only "paper profits."
"It's the equity in your home. Today it may be high, [but] the market may change and it may not be so high in a few years," he said.
However, Muir added that home-equity gains do help fuel the economy in so far as homeowners feel wealthier and are willing to spend some of that perceived wealth.
That notion is called the wealth effect, Muir said: Typically, people are likely to spend five cents of every dollar that their net worth increases.
Muir added that there is no reason for that wealth effect to drop off. Though real estate sales over the last half of 2006 slowed and price gains have slowed, they haven't stopped.
And Muir believes the economy is still performing well enough with enough job and income growth to support real estate markets through 2007.
Landcor president Rudy Nielsen said there are also significant outside influences in B.C. real estate. Albertans, he said, bought about $1.5 billion worth of second homes in the province making B.C. "Alberta's playground."
Nielsen, who also heads the recreational-real-estate firm NIHO Land and Cattle Co., said he has also seen a big increase in the number of Americans from the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas buying recreational homes for more than recreational purposes.
"They're buying secondary homes, what I call safe houses," Nielsen added. They see B.C. as a safe haven from their fears over global terrorism.
Andrey Pavlov, a Simon Fraser University business professor currently a visiting scholar at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, said expensive real estate has shot up in value the world over and Vancouver is no exception.
"Within Vancouver, the expensive areas have increased mort than proportionally," Pavlov said.
He added that real-estate gains "reflect the increasingly skewed distribution of income."
The rich are getting richer faster than incomes of the less wealthy are rising.
"There is income inequality in the U.S., around the world and in Canada," Pavlov said. "And [the inequality] is increasing. Because of that, there is increased demand for [real estate], especially in those very desirable areas."
(prepared by Derrick Penner/Vancouver Sun)
|
|
|
Thursday, 21 December 2006 |
|
New November listings decrease, increase in active listings balance market Vancouver, B.C. December 4, 2006 -The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total residential sales for detached, attached and apartment properties reached 2,358 units in November 2006, a decrease of 19.7 per cent when compared to the 2,938 units sold in November 2005 and a decrease of 5.1 per cent when compared to the 2,486 sales in November 2004. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties decreased by 3.1 per cent to 3,168 units compared to the 3,271 units listed in November 2005. The total number of active listings increased by 30.6 per cent to 11,308 units when compared to November 2005's 8,659 units. "This is the first time since April 2006 that we've seen new listings tighten in comparison to the same period in 2005," says REBGV president Rick Valouche. "However this decrease was balanced by our higher year-to-date inventory of active listings and the fact that the average days-on-market for homes selling in Vancouver has remained unchanged at 43 days when compared to November 2005. "The combination of all these factors may continue to relieve the pressure we've seen on home prices throughout 2006," notes Valouche. "This is a good market for both buyers and sellers. Use a REALTOR® to find the best value for your dollar." According to Multiple Listings Service® (MLS®) data, sales of apartment properties decreased by 11.5 per cent to 1,050 sales in November 2006 compared to 1,187 sales in November 2005. The benchmark price of an apartment property in Greater Vancouver, calculated by the MLSLink® Housing Price Index, is $329,537, up 17 per cent from one year ago. Sales of attached properties decreased by 22.2 per cent in November 2006 to 404 sales, compared to 519 sales in November 2005. The benchmark price of an attached unit is $410,085, up 17.9 per cent from a year ago. Sales of detached properties decreased by 26.6 per cent in November 2006 to 904 sales, compared to 1,232 sales in November 2006. The benchmark price of a detached unit is $647,562, up 14.3 per cent from last year. Bright spots in Greater Vancouver in November 2006 compared to November 2005: | Apartments: | | Burnaby | up 8.2% (144 units sold, up from 133) | | Delta South | up 114.3% (15 units sold, up from 7) |
The Real Estate industry is a key economic driver in British Columbia. In 2004, dollar volume sales of homes in Greater Vancouver set a new record at more than $13.8 billion. Based on this figure, Greater Vancouver home sales in 2004 generated over $1 billion in related sales. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is an association representing more than 8,500 REALTORS®. The Real Estate Board provides a variety of membership services, including the Multiple Listing Service®. For more information on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, contact a local REALTOR® or visit www.realtylink.org. *In August 2004, the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley boards upgraded our existing MLS® systems to a common system called MLSLink. MLSLink® HPI is the latest version of the Board’s Housing Price Index (HPI) and is designed to accommodate the MLS® upgrade and improve the legacy HPI product. For more information on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, visit www.realtylink.org. For more information please contact: Eileen Day, Manager of Communications
Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
Phone: (604) 730-3028 Fax: (604) 730-3102
E-mail:
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
|
|
|
Sunday, 10 December 2006 |
Could a big price drop be approaching?
In a sea of buoyant sentiment about Greater Vancouver's rising real estate prices, a pair of Canaccord Capital Corp. investment advisers are cautioning their clients not to get too high on the gains they've seen.
It is not like Mark Hewett and Erik Dekker are doomsayers. B.C.'s economy has a lot of positives, Hewett said in an interview.
However, a Canaccord researcher sent some Vancouver price data to U.S. financial analyst Dennis Gartman, and Gartman -- who Hewett said knows the city well -- included a technical analysis of the price graph in one of his recent newsletters.
Hewett and Dekker included Gartman's findings in one of the research notes they send to clients, a copy of which wound up in the hands of The Vancouver Sun.
Gartman's assessment is that Vancouver real estate prices have been on a run, reaching "levels that we think suggestive of one of Vancouver's rather regular and seemingly inevitable breaks."
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. forecast a seven-per-cent price increase for Vancouver, and the Credit Union Central B.C. estimated a six-per-cent rise for 2007.
And Vancouver-based experts say Gartman is drawing conclusions from looking at price alone.
Gartman, however, noted that the line of Vancouver's real estate never goes straight up. It moves in waves reaching peaks, then falling into sometimes substantial troughs. For instance:
- In the dark days of 1981-82, the fall from peak to trough was 40 per cent, and it took seven years to climb out.
- Prices peaked again in 1990, then fell 20 per cent before recovering in 1992.
- The next peak in 1995 ended with a long bear market with no new highs until 2003.
By Gartman's estimate, in the current cycle a Vancouver detached house rose from $340,000 at the last trough in the winter of 1998-99, reaching nearly $800,000 this year.
"If the peak was made earlier this year, and if history is any guide to us," and Vancouver prices decline by the average of the last three cycles, Gartman said it could take 25 to 30 months to go down the trough, and 65 to 70 months to see a new peak.
Based on past experience, Gartman added that the drop could be in the order of 28 per cent, taking that $800,000 house down to $575,000.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >>
| | Results 5 - 8 of 33 |
|
|
|
