False Creek re- purposing unimaginable without provincial, city hall leadership

BOB RANSFORD
Sun

Two massive inner city real estate projects on the opposite shores of Vancouver False Creek should long live on as lessons in the role government can play in urban development and re-shaping a city.

The extension of the seawall along the False Creek waterfront of the Olympic Village has set yet another benchmark for the array of super natural urban experiences Vancouver offers. The noisy construction activity of the sprint to complete the waterfront midrise apartment buildings was only a minor distraction during my recent mid-day stroll along the southeast False Creek shoreline. It would be hard to find a more intoxicatingly beautiful urban setting in the middle of winter in any city in the northern hemisphere. The high quality of the design that shapes this new waterfront promenade seems reason enough to buy most of the claims by politicians who argue that regardless of the final bill to taxpayers for this quickly ballooning construction cost sinkhole, the new Olympic Village residential development is a priceless international real estate gem.

Only the facts ultimately released from secret government meetings and the final tally of project cost and ultimate sales revenue from condo buyers will prove wh eth er this mirage turns into a reality.

Across the water on the opposite shore of False Creek is an equally beautiful example of inner city re-development and the renewal of a once industrial waterfront wasteland.

The old Expo ’ 86 site, home to Concord Pacific’s massive high-rise community, is only a couple of years away from completion after almost 20 years of planning and construction.

Most of the north shore of False Creek has now been built out with a number of examples of the most livable combination of multi-family residences, rich public amenities and wonderful pockets of public open space.

The final pieces of the puzzle — the waterfront east of the BC Place stadium and the adjoining upland area — has yet to be finally resolved, with city hall pushing for completion of the original plan that could see mostly office and commercial development combined with some more entertainment and public uses around the stadium.

The first lesson to be learned from both of these global precedentsetting developments is that without the initiative of government that has the foresight to originally assemble these massive tracts in the heart of the city, re-development of this scale would never have happened.

The Bill Bennett provincial government had the vision and the guts in the late 1970s to agree to host a world’s fair and leave behind the legacy of a massive downtown renewal project.

Leaders like former Socred cabinet minister Grace McCarthy had the smarts and the political courage to invite a foreign developer with deep pockets to take on the Expo lands redevelopment project.

Li Ka-Shing had not only the capital but also the sharp insight to understand the potential of the pending Asian immigration that would follow Hong Kong’s reversion to China.

He invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a new project in a city with then only a regional focus, helping put Vancouver on the global map.

The way an international developer of Li’s scale was attracted to invest in such a project in Vancouver is yet another lesson to be learned from these two development projects.

Enough people guiding the development of the Expo legacy understood what it would take to make the project work without risking taxpayers’ dollars.

The Olympic Village development, yet another initiative of government — this time the city government — is being developed using a different model.

The Millennium development company, a company with international affiliations but with a local development track record of a smaller scale, was selected as the Southeast False Creek site developer.

Original terms of the deal seemed to suggest that Millennium, like Concord Pacific 20 years ago, simply bought the land and would be undertaking the Olympic Village development without risk to city taxpayers.

Many of the details of the deal have been gleaned so far from leaks from secret meetings and from snippets of political double-speak. But it seems like the Olympic Village development was more like a jointventure between the city and Millennium with taxpayers taking on a huge share of the liability. The facts may prove otherwise. If they don’t, and taxpayers have taken on considerable financial risk for the project, there are other lessons then to be learned.

Perhaps the biggest lesson will come from comparing the two projects — the Expo re-development and the Olympic Village development 20 years later. Which one was a better deal for the public? One lesson will remain true. If a city is to be re-shaped, quality development is a key and quality will only be assured when governments play a key role in planning for massive re-development projects of the scale of these two.

High ceilings, balconies, plenty of glazing eliminate cramped- home feeling

MICHAEL SASGES
Sun

Attractively priced and centrally located, a Luzon apartment will pamper its household with that sense of spaciousness that belongs to those of us who reside under high ceilings, behind plentiful glazing and with lounge-chair-compatible balconies.

The ceilings in the five homes on the third, or top, floor, are averaging 13 feet above the floor, not universally, but certainly in the living and dining spaces. They are close r to 11 feet on the floor below.

The effect is especially pronounced in the north-facing 685-square-foot onebedroom plus den on the top floor.

For those 685 square feet, the infamously cramped Yaletown glass-tower household might sacrifice its first-born male child. In those 685 square feet, the older single-family-detached household would quickly know it has sacrificed nothing by downsizing to the Luzon.

