Susan M Boyce
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If drones can help you pick a new home, why can’t 3D technology?

Vancouver-based animation company LNG Studios has introduced a new innovation that it says will “radically” change the way real estate is marketed and sold.

The 3D-scanning technology allows prospective renters and buyers to “walk” through a desired space on their computer. The scanner calculates precise dimensions and can capture objects, colours, and textures, giving browsers an accurate interpretation of the property.

“This 3D rendering allows a potential buyer to fly through the space with full control in first-person perspective, while adding items, enhancing existing ones and measuring the length of any walls or interior elements,” states a press release. In short, the camera also may revolutionize interior design work.

“Beyond that, buyers can also change the colour of walls, swap out furniture or appliance to give them a complete virtual look of their future home before they buy.”

Would you use it?

Copyright © 2014 TheHuffingtonPost

Detached homes up 12% in GTA, 3% in Greater Vancouver from January 2013 to 2014

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There seems to be no end in sight to the housing bubble in two of Canada’s largest cities, with the real estate boards of Toronto and Vancouver reporting year-on-year price increases of two to 12 per cent for January.

In Toronto, the average selling price for a home in January was $526,528 – up by more than nine per cent from a year earlier.

January property prices
Property type	Toronto	Vancouver	Change 2013-2014 Toronto | Vancouver
All residential	$526,528	$606,800	9.2%	3.2%
Detached	$686,688	$929,700	12%	3.2%
Apartment/Condo	$346,369	$371,500	8.7%	3.7%
Semi-detached*	$481,970	$457,700*	6.6%	1.7%*
Townhouse	$346,369		9.0%
Source: Toronto Real Estate Board, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver *Vancouver does not separate townhouses and semi-detached homes and uses the designation ‘attached properties.’

On the west coast, the benchmark price for all residential properties rose 3.2 per cent since January 2013 to $606,800. Detached homes in Vancouver were fetching $929,700 on average last month, a 3.2 per cent increase over the previous year. Apartment properties averaged $371,500, a 3.7 per cent increase over 2013.

Sales of residential properties in Greater Vancouver were up by more than 30 per cent over January 2013 although not as strong as in December, which saw sales rise 7.2 per cent above the 10-year average for the month.

There were 5,345 new listings for Vancouver on the MLS listing service last month, a 4.2 per cent increase over the same time last year.

Toronto‘s market saw fewer new listings in January than last year, with 8,822 properties in the Greater Toronto Area listed on MLS, a decrease of 16.6 per cent. Sales were down 2.2 per cent over January 2013. But that did not stop prices from continuing to rise in all property categories.

Detached homes were selling for 12 per cent more than in January 2013 while the prices of condominium apartments were up 9.7 per cent and semi-detached homes saw a 6.6 per cent increase.

Toronto Real Estate Board president Dianne Usher said the seemingly unstoppable upward trend in prices could drive some people to unload their properties.

“Looking forward, it is possible that strong price growth, and therefore an increase in home equity, will act as a trigger for more households to list their homes for sale,” she said in a news release Wednesday.

Usher doesn’t foresee the pace of growth in prices slowing any time this year.

“Similar to last year, competition between buyers for singles, semis and town homes in the city of Toronto and surrounding regions will continue to exert upward pressure on selling prices,’ she said.  

Still, Usher argues that even at current levels, price doesn’t necessarily have to be an impediment for people looking to enter the housing market.

“Mortgage rates will remain near historic lows, so despite strong price growth, home ownership will remain affordable for the average household in the GTA,” she said.

Copyright © CBC 2014

Frank O’Brien
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A local real estate expert is warning condo owners to check their strata fees are sufficient, after a recent legislative change that allows strata corporations to require owners pay for certain repairs, if a majority of strata members agree.

Under the December 2013 amendment, the court can issue an order to proceed with critical repairs necessary to ensure safety and prevent significant loss or damage, if the strata owners have passed a resolution endorsing a special levy.

“Every strata corporation has to file a depreciation report that includes a 30-year budget for repair, upgrades and maintenance,” explains Frank Schliewinsky, co-publisher of the Vancouver Condo Report.

