BC Economic Fundamentals 2009-01

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0109VICT (Saanich)
Residents to be consulted on Saanich land purchase

A decision on whether to buy a forested parcel of land in Saanich as a site for a future sewage treatment plant was delayed yesterday so politicians could ask residents their opinion.

The Capital Regional District has a reserve option to buy 4.4 hectares of land from the Queen Alexandra Foundation in an area known as Haro Woods. It paid $159,750 last year to hold the site until Jan. 15 at a purchase price of $7.1 million.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/todays-p...4657/story.html

 

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0109VICT
Apartment building sales hit new low

The sale of apartment buildings in Greater Victoria hit a 10-year low in 2008 with just seven properties changing hands -- a stark contrast to the 33 buildings sold in 2007.

Garry Barsalou, a broker at Diversified Properties who specializes in selling multi-unit buildings, said the sector was hit hard in the second half of 2008 as the global economic crisis tightened mortgage lending and available capital for investors. "As a result, the sellers and buyers capitalization rate widened as buyers were not prepared to accept the previous year`s sale cap rate. The sellers also did not accommodate their buyers by adjusting asking prices," Barsalou said yesterday in his 2009 Apartment Trends Report.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/todays-p...4636/story.html

 

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0109VANC
Assessment roulette: How `winners` may lose in the end

Property owners may think, at first glance, they`re seeing good news in the 2009 assessment notices, which began arriving last week.

However, many businesses and home owners alike will be in for a rude shock in July when their property tax bills arrive.

Just-posted assessment data on BC Assessment`s website confirms my fears: Victoria`s tinkering with the system is producing unequal and unfair results.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-pa...3725/story.html

 

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0109VANC
New club would rock on A&B Sound site

PRESSURE UNDER GRACE: A&B Sound`s landmark Seymour Street music store closed in August 2008 as the 21-outlet chain spiralled toward its second and final bankruptcy. Five spaces down the alphabet, though, the letter G should rise from the ashes there. The G is for Graceland, a nightclub Vince Alvaro, 53, founded in a 26,000-square-foot former photo-finishing plant on Richards Street in 1986 and sold four years later. After drawing 1,000 patrons Friday and Saturday nights, Graceland closed in 1998, and its site is now occupied by James Schouw`s The Grace condo tower.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-pa...3735/story.html

 

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0109VANC
Winter freezes out city builders

Metro Vancouver`s construction industry has been hit with a harsh dose of winter medicine over the past few weeks that is delaying some projects.

"It started in mid-December with the extremely cold days," Peter Simpson, chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders` Association, said in an interview Wednesday.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Winte...2524/story.html

 

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0109BCBC
An electrifying offer from the provincial government

On Dec. 19, Duncan Holmes and 137 other homeowners in Tsawwassen received a registered letter from the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. For a price set by an independent appraiser, the letter stated, the ministry was offering to buy their homes. They all live in close vicinity to the newly completed high-voltage transmission lines that march through Tsawwassen. Maybe you`ve heard about them. I would be surprised if you hadn`t, considering the decibel level of the homeowners` howls.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/ele...8131/story.html

 

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0109VANC
Olympic Village Shock

The news from Vancouver`s Olympic Village is becoming dire. And next Thursday is the day this billion-dollar financial minefield could blow up for the world to see.

That`s when the companies that are building Vancouver`s billion-dollar Olympic Village hope to access more of a $750-million construction loan from Wall Street, to keep constructing the crown jewel of Canada`s 2010 Winter Olympics.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Sports/Olympic...8129/story.html

 

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0109VANC
West End tenants told to move their pets or face eviction

June MacGregor may soon face a terrible choice: her home or her beloved companion.

The 79-year-old is among seven tenants of Emerald Terrace -- a West End apartment building recently bought by Hollyburn Properties -- who are battling eviction notices issued because they have pets.

"I feel angry and I feel really, really upset," said MacGregor, who`s been renting her apartment at Nelson and Charles for four years and has had her cat, Clouseau, for two.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-pa...8293/story.html

 

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0109FTJN
Coal-bed methane industry finds a home in Peace Country

Condemned in many British Columbia communities as an environmental hazard, coal-bed methane development has found a home in the Peace River Valley.

A junior gas exploration company with a head office in Vancouver, a CEO from Baton Rouge, La., and a drilling partner from Texas, has succeeded where industry giants including Shell, Encana and BP, have faltered.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-pa...8147/story.html

 

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0109BCBC
B.C. tweaks royalties to lure Alberta firms

British Columbia is using more generous royalties and the prospect of huge oil and gas finds to entice Alberta-based firms to remote areas of the province.

"Frankly, they are out luring investment across the border, they want more of it, and they are working hard to get it," Gary Leach, executive director of the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (SEPAC), said Friday.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/todays...2910/story.html

 

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0109BCBC
Will Obama`s priorities help keep B.C. trade links open?

