The Booming Real Estate Market Is Not A Phenomenon Solely Identified With The Okanagan Valley In This Province

This article is from the Kelowna Capital News

The booming real estate market is not a phenomenon solely identified with the Okanagan Valley in this province. It's happening right across B.C., and it has people both excited and apprehensive at the same time.

Why?

Because they have to ask themselves how long the upward swing in prices can continue.

When will the bottom fall out of the real estate market demand and what will happen then?

If you think about it, in Kelowna and the Westside, the demand and escalating price of real estate has little to do with economic growth, and everything to do with baby boomer generation retirement savings being deposited here.

It's no secret that when a house goes on the market here, potential buyers are eyeing up such properties from across western Canada, with the idea that it might be a retirement home investment.

Overall in B.C., the real estate market is abuzz across the Interior, while the Lower Mainland is pricing itself into the stratosphere of other major urban centres across North America.

We are entering into a new era in our country's history, the retirement phase of the baby boomer generation, which will have economic and social impacts like nothing we have experienced in our country before.

People are retiring with more money in their pockets than in previous generations and they are retiring at an earlier age. The strain that could put on our health system, the population growth pressures that places on city planners, and shortages of skilled workers in the labour market are some of the significant concerns already starting to take fold.

So while those housing prices continue to go up each year of late, the question you have to ask yourself is are you really getting ahead?

This article raises several points that have yet to be answered, the most important being: What will happen when the Boomer have retired. Will Canada's health care be over run, will salaries for vacated jobs go through the roof, thus forces the price of commodities up, and pushing the unfortunate down. Or maybe have the boomers retired will effect little in the scheme of this, with people living healthier longer. They do have to spend their money on something.

Time will tell.

Buying A Home For The First Time Can Be Quite A Challenge

Buying a home for the first time can be quite a challenge. First time home buyers are often unaware of what the market is like, and what kind of costs are involved. On top of the purchase price of the house there is often lawyer fees, land transfer tax, and if it is a brand new home you get hit with the GST. On $300,000 the GST is $21,000. That means you can't get that new car. The Toronto Star and HEATHER GREENWOOD DAVIS have the full story on what to watch for when buying a home for the first time.

Hot, Hot, Hot. That Is How I Describe The Surrey Real Estate Market

Hot, hot, hot. That is how I describe the Surrey real estate market. In the first 5 months of 2006 Surrey has had 2,191 housing starts. This is the most of any city in British Columbia, and there is no slow down in sight. With the average price of a home in the greater Vancouver area over $500,000 (though the City of Vancouver has 350 homes listed at over 1 million), that equates to over 1 Billion in housing starts. Admitted my calculations are a bit crude.


Northern B.C. is also seeing a rise in the real estate market. Data is out for the first 5 months of 2006 and the top 70% of the province is thriving. Average prices in Prince George are up over $40,000.

The Average Price Of A Canadian Home In Now More Than $300,000

WOW. All I can say is WOW.

The average price of a Canadian home in now more than $300,000. In Canada housing prices are moving so fast in the major markets that low income housing is becoming a thing of the past. In Calgary, where housing prices have risen 43.6 percent since last May, they cannot build enough new houses, and in the process are eating up land by the hectare. CBC.ca has the full article on home prices in Canada.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has statistics for the month of May. Across Canada raw data shows a rise in homes sold via the MLS service. Get ready for it. MLS sold 37,460 units. The dollar value of these units sold is over 11.3 Billion Dollars. The number of units sold only rose marginally, yet the increase in real estate prices saw the dollar value rise from 9.6 Billion dollars a year before. That equates to about an 18 percent increase in value of the units sold.

Maybe global warming is heating up the real estate market.

There Should Be A Checklist Available To Investors And Potential Home Owners On How To Close A Real Estate Deal Correctly

With thousands of homes selling every day in Canada there should be a checklist available to investors and potential home owners on how to close a real estate deal correctly. Here is what I have found through Bob Aaron at the Toronto Star. Bob has complied a list of 'The Top Ten Things to Beware of When Buying Resale', there is actually eleven items.

Small Towns Like Kitimat Are Now Seeing Some Turn Around In Real Estate Markets After Years Of Drought

'Although it certainly can’t be categorized as a boom at this time, Kitimat’s long dormant real estate market has been enjoying a bit of a spring surge in 2006.

Inventories of listed homes for sale are down as much as 50 per cent over the comparable period two years ago, according to Manuel Leite, owner-broker with Remax Kitimat Realty.'

Get the rest of of the story by Allan Hewitson

British Columbia Real Estate Boom Could Cost Us

OTTAWA -- British Columbia would be punished for its high property values with a reduction of hundreds of millions of dollars in transfer payments if a federal panel's recommendations on the equalization program are implemented.

The recommendations would result in Quebec getting a $1.5-billion-plus annual windfall while B.C. would get nothing from the wealth-sharing equalization program.

Sounds like Western alienation.
Get the rest of the story from Peter O'Neil and The Vancouver Sun

Check Out This Fantastic Home In The Okanagan

Check out this fantastic home in the Okanagan.

This home has all the must haves in a home costing over 7 Million dollars including a salt water negative edge pool and 500 ft of lake front. For all the details continue on to the Realtor's site.

When Real Estate Is Hot It Is Really Hot

When real estate is hot it is really HOT. A merger between two real estate conglomerates will create a real behemoth. Brookfield Properties Corporation and private equity firm Blackstone Group are joining forces to acquire Trizec Properties and Trizec Canada in a deal worth $8.9-billion. That is a lot of money.

Alberta's capital, Edmonton, is experiencing great housing growth. In the month of May prices have increased 23 percent over the same period last year. This can not give a snap shot of the rest of Canada as Edmonton is riding an oil boom, and also has the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.