sales

Many owners of investment property may be unaware of the ins and outs of the new BC Residential Tenancy Act, which has been recently updated. If your suite is currently rented to a tenant, this information should help you understand the tenant rights written into the current legislation.

The new rules for residential tenancy apply to the many suites here in Vancouver that are held as investments and currently occupied by tenants. When owners wish to sell the suite, they find that tenants are not simply expendable, to be evicted upon sale of the suite.

Here in BC, tenants have many rights, upheld by law. It may come as a surprise to owners to discover that when tenants are in a lease situation, that lease takes precendence over the sale. Unlike other countries, an owner here cannot evict a tenant for the purposes of selling. In fact, it is only if the new owner wishes to live in the suite that a tenant may be evicted. This new owner is referred to as an “owner-occupier”.

This is important legislation. At Downtown Suites, we help the owners understand the ramifications of this legislation when they decide to sell their investment property.

(This is an important Evergreen Resource article, revisited from our archives.)

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The REBGV (Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver) released these positive sales stats today.

Market conditions drive strong June housing sales

VANCOUVER, B.C. July 3, 2009  The combination of low interest
rates and more affordable pricing helped propel Greater Vancouver home
sale numbers to the second all-time highest total for the month of
June.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales
of detached, attached and apartment properties increased 75.6 per cent
in June 2009 to 4,259, from the 2,425 sales recorded in June 2008. The
figure is just short of the record-breaking 4,333 sales which occurred
in June 2005.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined
17.9 per cent to 5,372 in June 2009 compared to June 2008, when 6,546
new units were listed. However, new listings increased 13.5 per cent
from May to June of this year. Total active listings in Greater
Vancouver currently sit at 13,252, down 27 per cent from June 2008 and
2.9 per cent below the active listings count at the end of May 2009.

“Price reductions and low interest rates have created an improvement
in affordability, which is causing the number of sales to rise to
levels comparable to 2003 to 2007,” Scott Russell, REBGV president
said.

“Many people who were reluctant to purchase a home last fall and
earlier this year are returning to the market because they see
conditions that appeal to their personal and financial needs,”
Russell said. “However, the current marketplace is such that buyers
are more inclined to walk if they don’t like the terms of an
offer.”

Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink? Housing
Price Index, declined 8.2 per cent to $518,855 in June 2009 compared
to June 2008.

The number of sales of detached properties increased 81.6 per cent to
1,667 from the 918 detached sales recorded during the same period in
2008. The benchmark price for detached properties declined 8.4 per
cent to $701,384 in June 2009 compared to June 2008.

The number of sales of apartment properties in June 2009 increased
69.3 per cent to 1,790, compared to 1,057 sales in June 2008. The
benchmark price of an apartment property declined 8.2 per cent from
June 2008 to $356,880.

The number of attached property sales in June 2009 increased 78.2 per
cent to 802, compared with the 450 sales in June 2008. The benchmark
price of an attached unit declined 7.3 per cent between June 2009 and
2008 to $441,620.

Bright spots in Greater Vancouver in June 2009 compared to June 2008:

Detached:
Burnaby up 109.7 per cent (151 units sold from 72)
Coquitlam up 122.2 per cent (160 units sold from 72)
Delta – South up 107.7 per cent (56 units sold from 27)
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows up 54.3 per cent (162 units sold from 105)
New Westminster up 104.8 per cent (43 units sold from 21)
North Vancouver up 96.2 per cent (153 units sold from 78)
Port Moody/ Belcarra up 120 per cent (33 units sold from 15)
Richmond up 77.4 per cent (204 units sold from 115)
Squamish up 107.7 per cent (27 units sold from 13)
Sunshine Coast up 33.9 per cent (75 units sold from 56)
Vancouver East up 71.2 per cent (238 units sold from 139)
Vancouver West up 85.2 per cent (200 units sold from 108)
West Vancouver/Howe Sound up 117.8 per cent (98 units sold from 45)

Attached:
Burnaby up 81.8 per cent (140 units sold from 77)
Coquitlam up 80 per cent (54 units sold from 30)
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows up 48.6 per cent (55 units sold from 37)
North Vancouver up 121.2 per cent (73 units sold from 33)
Port Coquitlam up 82.6 per cent (42 units sold from 23)
Port Moody/ Belcarra up 77.3 per cent (39 units sold from 22)
Richmond up 84.5 per cent (155 units sold from 84)
Vancouver East up 118.5 per cent (59 units sold from 27)
Vancouver West up 121.8 per cent (122 units sold from 55)

Apartments:
Burnaby up 60.4 per cent (239 units sold from 149)
Coquitlam up 93.9 per cent (95 units sold from 49)
New Westminster up 57.1 per cent (121 units sold from 77)
North Vancouver up 71.4 per cent (120 units sold from 70)
Port Coquitlam up 58.1 per cent (49 units sold from 31)
Port Moody/Belcarra up 128.6 per cent (48 units sold from 21)
Richmond up 54.1 per cent (225 units sold from 146)
Vancouver East up 58.7 per cent (165 units sold from 104)
Vancouver West up 87.2 per cent (627 units sold from 335)
West Vancouver/Howe Sound up 155.6 per cent (23 units sold from 9)

See the full report and other stats here on the REBGV Site.

At Downtown Suites we are happy to assist you with any of your real estate questions or concerns.

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Here are some of my comments on the recently released Landcor Report: Quarter 3, 2008 Sales Summary.

Well, statistics don’t lie!  If we look at the Quarterly Sales Graph, though, it can be seen that since 1997 the sales have been going up and down from 20k units to a couple of peaks in ‘05 and ‘06, but generally settle back down to the 20k range.

I am expecting we will see a levelling out again of transactions in this range, as there is still a lot of demand and interest rates are still very reasonable.

Remember, too, there is always a seasonal adjustment. Before panicking we have to see what happens in the economy in Q1 & 2 ‘09.

With interest rates going lower, renters will again be enticed into the market as the affordability improves and the cost of ownership vis a vis renting will decline.  I think it is part of our communal psyche now to want to own, and we have all seen that ultimately the market will rebound and capital gains will be made.  Price is not the only factor, it is the affordability. People will be looking to see how possible slightly higher payments for owning vs renting will be offset in the long term by capital gains.

Check the Landcor Report for yourself here:

Q3 2008 Sales Summary – The Market Correction Deepens

“The residential real estate market continues to deteriorate and we’ve seen the lowest number of Q3 sales in 5 years. What does this mean? It means that we should focus on the opportunities that are arising, including those for first time home buyers to make a sound investment at a much more reasonable price, and those for Lenders to tighten their borrowing standards to create a more sustainable and accountable financial sector.”

We’re grateful to Landcor data corporation for providing many of their compelling market reports free to their web site visitors.

Don’t run scared of the real estate market, we’re not…we’re doing more sales now than before…with over 30 years experience we’ve seen it all before! Call or email your local success story: www.downtownsuites.com.

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In a recent video session, Victoria Farrell and Nicholas Meyer of Downtown Suites Sales went over the main steps in the purchase process, which are of particular interest to investors overseas.

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In this short video, I explain to landlords some of the ins and outs involved in selling property when it is rented to a tenant.
(originally posted March 23, 2007)

Downtown Suites, Ltd.

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