Only 55 per cent consider their mortgage payments manageable, BMO finds

Michael McCullough
Sun

One in six Canadian home buyers has trouble handling the payments and Vancouverites are among the most likely to feel “house poor,” according to a new study.

A BMO Bank of Montreal survey of more than 1,000 Canadians released Tuesday indicates 16 per cent of first-time home buyers found their financing difficult to manage.

Among all respondents who had bought a home in the last 10 years, 15 per cent in Vancouver said they faced difficulties handling their mortgage payments, compared with 14 per cent in Toronto, 12 per cent in Calgary, and just six per cent in Halifax.

The survey also showed 77 per cent of recent house hunters did not seek any advice from a financial professional prior to making their purchase.

“What’s surprising about these findings is the number of people who don’t seek any financial advice from experts on the biggest investment they’ll ever make, and that could be a big mistake,” said BMO vice-president, personal banking Maria Racanelli in a press release.

It’s one thing to get a competitive mortgage, but quite another to make the payments fit with family finances, she said.

While just one per cent of Vancouver respondents said their home payments were making them house poor — meaning they had little disposable income — more than 13 per cent said home payments are a large and sometimes difficult-to-manage portion of income.

Just 55 per cent of Vancouverites surveyed considered their home payments manageable — the lowest of five cities studied — and 23 per cent said their payments represented a small portion of their income.

Still, the proportion of Vancouverites comfortable with their home financing was closer to the national average (78 per cent versus 81 per cent) than the relative affordability of homes here would suggest.

In a survey of housing affordability conducted by RBC Financial Group in the fourth quarter of 2004, average home ownership costs represented 47.7 per cent of average household income in Vancouver, compared with 33.3 per cent nationwide.

What people consider house poor may differ from city to city and Vancouver homeowners may be inured to higher housing costs, Racanelli suggested in an interview. The BMO survey reflects people’s feelings rather than objective circumstances.

“It’s an emotional response to a straight question,” she said.

Because this was the first time BMO had asked the question, she could not say whether the comfort level with home ownership costs had decreased or increased over time.

Vancouver home buyers were the least likely in Canada to look for a mortgage at their bank (34 per cent) and the most likely to use a credit union (13 per cent), and among the most likely to opt for a mortgage broker (32 per cent).

Among first-time buyers who did seek financial advice before buying, the most-cited sources of information were friends and family members (32 per cent), real estate agents (23 per cent) and mortgage brokers (22 per cent), with just 16 per cent speaking with a personal financial planner.

Buyers should speak to someone who can anticipate their life changes, Racanelli said.

“You wouldn’t go to a dentist for a problem with your knee,” she said.

The survey results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

SLAVE TO MY MORTGAGE:

With home values continuing to rise across Canada, many buyers are ‘house poor,’ with little discretionary income.

Percentage of recent buyers who find their payments difficult to manage:

Vancouver 15%

Calgary 12%

Toronto 14%

Montreal 9%

Halifax 6%

Source: BMO Bank of Montreal, Vancouver Sun

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

After dropping off in latter part of 2004, home sales surging ahead

Michael McCullough
Sun

After a seven-month pause to catch its breath, the real estate market has turned “absolutely kooky” again, in the words of one Vancouver realtor.

Last month, Lorne Goldman of McDonald Realtors Lorne Goldman Ltd. sold a house on West 41st Avenue in Vancouver for $112,000 or 16 per cent, over the asking price.

And in late January, he sold a house near Jericho Beach for $101,000 — 10 per cent –over list.

“Suddenly, in the second week of January, everyone said, ‘Let’s go buy some real estate’,” Goldman said.

After dropping off in the second half of 2004, housing sales and prices are surging ahead again in the Lower Mainland, with multiple-offer scenarios common for the most prized property types in certain neighbourhoods. West-side character homes are definitely among these.

The trend is borne out in March sales statistics released by the region’s two main real estate boards Monday.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver recorded 3,938 sales in March, 10 per cent shy of the same month a year earlier, but still the second highest monthly total in the past 10 years.

