Designer for Belmont at Heritage complements angular spaces with soft touches

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Belmont at Heritage
Where: 22084 Fraser Highway, Langley

What: 55 condominium homes ranging from one- to three-bedroom units in a four-level wood-frame building in Murrayville

Residence sizes and prices: From $299,900 for units ranging from 717 to 1,529 square feet

Developer and builder: Infinity Properties

Sales centre: 22084 Fraser Highway, Langley

Centre hours: Noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

When Jill Bauer looks at geometric patterns, lines and angles, she sees minimalist beauty. She sees in these shapes a way to design with elegance, as materials that will help her create a mix with soft, comfortable texture.
At Belmont at Heritage, Infinity Properties’ new community in Langley’s Murrayville area, Bauer embraces angular patterns throughout the display spaces — in everything from the square structure of the dining chandelier, the stacked wine display, and a sculptural piece of art that dominates a study. The linear pieces create appealing, classic patterns.
“There is something elegant and timeless about clean lines,” says Bauer, principal of Jill Bauer Design.
“It’s about stepping away from what’s ‘trendy’ and incorporating minimalist pieces that won’t date. We appreciate the modernist theory ‘less is more’, as it helps create a Zen environment.”

An all-white office space embodies the sense of peace that Bauer describes: the monotone shades and low-profile storage and double desk creates its own linear look. With light artwork opposite the desk, it’s a somewhat soothing effect, until the eye sets upon the sculptural wall art, and the room seems instantly energized.
Want to make a room stand out? Adding bold angles and lines will do the trick, Bauer says.
“We wanted this room to be memorable, as it is one of the first things seen upon entering the condo. The walls and millwork form a neutral backdrop for the accessories and art. Accent light in the storage wall showcases the large, geometric 3-D art and adds drama to the space.”

At the same time, Jill Bauer Design expands its repertoire at Belmont at Heritage with a touch of softness to contrast with the harder shapes. In one bedroom, overhead lighting and wall covered in plush panels seem to expand the space.

“We created a luxurious hotel vibe for the master bedroom, which appeals to many. It’s a large room with high ceilings so we knew it could handle a high-impact feature wall,” Bauer says.
Considering the sizes of that bedroom and the study, Bauer admits she is working with an embarrassment of riches at Belmont at Heritage, thanks to the developer’s decision to consider the questions and comments of buyers.
“We were excited to learn that Infinity Properties was creating larger units to accommodate their buyers’ needs,” Bauer says.
“The open plan allows for a variety of furniture layout options, including space for a large dining table for entertaining. Options are endless for those upsizing their living environment. Growing families could convert the den into a playroom for their little ones.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Vancouver property owners still don?t recoup their money nearly as fast as owners in other cities

JENNIFER SALTMAN
The Province

The owner of a three-bedroom property in Vancouver could recoup their purchase price about 10 years faster if they do short-term rentals versus having a long-term tenant, according to a study released Tuesday.

However, the study also shows that services such as Airbnb are not as profitable for Vancouver landlords as they are in other cities.

The research was conducted by Nested, a British online real estate agency, and compared how long it would take to make back the value of a three-bedroom property using it as a traditional rental compared to a short-term rental through Airbnb in 75 countries around the world, including Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

“Vancouver has relatively high prices and low rental yields, which is a natural pairing,” said Nested CEO Matt Robinson. “What sticks out most is that Airbnb is not as powerful a tool for landlords as in other countries. In Vancouver, Airbnb yields are 50-per-cent more than long-term rents, whereas in other major cities Airbnb yields are typically three to five times the long-term rental yields.”

The study shows that the average price for a three-bedroom property in Vancouver is $1,140,000.

Such a property rents for an average of $3,340 per month, meaning it would take 341 months to recoup the value. Vancouver is in the middle of the pack with this time frame. The average monthly Airbnb rental income for similar properties is $5,310, meaning the value could be recuperated in 214 months. Landlords in only seven other cities take longer to recoup their property value.

The study assumes properties would be rented at 80-per-cent capacity each year.

It does not take into account mortgage interest rates, Robinson said, because “they’re constantly changing.” Other costs associated with home ownership, such as strata fees or taxes, are also not included.

The city with the highest average cost for a three-bedroom property is Hong Kong, at $3.15 million, followed by London at $2.83 million and New York City at $2.17 million. The least expensive average price was in Cairo ($79,000).

San Francisco has the highest average monthly rent of $7,151, followed by London and New York City. Cairo also had the lowest average monthly rent.

