A new website for Yaletown's QuayWest Resort Residences at 1067 Marinaside Crescent

I am proud to announce the launch of www.1067marinaside.ca The site for 1067 Marinaside Crescent is the latest in a series of websites focussed on Downtown Vancouver residential condo buildings where I have had notable successes.

The site gives a clear picture of picture of current real estate activity at 1067 Marinaside Crescent. You will find all active listings as well as all past sales at the QuayWest Resort Residences since the building was completed to Concord Pacific in 2002.

www.1067marinasidecrescent.ca also has floor plans, strata minutes, bylaws, and a Google Map of Quaywest II.

This site provides the best exposure available online for those looking to sell a suite at 1067 Marinaside as well as providing information for those interested in buying in the building.

Feel free to contact me at anytime for more information on www.1067marinaside.ca

Mantra Kitsilano Pricing and Suite Availability

I just received a list of pricing from the presentation centre for Mantra Kitsilano as well as floor plans of the suites available. If you are interested in the prices for Mantra Vancouver and what is available in this great pre-sale condo development please call me at 604-763-3136 or email me

Interest Rates Set To Fall! Low Inflation Will Trigger BOC Rate Cuts - Good news For Vancouver Real Estate

Vancouver and BC's continuing strong economic performance is going to get a shot in the arm from the Bank of Canada. Central Canada's woes caused by US economic weakness and a high Canadian Dollar/weak US dollar has cut inflation in Canada. Inflation is what the Bank of Canada looks at when deciding on rate cuts. Look forward to a lot more good news for Vancouver Real Estate and for BC's economy in general.

I am interested in your thoughts! Feel free to post a comment!

Inflation rate hits five-month low

TAVIA GRANT

Globe and Mail Update

February 19, 2008 at 10:09 AM EST

Canada's inflation rate eased to a five-month low last month as the effect of a federal goods and services tax cut took effect and car prices cooled, clearing the way for deeper interest-rate cuts if needed.

The consumer price index rose at an annual 2.2-per-cent pace in January from 2.4 per cent a month earlier, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Core prices, used by the Bank of Canada as a more stable indicator, rose 1.4 per cent, the slowest pace in two-and-a-half years.

The GST cut shaved about 0.6 per cent from consumer prices just as a strong dollar is keeping retailers such as car dealers in price-cutting mode. Inflation will likely slide below 2 per cent as stores keep passing on exchange-rate savings to consumers, predicted Stéfane Marion, economist at National Bank Financial.

The dampening effect of the currency leaves Canada “with roughly half the current U.S. inflation rate,” noted Bank of Montreal. Average inflation among OECD countries, meantime, is 3.3 per cent.

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That leaves the door open for rate cuts when the central bank meets on March 4. The Bank of Canada's new governor, Mark Carney, signalled yesterday that borrowing costs will likely fall as the economy softens.

“The continuing softness in core CPI will give the Bank of Canada plenty of room to cut interest rates further, and adds support to our call for a 50-basis-point rate cut on March 4,” said Jacqui Douglas, economics strategist at TD Securities, in a note.

Upward pressure on inflation stemmed from rising gasoline prices and mortgage interest costs. Gasoline jumped 20.9 per cent between January of this year and last, a much hotter pace that the 14.9-per-cent gain observed in December and “the main factor in higher consumer prices,” Statscan said.

The gain was due to a sharp drop in prices in January of 2007 rather than any big change this year.

Owning a home got a bit pricier. Mortgage interest costs accelerated to 7.6 per cent while homeowners' replacement cost, or the cost of maintaining a home, increased 4.5 per cent.

Heating oil and other fuel prices jumped 24.7 per cent, though this was less than December's pace.

“This comparatively slower growth occurred despite colder temperatures that gave rise to higher demand, and despite below-average inventory levels in the north-eastern United States,” the report said.

On the flip side, buying or leasing a car was 4.9-per-cent cheaper than a year ago because of the GST cut and as manufacturer discounted new models. “This continuation of incentives came when the Canadian dollar was up relative to its U.S. counterpart,” the report noted.

Computer equipment and supply prices fell at the fastest pace in five months, sliding 16.7 per cent, led by declines in monitor and laptop prices.

Women's clothing was 4.5 per cent less expensive in January, the fastest decline in three years, because of post-Christmas sales and the GST cut.

Among provinces, inflation slowed or held steady across the board. It was particularly benign in British Columbia, where consumer prices were just 0.8 per cent higher than a year ago.

As for the GST, which was reduced the GST to 5 per cent from 6 per cent in January, the impact on prices varies. Some businesses likely boosted their margins at the same time, and others, such as car dealers, may have already cut prices in anticipation of the coming reduction, Statscan noted.