‘‘ The units are actually bigger than average,’’ Daniel Eisenberg of GBL Architects says of the firm’s work at Luzon. ‘‘ Most of them are corner units. So they have a lot more light, especially those where the ceiling heights are higher. Those are the efficiencies that the market nowadays wants.’’

Proximities, too, create residency efficiencies. Located at 12th and Arbutus, the Luzon households will have the opportunity to enjoy a home life independent of the car.

Groceries are located a few blocks away, to the north and south. Fine, and casual, dining is a stroll away. The shops of West Fourth and South Granville are to the north and east.
Kits Beach is down the hill, to the north. Connaught Park, one of the city’s premier athletic fields, and the Kitsilano Community Centre are down the hill and to the west. A bowling alley, too, is a couple of blocks away, to the south.

How many of us make our home in a neighbourhood with a bowling alley down the street? More importantly, how rare is the opportunity to make a home in a new-construction residence in an old neighbourhood?

And Kitsilano is an old neighbourhood, one of the Lower Mainland’s first suburbs.

A quantitative measure of the age of the neighbourhood are the dates of construction of the local elementary school, Lord Tennyson ( 1912), and high school, Kitsilano ( 1917).

A qualitative measure is the arboreal splendour of the residential streets enclosed by the arterials of West 12th and West 16th and Burrard and Macdonald, and the lawns and gardens of those who reside on those streets.

The Luzon broker, Kris Pope of Dexter Associates, says the per-square-foot asking price of a Luzon residence, $ 550 on average, was probably last available on westside new-construction two or three years ago.

It was higher when he started selling. ‘‘ The price cuts were to accommodate market conditions, but as well to instil confidence in potential purchasers, that they’re being treated fairly and with respect because they are the market,’’ he The most likely Luzon buyer will be either a first-home buyer or an investor/ landlord, Pope expects.

Airy feeling permeates even smallest units

There is a-place-for-everything quality to a Luzon apartment, bigger and smaller, with artful exploitation of interior space and big balconies its hallmark. For example, at the entrance of the smallest plan, the 685square-foot A plan, is a windowless room ( above). It could serve equally as den or storage room and, with every cubic inch put to work, as both den and storage. In the 1,100-square-foot D plan ( left), the guest bathroom is accessible from the principal living quarters, but not directly. Its door is hidden behind a fireplace wall that creates a hallway, or an approximation of one. All the balconies are bigger than those typically included in newconstruction apartments, reports Daniel Eisenberg of GBL Architects. And some of them amount to an extra room, both by size and location, behind windows. The balcony off the D plan shown here is one-half of an across-the-back-of-the building balcony the second-floor D plan household will share with the apartment next door. ( Life is a constant weighing of assets and liabilities. This balcony overlooks a city lane, all of which can be made to go away with the right containerplanting decisions.) The stone-and-steel specifications are second to done. Developer and interior designer have specified an appliance package from the LG manufacturing company. Composite quartz will top the counters in the kitchens and guest bathrooms. Marble will top the master vanities. Space was created, or preserved, to separate tubs and showers in the ensuites.

Shops to line ground floor of Luzon

Twelfth and Arbutus is a prominent westside Vancouver intersection. The Luzon developer and architect have responded with a building worthy of the corner — and the residential buildings along Arbutus Street between 10th and 12th avenues. Shops will be located on the main floor. The homes are located on the second and third floors. This arrangement is a continuation of the streetscape that until Luzon’s erection stopped at the northwest corner of 12th and Arbutus. Luzon is located on the southwest corner. ‘‘ Not only will people live in this building. The rest of us will have to live with this building, walk by it, drive by it,’’ says Daniel Eisenberg of GBL Architects, the building’s designer. ‘‘ So, I think, a lot of care was taken with the design, a lot of attention was given. … There was a lot of innovation: There’s an interesting pattern in how the windows create movement. There’s variety in each unit. By shifting the windows each unit is unique. ‘‘ A second-floor unit is totally different from a third-floor unit. The position of the windows is different. So basically you have a different feeling in each unit.’’ Additionally, a relatively new ( to these shores) cladding tops the thoroughfare exteriors. It’s called SwissPearl; it’s a cement-composite panel; and, HardiePlank should be so lucky, it was named one of the top 25 design materials in the world at a recent international gathering of architects. Corian, from DuPont de Nemours, also made the list, an indicator of the company the Luzon cladding is keeping.

