November 2011 B.C. Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Three companies short-listed to build Evergreen Line





METRO VANCOUVER -- Three companies are vying to build the long-awaited Evergreen Line.




EL Partners, Kiewit/Flatiron Evergreen Line and SNC Lavalin Inc. have been short-listed to design, build and finance the $1.2-billion transit project, which will link Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam.




Technical submissions from the teams are due in April, with one of the companies to be selected next summer.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Evergreen Line construction to begin next summer: Transportation minister





METRO VANCOUVER -- Construction on the long-awaited $1.2 billion Evergreen Line is expected to start at the end of next summer, Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom announced today.




But the minister, who met with Metro Vancouver mayors at TransLink this morning, said there has been no decision yet on how mayors will raise additional funds for transit without raising property taxes.




He expects a decision on alternative funding sources will be made within the year.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Affordable rentals not keeping up with Metro Vancouver demand, coalition says





METRO VANCOUVER - The supply of new rental housing is failing to keep up with demand, with less than one-tenth of the necessary units being built annually, according to a housing coalition of industry, non-profit and government leaders.




`It`s a crisis,` coalition co-chairman, Metro Vancouver Housing Committee chairman and New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright said in an interview Thursday.




`If we don`t have affordable rentals we could have more homelessness.`






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Penticton cracks top 10 for investment




Out of all the cities and towns throughout the province, Penticton has been ranked ninth for real estate investment.





The Real Estate Investment Network released its latest report this week identifying the top regions that are likely to perform amongst the best over the coming years.





`The groundwork by economic development and the city is turning the ship around a bit here,` said Peter Byrnes, real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Okanagan Realty in Penticton.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Fort St. John facing real estate boom



And investors can look forward to a projected real estate boom, according to a report released by the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN) that predicts the local real estate market to outperform other regions of the province over the next three to five years.





The report, which analyzes current and future prospects for real estate investment opportunities in B.C., ranks Fort St. John fifth out of hundreds of towns and cities.





`It`s not a surprise for us in the business. We`ve seen it coming for a while, and now the rest of the world is seeing it too,` said Kevin Pearson, Managing Broker for the Century 21 office in Fort St. John





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Global outlook makes LNG proposals much greener



As a long-term observer of energy and economic policy in Europe and Western Canada, I am compelled to comment on John Axsen's comments on the environmental and economic impact of LNG exports, and the need to consistently view such developments from a global perspective (B.C. government's plan to construct three LNG plants counters CO2 reduction efforts, Issues & Ideas, Nov. 14). His environmental and economic concerns arise only when a narrow local perspective is adopted. Like it or not, we share the same troposphere and the same market for goods and resources as the rest of the world.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Dispatch from the Deep South: View of the civic election from suburbia




I can understand how y`all north of the Fraser got real excited about Saturday`s election.




What with the city`s preoccupation with Occupy Vancouver, and the riveting debate over bike lanes, and the sight of a giant chicken campaigning for the NPA ` it was all terribly entertaining.




And yet anticlimactic. Gregor Robertson won, as he should have. Vision Vancouver swept, as it should have. It had youth, organization and a feel-good message that imagined a better future. You know, that Green thingy.




Meanwhile, the NPA succeeded in cementing its image as a fusty buzz-kill.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Home prices in B.C.: more drops than increases, but no cash ahead




Yesterday I blogged that the real estate numbers were coming out today and that those numbers would show, according to BMO Capital Markets, that Vancouver was coming off the boil (read that blog here).




Well the numbers are out, and what I find interesting is the number of communities in the province where prices are down from a year ago. While the average price of homes in Greater Vancouver sold through MLS in October was up 8.2 per cent compared to October 2010, in Victoria prices were down 7.3 per cent, in Kootenay home prices fell 5.2 per cent, and in South Okanagan prices were 5.1 per cent lower. In fact, in total seven of the 12 regions covered by the report saw price drops.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Home sales stronger outside Metro Vancouver: BCREA





Residential sales picked up outside Metro Vancouver in October, according to a B.C. Real Estate Association report released Tuesday.




"B.C. home sales rose three per cent in October compared to September on a seasonally adjusted basis," BCREA chief economist Cameron Muir said in a statement.




"While consumer demand in Vancouver edged lower last month on a year-over-year basis, strong increases were recorded in the Fraser Valley, Kamloops, Kootenay, the North and on Vancouver Island."






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Slow economic growth leaves province little room to boost spending





A slowing global economy will limit expectations for British Columbia's economic growth over the coming year leaving the provincial government little room to increase spending in 2012, provincial Finance Minister Kevin Falcon said Friday following a meeting of his economic advice council.




B.C. will still perform better than most provinces outside of the resource-rich provinces of Western Canada, but the province's economic forecast council has downgraded its expectation for the growth in provincial output of goods and services this year and next.




For this year, the council has reduced its forecast to 2.2 per cent from 2.7 per cent in its January estimate, and for 2012 it reduced its expectations to 2.2 per cent from three per cent.






Read the full article here.