The benchmark price for a detached house, calculated by the board’s housing price index, rose 7.7 per cent to $503,141.

The benchmark townhouse increased 10.9 per cent to $319,756, while condominiums rose 11.1 per cent to a $248,762 benchmark.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board recorded 1,922 sales in March, down nine per cent from last year’s record 2,107 transactions.

The average price of a single-family home rose 8.6 per cent year-over-year to $370,661. Apartments and townhouses both rose in value around 13 per cent to $146,362 and $236,998, respectively.

A national survey by Royal Lepage Real Estate Services, also released Monday, showed healthy appreciation for all housing types across the region between the first quarter of 2004 and the same period in 2005. But the biggest increases came at the affordable end of the spectrum.

While the value of a standard condo rose 13.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2005 versus 2004, a standard two-storey house increased just 8.5 per cent, Royal LePage said. Some of the best investments were condos in Victoria and on Vancouver‘s east side, increasing in value 28.2 and 27.2 per cent, respectively.

The most frenzied bidding this spring, seems to be taking place in the priciest and most sought-after locations.

“In neighbourhoods such as Yaletown in downtown Vancouver, some well-priced listings were sold the same day as listed, with multiple offers put forward,” the Royal LePage report said.

“People are prepared to pay a significant amount of money to be in good school districts,” said Goldman. Though prices are sky-high on the west side, buyers are confident their purchase will look good six months or a year from now, he said.

At the same time, the supply in certain areas is severely limited. Potential vendors may be afraid to sell without having a place to move to, Goldman said, noting there are just 448 detached houses for sale on the west side as of Monday. By comparison the average at this time of year (over the past decade) is 1,015. Back in April of 1998 buyers had 1,291 west-side houses to choose from.

Goldman put the 41st Avenue house, an old-timer that he believes needed another $100,000 worth of renovations, on the market for $689,000. There were 10 offers, he said, including four with no subjects that had done full inspections by the submission date. The successful bid came in at $801,072.

The Jericho house, on Blenheim Street, was listed for $999,000 and sold in a similar fashion for $1.1 million.

“The multiple offer situations are stretching into different price ranges,” Goldman said. Plus the entry-level price on the west side has reached a higher plane, with just 17 detached homes now listed for less than $600,000.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Paul Luke
Province

The copper mill that looms over Britannia Beach like an eight-tiered temple to the gods is about to get a $3.5-million facelift.

The mill, a massive heirloom from the golden age of B.C. mining, will get its makeover courtesy of a government-private-sector partnership, the Britannia Beach Historical Society said yesterday.

The 72-year-old derelict will be re-roofed, re-glazed and re-cladded in a bid to double the number of annual visitors to the on-site B.C. Museum of Mining to 80,000, the society said.

From its 1,194 windows and 18,792 panes of glass — all of which will be replaced — the concentrator mill offers a fabulous view of the province’s industrial past, museum director Kirstin Clausen said.

“It’s a beast,” Clausen said of the mill. “There’s this thing on the side of the mountain that anyone who drives to Whistler sees.”

The beast was big, benevolent and dirty.

About 60,000 British Columbians worked at the adjacent copper mine or lived in Britannia during the 70 years the mine operated.

Never to be mistaken for The Louvre, the concentrator was a triumph of scale, economy and functional design. The mill was the largest copper-processing facility in the British Empire when it was built in 1922.

The gravity-fed concentrator’s job was to separate copper ore from the surrounding rock. It mashed small boulders into a powder of flour-like consistency.

“The copper ore came in to the top of the building and came down by gravity through each level of the plant,” said Yale Simpson, a geologist and president of the Britannia Beach Historical Society. “They didn’t have to pump the stuff around.”

The miners distilled the ore into a copper concentrate they shipped off to Tacoma, Wash., for final processing.

The mine, which closed in 1974, left a legacy of pollution as acid-rock drainage flowed into Howe Sound.

Last month, construction officially began on a $27.2-million water-treatment plant at Britannia Beach designed to neutralize the contaminants.