As Barack Obama`s Jan. 20 inauguration approaches, industry and government in B.C. are working on strategies to keep this province`s vital trade links open with the U.S. in case protectionism grows with Democrats in control of both the White House and Congress.

Democrats are generally considered to be more protectionist than Republicans, and with the U.S. economy on life support, concern is growing abroad of Congress passing protectionist laws that Obama may not fight. Already there is evidence out of the U.S. that lumber interests are preparing a new fight against Canadian lumber imports: On Dec. 15, a report was tabled in the powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee concluding that Canadian lumber is subsidized.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Wil...3321/story.html

 

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0109BCBC
Fewer building starts take a bite out of construction employment

Figures released Friday showing lower housing starts, fewer building permit applications and job losses in construction indicate that British Columbia`s building boom is ending in the climate of recession and tougher economic times.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Friday that housing starts across the Lower Mainland fell six per cent in December, following a declining trend from a high start in 2008 to end the year also down six per cent.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Homes/Fewer+bu...2216/story.html

 

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0109FTJN
The Lure of gas

Last November, natural gas giant EnCana Corp. quietly filed a multi billion-dollar natural gas plant proposal with provincial regulators in British Columbia.

The massive Cabin Gas Plant would process natural gas from shale plays in the Horn River basin for eight companies led by the Calgary-based producer.

Estimated to cost $400 million for the first phase, the plant`s initial capacity was slated at 400 million cubic feet per day, twice as much as the province`s largest natural gas processing plant.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/todays-p...5250/story.html

 

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0109VANC
Landlord targets pets, renters

A West End tenant says the company that owns the building in which he lives is evicting tenants while avoiding costly renovation or building permits.

"Give up your cat or move out," said Andrew Simmons, a tenant of the Emerald Terrace apartments on Nelson Street. He was given an eviction notice Tuesday by Hollyburn Properties.

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/new...02-74dc94a253dc

 

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0109LMLD (Fraser Valley)
Real estate sales drop, but `good buys` on rise

Even though it has become a buyers` market, sales for 2008 on all real estate in the Fraser Valley dropped 30 per cent, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board`s year-end report.

In 2008, Fraser Valley realtors listed 35,651 properties compared to 32,953 listings in 2007, but the total sales volume for 2008 was only 13,194 compared to 18,862 in 2007.

http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news...49-91797d63cf73

 

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0109RUPT
Some homeowners getting a bigger bang for the buck

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell`s plan to assess property values at July 1, 2007 rates could create winners and losers in the way Rupertites will pay taxes in 2009.

According to information available to the public on the BC Assessment website, home owners, office owners and establishment owners with the biggest property increases will incur the biggest savings on their property taxes this year, while those with lower-valued properties will save negligibly.

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerup...d0-37c271ead04f

 

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0109LMLD (Langley)
Focus turns to economic growth

While the fall season had a very busy start with federal and municipal candidates meetings and the elections, I believe all citizens were ready to get back to regular routines and back to business.

The current financial crisis is taking a toll on all Canadians, and despite our many strengths, Canada cannot escape the global downturn.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/...85-a95e13eaa20d

 

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0109LMLD (Delta)
ROW homeowners waiting on offers

All they can do now is wait and see if the provincial government`s offer is reasonable.

The Ministry of Energy recently announced it would proceed with a voluntary home buy out program for those who live on the Tsawwassen right-of-way where the controversial higher voltage lines were installed last summer.

The government has notified 138 homeowners they have until Jan. 15 to confirm they`d like to participate in the program. A majority of residents indicated last fall they`d be interested in taking part in such a program after an earlier round of consultations.

http://www.canada.com/deltaoptimist/news/s...c8-2b50b5e8a736

 

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0109LMLD (Coquitlam)
Home sales down in Tri-Cities

Coquitlam condos led the way in price declines as home sales took a hit in December in the "housing recession" throughout Metro Vancouver, according to one economist.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver released listing and sales activity statistics this week after the final month of 2008, which showed a 17.8-per-cent drop in the benchmark price of Coquitlam apartments from 2007 to $243,371 -- the biggest year-over-year decline for condos in Metro Vancouver.

http://www.canada.com/coquitlamnow/news/st...4c-e5031f40539e

 

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0109KMPS
Assessments not frozen on KIB land

Recently received 2009 property assessments were probably looking pretty good to most homeowners in Kamloops, but for residents living at Sun Rivers, Paul Lake or on Kamloops Indian Band (KIB) land, it might be a different story.

As it turns out, property owners on KIB land will not get the benefit of having the lower of their last two property assessments as their official assessment — something that 94 per cent of B.C. homeowners will receive.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_thompson_nic...s/37285479.html