The Beasley 399 Smithe Amacon's New Project in Downtown Vancouver

Amacon's Beasley Condo Building located at 399 Smithe Street in Downtown Vancouver is beginning previews on March 1st, 2008 with sales of the project scheduled for March 15, 2008. This 34 story residential condo building will have suites ranging in size from 540-1300 square feet and prices should start in the low to mid $400K's.

If you are interested in this project or would like to take advantage of the high priority registration I have with the developer, please call me at 604-763-3136 or email me here

Why Vancouver and Western Canada will be spared a Recession

If the US is an indicator of whats happening in Canada, we here in Vancouver and Western Canada in general should be fine. British Columbia and Vancouver derive their wealth to a large extent from natural resources, not unlike Montana in this article. Read on and i would love to hear your thoughts.

The geography of recession

Feb 7th 2008 | CHICAGO, HELENA, LOS ANGELES AND WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

The latest national statistics are gloomy. Yet America's economic downturn will be felt unevenly

YOU won't hear the R-word much in the modest governor's mansion in Helena, Montana. The occupant, Brian Schweitzer, insists that Montana's economy is in better shape than it has ever been. It has had one of the fastest rates of job growth in the country. The state is prospering on the back of booms in mining and farming, as well as steady growth in tourism. Paul Polzin of the University of Montana forecasts that the state's economy will grow by 4.1% this year, the fifth consecutive year of growth above 4%. “We've been searching for realistic doomsday scenarios,” he says, “and we just can't find any.”

Go to Michigan, by contrast, and it is hard to find anything but gloom. The collapse of America's car industry, coupled with a nasty subprime mortgage bust, has left the state reeling. It has the highest unemployment rate in the country (7.6%) and the third-highest foreclosure rate, and was the only state to lose a large number of jobs in 2007. In the run-up to the state's Republican primary (which he won) Mitt Romney traversed Michigan, promising to save voters from a “one-state recession”.

National statistics suggest that the country may have already tipped into a formal recession. Output rose by only 0.6% at an annual rate in the last three months of 2007, a figure that could easily be revised down to a fall. Residential construction is plunging, house prices are dropping, consumer spending is slowing and the economy shed 17,000 jobs in January, the first such decline since 2003. A monthly gauge of services activity, published on February 5th, has fallen dramatically and now suggests recessionary conditions. The big question—particularly for those on the presidential campaign trail—is where will the pain be felt most acutely, and how far it will spread.

So far, much of the misery has been concentrated in one sector—housing—and in two distinct sets of states: the industrial Midwest and those states that saw the biggest housing bubble, particularly California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. These two groups are disproportionately important politically. They include many states that voted early in the primary races. Several of them (such as Michigan and Florida) are traditionally swing states in the general election.

The situation is still grimmest in Michigan, Ohio and other erstwhile manufacturing strongholds, where the subprime bust came on top of the secular loss of factory jobs. But the most dramatic weakening has been in bubble states. Economies that were buoyed by booming construction and soaring house prices are now being dragged down.

California's mighty economy is visibly wobbling. In some cities, house prices are falling at double-digit rates and the unemployment rate has jumped from 4.8% to 6.1% in the past year, an increase twice as steep as the national trend. In Los Angeles, the weak dollar and slower consumer spending have sharply cut import-traffic through the port. This downturn is not as gut-wrenching as those in the early 1990s or 2001, when core industries such as defence and technology suffered badly. But it is steep enough to have thrown the state's budget into disarray and derailed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious plans for health-care reform.

In Florida, Nevada and Arizona the story is similar: plunging house prices, rising foreclosures and disproportionate increases in unemployment. Not all is gloomy: in these states, as in the rest of America, strong global growth and the weak dollar have buoyed export industries and boosted tourism. (Orlando International Airport, the gateway to Disney World, saw a record number of passengers last year.) But these positives have failed to counter the drag from housing and weaker consumer spending. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, reckons that all four bubble states, along with Michigan, are already in recession. Together, he points out, they make up 25% of America's GDP.

Joy on the plains and mountains

Move inland from the coasts and away from the industrial Midwest, however, and the picture, for now, looks less grim. A belt running from Texas north-west across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains has been doing particularly well, thanks to soaring exports and high commodity prices. Ethanol subsidies and “agflation” have brought a bonanza to the farm states. Agricultural exports are up almost 20% compared with 2006, while farm incomes are growing smartly. Extractive industries are booming. Miners find it worthwhile to dig for copper in Butte, Montana, even though the operators say it is the worst-grade ore in the world. These states now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. With far less of a housing boom, they have also avoided the worst of the subprime bust.

For politicians from Butte to Topeka, the question now is whether this good fortune will continue. Regional disparities, both in good times and bad, are no surprise in a vast continental economy. During the 1991 recession California and New England suffered disproportionately, thanks to banking crises and defence cutbacks. The 2001 downturn hit states with high-tech hubs hardest at first, while its hangover lasted longest in the industrial Midwest. This time a lot depends on the rest of the world. If emerging economies remain resistant to an American recession and commodity prices stay strong, America's exporting regions will benefit.