Today, the mill is one of the last surviving examples of a gravity-fed concentrator in North America. The museum has become a popular stop for tourists and school children eager to pan for gold, peer into the lower level of the mill and tour an underground tunnel.

The mill upgrade, for which the feds and the province each contributed about $1 million, will create nine full-time positions. The project is expected to generate up to $2 million a year in extra revenue for the mining museum.

The governments’ contribution forms part of almost $3.2 million being directed at six community-infrastructure projects across B.C.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

Town the size of Penticton planned

John Bermingham
Province

University Town will be a city on campus.

The University of B.C. has unveiled three competing visions for what will become the heart of the fledgling campus community.

By 2021, there will be more than 28,000 people living in University Town, 16,000 of them non-students, creating a city roughly the size of Penticton.

“Those people need a place to go,” said University Town spokesman Brad Foster. “They need a community. You need to have a strip for people to go to and mix.”

The $100-million University Boulevard hub will feature a landmark entrance, an underground bus loop and an array of bars, restaurants and stores around a public square.

The plan is to have the 7.2-hectare centre completed for UBC’s centenary in 2008.

The old bus loop will be replaced by an underground transit station. UBC’s existing hub has 50,000 trips a day, the most popular city destination after downtown.

“We need to transform UBC from a commuter campus into a work-live, work-study campus,” said Foster.

Linda Moore, project manager for the architectural competition, said it’s the region’s biggest architectural competition since the Vancouver Public Library in 1991.

The finalists are from Vancouver, London and California.

“UBC is a beehive of activity, and there’s nowhere to go,” she said. “There will finally be a social heart located on campus.”

There are now 500 market homes in University Town, but the plan is for 5,200.

Sales of 99-year housing leases will raise $500 million for the UBC endowment, but the land will always remain UBC’s.

Jim Taylor, chair of the University Neighbourhood Association, which represents people who lease campus homes, said University Town will be entirely self-contained with a supermarket, two community centres, a daycare and numerous amenities.

Retirees and young families will share the space along with students and faculty.

“These neighbourhoods will integrate into the fabric of the university community,” said Taylor, who has spent a decade living at UBC.

But critics claim UBC ignores their concerns because it’s a provincial jurisdiction run by a board of governors.

Judy Williams of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society said UBC is intent on building an 18-storey tower on the bluff overlooking Wreck Beach, over the protests of nude bathers.

Dave Forsythe, with the Pacific Spirit Park Society, said UBC will be cutting numerous trees to build condos.

“It really comes down to money,” he said. “They are trying to squeeze a huge amount of people on to prime west-side real estate.”

The winning design will be chosen next month. The designs are on view at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery until April 10.

For details, see www.universitytown.ubc.ca.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

 

Among the ideas is one that would bring automobiles back

Wendy Mclellan
Province

It has been three years since Vancouver city councillors agreed downtown Granville Street is in desperate need of a facelift, and later this month, the public will get a first look at the four options under consideration.

The redesign, from the Granville bridge sidewalks to Waterfront Station on Cordova Street, includes new sidewalks, street furniture, lighting and trees.

But it also could bring cars back to Granville Street for the first time in 30 years.

– Concept 1 — Granville Street is reconfigured with the bus lanes moved off-centre on the west side with a treed boulevard separating the buses from a single lane for vehicle traffic.

The idea is the traffic lane, with some on-street parking and loading zone areas on the west side of the travel lane, would be a “flex sidewalk” built at the same grade as a wide sidewalk. The lane could be blocked to vehicles to accommodate crowds or for special events such as street markets and parades.

The flex sidewalk would also keep vehicles at pedestrian-friendly speeds, more like Granville Island than a typical downtown street.

Granville would be open to vehicles from the bridge to Robson Street, and from Dunsmuir to Hastings. But,, between Robson and Dunsmuir, only buses, taxis, bicycles and authorized vehicles would be allowed on the street.

– Concept 2 — Wide sidewalks and transit-only lanes alternating every other block with vehicle traffic. Buses would travel in the middle two lanes of Granville with the outside lanes for vehicles, or sidewalk cafes and street entertainment, depending on which block you’re in.

