Real Estate News & Articles

Home prices rise in most cities, but gain may not last

2010-08-11

Alan Zibel, Associated Press USA Today WASHINGTON — Home prices rose in nearly two-thirds of U.S. cities this spring as buyers took advantage of tax incentives that gave the struggling housing market a temporary jolt. The median sales…

Feds rethink policies that encourage home ownership

2010-08-11

Paul Wiseman USA Today New townhouses for sale are shown in Beaverton, Ore. By Don Ryan, AP Just how much should Uncle Sam do to help Americans buy their own homes? For 70 years — and for the last 15 in particular — the answer h…

Vancouver city hall and B.C. Housing pass buck on Olympic Village delay

2010-08-11

Request for non-profit operator yet to be released, 252 units remain empty Cheryl Rossi Vancouver Courier Sun All 252 of the Olympic Village social housing units remain empty. Photograph by: Dan Toulgoet, Vancouver Courier Four months after…

Housing no longer a driver

2010-08-11

Starts decline, prices suffer as HST, interest rates bite Ka Yan Ng Province A builder works on the roof of a new home under construction in the Montreal suburb of Brossard on Tuesday. Canadian housing starts fell in July for a third-straig…

Laneway housing takes off in Vancouver, but is a tougher sell in other Metro cities

2010-08-09

Coach houses catching on as a way to densify single-family neighbourhoods Kelly Sinoski Sun Allan Bernardo explains some of the green features of the laneway house being built at the rear of the family property at 6580 Knight Street. The la…

Georgia green - Home with a small footprint in eastside Vancouver

2010-08-08

Georgia green: Eco-friendly touches abound Mary Frances Hill Province A mechanical 'control room' will handle the Georgia Green homes' eco-friendly features. Photograph by: Steve Bosch, PNG, The Province Solar panels will be installed on th…

Facing the nightmare of a grow op

2010-08-08

Be proactive by watching for signs such as covered windows, venting odours, late-night deliveries Tony Gioventu Province Dear Condo Smarts: What do you do when your strata has a dangerous person living in the complex? In February, there was…

601 Herald, Victoria 27 homes, 4-storey building

2010-08-07

Suzanne Morphet Sun Former NHL star Trevor Linden speaks before turning the sod on his newest development project at 601 Herald St. in Victoria. The four-storey 27-unit building in the city's historic Chinatown is Linden's second project wi…

Shaughnessy & Oasis Highrises from Onni a first for Port Coquitlam

2010-08-07

New 'suburbia' features affordable and sustainable housing close to shops, dining and transit Claudia Kwan Sun Onni is selling homes in two highrises, Shaughnessy in Port Coquitlam and Oasis in Coquitlam, from one sales centre. Onni's Radan…

Cisco device makes wireless setup easy

2010-08-07

Valet, Valet Plus aimed at buyers who find it daunting setting up their own network Gillian Shaw Sun Scorpion Solar Powered Digital Weather Radio, Eton Corp iPom, Speakal Valet and Valet Plus , Cisco, $100 and $150 If you've set up a wirele…

Gastown heritage project attracts new business and residents to restored area

2010-08-06

$46-million award-winning development includes residential suites, offices and retail space Brian Morton Sun Julie Wu and Fredrik Orling of Orling & Wu in their home accessories store in a newly renovated heritage building in Vancouver'…

June good for building permits in B.C.

2010-08-06

With a file from Derrick Penner Sun A small surge in residential building-permit applications in June pushed British Columbia to the second-highest month this year for stated building intentions. Builders took out $612.2 million worth of bu…

Misconceptions about HST slowing home sales: poll

2010-08-06

Realtors say the new tax -- which does not apply to the purchase price of resale homes -- is a bigger threat than rising interest rates Garry Marr Sun Royal LePage Real Estate Services says almost half of its agents believe the main reason …

HST chilling home sales

2010-08-06

Survey shows tax -- not interest hikes -- blamed for decline Garry Marr Province Royal LePage Real Estate Services says almost half of its agents believe the main reason for the cooling housing market is a public misconception about how the…

Lower Mainland sales plummet, buyers, sellers reach standoff

2010-08-05

Worries about the economy, mortgage rates leave potential owners 'sitting on the fence' Derrick Penner Sun For-sale signs are sticking around longer as the number of real estate sales has fallen across the region. Prices are also down as wo…

Real estate now buyer's market

2010-08-05

Paul Luke Province Greater Vancouver's housing market has caught a chill in the middle of summer. Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver tumbled 45.2 per cent in July from the same month in 2009, the Real Estate Board of Greater Va…

B.C. Lower Mainland real estate sales plummet in July

2010-08-04

Derrick Penner Sun The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says that since the spring home prices have come down 2.8 per cent from record highs reached in April. Photograph by: Postmedia News files VANCOUVER — B.C. Lower Mainland r…

Free tool allows instant analysis of trends, Google economist says

2010-08-04

Tracy Sherlock Sun People can now put their finger on the pulse of the economy almost immediately, using a data-analysis tool developed by Google. Google Search Insights can predict everything from layoffs to travel trends, and Google is gi…

Government introduces greater flexibility in renting

2010-08-01

Amendment forbids councils from banning rentals post-construction Suzanne Morphet Sun It's complicated is more than the name of the movie in which Meryl Streep figures out where her heart lies. It is also the real-life dilemma that will soo…

Five-storey Destiny addition to North Vancouver community a promise of glass-house-in-the-forest residency

2010-08-01

Raven Woods to grow by 100 households Steven Threndyle Sun An artist's rendering of Destiny at Raven Woods, which is the latest multi-residence addition to the Raven Woods community in North Vancouver. The infinity-edge reflecting pond casc…

B.C. brokers expect fewer transactions this year

2010-08-01

Sun Where those of us who own residential property may have been this year and where we might be for the rest of this year and next year were the subjects of news releases this week. The brokers' professional association, the British Columb…

Brentwood Bay Resort on the Saanich Peninsula

2010-08-01

View residences on Saanich Inlet are priced to reflect recessionary building expenses Suzanne Morphet Sun The OceanVillas at Brentwood Bay Resort are distinctive with a more contemporary look. Massive Douglas fir posts and beams anchor the …

Real estate sales slow more than expected

2010-08-01

Derrick Penner Sun Real estate markets have slowed a bit more than the B.C. Real Estate Association's earlier predictions, prompting a downward revision in the group's latest market forecast that includes a softening of prices. Association …

Galaxy S has great clarity

2010-08-01

Samsung phone, with anti-smudge screen, has high-definition video recording Gillian Shaw Sun Galaxy S, Samsung Kinect, Microsoft Acer Aspire Predator, Acer Galaxy S, Samsung, price to be announced Apple may be making the news but Android ph…