City planner Brent Toderian says he appreciates the concerns and the city is trying to cool down land speculation in the neighbourhood.Toderian says the city has been meeting with developers and realtors to discuss land transactions after getting wind of some very high deals negotiated in the months after the Cambie corridor plan was approved.

5100 Cambie Street

Cambie Street

He says the final prices didn’t appear to have factored in community amenity contributions the city negotiates with developers in order to pay for infrastructure and services associated with increased density”People were overpaying for land — thus we sent messages out into the marketplace to say you’re going to have to adhere to the expectation of the plan if you wish to succeed in development.”But he says having a new rapid transit line running through the neighbourhood means changes are coming and the city’s plan has the community’s support.”Canada Line is a change maker and so yes — there will be some folks, and to my ear they are the minority — but there are going to be some folks that are unhappy about that,” he said.”But most people recognize the logic and inevitability of transformation once you’ve put in a piece of infrastructure like Canada Line. The vast majority of people we heard from were very positive about the plan.”

Toderian expects construction along the corridor to begin in late 2012.The Cambie corridor plan allows buildings up to 12 storeys in height, and leaves room for them to go even higher around the Oakridge Mall near 41st Avenue and at the southern end of Cambie Street near Marine Drive.

Preliminary plans for the 825,000-square-foot Marine Gateway Project next to the Marine Drive Canada Line station have already received city approval. It will include two residential towers with more than 400 units as well as a cinema, food and drug stores.

“For the next year, we’re looking at favourable mortgage rates, a steady flow of migrants to the Lower Mainland, and a growing job market,” Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. senior market analyst Robyn Adamache said in an interview about the federal agency’s housing market report that concluded sales will remain stable until mid-2011 before trending higher. “We’re looking at about 33,000 sales for Greater Vancouver [in 2011]. We’re looking at 31,000 this year. The 10-year average is about 34,000.

The B.C. Real Estate Association also predicted in its fall housing forecast last week that B.C. housing sales, while declining 12 per cent this year to 74,950 units, will increase six per cent to 79,700 in 2011.

Adamache said that fewer new listings coming onto the market due to modest price growth, and a steady pace of sales will continue to gradually draw down the inventory of resale homes for sale.

The CMHC report predicted that the average home price in Metro Vancouver will increase 12 per cent in 2010 to $665,000, with most of the increase already having taken place. Prices are forecast to increase by three per cent next year to $685,000.

As well, new home construction in Vancouver will increase in 2011, approaching the 10-year average level as demand for new housing strengthens. “Homebuilding will increase modestly next year as developers seek to add to the stock of housing to accommodate approximately 16,000-18,000 new households each year,” said Adamache.

CMHC noted that housing starts across the province will also hold steady this year before gradually rising in 2011.

Metro chief administrative officer Johnny Carline said while the regional district supports UBC’s general plan for a “balanced university town,” he’s worried they want to build more high-end market housing for the public at the expense of student accommodation.

This could pose serious problems for Pacific Spirit Park, the city of Vancouver and the regional district as a whole, especially if people are commuting from UBC to other areas to work or there isn’t enough green space left on campus, the report said.

“A significant increase in market housing, which will undoubtedly be ‘high end’ in terms of price, may benefit the university financially, but this may equally increase the pressure for costly public infrastructure investment,” the report states.

“This is not consistent with regional growth plans or the regional interest.”

The university argues UBC is located in “some of the most expensive real estate in Canada” and more market housing is needed. About 50 per cent of students and 25 per cent of faculty live on campus now.

(news from Vancouversun)

As per the reports of REBGV (Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver), about 3,512 residential properties have been sold in April 2010. It is about 18.5% increase in comparison to 2,693 sales during the same month a year back and 9.1% increase (with 3,218 sales) from that of April 2008. The housing sales figure of April 2010 also signifies that there has been about 12% increase in comparison to March 2010.

There have been about 7,648 new listings (in April 2010) for attached, detached and apartment properties in the Greater Vancouver Area that amounts to about 64.5% increase as compared to the similar period in 2009. In comparison to March 2010, there has been about 9.2% increase in property listings. The sales of detached, attached and apartment properties have also increased remarkably in the past 1 year.