 

Sun

VANCOUVER – British Columbia real estate prices hit a 26-month low in November, the B.C. Real Estate Association reported Friday as sales across the province fell by more than half.

Real estate boards recorded only 2,707 Multiple-Listing-Service-recorded sales in November, 62 per cent below the 7,118 recorded in November of 2007.

The average home price across the province fell to $395,687, 12.5 per cent below the average home price in the same month a year ago.

BCREA chief economist Cameron Muir said that given the growing global recession, declining demand is expected, but “it is a surprise in the sense that demand has pulled back so vigorously.”

B.C. is starting to experience more job losses and businesses are cutting back as the economy slows, but Muir said home sales have fallen off much further than the weaker economic activity would suggest.

“[The decline] is being led, for a large part, by the litany of bad news permeating our lives right now,” Muir said.

The small market of Powell River posted the deepest drop in sales and in price.

It saw only two homes sold through MLS in November versus 24 a year ago, and the average price of $187,500 was 29 per cent lower than November 2007.

Greater Vancouver’s board saw the second largest monthly decline with its 889 transactions representing a 70-per-cent decline in homes sold compared with November a year ago.

The B.C. Northern and Northern Lights real estate boards were the only regions to report average prices above the same period a year ago, although all real estate boards reported declining sales.

“The irony of markets is that there’s no shortage of buyers when prices are near a peak and a scarcity of buyers when prices are near a trough,” Muir said.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

With prices hitting two-year lows, now may be first-timers’ chance to get into the market

Derrick Penner
Sun

The British Columbia Real Estate Association on Friday reported that housing prices in the province hit 26-month lows, a fact that is helping to give potential first-time homebuyers a glimmer of hope of getting into a market that once seemed to be ascending out of reach.

In a recent poll, Ipsos Reid found that a one in five British Columbians reported they would consider a home purchase within the next two years. Just over half of that number said they are more likely to make that purchase than they were a year ago.

They aren’t ready to jump in immediately, report author Hanson Lok said in his assessment. Many are still waiting for prices to bottom out and the economy to stabilize, but “feel the situation is more advantageous today than a year ago.”

While they are waiting, however, there is a lot of homework for the potential first-time buyer to do and many questions to answer before making the plunge, and it starts with deciding whether or not home ownership is really right for them.

“People need to almost take a step back and ask, ‘Why would I buy a home?’” Julie Jaggernath, director of education at the Credit Counselling Society, said in an interview. “Home ownership isn’t for everybody.”

Home ownership is a big goal to work toward, Jaggernath said, and people have to decide whether it really fits into their personal goals, versus other quality-of-life activities people want to take on.

She suggests “test-driving” the monthly cost of home ownership. Calculate all the monthly costs of owning a home — from mortgage payment and maintenance fees, to taxes and utilities — and practice paying it.

Financial institutions maintain mortgage-qualifier calculators on their websites to help you calculate what you can afford to buy with your income and downpayment. And Vancity credit union includes a rent-versus-buy calculator that can help you figure out the financial cost/benefit of buying.

Take the difference between your rent and the ownership cost and set it aside in a savings account. Jaggernath said it can be an enlightening exercise for young people who are used to a certain lifestyle.

“That’s going to let you know, number one, can you afford it,” Jaggernath said, and whether or not you need to make some lifestyle changes in order to do so.

People have to remember, they have to be willing to make that payment for “not just six months, but the next 10 years while you own this home.”

The worst thing that will happen, Jaggernath said, is that you will have learned some important lessons and added some funds to your downpayment.

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, said figuring out what you need versus what you want is important.

His first piece of advice is to “take your time, match your needs to your wallet.”

“The first rung on the home ownership ladder doesn’t have to be a giant one,” Simpson said. “It just has to be one that is carefully thought out.”

And there are lots of resources available for people to make sure they are thinking their decision through. Simpson’s organization offers a couple — an annual first-time buyers seminar that it conducts every year, usually in March, and some consumer information on its website.

Getting pre-approved for a mortgage is another good idea, Simpson said. Knowing what a bank is willing to lend you and what you can afford to spend can make your search more comfortable.

And make sure you have a full range of professional advice, from a mortgage specialist, realtor, a home inspector and even a lawyer or notary, Carolyn Heaney, business development manager for mortgage services at BMO in Vancouver, said in an interview.

“I can’t stress that enough,” Heaney said. “Don’t be ashamed to say you don’t know the answers.”

BMO publishes its own resource, a binder-bound kit called the “BMO First Time Essentials.”