With cars forced to move off Granville at every other block, it would keep traffic light and possibly be used to drop off and pick up passengers rather than as a through street. No on-street parking would be allowed.

The street would remain open only to buses, taxis and authorized vehicles from Robson to Pender.

– Concept 3 — Granville remains a transit and pedestrian mall from Smithe to Hastings, but the street looses its curves and gains a double row of trees. From the bridge to Smithe, on-street parking and taxi zones would be built at the same grade as the sidewalk so they could be closed to handle more pedestrians at busy times.

– Concept 4 — Although it is not supported by city planners, the concept put forward by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association will be presented to the public during the open houses this month. It is essentially the same as Concept 1, but permits single-lane vehicle traffic the full length of Granville Street.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

Economic pressures will drive out less attractive businesses

Wendy McLellan
Province

In some blocks, you have to look pretty hard to see the changes because the cheap pizza joints, smoke shops and grungy panhandlers are still clearly visible.

But after years of neglect, Granville Mall is slowly shedding its bedraggled, unfriendly past and moving toward a long-overdue redevelopment, especially in the blocks closest to Robson, despite the street’s seedy appearance.

Rents are rising, vacant lots are disappearing under concrete forms and there are clear signs more retail activity is coming.

“It’s definitely a street in transition,” said Vancouver developer Kerry Bonnis, one of those responsible for many of the changes along Granville Mall. “The street has always had an edge, and it’s not our intention to eradicate that.

“Our intention is to put as much retail as possible in this location, which should bring more people here all through the day and night.”

Bonnis‘ company, D. Bonnis and Sons Ltd., owns the development at 790 Granville (at Robson), which opened in the fall of 2003.

It was the first sign of real change on the street, adding a large retail complex to the corner with a Future Shop and Winners as well as 13 smaller stores to draw shoppers east along Robson.

His company also owns the Commodore ballroom and four other properties in the 800-block of Granville. It recently bought three vacant lots in the 900-block that will be turned into retail stores.

He’s currently negotiating with a major retailer looking for space near the Commodore.

“It’s an exciting time,” Bonnis said. “All of this new streetscape downtown will be more interesting. There will be a lot more for people to do.”

North of Robson on the corner of Granville and Dunsmuir, The Hudson will add two more levels of retail plus a residential tower to the street when it is completed next spring.

And one block further north, Simon Fraser University is building its new graduate school of business in the old Bank of Montreal building at Pender Street.

South of Robson, the Capital 6 cinema will close later this year when the new Famous Players complex opens on Burrard Street. The building, recently purchased by Macdonald Development, is to be retail at street level, with condominiums on the Seymour Street side plus a music school and recital hall for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

With new stores and new developments, rents are increasing along Granville, especially in the blocks nearest Robson. That economic pressure will inevitably drive out the less attractive businesses along the street, said Don Vassos, senior executive vice-president of CB Richard Ellis.

“Retailers are migrating south,” said Vassos, whose company leases properties for retail clients. “Rental rates have moved quite substantially in anticipation of the street being cleaned up.”

He said properties along Granville that used to rent at about $25 per square foot are now as high as $80 in the blocks close to Robson. And new buildings are commanding even higher rents.

The city is also planning a long-awaited redesign of Granville Street‘s downtown stretch.

“We’re going redesign it from stem to stern — new lighting, sidewalks, different materials. We’re going to make it look attractive,” said Jeffrey Patterson, a senior planner for the city.

“If people think it’s attractive, and the retailers like it, Granville will be a better place. When you talk to retailers, the sense is that finally there’s a turnaround on Granville.”

But it’s not going to happen overnight.

Even if city councillors agree on a design by early summer as planned, the street will be ripped apart for RAV construction — including as many as three stations along Granville — for at least 18 months.

“We’ve wanted a redesign forever,” said Karen Peterson Ivanick, president of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and a longtime retailer on Granville Mall.

“A lot of people think having this main street in such disrepair is holding back the city. You can’t build something in 1975 and then abandon it.”