Vancouver, which has a chronic shortage of long-term rental units, is reviewing its short-term rental regulations.

Currently, zoning regulations don’t allow short-term rentals — renting your property for fewer than 30 days is only allowed in a licensed bed and breakfast.

Under the proposed regulations, owners and renters would be allowed to rent all or part of their principal residence nightly if they have a short-term rental business licence.

© 2017 24Hours Vancouver.

Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News

The latest edition of an annual survey by global statistics consultancy Demographia found that Vancouver is the third least affordable metropolitan housing market in the world as of the beginning of 2017, coming right after Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia.
 
With the median home price ($830,100) being over 11 times higher than the median monthly household income ($70,500), this represented the second consecutive year that Vancouver has ranked third after placing second in 2015, GlobalNews.ca reported.
 
Out of the 406 markets surveyed, Vancouver was the only Canadian city to rank in the top 10 list of the least affordable housing markets.
 
And since 2004, Vancouver has been consistently ranked by Demographia as the Canadian city with the highest prices relative to median household income.
 
However, Greater Vancouver’s benchmark price for detached homes has exhibited a slight 5 per cent decline (down to $1.4 million) ever since the introduction of the 15 per cent foreign buyer’s tax in August 2016.
 
The city’s sales numbers have fared worse, with figures from the B.C. Finance Ministry showing that the ratio of real estate deals involving foreigners declined to less than 1 per cent after the tax was levied last year. In addition, the $14 billion in real estate transactions in Vancouver over the 7 week prior to August 1 dwindled to a mere $3.7 billion in October.
 
“There is a huge drop,” Andrey Pavlov of the Simon Fraser University said. “There may be some seasonal variation, like there normally would be on all transactions, but the drop is so significant that it couldn’t possibly be explained by seasonal variation.”
 
B.C.’s weaker housing sector poses dire implications for the provincial economy, which has been forecast by finance officials to ratchet down its performance this year.
 
Finance Minister Mike de Jong projected that 2017 growth will be “modest” compared to the previous year, noting that the province’s budget surplus will be around $2.2 billion.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Mortgage lenders will have access to enhanced insights into customers’ credit profiles following the release of a new multi-million-dollar technology platform.

Equifax Canada has announced that the first phase of its platform which is says will enable its clients to deliver a better end-consumer experience, faster service, and fair and flexible access to credit for all Canadians.

The new product should help mortgage lenders to better assess those Canadians with little-to-no credit history and give those consumers wider choices than just the high-interest lenders.

“Our clients want and need us to innovate by helping them reach new markets and compete more effectively in a rapidly changing credit environment that includes emerging alternative and Fintech lenders. This investment will go a long way to achieving that goal,” explained Jimmy Chan, Chief Information Officer, Equifax Canada.

Among the insights available to lenders is trended credit data which details repayment history and highlights trends adds significant insight that goes well beyond a static point-in-time credit score when it comes to underwriting lending risk.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

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Demand high in rental housing, industrial property sectors

CHUCK CHIANG
The Vancouver Sun

Metro Vancouver’s rental housing and industrial markets remain highly active, with demand outstripping supply on both fronts, leading to sales and price surges in some areas and low vacancy rates in others, according to recent reports.

CBRE’s Q4 market review of Metro Vancouver’s industrial real estate sector showed that the region saw industrial leasing space vacancy rates drop to 2.4 per cent at the end of last year, the lowest level since 2007. Sales, meanwhile, reached a record $1.2 billion in 2016, up nine per cent from the previous year.

The average property price was up 13 per cent, hitting $195 per square foot in Metro Vancouver, and industrial land prices saw their largest increases in a single year. All this despite “an apparent lack of properties available for sale,” the report said, with only 312 acres of industrial land trading hands in 2016.

“It’s definitely been the trend in the last three years that demand has outpaced supply almost two-to-one,” said Chris MacCauley, CBRE’s senior vice president (industrial and logistics). “It’s something that has no easy fix; it will take some long-term planning throughout Metro Vancouver to find out what are the right places for industrial land of various uses.”

The CBRE report called the depletion of Metro Vancouver’s industrial land “critical,” noting Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond all have less than 10 years of supply left.

“About 50 per cent of the supply coming on this year (in Metro Vancouver) is already spoken for, and it’s January,” MacCauley said, adding that clients looking at Vancouver have been driven out to Surrey and Delta because of lack of availability. Surrey has 30 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s future land supply, MacCauley noted.