The housing prices have also increased during the similar time period. In the past 12 months, the HPI (Housing Price Index) benchmark for all residential real estate properties has increased from $499,021 (in April 2009) to $593,419 (in April 2010). The benchmark for detached, attached and apartment properties in April 2010 has increased by 21.2%, 16.4% and 16.9% respectively as compared to April 2009.

One of the major reasons behind the increased price of Vancouver homes is that the demand has been a lot more than the supply for the past 1 year. According to the industry experts, the housing price will continue to be higher in 2010. So, this is the ideal time for the Vancouverites to own a property before the price rises more. Moreover, the low mortgage rates may soon disappear along with the addition of 12% HST (‘Harmonized Sales Tax’, the combined federal-provincial tax) to the price of homes from July 1, 2010.

Due to the housing mortgage meltdown in US, Canadian lenders have become cautious about offering home loans to the borrowers. They’re assessing the financial condition of the mortgage borrower before originating a home loan. So, make sure that your finances are in order so that you can qualify for taking out a mortgage loan if you want to own a property in the Greater Vancouver Area, Canada.

People here in BC had talked or complained about this new tax a lot since the day it’s announced back in Summer 2009. Now is the time to start preparing for this change, no matter what. As a rule of thumb, the GST rules that now apply to residential property will also apply under the HST.

New rules about HST housing rebate:

Buyers of new homes will be eligible for a rebate of 71.43% of the provincial portion (7% of the HST’s 12%) of the HST paid on the new home up to a maximum rebate of $26,250. Homes prices at more than $525,000 will be eligible for a flat rebate of $26,250.

The rule is pretty straight forward. But that new rebate of the provincial portion will be for primary residence purchase only. Or if you are a residential property developer or builder, you may qualify for up to $8,663 rebate.

When everybody is talking about the New rebate, people almost forget the Old one. That is the Federal GST new housing rebate, which is 36% of the tax paid on the first $350,000 of the home price. The GST rebate is phased out for homes priced between $350,000 and $450,000.

Here is an example of you buying a new home valued at $1,000,000. If you purchase it now you will get no tax rebate from either BC government or Federal government. And you will pay 50,000 GST. If you purchase it on or after July 1, you will be qualified for $26,250 new housing rebate. But you will pay $120,000 HST.

That’s a big difference! Especially for my potential clients who will most likely invest in properties in Vancouver west side, West Vancouver. Because the housing price is rarely go below $1,000,000 when you invest in single house in those areas.

Another interesting thing about this new housing rebate is…

There is an enhanced provincial New Rental Housing rebate. If you construct or substantially renovate a residential property to rent to tenants, you will be eligible for a rebate up to $26,250 on units priced up to $525,000. There is a flat rebate of $26,250 for units priced above $525,000.

So the interesting thing is: you will not be eligible for any housing rebate if you buy a new property which is not your principal residence and you don’t rent it.

But, if you buy a new rental apartment building and rent all of the units, you will be eligible for a New Rental Housing Rebate for each unit up to a maximum rebate of $26,250 per unit.

Of course, there are always some conditions apply that you want to double check with BC government about new HST rules.

And actually the new HST rule won’t just impact on new home price. Because the overall housing market value, including those previously built homes, will be adjusted to a higher level when the new HST rules apply.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday the number of seasonally adjusted housing starts were up 5.9 per cent from November, to 174,500 units. Most economists had expected an increase of between 160,000 and 165,000 units in December, following an upwardly revised 164,800 starts the previous month.

According to CMHC data, urban starts were up 6.6 per cent to 157,100 units in December, CMHC said in its report. Multiple-unit starts totalled 77,700 during the month, up from 72,800 units in November, while single-unit starts totalled 79,400, up 6.4 per cent from the previous month.

Urban construction was up 17.8 per cent in Quebec, 15 per cent in Atlantic Canada, 8.7 per cent in British Columbia and 2.9 per cent in Ontario, the report said. In the Prairies, urban starts declined 3.8 per cent.

Rural starts were unchanged at 17,400 units.

The Bank of Canada may shed further light on whether that strength has pushed Canada into a housing bubble when one of the governor’s advisers talks about the real estate sector in a speech Monday afternoon in Edmonton.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada said Monday the value of building permits fell in November by 4.6 per cent from the previous month to $5.9 billion. Still, that was 23.1 per cent higher than November 2008 and 62.8 per cent higher than February 2009. The decline was due to a drop in the non-residential market, which offset increases in the residential real estate market.