You could WIN
$15,000
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Come home to $15,000 worth of furnishings, home electronics and groceries . . . from Visions Electronics, Save-On-Foods and The Brick. Contest runs May 7 to May 31, 2009. Check out MetroVancouver’s new homes and play along each week to increase your chance of winning.
Coffee With takes a closer look at North Vancouver ›› p.14
May 21, 2009
Housing market balancing out Downward pressure on home prices has eased, says BCREA
The British Columbia Real Estate Association reports that April was the third consecutive est-entrypoint FRONT 1 5/7/09 4:57:48 PM month of increasing home sales in the province, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Consumer demand was bolstered by lower home prices and record low mortgage interest rates. Housing affordability hit a three-year high at the beginning of the month. “Downward pressure on home prices has eased considerably,” says BCREA chief Cameron Muir economist Cameron Muir. Locally made products are popping up more and more in Metro Vancouver homes, such as the garage doors made by Richmond-based “An increase in consumer Garador. Garador president Arkadiusz Lewandowski, above, says people are starting to realize there are local alternatives. Rob Newell photo demand combined with fewer homes for sale has trended the market near balanced conditions.” The number of homes for sale through the Multiple Listing Service fell to a 12-month low in April (on a seasonally adjusted basis). MLS residential sales dollar volume in B.C. declined 25 per cent to $3.1 billion in April, compared to the same month last year. Residential unit sales declined 20 per cent to 6,918 units during the same period. The average MLS residential price in the province was $449,372 in April, down six per cent from April 2008. excitement. To not want to sit on the fresh mountains rising out of the Pacific Ocean Year-to-date, MLS residential sales dollar furnishings and soak up that “new house only adds to this euphoria. Especially volume was down 41 per cent to $7.8 billion smell.” downtown, where nighttime falls and a milover the same period last year. Especially as stone-clad exteriors lion lights are viewable from your window. A total of 1,889 units were sold in the first welcome you inside to shiny counters, It is, without a doubt, what sets homes in four months, down 35 per cent from 2008, groomed carpet, and perfectly crafted Greater Vancouver apart from those in the while the average MLS price declined nine per wooden doors and closets. You may even rest of Canada, or even the province, and cent to $433,246. find yourself envisioning where your couch it has given local manufacturers a distinct For further details, visit the B.C. real Estate KOLBY SOLINSKY will face your television. advantage in selling their products along Association at www.bcrea.bc.ca As they say, it’s all in the details. It’s a tough thing to do – to walk into Well, on the West Coast, the view of the Source: B.C. Real Estate Association a new home and not feel that rush of CONTINUED ON P.2
Made-in-B.C. products keep homes hyperlocal
More and more Metro Vancouver homes are featuring goods made here