Carmen Presents.... Market Update February 2016

February 2016        English   |    中文（简体） Strata fees: How much is enough? Inadequate contingency funds, depreciation reports often set owners up for big surprises Making sense of condominium strata fees - what is reasonable? what is too little? - is a growing challenge. Lawyers, industry associations and owners are grappling with such questions at a time when high real estate costs already mean scant disposable income for most households. Read more... (The Vancouver Sun) January 2016 Real Estate Reports Click below to find the benchmark price for condos, townhomes and houses in your area last month. Abbotsford   Port Coquitlam Burnaby East   Port Moody Burnaby North   Richmond Burnaby South   South Surrey /White Rock Cloverdale   Squamish Coquitlam   Sunshine Coast Ladner   Surrey - Central Langley   Tsawwassen Maple Ridge   Vancouver - East Mission   Vancouver - West New Westminster   Victoria North Delta   West Vancouver North Surrey   Whistler North Vancouver   South Okanagan Pitt Meadows   Central Okanagan   North Okanagan Surrey leads single-family home construction growth Pace of residential and commercial development in Surrey outstrips that of Vancouver The City of Surrey is now leading the way in new single-family detached home construction in the Lower Mainland, according to BC Assessment data released last week. There were approximately 83,600 new homes built in Surrey in 2015 compared with Vancouver's roughly 81,000.Surrey also surpassed Vancouver in all types of new properties being built, including strata, single-family detached homes and commercial/industrial properties. The only municipality to outpace Surrey in terms of overall new property growth was Burnaby. Read more... (BusinessInVancouver) Co-ownership of homes increasing in Vancouver due to surging real estate prices With housing prices in Metro Vancouver flying ever-further out of reach for local incomes, real estate professionals say an increasing number of families are pooling resources to get into the market. Co-ownership - facilitated by the so-called "mixer mortgages" promoted by banks and credit unions such as VanCity - allows families or friends to own and live in the same residence. Co-ownership is not new in Vancouver. But with average detached home prices surging to $2.5 million and "runaway" prices increasingly "divorced" from local incomes as Mayor Gregor Robertson said this week, it makes sense that more people are reportedly looking at these financing arrangements. Read more... (CTV NEWS)       Real Estate News What real estate experts expect in 2016 (MoneySense) Macdonald Realty CEO Lynn Hsu recognized in the 2016 Swanepoel Power 200 Lists (MacBlog) Lower Mainland News Vancouver's million-dollar housing divide shifts eastward (The Globe and Mail) Why China's stock market crash is going to send more money into Vancouver housing (Financial Post) Commercial real estate holds strong in Metro Vancouver (Global News) Whistler News Whistler's real estate market rebounded to pre-recession levels in 2015 (Pique) Weak dollar boosts B.C. resort housing sales (The Vancouver Sun) Victoria & Vancouver Island News Property values increase in Victoria, Esquimalt (Victoria News) Saanich property assessments up over five per cent on average (Saanich News) Foreign buyers not a major factor on the Island (Saanich News) Okanagan News Strong finish to 2015 for South Okanagan real estate markets (Penticton InfoNews) Housing sales climbing in South Okanagan (Penticton Western News) *This communication is not intended to cause or induce breach of an existing agency agreement. *Although this information has been received from sources deemed reliable, we assume no responsibility for its accuracy, and without offering advice, make this submission to prior sale or lease, change in price or terms, and withdrawal without notice. **Should you not wish to receive this communication, please reply to this email with "Please Unsubscribe" in the subject line. ©2016 Macdonald Real Estate Group     Send Page as Email