Master-planned community from Anthem Properties and Beedie Living a walkable, amenity-rich neighbourhood

ROBIN BRUNET
The Province

STATION SQUARE

Status: now selling

Year acquired: 2004

Year developed: ongoing

 Site size: 12 acres

Number of buildings: five

Parking: 3,305

 Location: 4600 Kingsway Avenue, Burnaby

Website: stationsquare.ca

Phone: 604.438.1113

Ever since its creation in the 1980s in conjunction with the launch of SkyTrain, Burnaby’s Metrotown has been a bustling destination for shoppers. But major redevelopment in recent years has now made it one of the most desirable places to live.

One of the most sought-after developments is Station Square – a five-tower, 12-acre community from Anthem Properties and Beedie Living. This past October, Anthem and Beedie sold 700 homes in the final two towers in only 30 days, breaking Western Canada’s all-time sales record.

Michael Ferreira, managing principal of Urban Analytics, says: “This is the most number of homes sold in the shortest period of time. Presale demand for quality projects at `centre ice’ locations like Station Square in Metrotown remains incredibly strong.”

For Eric Carlson, CEO of Anthem Properties, the bracing mix of retail and residential “captures the essence of how people want to live today. There’s something magical about the cool design, quality buildings, great restaurants, and creative energ y.”

Elva Kim, Anthem’s VP of sales and marketing, explains, “Station Square is one of BC’s first and largest transit-oriented developments. We are building homes where people can literally leave their front door and hop on transit, go shopping, have dinner and walk their dog. Our fifth and final tower is also the first mixed use tower designed by New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates [KPF] in Western Canada.” KPF has created some of the world’s most iconic buildings, with London’s Heron Tower and the Shanghai World Finance Center being just two examples. Part of KPF’s inspiration for the final 52-storey tower at Station Square was a New York art decostyle skyscraper.

Station Square has generated excitement, and success, ever since its inception. The first tower was completed in 2015. More than 270 homes sold out in 30 days. When homes in towers two and three went on sale, 650 sold in 60 days. They will be ready for residents to move in in early spring 2019. The final phase, towers four and five, are expected to be complete in 2021. The first four towers were designed by Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc.

Kim says, “The clear majority of buyers are locals who have indicated they will be end users.” That’s significant, considering upwards of 19,000 people registered to buy homes in Station Square.

Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan credits Anthem and Beedie for making Station Square, “a tremendous asset to the City and the region. In five years, Burnaby saw the sharpest increase in new business licenses this side of the Fraser River, with most businesses settling around transit hubs like Station Square.”

The developers knew Station Square would be a game changer. It has a retail strip base of over 500,000 square feet, designed with wide pavements, plazas, public art and cantilevered lights over the main arterial thoroughfare of Silver Drive, which is anchored by Cactus Club and Earls. “We intended the retail component to be pedestrian versus automobile-focused, with stores, coffee shops and boutiques spilling out onto elevated public spaces.” says Kim.

These mixed-use components took shape concurrent to the construction of the first tower, which includes 60,000 square feet of retail, with PriceSmart Foods and TD Bank among the first tenants. The two towers currently under construction will add 22,000 square feet to the retail component as well as office space.

This final phase of Station Square will continue the high standards of construction (the entire mixed use community is built around LEED standards for environmental sustainability), use of quality materials, and attention to detail that has already been established by the first tower.

The condos’ interiors were designed by McFarlane Biggar Architects + Designers. They exhibit an incredible diversity of features, beginning with ninefoot ceilings and wide-plank engineered real hardwood floors that sweep throughout the living and dining areas, kitchens and bedrooms.

As work progresses on Station Square, Anthem and Beedie continue to be inundated by inquiries from interested buyers from across Metro Vancouver – but this comes as no surprise to Beedie Living president Ryan Beedie, who points out that, “Burnaby is centrally located and dedicated to the kind of development that supports the urban lifestyle so many people seek.”

Kim believes that Station Square will ultimately serve as a model for the smart development of vacant or undeveloped land in the future. “Connectivity is what makes this project work on all levels,” she says. “Projects like this are extremely rare. We hope this development is used as an example of how to do it right.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc

Matt Robinson
The Province

Vancouver has become the first city in Canada to implement a tax on empty homes.

Based on the diverse opinions city councillors heard Wednesday before voting in favour of the one-per-cent annual tax, it’s not universally popular.