Peterson Ivanick, who owns Anatomic Adornments body-piercing shop in the 800-block of Granville, said updating the street, along with the redevelopment under way, is gradually taking the area away from drug dealers and pawn shops and making it a safe, funky place in the heart of the city.

“There is real, serious change going on that is quite meaningful,” she said. “Leases are up for renewal and retailers that can’t get onto Robson are making the first couple of blocks of Granville the next best thing.

“That will push the smaller stores further south and pretty soon, there will be only good stuff going on. I think it could be a beautiful street. We’re just a few years away from being super hot down here.”

John Fluevog, who has sold high-fashion shoes on Granville Street for 30 years, agrees the street needs a facelift, but he doesn’t want it to become another Robson.

“I want it to have some independence,” he said. “There is pressure from all sides right now and smaller retailers are being squeezed.

“I think it will become, fortunately or unfortunately, more of a mainstream shopping venue in the middle of the city. At least it will keep the distinction of being an entertainment zone.”

Stroll north from Nelson and see a new city taking shape 900 BLOCK: Three vacant lots, recently purchased by D. Bonnis & Sons Ltd., are slated for development into a new group of retail stores.     800 BLOCK: Capital 6 is closing and the property, recently purchased by Macdonald Development, will become a retailresidential mix. 700 BLOCK: Bonnis’ new retail complex at Robson Street marked the first big change for Granville and has set the tone for future development. 600 BLOCK: With two levels of retail along with residential living space, The Hudson hopes to lure more shoppers north on Granville Mall. 500 BLOCK: Simon Fraser University’s new business graduate school is taking shape in the former Bank of Montreal Building. © The Vancouver Province 2005

This is where high-density living meets high-end marketing

Jeani Read
Province

It’s all about the new reality at Elan, where high-density living and high-end marketing conspire to make the future look cool, alluring and clever.

Yes, there’s even a Smart car in the mix to remind you that less is more. Along with the purchase of a place at Elan comes the option of buying a Smart car at $2,000 off the sticker price to sweeten the deal. That’s really an, um, smart move as it sets the tone instantly.

Just walking past the teeny car in the entrance sets the mental wheels in motion. There’s a ton of reasons high-density urban development is better than massive urban sprawl, and the sophisticated lifestyle they’re pitching at Elan kind of makes you think about this yet again. Cressey is just trying to sell condos, we’re thinking, but selling a bit of awareness, too, doesn’t hurt.

Of course, people could instead be thinking about the hipness factor Elan created with its nightclub-style grand-opening bash. Or just the investment factor in a great market.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t hurt that the Elan sales team is going overboard helping prospective buyers visualize themselves in the space. No buying off the page here. Besides a display suite, there are three of what they call “lifestyle pods.” These are three separate little display rooms showing full-size versions of different finishing options for the kitchens. One is an all-white edgy choice with white cabinetry and white counters, a second with warm wood cabinetry and floors, and the third, like the display suite, with pale cabinets and floors.

And the piece de resistance? There’s a myriad virtual display suites on the wall in the sales centre. Customers can see, on a screen, a virtual version of their exact unit, furnished. Say you’re thinking of the west-facing suite on the 17th floor. Click of a mouse and there it is, complete with different angles and the exact view you will have. Hot!

It’s almost an anti-climax settling for looking around the actual display suite, but let’s go. No-nonsense entry right into the great room — cool kitchen, dining room and living room laid out in an open plan before you. What you see is what you get, too. That’s always a big selling point in our opinion, as it’s hell trying to imagine a suite minus a bunch of upgrades that might not be there after you buy. Except for a few nifty decorator tricks, the finishings here are mostly included, from the wide-plank engineered hardwood floors to the stainless appliances, ceramic cooktop, oversize sink and contemporary-looking quartz counters on the kitchen island that give the granite-fatigued a break. An eating bar and storage in the island make life easier, as do stacking front-loading washer and dryer right at hand.

In the bathroom, custom-design deep tub and undermount square sink give a nod to Asian fusion. Bedrooms are like pod-like sleep areas themselves. Here you might have to imitate the designers and create a good-looking wall of storage, but for psychological space there’s floor-to-ceiling frosted glass barn-style sliding doors. The living area in this one-bedroom plus flex room plan includes an aerie of a little study in an enclosed balcony, and a storage room that could also be used as a small office. There is an actual storage locker assigned to every home as well and a parking space.