On hiring a realtor, Dave Watt, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, suggested searching out real estate offices that operate in areas you want to live in, and ask their office managers for referrals.

Watt added that it is a good idea to interview two or three agents to make sure you get a good match.

“This is not a five-minute business relationship,” Watt said. The agent is the person you are entrusting not just to find you listings of homes you might buy, but will help advise you and then negotiate a deal.

Watt added that negotiations aren’t only about the purchase price. There are closing dates and other conditions of purchase that a first-time buyer wouldn’t necessarily be aware of that they will want help understanding during negotiations.

And as a first-time buyer is moving towards the finish line of their purchase, Heaney said they need to budget for the complete purchase, including closing costs and other one-time fees from the appraisal, home inspection, title transfer and insurance and conveyance.

Buyers also should not forget to factor in that moving is going to cost them money, and depending on the closing, they may be in line to pay an extra half-months utility costs and property taxes.

“You would hate for a customer to be in the lawyer’s office, and the bank tells them they have the money, but all of a sudden there’s another couple thousand dollars [to pay] between utilities and property taxes after they’ve spent their last dollar,” Heaney said.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

Construction industry reeling as buyers and money supply dry up

Jon Ferry
Province

We live in hard times. Exactly how hard, I’ll leave it for the economists to decide. But, as former U.S. president Harry Truman noted: “It’s a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”

Just how bad is it in Metro Vancouver? Well, if you have a government job, you’re probably sitting pretty. But if you’re in, say, the home-building business, you’re anywhere from becoming antsy to being in a cold sweat.

Just ask 36-year-old Surrey builder Andrew Blais. He’ll tell you it’s the worst he’s encountered since he got into the business in 1991.

The housing market was roaring along last year and earlier this year while Blais, the father of two children, was building six high-end houses in Fraser Heights and south Surrey. Interest was high. Potential customers were ooh-ing and aah-ing about the prospect of trading up to their spacious new dream home. And he was hoping to cash in.

Then, three or four months ago, whammo. The sudden downturn hit Blais, well, like a ton of bricks.

“I’m sitting on six houses that are three months on the market with zero offers, which is just astonishing for me, because I’ve never encountered such a thing, ever,” he told me.

Blais estimates prices for new homes have come down 15 to 20 per cent, if they are selling at all. Which has meant sleepless nights when he wonders not just how he missed the boat, but if he’ll stay afloat. It’s the same for other builders he talks to.

And it’s getting to be the same for tradespeople, too. It’s gone from Blais having to contact excavators, framers and roofers to ask them to do a job to them phoning him, looking for work.

Money for project financing is tight: “Banks want your first child, almost, now to secure stuff, where before they were just giving it away.”

Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association CEO Peter Simpson agrees fear has now seized the Metro Vancouver housing market. People are not buying, despite bargain-basement mortgage-interest rates — and the fact that there are some screaming buys out there.

“Homes are on sale right now, and yet people are still fearful,” he says.

What can be done about it? Well, Simpson believes federal, provincial and municipal governments can all do their bit. Ottawa can adjust the GST-rebate threshold, Victoria can cut the property-transfer tax, and municipal governments can lower their development fees.

All told, these can add 10 to 15 per cent — and perhaps more — to the cost of a new home, scaring off would-be buyers. “Now is the time when they [governments] need to be looking at these things,” Simpson says.

I agree. Politicians need to appreciate that housing is one of the key drivers of our economy. It’s not just big labour groups such as the auto and forestry workers who need a leg up.

How hard is it out there in Metro Vancouver? Only as hard as our governments want to make it.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Cost of home ownership, migration level forces more people to rent

GARRY MARR
Sun

Rising home ownership costs are driving Canadians back into the rental market, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

The Crown corporation said Thursday that its survey of 34 major centres found the national vacancy rate fell to 2.2 per cent in October 2008, down from 2.6 per cent from a year earlier.

“ Demand for rental housing in Canada increased due to high migration levels, youth employment growth, and the large gap between the cost of home ownership and renting,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC. “ Rental construction and competition from the condominium market were not e n o u g h t o o ffs e t g row i n g re n t a l demand.”

CMHC said that between October 2007 and September 2008, there were 14,908 rental units constructed. During the same period, 50,794 condominiums units were completed.
“ Some condominium apartments are owned by investors who rent them out,” noted CMHC in its report.

Manitoba was the tightest province in the country for apartment rental, with an overall vacancy rate of 0.9 per cent. British Columbia was not far behind at one per cent, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador at 1.1 per cent and Saskatchewan 1.2 per cent.