The budget for such repairs comes from the monthly strata fees that each condominium owner must pay. Schliewinsky urges condo owners to check if their current strata payments are sufficient. “Prospective buyers need to examine major variations from average strata fees or else they could find themselves paying a lot more than expected,” he said.

According to Vancouver Condo Report research, average strata fees for a high-rise building six to 10 years old in Metro Vancouver range from a low of $0.27 per square foot in the Tri-Cities to from $0.43 to $0.44 per square foot in downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver. (This would equate to from $270 to $440 per month for a 1,000-square-foot condominium.)

Strata fees for low-rise buildings are generally in the .23 cents to .32 cents, with rates for older buildings from 30% to 40% higher than for new buildings.

For more details on average strata fees by age and size of unit, see Condo Maintenance Fees by Size and Age of Unit.

© 2013 Real Estate Weekly

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Home sales in the Vancouver region for January were 30.3 per cent higher from the same month a year ago.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says sales through its multiple listing service totalled 1,760 for the month, up from 1,351 in January 2013.

However, sales were down 9.9 per cent from 1,953 in December 2013.

The board noted that January sales were 7.2 per cent above the 10-year average for the month.

Photos: A startling contrast in homes priced at $869,000 across Canada

The MLS home price index composite benchmark price for Vancouver was $606,800, up 3.2 per cent from a year ago.

New listings totalled 5,345 for January, up 4.2 per cent compared with 5,128 new listings in January 2013.

The number of properties listed for sale totalled 12,602, down 4.9 per cent from January 2013, but up nine per cent from December 2013.

“The Greater Vancouver housing market has been a balanced market for nearly a year,” board president Sandra Wyant said in a statement.

“This has meant steady home sale and listing activity, accompanied by stable home prices.”

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Garry Marr
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The message from realtors in Canada’s most expensive city is clear — price your home right if you want it to sell.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said there were 1,760 sales through the Multiple Listing Service in January, a 30.3% increase from a year ago. But sales were down 9.9% decline from December.

The board’s president had a specific message to homeowners, in a press release.

“If you’re looking to sell your home in a balanced market, it’s critical that your list price is reflective of current market conditions,” said Sandra Ms. Wyatt.

Last month’s sales figures remain 7.2% above the 10-year average for the month of January. Prices have inched up a bit too. The board’s composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver stood at $606,800 last month, a 3.2% increase from a year ago.

“The Greater Vancouver housing market has been in a balanced market for nearly a year. This has meant steady home sale and listing activity accompanied by stable home prices,” said Ms. Wyant, in the release.

New listings are on the rise, reaching 5,128 in January. That’s a 4.2% increase from a year ago. New listings were also 17.7% above the 10-year average for the month.

The new listings bring the total number of properties for sale across the Greater Vancouver area to 12,602 which is down 4.9% from a year ago but up 9% from December.

© 2014 National Post

Lynda Steele & Sandra Hermiston
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Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but that global cachet has ratcheted up housing prices to levels that have made it impossible for many Vancouverites to get into the real estate market.

According to seasonally adjusted data from the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average price of a home in Halifax is $273,792. That number jumps to $541,637 in Toronto and a whopping $825,635 in Vancouver.

Rob Carrick, The Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist, questions the sustainability of Canadian housing prices.

“The question I have is how can we sustain a market when it’s so expensive to get into it? The pool of people who can comfortably afford to buy a house has to be shrinking,” he said.

Carrick says on average house prices have risen 5.5 per cent each year for the past 17 years. If that carries on for the next decade, the average price of a home in Vancouver would rise to $1.3 million by 2024.

“We’re going to have to invent some new ideas here, because if we keep going on the way we are, the idea of home ownership is going to become something for elites, for people who have higher incomes. It’s going to be something for the one per cent, not the 99 per cent,” said Carrick.

Kerry and Jordan Titchener are expecting their first child in April and are already pre-approved for a mortgage. But after three months of searching for a new home, they’re not convinced buying is the answer anymore.

“We want to just rent again because seeing what we’re going to have to pay for management fees, strata fees, property taxes. We just feel why put that stress on our relationship,” said Jordan Titchener.  

A recent RBC affordability study found that if couples, like Kerry and Jordan, want to purchase a detached bungalow in Vancouver, they’d need to spend 91 per cent of their disposable income on housing.

© 2014 BellMedia All rights reserved.

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