Paula Chu, a 50-year-old Bellingham, Wash., resident, said she had rented out her one-bedroom condo in Coal Harbour for 11 1/2 years. She most recently charged about $1,450 a month, an amount she said wasn’t sufficient to cover strata and property-management fees, extra insurance, repairs and her mortgage.

While her apartment is now empty, she said she intends to use it as much as 50 per cent of the year.

Chu said the city should rely on incentives, not taxes, to fill homes like hers, because in her experience it doesn’t pay to rent it out.

Daniel Oleksiuk, a 32-year-old Vancouver resident, said booming housing costs have led to rising wealth inequality, anger and resentment, and a situation where “young people are basically hopeless about their futures in this city.”

He was in favour of using a tax to boost the city’s rental stock.

When asked by Coun. Melissa De Genova if he supported incentives rather than taxation, Oleksiuk said he would be reluctant to give more money to the winners of Vancouver’s “land lottery.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

New record set despite mortgage rule changes

GARRY MARR
The Vancouver Sun

Canadian existing home sales reached a record level in October, data published Tuesday shows, but the market faces an increasing threat from tighter mortgage rules, which have helped send interest rates higher.

The Ottawa-based Canadian Real Estate Association, which represents about 100 boards across the country, said there were 42,473 sales last month across the country, a two per cent increase from a year earlier and the best-ever showing for the month.

October’s sales pace came despite a change in mortgage rules that made it tougher to borrow by requiring, among other things, consumers to qualify based on the posted rate of a five-year fixed rated mortgage. Now set at 4.64 per cent, the rate is significantly higher than what is on consumer contracts and potentially means consumers will only be available to afford smaller loans.

“The expanded stress-test for homebuyers who need mortgage default insurance took effect in the middle of October,” noted Cliff Iverson, president of CREA, referring to the changes, which affect all loans backed by the federal government. “More time will need to pass before its effect on housing markets can be gauged. The extent to which they will push first-time homebuyers to the sidelines may vary among housing markets.”

The government in the country’s most populous province jumped into the fray Monday with a policy change aimed at what is seen as the most vulnerable part of the housing market. Ontario doubled the tax rebate on land property transfers from $2,000 to $4,000 for firsttime buyers, while hiking rates on homes that sell for more than $2 million.

Gregory Klump, chief economist for CREA, said the early evidence suggests the impact of tighter mortgage regulations on sales activity has been mixed.

“The federal government will no doubt want to monitor the effect of new mortgage regulations on the many varied housing markets across Canada and on the economy, particularly given the recent rise in uncertainty about economic growth prospects following the U.S. presidential election,” Klump said.

Already there are signs that political uncertainty, along with tighter rules, are sending rates higher. Earlier this month Toronto-Dominion Bank raised its prime rate for variable-rate mortgage customers from 2.7 per cent to 2.85 per cent.

Royal Bank of Canada upped its special discounted rate on Tuesday for fixed-rate products for terms of three, four and five years. The fixed rate for three years rises from 2.69 per cent to 2.79 per cent, four years goes from 2.79 per cent to 2.89 per cent and five years rises from 2.94 per cent to 3.04 per cent.

“We consider a number of factors when making changes to mortgage rates, including our funding costs and market conditions. Based on current conditions, our rates reflect the right balance between our clients’ expectations and our costs of funding mortgages,” said Mary Ellen Brown, senior vice-president of home equity financing for RBC.

Prices continue to remain firm. CREA said its aggregate composite index rose 14.6 per cent in October 2016 from a year ago, which compares with a year-over-year increase of 14.4 per cent in September. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in October 2016 was up 5.9 per cent from a year ago to $481,994 — a number increasingly less affected by a slowing Vancouver market.

The Teranet–National Bank National composite house price index, also out Tuesday, was up 0.3 per cent in October from September but prices were at a record level last month in only four of the 11 metropolitan regions covered: Toronto, Victoria, Hamilton and Winnipeg.

“The pickup in housing demand across most housing markets in Canada (except for Vancouver) is largely consistent with lower interest rates and potentially a near-term boost in demand as homebuyers try to get into the market before being subject to new mortgage regulations,” said Diana Petramala, an economist with TD Bank, who expects prices to fall by two per cent in 2017.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc

Vancouver city council divided on proposed empty-homes tax

Matt Robinson
The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver city councillors are deeply divided along party lines on the question of whether to approve Canada’s first tax on empty homes.

After months of work by staff and outside consultants to develop the parameters of the proposed annual tax of one per cent, councillors are set to hear from residents on the final plan Wednesday, then vote.

The plan would have big financial consequences for people who have vacation or investment property in the city, but residents who only own one Vancouver home and live in it as a principal residence would pay no more taxes than they do now, regardless of whether they spend time in that home or not.

Non-Partisan Association councillors George Affleck and Melissa De Genova, who had voted in support of pursuing a tax on empty homes in June, spoke out against it Tuesday.

“I think it’s a tax grab. It’s a one-per-cent tax that I don’t think is going to work,” Affleck told reporters after a presentation on the plan by staff.

He claimed municipal taxes have gone up under Vision Vancouver rule, questioned the hefty costs to administer the levy ($4.7 million to set it up and another $1.5 million in annual expenses) and said the empty-homes levy was “significant in its impact on affordability” (and not in the direction intended by staff). Besides, he estimated, “there’s so many different ways to get out of it that it’s not going to work either.”

De Genova said she favoured the approach of using a carrot rather than “beating homeowners with a stick.” For her, that means an incentive-based program that would encourage people to rent out their empty homes.

Mayor Gregor Robertson balked at that idea, calling it “preposterous.”

“Just to be clear, for the city to give incentives, that means we either raise taxes for everybody to give an incentive, cash, to people who have second or third homes that they don’t want to rent out,” Robertson said. “I don’t know where that money would come from if it’s not coming from other taxpayers who do not have second or third homes, who are probably even challenged to own one home or rent a place.”

The sight of shuttered houses and darkened condo windows have drawn the ire of residents who struggle to find adequate housing in Vancouver, a city with a near-zero rental vacancy rate.

The city’s solution to identify then tax empty homes is based on self-declarations by owners. Every homeowner in the city would be required to disclose whether their property is a principal residence, tenanted for a combined six months a year or eligible for exemption. If not, it would be deemed vacant. At one per cent, the annual tax on an empty $1 million home would amount to $10,000.

A city-commissioned study in the spring found at least 10,800 homes had been left empty in Vancouver for a year or more, and more than 22,000 homes were empty or occupied by temporary residents on census day in May 2011.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Lawyer says she?ll repay clients for losses related to alleged trust-fund theft

SAM COOPER
The Vancouver Sun

Richmond real estate lawyer Hong Guo says she is making efforts to pay back clients who are facing major losses after $7.5 million disappeared from her legal trust.

Postmedia has reported a number of Chinese investors and B.C. real estate professionals are suing Guo, alleging $2.1 million in losses, after Guo says more than $7.5 million was stolen from her trust account in early 2016.

According to legal filings, at least five property transactions were affected in Guo’s trust-fund shortfall. The Chinese investor cases involve $1.38 million in “holdback funds” that investors allege Guo retained in trust to pay her clients’ tax bills on Canadian real estate transactions.

Guo has advised Postmedia that she put her own money into deals affected by the trust-fund shortfall, and that no deals fell through.

“The real estate transactions were not disrupted, all the transactions closed,” Guo added in an interview Monday. “And I’m making all the efforts to pay off the liabilities. Even though the insurance doesn’t cover (losses) and the amount is quite large, I have the ability to pay it off. But it takes time.”

Guo says that her law firm completes about $700 million in real estate transactions a year, and she owns enough assets to pay back anyone claiming losses against her and her firm in this case. She said that she is in the process of selling three personal investments including a B.C. home, a farm in Saskatchewan and a $15.8 million investment property to raise cash.

“I am able to pay. I’m selling my assets, but it takes time,” Guo said. “I paid a few million already.”

“If my business shuts down, it really doesn’t help anybody,” Guo added. “I have 20 people (working for the law firm), I need to support them. I have two children, I need to support them.”

In a B.C. Supreme Court civil suit, Guo has accused two former employees of conspiring to steal over $7.5 million from her trust account with forged cheques, before laundering funds in a B.C. casino, and ultimately sending cash to China. In legal filings, Guo says she personally pursued the alleged suspects to China and questioned her former employees.

Guo alleged the Zhuhai police are detaining her former employees but have not yet charged them.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

MIKE KOZAKOWSKI
other

Owners of Victoria’s transient-zoned condos may realize a boost in re-sale values as the City of Victoria moves towards a transient zoning restriction for future condo developments.

At a hearing on proposed changes to Vic West’s Dockside Green project, Victoria councillors voted unanimously to support a motion introduced by councillor Jeremy Loveday to restrict transient zoning – otherwise known as a hotel-like or short-term rental usage – at Dockside Green and future condo proposals in the City.

“We have a housing crisis in Victoria,” Loveday said. “It’s important that every housing unit that’s built is used for housing.”

However, Victoria REALTOR® David Langlois of Macdonald Realty says the motion could undo the work of previous councils who enacted legislation to introduce transient zoning for economic reasons.

“Victoria, unlike Vancouver, is one of only several jurisdictions that actually has transient zoning designated for areas of downtown Victoria and Vic West, which expressly allow short term usage. We’re a resort town, we’re also a snowbird town, and some years back our elected officials took measures to ensure that we responded to the need for transient zoning and the importance of tourism to the economic wellbeing of our region,” Langlois said.

“To have that suddenly jeopardized could have an effect we weren’t prepared for.” 

While the intent of Councillor Loveday’s motion may have originated with good intentions, the ramifications of the City’s decision could also have an impact on housing affordability and restrict the supply of housing, according to Victoria REALTOR® Marko Juras.

“Whether or not someone intends to use their property as a short-term rental or as a primary residence, having that transient zoning buffers re-sale value and gives owners more options in the years following their purchase,” Juras said.

Juras, himself a real-estate investor with long-term rental tenants in several downtown Victoria condo buildings, believes that what is likely to transpire as transient zoning restrictions come into play is threefold.

“If the restriction on transient zoning comes to pass, three things are likely to occur. First, the value of real-estate with transient zoning will soar, meaning housing affordability will be impacted. Second, we may actually see fewer housing projects in the future as investors in search of flexible zoning put their money elsewhere and development proposals fail to proceed. And third, the true effects of the AirBnB industry have yet to be studied by the City of Victoria. Could we be harming the economy by enacting this measure without an understanding of its social and economic implications?”

At Chinatown’s 595 Pandora condo development, 53 condo units set to launch in several days are transient zoned. And while investors view the zoning as an important element of their investment strategy, the project’s marketing team acknowledges that resident-owners are equally as receptive.

“From a buyer’s point of view, the more encompassing the zoning, the more long-term security and value retention a property has. All buyers understand the importance of flexible zoning and they make their purchasing decisions accordingly, whether buying a primary residence or an investment,” said George Wong, president of 595 Pandora’s marketing firm, Magnum Projects.

The Janion, one of the fastest-selling condo projects in Victoria’s history, is zoned for short-term rentals. Across the street at the two-building Union development, transient zoning also played a key role in that project’s success. And in terms of re-sale value, the market has already placed upward pressure on such properties due to their growing popularity, Juras says.

“The value of downtown Victoria condos has jumped between 15%-to-50% over the last two-to-three years, and properties with the highest increases in value include transient zoning. What this tells us is the majority of buyers want that flexibility, and if we restrict that type of product and inevitably its supply we can expect prices to climb higher.”

© 2016 CITIFIED.CA. CITIFIED MEDIA INC.

Vancouver?s Last Inner Harbour Marina Goes on Market

Chuck Chiang
The Vancouver Sun

The bustling Vancouver waterfront may soon see even more boating activity, as one of the city’s last remaining water lots dedicated to marina usage — large enough to house passenger ferries — goes on the market.

The 6.2-acre (2.5-hectare) site, located directly in front of the Vancouver Convention Centre’s newer West Building, is being sold through Colliers International and will likely garner significant interest given the shortage of marina space in the city, said Mark Lester, the agency’s senior vice-president of unique properties in Vancouver.

“Finding a marina development opportunity in the Lower Mainland is very, very challenging,” said Lester. “There just aren’t those opportunities available. … We may sell two or three in one year and none the next, but there aren’t that many around.”

The property is also special because of its location, which Lester calls “a landmark”, and the fact the lot is a clean-slate for a buyer to come in and develop something completely new.

“This is a development opportunity,” he said of the site, which could handle vessels up to 300 feet. “Any marinas we’ve handled … have been existing. In those cases, you are selling an income-producing asset (instead of a chance to develop).”

The lot is part of the permit given to the Vancouver Convention Centre, a parcel of which was built into the Harbour Flight Centre (which entered service in 2011). The zoning plans had also called for a marina for larger boats, and officials say some regulatory approval and environmental studies have already been done, potentially shortening the time a buyer would be able to start construction.