“ The strong economies in the western provinces continued to attract workers from the rest of Canada. Many of these newly arrived migrants initially settle in rental housing, keeping rental demand strong,” said CMHC.

Alberta was the exception, with the vacancy rate in the province rising to 2.5 per cent. CMHC attributed the higher rate to slower net migration into the province and the constraining effect of rent increases in 2007.

Calgary was the most expensive city in the country to rent in with a two-bedroom apartment going for $ 1,148 per month. Vancouver was second at $ 1,124 followed by Toronto at $ 1,095. Sherbrooke was the cheapest city in the survey: a two-bedroom apartment had an average price of $ 543 per month.

Sun

OTTAWA – Led by cooling markets in Alberta and British Columbia, national prices for new homes declined month-over-month in October for the first time in more than a decade, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

The average cost of a new home in Canada fell 0.4 per cent between September and October, the federal agency said. It was the first monthly decrease nationally since September 1998.

Statistics Canada does not include prices in its monthly new-home index. However, the Canadian Real Estate Association provides comparative resale prices across Canada.

In October, the national average resale price was $281,133, according the CREA. The average price in Alberta was $342,199, while in B.C. it was $420,259 in October.

Homes in Edmonton and Calgary continued to come down from peaking demand last year, Statistics Canada said. Prices have fallen 7.7 per cent year-over-year in Edmonton, marking the largest annual decline in more than 23 years. Calgary new-home prices are down 1.6 per cent from a year ago in the biggest retreat in that city since November 1991, Statistics Canada said.

CREA resale figures show Edmonton prices averaged $317,744 and Calgary $411,450 in October.

Vancouver, where home prices had risen the fastest over the past few years, saw a monthly drop of 1.1 per cent in new-home prices in October as demand cooled rapidly. Year over year, prices were down 0.4 per cent. In Victoria, contractors’ selling prices decreased 1.1 per cent year-over-year, the agency said, down from an annual increase of 0.2 per cent in September.

CREA’s Vancouver resale average was $556,682, while Victoria came in at $469,243 in October.

Upward price pressure remained torrid in some markets as new-home prices in Regina grew again in October, rising to 22.8 per cent more expensive than a year ago, Statistics Canada said. In contrast, Saskatoon prices were a modest 3.6 per cent higher than a year ago while prices tumbled 1.6 per cent from September to October as “builders continued report difficult market condition.”

Saskatchewan’s average resale price was $219,325 – with Regina averaging $233,622 and Saskatoon $285,310, according to CREA.

New-home prices in Ottawa were 4.3 per cent higher in October from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said, while new homes in Toronto were three per cent more expensive.

CREA figures show Ontario’s average resale price was $281,661 in October, with Ottawa at $280,870 and Toronto $353,018.

© The Financial Post

 

Province

OTTAWA — Led by cooling markets in Alberta and British Columbia, national prices for new homes declined month-over-month in October for the first time in more than a decade, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

The average cost of a new home in Canada fell 0.4 per cent between September and October, the federal agency said. It was the first monthly decrease nationally since September 1998.

Statistics Canada does not include prices in its monthly newhome index. However, the Canadian Real Estate Association provides comparative resale prices across Canada.

In October, the national average resale price was $281,133, according to CREA. The average price in Alberta was $342,199, while in B.C. it was $420,259 in October.
Homes in Edmonton and Calgary continued to come down from peaking demand last year, Statistics Canada said. Prices have fallen 7.7 per cent year over year in Edmonton, marking the largest annual decline in more than 23 years. Calgary new-home prices are down 1.6 per cent from a year ago in the biggest retreat in that city since November 1991, it said.

CREA resale figures show Edmonton prices averaged $317,744 and Calgary $411,450 in October.

Vancouver, where home prices had risen the fastest over the past few years, saw a monthly drop of 1.1 per cent in new-home prices in October as demand cooled rapidly. Year over year, prices were down 0.4 per cent. In Victoria, contractors’ selling prices decreased 1.1 per cent year over year, the agency said, down from an annual increase of 0.2 per cent in September.

CREA’s Vancouver resale average was $556,682, while Victoria came in at $469,243 in October.

Upward price pressure remained torrid in some markets as newhome prices in Regina grew again in October, rising to 22.8 per cent more expensive than a year ago, StatsCan said. In contrast, Saskatoon prices were a modest 3.6 per cent higher than a year ago while prices tumbled 1.6 per cent.