Amenities will include a billiard room, games room with TV lounge, meeting room, courtyard terraces with barbecue, fully equipped fitness facility, steam room, sauna and dance studio.

Occupancy is scheduled for this month.

QUICK FACTS

What: Elan is 229 homes in downtown Vancouver

Where: 1295 Seymour St.

Developed By: Cressey

Sizes: 472 sq.ft. — 1,465 sq. ft.

Prices: $213,900 — $519,900

Open: Noon to 5 p.m.

Phone: 604-696-9030

© The Vancouver Province 2005

 

Grove 1 asking-price is $10.5 million US for 4 1/2 acres and two homes

Sun

Builder Tim Regan calls the Whistler home that goes with the bathtub pictured at right Grove 1.

He wants $10.5 million US for it — and $8.9 million US for the under-construction Grove 2.

The president of Vision Pacific says there’s a very good reason you could jump into this tub from just about anywhere in the room, an egress a relatively few could claim for their tubs: Singularity sells in the international luxury market.

And that’s the market for which Regan designed and built Groves 1 and 2 and his other Whistler homes, Kamakura and Falcon Point.

“Global buyers” have demanding expectations.

“They know exactly what they want, and they’re prepared to pay a premium if the value is real,” he says in comments prepared for publication of the Vision Pacific portfolio.

Vision Pacific won two ”Georgies” in February for Grove 1.

One of the awards was new this year — for best single-family home valued at $5 million and over. It also won an award for best interior design custom residence.

The awards are named after Capt. George Vancouver and organized by the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.

The Grove 1 property is about 4 1/2 acres in size.

There are two residences on it.

The main home, Reagan says, is ”21st century post-and-beam Whistler meets traditional English manor house, with touches of modern Tudor.”

It has five bedrooms; seven bathrooms, five of which are en suite; a great room and family room and media room.

The secondary home is suitable for a spa/gym, in-laws, domestic staff, a large home office or a recording studio, Regan says.

He says Whistler has always been a “high-end” destination — with hotels and homes to match. But high keeps getting higher.

The arrival last summer of the Four Seasons Whistler resort; the craftsmanship of some of the newer homes; and a retail scene that is sparing residents trips to Vancouver all signal an up-market direction for the resort’s residential properties, Regan says.

Interior designer Robert Ledingham says the quality of Whistler’s best housing is finally catching up to its ski hills, which have been designated “world’s best” many times in the past decade.

“Whistler’s always had a kind of rustic, comfortable luxury,” said Ledingham. “But its best accommodation never quite matched the world class homes and resorts in places like Aspen or St. Moritz.

“Now that’s changing.”

Vision Pacific’s Regan said he is deliberately investing in extra value to make his Whistler homes more competitive in the international luxury market.

“Whistler’s high-end builders typically build for the regional marketplace,” he says.

“I’ve moved it up a notch by building luxury homes for the global market.”

That notch is measured in time and, therefore, treasure.

“Building really high-value homes requires thousands of small choices about quality and cost.

”Every time I come to one of these decisions I have to choose ‘do it right’ rather than ‘cut corners.’

“Sometimes this means investing more time, sometimes it means bringing in specialized craftsmen for a tricky bit of work, or it might mean chasing down the best building materials or installations.

”You’ve got to become obsessive.”

Regan said much of the quality built into his homes is hidden from the eye. “Nobody sees the extra-capacity copper pipes needed for ‘rainfall’ shower heads in the bathroom,” he said. “But these extra touches are there, hidden away, adding value to the house.”

The Grove 2 property is about five acres in size. Its main residence — ”inspired by the stone farmhouses of Tuscany and Provence” — will have up to five bedrooms and seven bathrooms when completed next year. It, too, will have a second house on the property.

”Grove 1 and Grove 2 are adjacent, and can be combined to create a single multi-home compound.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2005