That fillip aside, several factors suggest that even America's strongest states face tougher times ahead. The housing market is already weakening well beyond the bubble states. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, house prices fell in each of America's 20 big metropolitan areas in November. And, thanks in large part to the credit crunch, economic weakness is spreading well beyond housing. The Federal Reserve's quarterly survey of loan officers, released on February 4th, showed banks demanding tighter lending conditions from consumers and firms alike. And if, as futures markets suggest, house prices have further to fall, that credit crunch will only get worse.

A downturn centred on housing will have pernicious effects, even on the regions it hits least. That is because it constrains one of the biggest safety valves in America's economy: people's ability to move. Previous downturns spawned sizeable migrations from recessionary states to booming ones. In the early 1990s, for instance, people flocked from New England to southern states. This time, that mobility is hampered by people's inability to sell their homes. Unemployment may go on rising in California, even though Montana cannot get the workers it needs.

Mantra Kitsilano - Floor Plans and Disclosure Statement Now Available

Mantra in Kitsilano had recently gone on sale and I was fortunate to assist some of my clients purchase suites in the building. If you are interested in more information on Mantra or having a look at the Disclosure Statement from the developer or would like to see the floor plans for Mantra Kitsilano, drop me a line by clicking here.

Economy adds slew of new jobs - More Good News For Vancouver Real Estate

Low inflation and falling interest rates has ensured continuing confidence in Canada's economy. This translates into the continuing rise in Vancouver's real estate market.

Let me know your thoughts.

TAVIA GRANT

Globe and Mail Update

February 8, 2008 at 9:51 AM EST

Canadian employers added many more jobs than expected last month and the jobless rate tumbled to a 33-year low in another sign of the contrasting economies between Canada and the U.S.

The economy created 46,400 positions in January, quadruple forecasts, most of them in the private sector and full time, Statistics Canada said Friday. The unemployment rate slid to 5.8 per cent as a record number of Canadians headed to work last month.

It's a stark difference from a U.S. report last week , which showed the first jobs slide in four years, led by construction firms and factories, deepening concern that the world's largest economy is sliding into recession.

“Today's upbeat jobs report lends some heavy-duty weight to the view that the Canadian economy is faring better than its U.S. counterpart,” said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, who cautioned that “a deeper dive in U.S. activity would no doubt eventually find an echo in Canadian growth.”

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The Canadian dollar broke through parity after the report suggested the economy remains robust. A jobless rate at a generational low and strong wage growth “reinforces the idea that the Bank of Canada will not need to make the deep, protracted rate cuts that we've seen from the Federal Reserve to keep the Canadian economy afloat,” said Jacqui Douglas, economics strategist at TD Securities, in a note.

Even factories added jobs last month. The manufacturing sector created about 17,000 positions, though the increase may be a one-month blip. The industry has shed 113,000 jobs in the past year and most believe further cuts will come as the dollar stays high and U.S. demand withers.

January's surge was led by full-time positions and brought total growth over the past year to 337,000 new positions. Full-time work has grown at nearly twice the pace as part-time in that time.

Growth in the private sector led January's increase, reversing a year-long trend of largely public-sector job creation. Professional, scientific and technical services as well as construction companies spurred last month's gains.

Building activity topped expectations at the start of this year, led by a flurry of condo construction, a separate report on January housing starts said today. Builders broke ground on 222,700 units in January, a big rebound from December, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said.

Among provinces, Alberta, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador saw record employment rates last month while Quebec's jobless rate fell to a 33-year low of 6.8 per cent.

Tight labour markets continue to underpin wage growth. Average hourly wages were 4.9 per cent higher than a year ago, the second month in a row that it's been the highest in at least a decade. January marked the sixth straight month with an increase in hourly wages at or above 4 per cent, the report said.

Statscan revised previous numbers to smooth out seasonal bumps. As a result, December's job losses are estimated at 2,900 jobs rather than the 18,700 that was originally reported.

Economists had expected just 10,000 new Canadian jobs with the jobless rate remaining at 6 per cent. January's 5.8-per-cent jobless rate matched levels last seen in October.

The biggest employment gains in January were among women aged 55 and over and men aged 25 to 54.

Older workers are flocking to the work force. Employment has increased 10 times faster among older workers than among middle-aged workers “owing in part to the growth of this group within an aging Canadian population and in part to the steady rise in their employment rate since 1997,” Statscan noted.

2007 Sales Results!

Hi All,

The results are in their good!

I have had the fourth highest sales at Century 21 In Town Realty for 2007 & I am # 91 in sales for all of Century 21 Canada!

Thanks to my clients!

Mike