Vancouver’s Open House

Housing supply and demand reach closer alignment in January

VANCOUVER, B.C. – February 2, 2010 – Diverse selection and favourable interest rates continue to drive demand

in the Greater Vancouver housing market.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver

totalled 1,923 in January 2010, an increase of 152.4 per cent compared to January 2009 when 762 sales were recorded

and a 23.5 per cent decline compared to the 2,515 sales recorded in December 2009.

In terms of historical perspective, January ranked as an average month for number of residential housing sales over

the past decade, with higher sales in January 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006.

Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties

in Greater Vancouver increased 17.2 per cent to $573,241 from $489,007 in January 2009. This price is 0.8 per cent

above the previous high point in the market in May 2008 when the residential benchmark price sat at $568,411.

“Although home prices in the region have largely returned to their previous peaks, we still see a significant number

of first-time and move-up buyers in the market, thanks to low interest rates and the diverse range of properties avail-

able today,” Jake Moldowan, REBGV president-elect said.

“There is also closer alignment between supply and demand in today’s housing market. At 18 per cent, the sales-

to-active listings ratio in January is approximately 10 per cent lower than we’ve seen in our market over the last six

months,” Moldowan said.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,147 in January 2010.

This represents a 39.1 per cent increase compared to January 2009 when 3,700 new units were listed, and a 139.1

per cent increase compared to December 2009 when 2,153 properties were listed on the Multiple Listing Service®

(MLS®) in Greater Vancouver.

At 10,218, the total number of property listings on the MLS® increased 14 per cent in January compared to last

month and declined 26 per cent from this time last year.

“Looking ahead, it’s difficult to know exactly what the Olympic effect will be on our market in February, although

I think it’s fair to say it should be a quieter period for home buyers and sellers and so, in fact, may be a good time for

motivated buyers to search for properties,” Moldowan said.

In January, sales of detached properties increased 141.4 per cent to 705 from the 292 detached sales recorded during

the same period in 2009. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink® Housing Price Index, for detached

properties increased 19.5 per cent from January 2009 to $788,499.

Sales of apartment properties in January 2010 increased 146.8 per cent to 891 compared to 361 sales in January

2009. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 15.2 per cent from January 2009 to $385,487.

Attached property sales in January 2010 are up 200 per cent to 327, compared with the 109 sales in January 2009.

The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 13.4 per cent between January 2009 and 2010 to $482,478.

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The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is an association representing more than 9,600 REALTORS®. The Real

Estate Board provides a variety of membership services, including the Multiple Listing Service®. For more information

on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, contact a local REALTOR® or visit www.rebgv.org.

The HST-How Did Our MPs Vote?

The Real Estate Board has been clear with our federal elected Members of Parliament (MPs). The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will hurt affordability and Real Estate Board members have significant concerns about the tax. On December 9, 2009, Mps voted 253 to 37 to approve the legislation enabling BC and Ontario to harmonize their Provincial Sales Tax with the federal Goods and Services Tax into a single HST. Eighteen MPs did not vote. MPs often count on Realtors® for support during election campaigns and throughout the year. Can Realtors® count on MPs for their support? You decide. Here is how our local MPs voted

*This article was taken from Realtorlink

Are you thinking of selling your home?

Do you need to downsize before you show your property to potential buyers? Getting your home in order can be a huge task, the best thing to do is break it down into small manageable steps. Decide what you need to take with you and what can be enjoyed by someone else.

One of the simplest ways to help with the daunting task of down sizing is to start early. If you have been talking for a while about selling your home, and have decided that this is the year, then start lightening your load early. Go through each room of the house and decide what furniture is going to be moving with you, and what furniture is moving (tossed) out early. There are many options for your old furniture, clothes, computers & electronics.

1) The garbage. If you think that your old couch has had it, and no one would enjoy using it, don’t be afraid to dispose of it. Just make sure you do you and everyone else a favour and drop it off at the dump for proper disposal. Don’t try and fool yourself and think that dumping it an alley will be helping someone. No one is going to want an old couch after it has been basking in the juices of an East Van back lane.

2) If you want to have someone come and cart it off for FREE, try placing an add on an online classified. There are numerous places to post FREE adds for FREE stuff. Be honest with what you are giving away, if it needs TLC then let people know. Remember if you want people to come to your home, you have to be comfortable with allowing strangers know where you live. A good rule is to NOT give out any personal information, such as phone number or home address, unless you get the other person’s contact info first. In other words if someone is calling from a private or blocked number, simply ask them to call you back from an unblocked number, or ask them for their number and call them back before giving out info.

3) If you have the transportation, there are many not for profit organizations that will be happy to take any old furniture, clothes, books & houseware items. Remember to donate quality goods. No one will want an armchair that had been chewed up by a dog, and covered in cat hair.

A garage sale is a good idea, but remember most people bring their “change purse” with them. You will get more money for your item if you place an add in a laundry mat or in a classified.

If you have computer and electronic items there are a number of recycling places that will be happy to take any old monitors, mice, keyboards, electronics, etc. Do a quick Google search “Vancouver computer recycling” and a number of places come up. If you don’t want to drive all the way there, a number of shopping malls have drop off points. This will save you gas and time.

Remember you are not alone. Their are many great services that help people get their homes in order. Getting decluttered takes time, but in the end it helps enrich your life, even if you are not deciding on selling a home. Get it done. Take out one box a week, in a year you will have removed 52 boxes. Every time you leave your bedroom, take a piece of clutter (paper, old pen, wrapper, dirty dish) out with you. Get rid of it properly, sink, garbage, recycling. Get things clean one piece at a time!

Kane 40 stories above downtown Vancouver talking green roof

Kane attempting to be a news anchor

Tiffany Shores 2 bedroom 2 bathroom New Westminster

Tiffany Shores 2 bedroom 2 bath.

Yes, another Real Estate blog, just what everyone was hoping for….This is vancouverSopenhouse, brought to you by Kane Litwiniec, Realtor with Royal LePage.

I am excited to add my flavour on the local Real Estate scene. Here you will find a constantly growing, and changing resource for buyers, sellers, & investors, of residential and commercial property.

Check back often.

Remember it is spelt Realtor, not Realitor, and it is pronounced Real-ter.

Mr. Webster says Realtor - a person who acts as an agent for the sale and purchase of buildings and land; a real estate agent.

See you already learned something.