Real Estate News & Articles

Cellphones set to become payment devices

2005-11-09

TECHNOLOGY I They

Economic boom: Home price rise to exceed national average

2005-11-09

Derrick Penner Sun A major real estate company is predicting that housing prices in major British Columbia markets will continue to increase at a higher rate than the national average. The prediction, released Tuesday by Re/Max, matches sim…

Canadians continue unplugging home-phone lines

2005-11-09

Trend is to wireless, but at slower pace than other nations Tamara Gignac Province CALGARY -- Canada 's wireless market is booming as more consumers pull the plug on their home-phone lines in favour of a mobile substitute, new data released…

Local fuel cell battery to power cell phones

2005-11-09

JIM JAMIESON Province Tekion’s Neil Huff shows off company’s mini fuel-cell prototype A looming crunch in conventional battery technology has spurred electronics giant Motorola to invest in a Burnaby micro-fuel-cell developer. &…

Multiple housing starts shot up 121% from a year ago

2005-11-09

ASHLEY FORD Province Powered by multiple-housing starts Greater Vancouver saw its second-highest monthly starts ever last month, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said yesterday.    Multiple starts — that now comprise 7…

B.C. house builders on mini-break

2005-11-08

Ashley Ford Province B.C.'s vibrant house-building sector caught a minute breather in September with housing stars slowing marginally from August's torrid pace. According to Statistics Canada, housing permits worth $666.2 million were issue…

B.C. sees slight drop in building permit values

2005-11-08

But last month saw increases in Vancouver, Victoria Derrick Penner Sun The value of building permits taken out in B.C. dropped off by 6.1 per cent to $906 million in September compared with August, Statistics Canada reported Monday, althoug…

Nation’s priciest homes are in B.C.

2005-11-07

Miro Cernetig Sun Villa Madrona, on .8 hectares of prime waterfront near Victoria, is up for grabs. It could be yours for $18.5 million ABOUT B.C. LAND'S END, B.C. -- This new, eye-popping fact should end any doubts that the West Coast is C…

Health Warning - wash your hands & get a flu shot - Dr's Orders

2005-11-07

Dave Hepburn Province HEALTH    Q: How can I differentiate a cold from the flu?    A: A cold is not as dramatic as the flu. The flu hits hard and fast. One moment you’re dancing the macarena and the next …

Local housing market humming with nary a bubble in sight

2005-11-06

Now in midst of second wave of consumer demand Ashley Ford Province Don't look for any bubble burst in the Lower Mainland's vibrant housing market, a senior Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. official said here yesterday. That is because a "…

Strata council cannot make you do anything

2005-11-06

Tony Gioventu Province Dear Condo Smarts: Once again the snowy season is coming, and I am concerned that our strata council will make us shovel our own walkways and driveways in our townhouse complex. Can they do this, or is this a job that…

Its Baja California's best kept secret

2005-11-06

Winds of change blowing into sleepy, little Loreto SUE FRAUSE Province The sun sets behind the Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto, a landmark in historic Loreto on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. SUE FRAUSE — FO…

Townhouse, condo builder puts focus on design appeal

2005-11-05

Michael Sasges Sun The Camera homes’ living and dining areas — and the kitchens, entries and hallways — will have wide-planked walnut underfoot. Gas fireplaces, too, will be standard. Two colour schemes are on offer. The d…

Pile-driving sending some residents round the bend

2005-11-05

Stories are going around the project could have chosen a quieter method of pile-driving Frances Bula Sun Art Kelm has a few suggestions for the Vancouver convention-centre expansion -- or, as he calls it, "this insane project." Number 1: Th…

International Film Festival at the Brava

2005-11-05

Sun

Let's call them Skyhomes

2005-11-05

BURNABY MOUNTAIN I Townhouse window arrangement floods Millennium apartments with light Michael Sasges Sun CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun LOOKING WEST: The sweet spot in a One University Crescent apartment is in the vicinity of the d…

47-storey tower slated for foot of Burrard

2005-11-05

Derrick Penner Sun An artist’s rendering of the proposed new Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver, a luxury hotel on the Coal Harbor waterfront. ARCHITECTURE I Developer Ian Gillespie and architect James K. Cheng are claiming another iconic…

Trade up to more efficient furnaces to cut costs

2005-11-04

Victoria sets guidelines to cut energy consumption Scott Simpson Sun Consumers reeling from rising home heating costs can keep more cash in their pockets by changing their behaviour and insisting on higher-efficiency furnace systems, the pr…

Housing: Vancouver poised for top spot

2005-11-04

Province TORONTO -- Vancouver will take the No. 1 spot in Canada 's housing market next year, while Toronto and Montreal will watch housing starts dwindle, according to a national forecast released yesterday. Construction began on about 19,…

Condos dominate city housing starts

2005-11-04

Other With more than 3,000 multi-family (mostly high-rise condominiums) housing starts through the first nine month of this year, Vancouver is now dominated by strata construction. So far this year, starts of condominiums and townhomes are …

Nothing will blow these straw houses down

2005-11-04

Straw-bale houses are durable, super energy-efficient and a less expensive way to build -- pity the three little pigs didn't know about them Sherry Noik-Bent Sun CREDIT: Peter Redman, National Post Glen Hunter and Joanne Sokolowski's straw-…

Lower Mainland housing prices and sales soar

2005-11-03

Bruce Constantineau Sun Lower Mainland housing prices and sales volumes soared to near-record levels in October as recent mortgage-rate increases failed to dampen buyer activity, the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver real estate boards re…

City condo buyers are off to market

2005-11-03

Mary Frances Hill Other Marjad Mazaheri and Douglas Soo at Electric Avenue, a Burrard Street condo project they championed as buyer's agents. Somehow, the erotic allure of condo marketing floated right past Edmund Wong. In 2001, when the th…

Residential growth won't squeeze office space out, planner says

2005-11-03

Derrick Penner Sun Vancouver 's co-director of planning, Larry Beasley, wants to dispel the myth that downtown is close to residential capacity, and that housing units are squeezing office space out of the city's core. Instead, Beasley said…