January 2011 BC Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Homebuilders count on recovery





Greater Victoria housing starts more than doubled in 2010 compared with the previous year and analysts predict similar numbers in the coming year.




After the recession hit the brakes on development, housing starts slid to 1,034 in 2009. Those figures surged to 2,118 by the end of 2010, beating the 10-year average of 1,800, said Travis Archibald, senior market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.




"I think things are going to stay pretty similar to what we saw [in 2010]," he said. Last year "was quite a rebound year."




This year and next are expected to deliver new multi-family projects, many in the Western Communities. "If you look at just townhouses and apartments, there's quite a bit on the books," said Archibald.




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[Ally]

Major military building projects power region's construction sector





Major military building projects in the capital region will bolster the local construction industry as Statistics Canada reports an 89 per cent spike in monthly buildings permits.




A tender is expected to be issued in 60 days for a $100-million-plus redevelopment of 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron at Victoria International Airport, said Greg Baynton, president of the Vancouver Island Construction Council.




In spring 2009, Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in Esquimalt to announce $266 million worth of work. The majority was pegged for modernization at the Cape Breton Fleet Maintenance Facility at CFB Esquimalt, but also included a $2.3-million contract to design the new helicopter squadron facility.




The 443 Maritime Squadron is made up of six Sea King helicopters which serve Canadian frigates and other vessels, National Defence states on its website.




Further, bids close Jan. 18 in the next stage in the continuing upgrading of the fleet maintenance facility. The project's value, including a new wing and mezzanine and renovation work, has been estimated by federal officials at $6 million.




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[Ally]

Langford development on rebound





If commercial and industrial development permit applications are any indication, Langford appears to be bouncing back from the recent recession.




"It looks like the lean times are sort of over and we're starting back up the other way, I hope," Coun. Denise Blackwell, chairwoman of the city's planning and zoning committee, said Monday.




As in the capital region in general, a surplus of multi-unit residential units in Langford has translated into fewer applications for that type of development, says a staff report to the city's planning and zoning committee. "This trend continued through 2010. With the challenge to the South Skirt Mountain rezoning and the bankruptcy of Bear Mountain, any new development within these two comprehensive development areas was effectively frozen," the report says.




"However, notwithstanding this, the number of development permit applications across the entire city in 2010 rebounded to near record levels, and fees from all applications have exceeded budget by nearly 30 per cent."




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[Ally]

Greater Victoria's jobless rate up






Greater Victoria's unemployment rate rose to 5.9 per cent in December ` the highest level in seven months `but still remains considerably lower than a year ago.




Victoria was below the provincial and Canadian unemployment rate of 7.6 per cent as B.C. shed jobs last month, Statistics Canada said. In November, B.C's unemployment was lower, at 6.9 per cent.




The capital region started 2010 with a 7.6 per cent unemployment rate. Year over year, the largest drop in employment sectors has come in retail and wholesale trade, which fell by 5,500 jobs, according to Statistics Canada.




The education sector was down about 3,000 jobs, but that figure could reflect work for substitute teachers. Also down to lesser degrees were the professional, scientific and technical sector, and the business, building and other services sector.




On the positive side, capital regional public administration jobs at all levels of government were up by 6,500 in the past 12 months, manufacturing rose by 1,900 and construction jobs increased by 1,400.




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[Ally]

Penticton considers jail request





The City of Penticton is considering being home to a corrections facility.







Late last year, Attorney General, Rich Coleman, informed communities in the Okanagan the government was committed to building a jail in the region by 2015.







Coleman asked communities interested to let their feelings known by April.







Penticton City Councillor Mike Pearce says he wants the information on the pros and cons to be accurate.







"I think it's really important that we move forward with this process and we lead this process because, some of these things in the past, the community gets a hold of and then all of the wrong rumours get out of there first," says Pearce.





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[Ally]

Sharp rise in container traffic fuels province's economic growth





An anticipated record year for container traffic through Port Metro Vancouver in 2010 is expected to help drive strong economic growth for B.C. this year.




A BMO Capital Markets Economics report released Wednesday, which noted that B.C. posted 3.8 per cent real GDP growth in 2010 and will post 3.1 per cent GDP growth in 2011, also concluded that outbound container traffic at the port rose 18 per cent year-over-year to November.




"This, and continued activity in the commodity space should help drive above-average growth in 2011," the report said.




Port Metro Vancouver chief financial officer Allan Baydala confirmed in an interview that port activity was very strong both in and out of Vancouver throughout 2010 and is expected to continue this year.




"It's been a great year," said Baydala.




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[Ally]

Average BC home price hits record high of $505,178 in 2010







VANCOUVER - The average price for a home in British Columbia reached a record high of $505,178 in 2010, the B.C. Real Estate Association says.







Home sales fell 12 per cent last year to 74,640.







The BCREA cited fewer active listings and increased consumer demand in a news release this morning.







"Tighter credit conditions and expended pent-up demand curbed home sales during the first half of 2010,` Cameron Muir, BCREA chief economist, said in the release.




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[Ally]

B.C.'s economy to grow over next three years, credit union says





B.C. will see growth of about three per cent annually over the next three years, according to an economic forecast released Thursday by Central 1 Credit Union.




The report concluded that the B.C. economy would grow more quickly than expected in 2011, with real gross domestic product (GDP) expanding 2.9 per cent this year, up from the 2.4 per cent forecast a few months ago.




`Our main forecast is that over the next three years, the economy will grow at a moderate pace,` Central 1`s chief economist Helmut Pastrick said in an interview. `The unemployment rate will remain higher this year, but decline more noticeably in 2012 and 2013.`




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[Ally]

A tale of two regions: Metro Vancouver hot, Okanagan not





If you're looking for a place to invest in a second home, the southern Interior might be a decent bet.




As long as you're in it for the long term and don't expect a quick return.




While a B.C. Real Estate Association survey released Thursday concluded that the average price of a B.C. home rose 8.5 per cent over the year and reached a record high of $505,178, that wasn't the case for much of the Interior, including the Okanagan-Kootenay regions, where prices have remained flat.




The reason?




Those cash-rich Albertans and other wealthy buyers are no longer knocking on Okanagan and Kootenay doors, as increasingly cheap recreational properties in the U.S. entice purchasers who traditionally looked to south-central B.C. for a sunny vista.




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[Ally]

Growth plan projects population boom




Metro Vancouver approved a long-awaited land use and growth plan for the region Friday, which aims to accommodate another 1.2 million residents by 2040.




At the same time, civic leaders are turning to the province for help to deal with the influx, noting that it will take significant infrastructure -- in terms of transit, affordable housing and public services -- to meet the needs of a booming population, particularly in areas such as Surrey, Coquitlam and Abbotsford.




The plan, called Metro Vancouver 2040: Shaping Our Future, was approved by all but one director -- Richmond Coun. Harold Steves -- and still has to be approved by each city council, TransLink, the Tsawwassen First Nation and the two neighbouring regional districts before a final vote by Metro. Councils have 60 days to ratify the vote.




"I don't think it's going to be unanimous, but I think the majority of the councils will see this as being in the best interest of the region," said Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.



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[Ally]

Pine beetle population 'crashing'





After more than a decade of eating through B.C. forests, the mountain pine beetle population has begun to crash in the central Interior, Chief Forester Jim Snetsinger said Friday. In response to the rapid decline in beetle populations, Snetsinger has trimmed the region's allowable annual cut. The annual timber harvest had been elevated to permit forest companies to harvest the enormous volume of beetle-attacked timber before it deteriorated.




Now, Snetsinger said in an interview Friday, the beetle population is on the steep downward side of a bell curve. At the height of the epidemic three to five years ago, billions of beetles had attacked 14.5 million hectares of trees. By March, 2010, beetles had killed the equivalent of 675 million cubic metres of timber, making it one of North America's worst-ever environmental disasters.




"Now it's crashing," Snetsinger said. "The mountain pine beetle population is decreasing. It is still killing trees, but not as many."




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

'Best in town' attracts retirement investor





At 53, Dan McPherson isn't quite ready to retire from his job as a builder of aluminum boats, but he is trying to plan ahead. Part of his plan is to invest in a rental property for the first time.




"My brother-in-law in Whitehorse bought a couple of properties a while back, and he's using them as a means of supplementing his income as a contractor. It got us to thinking it would be a good idea," he says.




Instead of looking around the Sunshine Coast, where he and his wife Isabel live, McPherson has his eye on the new Kensington Park condominium development in Maple Ridge, which will go to market later this month.




Part of the geographical jump comes from the potential he sees in the area.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Grow-op bylaws a cash cow in Mission, say critics




The District of Mission is facing a class action lawsuit from residents who say their homes were illegally searched by the grow-op busting Public Safety Inspection Team, and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, working on their behalf, is in discussion with lawyers this week.




The litigants claim the program, with its $5,200 inspection fees, is little more than a cash cow for the municipality.




In 2009, Mission dealt with 219 files and levied 137 inspection fees, bringing $712,400 to the district for the year.




Many Lower Mainland municipalities developed such teams to combat grow-ops, including Abbotsford. But Gordon Ferguson, Abbotsford`s manager of bylaw enforcement, is not worried about a lawsuit.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Lower Mainland real estate gains uneven, prices peak in April




Lower Mainland real estate markets recorded modest gains in 2010, despite a slide in prices from their peak last April.




Detached houses were up four per cent for the year to a benchmark price of $797,900, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).




Benchmark attached homes gained 2.7 per cent to $490,900 and condo prices rose 1.2 per cent to $387,100.




Residential prices have come down about 2.6 per cent since April, but have rebounded more than 20 per cent since the depths of the world financial crisis in early 2009.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

On board with city transit




Abbotsford may be seeing significant investment in local transit in the wake of an extensive review of transit in the Fraser Valley.




City staff has recommended council focus the bulk of investment for new transit projects locally rather than on regional, or inter-regional systems.




Staff came to the conclusion after evaluating the long-awaited Strategic Review of Transit in the Fraser Valley.




Recently released, the study examines the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) communities of Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Kent, Harrison Hot Springs, and Hope to determine the best options for transit services within the communities, the region, and in connection to Metro Vancouver.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

BC reaction to tougher mortgage lending rules cautiously positive





OTTAWA/VANCOUVER -- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is cracking down on Canadians' ability to qualify for a mortgage, in the government's latest attempt to rein in consumer debt.







Flaherty announced Monday the government is reducing the maximum amortization period for government-backed mortgages to 30 years from 35 years. The change will affect mortgages with a loan-to-value ration over 80 per cent.







Canadians will only be able to borrow up to 85 per cent of the value of their homes, down from 90 per cent.







In addition, the government is withdrawing backing for lines of credit secured by people's homes.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Metro passes 30-year land-use plan





Metro Vancouver directors approved a 30-year land-use plan for the region on Friday, despite one director's concerns about protecting farmland.




The document, called the "Regional Growth Strategy," builds on principles of sustainability and protecting green spaces, with emphasis on regional town centres where people work, live and play.




One Metro director, Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, came out strongly against the plan, but he was the only one of almost three dozen who felt that way.




"The big threat in this plan is against agriculture. We are allowing it to be threatened," said Steves, noting there are "food riots" in the world as a result of shortages.




Steves said the inclusion of seven "special study" areas in Metro's plan, in places such as Langley Township and Pitt Meadows, gives tacit acceptance to municipalities' efforts to actively try to convert farmland into non-farm uses.




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[Ally]

Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods most plagued by bed bugs




Which Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods are most plague by bed bugs? According to the Bed Bug Registry - a free, user-submitted database - the Downtown/West End region wins the dubious crown. Take a look at the follwing map views of reported cases in each region.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

U.S. legal challenge threat to B.C. forest sector





The United States reignited the softwood lumber dispute Tuesday by launching a legal challenge that targets British Columbia's lumber industry.




The U.S. claims B.C. has been subsidizing lumber companies here by charging minimal stumpage rates for timber damaged by the mountain pine beetle.




The challenge was officially filed Tuesday at the London Court of International Arbitration, the body chosen by both Canada and the U.S. as the final appeal in any dispute over the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement.




Keta Kosman, publisher of the trade journal Madison's Lumber Reporter, said the U.S. challenge poses a serious threat to the B.C. forest sector.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Chinese wood appetite ignites Island saw mills






LADYSMITH ` The province's long-troubled forest industry has finally "turned a corner," Forest Minister Pat Bell declared Tuesday at the recently reopened Western Forest Products sawmill here.




Bell, flanked by local politicians and company officials, toured the sawmill that had been closed for two years due to deteriorating markets before it reopened with one shift, employing 35 workers, in September to help fill the growing demand for B.C. lumber products in China.




Bell said the reopening of the mill is a "story to celebrate" and is "one more step" toward the full recovery of the province's forest industry after years of declining sales and massive layoffs.




Lee Doney, WFP's vice-chairman, said the company is now in a profitable position again after "weathering through two hard years."




Read the full article here.