Pieta Wooley, Georgia Straight, May 28, 2009
This spring, Sarah McMillan and Gavin Wright pulled up their urban Vancouver roots and headed to a plot of leased land north of Pemberton. The couple met at UBC Farm last summer, fell in love, and shared their city-folk dream of country living. Unlike many other dreamers, though, they made theirs happen. This summer, McMillan and Wright plan to grow and sell beets,
Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, March 31, 2009
Invermere realtor Wende Brash surmises that what’s happening on the streets of Calgary has a lot to do with the slow sales of vacation property on the East Kootenays’ lake fronts and mountainsides.
“What’s happening is that Calgary is starting to do major layoffs,” Brash said in an interview, “and though we do have people who are ready to buy, they’re waiting to see if they have a job.”
Whether it is the oilpatch elites hesitating over job insecurities,
Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, Friday, March 13, 2009
Seattle resident Steven Thompson admits he’s probably an anomaly as an American looking to buy a condominium in downtown Vancouver.
About 30 per cent fewer foreign buyers, including Americans, dipped into British Columbia’s real estate markets in 2008, compared with 2007, according to data from the property research firm Landcor Data Corp.
Many Americans saw their properties at home deflate in value during 2008,
North Shore Outlook, January 12, 2009
More posh homes in the Lower Mainland now have assessed values of more than $1 million, despite the ongoing slide in real estate prices.
That’s because the province capped this year’s assessments at the lowest value of the past two years, so the new numbers don’t reflect the deteriorating market prices of the last several months.
Landcor Data Corporation, which analyzed the region’s property assessments,
Chris Bryan, Burnaby News Leader, January 9, 2009
There are few surprises for Burnaby homeowners this week as the 2009 assessments arrive in the mail.
For most, there is no change over 2008 because of provincial legislation capping assessments at the lower value between the two years, to provide people with some financial certainty in a tightening financial climate.
“The lower value is the basis upon which the 2009 property taxes will be calculated,” said Connie Fair,
Andrew Duffy, Victoria Times Colonist, January 9, 2009
It’s no contest when it comes to the property with the highest assessed value in the capital region this year.
Weighing in at almost $76 million, James Island, owned by Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw, is head and shoulders above the rest of the top-10 assessed properties, four of which are in Oak Bay.
McCaw is part of a syndicate that bought the 315-hectare Gulf Island just off Sidney in Haro Strait under the name JI Properties in 1994.