FRIDAY AUGUST 12 2016
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Exile on Main Street
Rich Hope and his Blue Rich Rangers rock out on country soul LOOK 23
La Movida
West Vancouver studio makes sewing a cinch TODAY’S DRIVE 33
Focus RS
Compact hatchback a fast and furious Ford
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Cyclist critically injured in head-on BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
A cyclist has been gravely injured in a head-on collision with an SUV on Marine Drive in West Vancouver.
A 76-year-old Vancouver man suffered serious head trauma, broken bones and possible internal injuries in the crash just east of 29th Street Wednesday afternoon, according to Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman. After an investigation by Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service as well as interviews with witnesses at the scene, it appears the collision was caused by the driver of a commercial truck towing a trailer and turning left from Marine Drive onto 29th. The cyclist had no choice but to dodge into the oncoming lane to avoid the
See Truck page 7
WATERFRONT WELLNESS “Ecstatic yoga” participant Kristen Landgraff partners up and screeches with delight in a session led by Karma Teachers founder Emerson Lim during the Catalyst Movement Festival last Sunday in the Pipe Shop at the Shipyards. The free public event included workshops in gymnastics, dance, circus and martial arts. See more images and a video at nsnews.com/living. PHOTO CINDY GOODMAN
Realtors predict property market cool-down
JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
Local real estate agents say they know of several multimillion-dollar real estate deals collapsing and predict the hot North Shore housing market will cool slightly in the wake of a new 15-per cent provincial tax on property purchased by foreign buyers.
“It’s one of the most shocking events that’s ever arrived in our industry,” said Brent Eilers, a longtime West Vancouver Realtor with Re/Max. “Nobody really knows how it will unfold.” Eilers said the new foreign buyers’ tax is bound to have an impact, particularly in markets like West Vancouver and North Vancouver, which have been “incredibly dependent on offshore
Real estate industry awaiting full impact of province’s new 15% property tax for foreign buyers money or new money” that’s come from sales to foreign buyers in other areas of the Lower Mainland. On July 25, the province announced it was putting the new 15-per cent tax on property purchases by foreigners in place in response to growing concerns that offshore money has fuelled exponential increases in housing prices in the Lower Mainland putting home ownership beyond the means of most working people.
Statistics released by the province showed that in a five-week period between June 10 and July 14, about 10 per cent of residential real estate deals in Metro Vancouver involved foreign buyers. Anecdotally, real estate agents have estimated a significant number of deals at the higher end of the market in North and West Vancouver have involved foreign buyers. So far, nobody knows what the long-term impacts of the new tax will be, say local Realtors. “Everybody’s sitting back and waiting for the repercussions,” said Allan Angell, another longtime West Vancouver Realtor. “The repercussions could be huge or people could just sit back and say we don’t care.”
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