On the rental side, the Goodman Report on Metro Vancouver’s apartment sector showed the average price per suite in 2016 jumped 52 per cent to $377,000. Authors David and Mark Goodman of HQ Commercial added that, while 9,470 purpose-built rental units are either proposed, approved or under construction throughout the Lower Mainland, demand will continue to far outstrip supply.

“It’s anticipated that the regional population will increase by an average of 35,000 per year until 2040,” the report said. “The Goodman Report expects local landlords to remain insulated from any apparent decline in tenant demand or softening of rents.”

The short supply of rental housing and the resulting rising rents are serious concerns for David Goodman, who said Vancouver’s municipal officials have relied too heavily on federal aid, which takes time and often doesn’t fulfil the community’s needs. The result, Goodman said, is serious damage of the city’s social and economic fabric.

“You can’t just have condos and have a viable society,” he said. “You need rentals. And if you are not building enough rentals, people are going to throw their hands up in disgust … and they are going to leave our city. These are often people who are educated and have lost all hope of even renting, so they’ll go to Alberta or back east … where they won’t have such a stressful time finding a roof over their heads.”

Goodman urged city officials to reduce red tape for developers looking to build rentals in Vancouver, an application process right now that can take up to three years.

One of the only things, for both Goodman and MacCauley, that can derail demand in Metro Vancouver in the short-term may be the new Trump administration in the United States. Both analysts said people should keep a close eye on the policy changes in Washington toward tariffs and other trade mechanisms.

“The issue we are running into with our clients is that 70 per cent of all manufactured goods here are usually U.S.-bound,” MacCauley said. “So some of our clients are saying that, if there are additional tariffs coming, they may balance their expansion plans and look at south of the border.”

Goodman agreed.

“We could very well experience potential disruptions to trade and commerce, quite possibly triggering higher deficits and interest-rate increases here at home,” he said in the report. “We’re in for a bumpy ride — bet on it.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc

Hong Kong’s Mott 32 opening next week at Vancouver’s Trump Tower

Mia Stainsby
The Vancouver Sun

In the days leading up to the opening of Mott 32, a posh Chinese restaurant in Vancouver’s new Trump International Hotel and Tower, one of the principals is all about quality control.

Xuan Cheng Mu will have tasted 500 dishes in about 10 days — everything on the menu several times over — yet he’s trim and fashionable. “I have a high metabolism and I work hard,” says Mu, a partner in parent company, Maximal Concepts.

Asked about the “Trump effect”, Mu doesn’t think there will be one. “People will be excited that we are here and they’ll like the atmosphere. Everyone’s very excited. They’ve been to Hong Kong, tried the one there and look forward to having a piece of Hong Kong in Vancouver.” He does not know if President Donald Trump will be visiting.

The five-year-old Maximal Concepts operates 18 restaurants in Hong Kong, including the first Mott 32 (named after the address of the first Chinese grocery store in New York City) and 17 other unique concepts. They’ve garnered over 80 awards in the past five years. The Vancouver restaurant is the first international foray, to be followed up by ventures in Dubai and Bangkok. The Vancouver restaurant will open “probably next weekend,” Mu says. “We want to launch when the food is above even Hong Kong standards.”

The room is a stunner by designer Joyce Wang (who won an international award for Mott 32 in Hong Kong), with a blend of exoticism, history and edgy luxury. (The Opium Room, one of four private dining areas, evokes an opium den with a bed for seating and lighting fixtures crafted from antique opium pipes.) The main area is divided into unique sections with marble, wood, embroidery, glass, leather, murals and even bird cages.

The food is traditional but tweaked Cantonese, with inclusions from other regions in China. The executive chef, Man-sing Lee, based in Hong Kong, is from a two-Michelin star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental and is currently training a local chef from the Dynasty restaurant. Although the food is modern, the owners opted for traditional family-style service. The standout dishes I tried on a tour and tasting was the Iberian pork and the pork sui mai, which like many of the dishes is given a little more love than the traditional version. Here, a quail egg bursts open as you bite into it, releasing its custardy yolk, a challenge for the cooks to get right.

he food may face competition from some of Metro Vancouver’s excellent Chinese restaurants, but Mott 32 will leave them in the dust when it comes to looks, ambience and service.

Maximal Concepts was approached by the Trump Hotel developer, Holborn Group president Joo Kim Tiah. “Mott 32 is his favourite restaurant in Hong Kong and he had to have this restaurant in his building. He tried the food again and again and approached us. He knows what he wants and we’re very honoured,” says Mu.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Incoming interchange ?bloody criminal?