Michael Short, the marina sector representative for Boating BC and a certified marina manager, noted that most marinas in the region are at capacity, with demand highest for vessels between 35 and 65 feet. He said that, while he is unaware of the details about the new marina lot at the convention centre, any space would give the local industry a boost.

“If you look back at historical photos, there was a lot of marina activity along that entire stretch (of the downtown waterfront) up until 1980,” Short said. “The boating industry is a huge economic driver for British Columbia. Allowing for more capacity, obviously, allows for more boats. If you have a limited amount of space, then you might deter people from getting into boating.”

He added that the public may have the misconception that marinas are only for yacht owners and people in the fishing sector, but the reality is that a marina is almost its own economic ecosystem, housing tour companies, ferry services, and charters, in addition to private uses. As such, a new marina would generate a significant number of jobs and more income for the community.

“It’s not just a place where people park boats and is shut off from the rest of society,” Short said. “They are really a kind of micro-economy, in and among themselves, where you have not only the vessels that are stored there, but also typically some commercial entities working out of there. All those vessels are being serviced by all kinds of marine professionals, so there’s just a lot of activities that goes on.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

REP

Royal Bank (TSX:RY) is hiking mortgage rates and making it more expensive for homebuyers who want to take more than 25 years to pay back their loan.

The bank is raising its special offer for a five-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.94 per cent, an increase of 30 basis points.

The lender is also raising its special offer for a four-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.79 per cent and three-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.69 per cent, increases of 30 and 25 basis points, respectively.

The company is also introducing new rates for homebuyers who opt for an amortization period longer than 25 years.

The special offer rates for three, four and five-year fixed rate mortgages are 10 basis points higher than for those with an amortization of 25 years or less.

The changes take effect Thursday.

Copyright © 2016 Key Media Pty Ltd

Justin da Rosa
REP

This is how the new mortgage rules have impacted housing markets across the country.

“First-time home buyers looking to get into the market before having to face tougher mortgage eligibility criteria had only two weeks to do so following the Finance Minister’s announcement of tighter mortgage regulations in early October,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Early evidence suggests that the influence of tighter mortgage regulations on sales activity has been mixed.

“The federal government will no doubt want to monitor the effect of new mortgage regulations on the many varied housing markets across Canada and on the economy, particularly given the recent rise in uncertainty about economic growth prospects following the U.S. presidential election.”

According to CREA, home sales edged up 2.4% month-over-month in October.

Sales were up year-over-year in about 60% of all markets, according to the association, with strong activity in Toronto offsetting declines in Vancouver.

The national average home price jumped 5.9% year-over-year.

“While prices in 9 of the 11 markets tracked by the MLS HPI posted y-o-y gains in October, increases continue to vary widely among housing markets,” CREA said. “Greater Vancouver (+24. 8 percent) and the Fraser Valley (+32.5 percent) posted the largest y-o-y gains, although single family home prices in both of these markets are now off peak.

“Double-digit y-o-y percentage price gains were also registered in Greater Toronto (+19.7 percent), Victoria (+20.1 percent) and Vancouver Island (+15.8 percent).”

While it’s obvious the recently announced mortgage rules will impact markets across the country, CREA argues more time is needed to realize the full effect.

“The expanded stress-test for home buyers who need mortgage default insurance took effect in the middle of October,” said CREA President Cliff Iverson. “More time will need to pass before its effect on housing markets can be gauged. The extent to which they will push first-time home buyers to the sidelines may vary among housing markets.”

Copyright © 2016 Key Media Pty Ltd

BCREA
other

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that 7,272 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October, down 16.7 per cent from the same month last year. Total sales dollar volume was $4.4 billion in October, down 24.2 per cent compared to the previous year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $606,787, a decline of 9.1 per cent compared to the same month last year.

“Housing demand remained mixed across the province in October,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Home sales across the Lower Mainland were down from the elevated levels of one year ago, but stabilized on a month to month basis. In contrast, home sales on Vancouver Island and in the interior of the province continue to post strong year-over-year gains.”

“The decline in the average residential price reflects a smaller proportion of transactions in the province originating in Vancouver,” added Muir. Home sales through the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver fell to 31.4 percent of BC transactions last month, compared to 42.6 per cent a year ago.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume increased 27.4 per cent to $70.4 billion, when compared with the same period in 2015. Residential unit sales climbed by 15 per cent to 101,069 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 10.8 per cent to $696,992.

Copyright ©2016 BCREA