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June 2015 B.C. Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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Rental unit vacancy rate increases in Prince George

Prince George, B.C. – The housing rental market in Prince George has improved over the past year when it comes to the availability of units.

The latest report from Canada Mortgage and Housing indicates the vacancy rate from April of 2014 and April of this year, has increased by 1.1%.

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Vancouver renters share the pain of high housing prices

Vancouver isn’t just one of Canada’s most expensive housing markets for buyers, but also renters.

According to new data released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the highest average monthly rent was $1,345 for a two-bedroom, primary purpose-built apartment in Vancouver. Calgary had the second highest with $1,319 per month followed closely by Toronto at $1,269, according to April 2015 data based on a survey of Canada’s 35 major centres.

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Greater Victoria's housing vacancy rate shrivels

Greater Victoria’s spring rental vacancy rate has tightened to its lowest level since 2009.

The capital region’s vacancy rate in private, purpose-built apartments was 1.2 per cent in April, compared with 2.7 in the same month a year ago, Canada Mortgage and Housing said in its spring report.


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CMHC rental vacancy rates declined in BC

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - June 15, 2015) - According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) spring Rental Market Survey1, the British Columbia apartment vacancy rate declined to 1.8 per cent in April 2015 from 2.4 per cent in April 2014.

"Vacancy rates moved lower this spring as increased rental demand outpaced additions to rental supply," noted Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist. "Most of the province's 27 centres surveyed in April reported lower vacancy rates compared to a year earlier. Apartment vacancy rates ranged from 1.0 per cent in Parksville to 8.9 per cent in Dawson Creek."

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Vacancy rates in Fort St. John jump 4%

Vacancy rates are up but so are rent prices in Fort St. John, according to new statistics released today.

In its spring Rental Market Report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation pegged apartment vacancy rates in the city for April 2015 at four per cent, up from just 1.5 per cent a year ago.

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Once again that those who scream the most and get the most attention often are the least informed on facts, and more informed on a pixel or 2 of a whole picture

Let’s go back to October 15, 1953 when The Vancouver Sun proudly declared that Trans Mountain Brings Oil to B.C.

In contrast to the sometimes over-the-top comments of the current mayor of Burnaby, then-reeve William Beamish told the Sun that “with oil and the gas that’s likely to come soon, the future of Burnaby will be bright.” Beamish was correct.

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Kamloops rental vacancy rate double BC's average

A new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report pegs the city’s rental vacancy rate at double the provincial average.

The survey by the Crown corporation found a 5.1 per cent rate — unchanged from a year ago — at private apartment buildings with at least three units. The provincial average is 2.4 per cent.

The lowest rate in B.C. is Squamish at 0.3 per cent while the highest is Summerland at 9.4 per cent. Many cities are clustered below the five per cent mark

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Rental vacancies in Greater Victoria slip into six-year low

Greater Victoria’s spring rental vacancy rate has tightened to its lowest level since 2009.

The capital region’s vacancy rate in private, purpose-built apartments was 1.2 per cent in April, compared with 2.7 in the same month a year ago, Canada Mortgage and Housing said in its spring report.



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Vancouver real estate investors sitting pretty as rental vacancies drop

As real estate prices continue to hit record highs, increasing pressure is being put on the rental market, pushing vacancies ever lower, according to a new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report.

Apartment rental vacancies in Victoria and Vancouver are second and third lowest in the country, at 1.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively, according to the spring edition of the biannual market report.


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In a new approach to attracting young families to the affordable region of Aldergrove BC, the Township of Langley announces an aggressive new pool and arena facility.

“Work begins immediately,” said Langley Township Mayor Jack Froese.

The long-promised Aldergrove recreation centre, a combined pool and arena complex, will be built on the site of the closed Aldergrove Elementary school on the western edge of the community’s downtown.


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Chetwynd gas plant would need up to 2,000 workers

A decision could be made this year on a proposed $2.5 billion gas plant near Chetwynd that would come with up to 300 full time jobs.

Blue Fuel says it hopes to have an Environmental Assessment Certificate granted by mid- to late 2015, and it will make a final investment decision by the end of the year.


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The NE quadrant of British Columbia never stops with surprise. Now talk of a European car manufacturer?

Blue Fuel Energy’s Sundance Fuels project just got a lot more interesting.

According to CEO Juergen Puetter, at least three global car manufacturers are now in discussions with the company regarding potential fuel purchase agreements and investment in the proposed natural gas-to-gasoline facility, which would be located about 20 kilometres outside of
Chetwynd.


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Red tape over home building inflating Vancouver's house prices

You have to give realtor Keith Roy points for originality. Knowing a thing or two about marketing and self-promotion in today’s sizzling Vancouver real estate market is how you will break into the tiny circle of top-sellers of detached homes.

Roy’s latest brainchild may have just raised the bar among his peers. It is a website called buildinginvancouver.com, a blog diary of building a new home on a typical East Vancouver lot just off Main Street.


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Vancouver Real Estate Investors Sitting Pretty as Rental Vacancies Drop

As real estate prices continue to hit record highs, increasing pressure is being put on the rental market, pushing vacancies ever lower, according to a new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report.

Apartment rental vacancies in Victoria and Vancouver are second and third lowest in the country, at 1.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively, according to the spring edition of the biannual market report.


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More Chinese cash could enter Vancouver real estate boom market soon

The easing of a Beijing law that restricts the amount of money that can leave the country each year could cause further foreign real estate investment in the Vancouver market.

Currently, China law prohibits citizens from moving more than $50,000 a year per person out of the country. Though many have found creative ways around that rule, most notably to invest large sums in North American real estate where they feel their money is safe from prying eyes, loosening of the law could promote the Yuan overseas and cause a mass influx of Chinese money into the Canadian economy.

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River District: The new Vancouver neighbourhood you've never heard of

Wesgroup’s River District aims to be the city’s next Yaletown, just on a working river instead of an ocean. Swap the freighters for tug boats and log booms, and the packed seawall for a quiet, five kilometre riverfront pathway teeming with bird life, walkers, joggers and bikers and a similarly remarkable view.

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AtlasGas commits to LNG terminal by 2018, challenges international report

CALGARY - The CEO of AltaGas Ltd. says his company is on track to building Canada's first liquefied natural gas export terminal by 2018, challenging an international report that said no such facility will be built in the country by 2020.

"We think we'll prove them wrong in this decade," David Cornhill said Monday in an interview following a report last week by the International Energy Agency.

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Fort St. John poised for 'exponential growth' according to annual report

Billions of dollars in local investments have put Fort St. John in a position for "exponential growth," Mayor Lori Ackerman wrote in the city’s Annual Report released yesterday to council. “Fort St. John is experiencing unprecedented growth,” the report states.

The value of construction projects within the city’s boundaries reached $154.9 million last year, an increase of 14 per cent from the year before.


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Watch out NE BC – if this LNG industry become REAL (with pipelines, exports and infrastructure) the area will be in instant boom. Especially when you throw in the giant Site C dam project into the mix.

A major liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the west coast has cleared an important hurdle, bringing the South Peace one step closer to "enormous" economic benefits.

The B.C. government and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency issued a conditional Environmental Assessment Certificate to LNG Canada Development Inc. June 17 for an LNG export terminal in Kitimat.


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The high cost of high rent in the Peace Region of NE BC

Sara Duncan and her husband recently found a two-bedroom apartment in Fort St. John, but it wasn’t easy.

“I’ve lived in Vancouver and in Victoria, and the rent is higher here than it was there,” she said. “It would be impossible for someone who made less than $20 an hour to reasonably live here in a place that wasn’t absolutely terrifying, in a horrible neighbourhood.”

It was only through a friend of her husband’s that they were able to finally find somewhere to live.


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