KENT SPENCER
The Province

Homeowners Eugene and Betty Nelson feel terribly wronged about a new freeway interchange that is coming to the Langley Township, a few paces from their front yard.

They face the prospect of 22,000 cars going by their kitchen window on a daily basis, along with increases in pollution and noise.

The Nelsons say it shouldn’t have been this way.

Back in 1991 when they bought their home on the corner of 216th Street and Telegraph Trail, township staff told them the interchange wouldn’t be built at 216th Street and future plans called for a site 100 metres distant at 217A Street.

“We left happy, knowing that if and when this did occur, there would be a large green space between our home and this connection,” Betty said.

(The township officials’ information was correct. In a recent report, township staff said the interchange was slated for 217A Street in the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

Fast forward 26 years: the retired couple face a scenario they took every step to avoid. A $59-million interchange has been approved and funded by the feds, province and township for 216th Street, about “25 feet” from the breakfast nook where the Nelsons sip their morning coffee, said Eugene.

Plans call for a full-access overpass over Highway 1; the province’s consultants predict vehicle traffic will go from 3,500 daily to 22,000.

“It’s bloody criminal,” said Eugene. “Cars will be lined up down the block in every direction. It’s going to be a ruddy mess.

“We can’t sell. It’s too late. We’ve already lost $200,000 on the price of the house.”

It gets worse. Betty has lung disease. Dr. Chris Carlsten, associate professor of medicine at UBC, said higher levels of particulate matter and poisonous gases at 216th Street “can be be predicted to infer a significantly increased risk of new asthma and heart-disease concerns.”

Betty said: “It’s going to be very bad.” 

The area along 216th Street, called Forest Hills, is home to modern subdivisions on the west side and agricultural land on the east where cows used to graze. 

The interchange is “critical” because the Fraser Valley is growing so fast, say the province and township. Vehicle flow at 216th Street and Telegraph Trail is currently controlled by stop signs; traffic lights will be installed as well as left-hand turn lanes in all four directions.

Chronic slowdowns will also be alleviated at the congested 200th Street crossing, the township said.

Mitigation measures will be introduced, including a large “noise attenuation” wall to act as sound barrier; and pedestrian safety features such as crosswalks will be installed to shield school children going to classes.

The township did not take questions on the matter last week. Erin Brocklehurst, corporate media liaison, said “as this is the province’s project, all inquires are being directed to the province’s senior project manager.”

Township staff said in a report that 216th Street has been the preferred site for an interchange since 1980, with the exception of a few years when 217A Street was the choice. 

But the location is wrong, said Telegraph Trail resident Graeme Harfman, who added that residents are getting the runaround from officials who “deflect” questions rather than answer them.

Township officials have not followed the local government act, he said, which requires communities to have a chance for public consultation before land use plans are changed. Harfman said no such consultation took place regarding the re-designation of 216th Street from minor collector to arterial in Walnut Grove.

Misleading information continues to appear on the township website: Walnut Grove’s community plan on Jan. 19 showed 216th Street’s designation as a “minor collector” road, something which is clearly not the case, he added.

“A big thing is noise. I’ve lived near an interchange. You’re up at 5:30 because the cars are racing off and you don’t get to sleep until midnight,” he said.

Almost 1,100 people have signed a Change.org online petition against the plan; Harfman said he was struck by the passionate tone that mothers expressed about their kids’ safety.

“It used to be a very quiet neighbourhood before,” he said.

Nevertheless, the project is going ahead. A request for proposals has been put out; construction is expected to start in the spring and be completed in the fall of 2019.

The Nelsons said they “won’t be alive to see it.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Vancouver remains in the top three most expensive cities to own a home for middle-income earners.

An annual housing affordability report from Demographia ranks Hong Kong as the most expensive, the same as last year; but Vancouver has slipped to third with Sydney, Australia taking the second-place spot. The Californian markets of Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara complete the top 5.

Vancouver’s median priced home would cost a median income earner 11.8 times their income, up from 10.8 times a year ago. Toronto is at number 28 in the listings with an income multiple of 7.7.

The study talks of the rapid deterioration of the health of the housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto, based on 2016 figures. Nationally, the 4.7 income multiple for major markets is deemed “severely unaffordable” and for all housing markets the ratio is 3.9.

Among 40 markets, 10 are deemed affordable, 13 moderately unaffordable, 10 are seriously unaffordable and 7 are severely unaffordable.

The most affordable market is Moncton with a 2.2 income multiple with Ottawa-Gatineau leading affordability for major markets with a 3.9 income multiple, however it is still ranked as moderately unaffordable for middle-earners.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd