On the flip side, compared to other starts during the last 10 years, the Board received one of its highest influxes of new listings for January – 2,753 – 5 per cent more than January 2011 and 143 per cent more than December the month before. The increase in new inventory raised the volume of active properties in Fraser Valley to 8,320 by the end of January.

Sukh Sidhu is the Board’s president. “For spring house hunters this is great news. For buying power you can’t beat the combination of greater selection, the continuation of extremely low interest rates and stable prices.”

The Board’s new MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI), launched today, reveals that residential home prices in Fraser Valley have decreased gradually over the last six months, while still showing increases year-over-year.

In January, the benchmark price of a detached home in the Fraser Valley was $567,700, an increase of 7.6 per cent compared to $527,500 in January 2011 and an increase of 0.1 per cent compared to December.

For townhouses, the benchmark price in January was $314,200, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to the same month last year when it was $306,800 and down 1.1 per cent compared to December. The benchmark price of apartments in January was $199,600, a decrease of 0.1 per cent compared to January 2011 when it was $199,800 and an increase of 0.3 per cent compared to December.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), replacing the Lower Mainland’s MLSLink® Housing Price Index, is a new measure of price for residential properties in five major markets across Canada. It includes Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, with more markets to be added. It was pioneered by six founding partners: the real estate boards of Calgary, Fraser Valley, Greater Montreal, Greater Vancouver, and Greater Toronto and the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Sukh Sidhu says the new MLS® HPI will be very helpful to REALTORS® in guiding homeowners. “It’s a bigger, better tool to measure the change in home prices in the Fraser Valley and now we can more accurately compare our market to other major cities in Canada.” Learn more at www.homepriceindex.ca.

Antilla, Mumbai, India: $1 billion

Land is a premium in Mumbai, which means you build up rather than out, which is exactly what one of the richest men in the world has done. Mukesh Ambanin has created a 27 storey 40,000 sq ft tower of a house. Billed as ‘the Taj Mahal of the 21st Century’ the towering structure is home to a cinema, heli pad, swimming pool, Krishna temple, bar and library – and is rumored to be served by 600 members of staff.

For the parking alone, the building dedicates 6 stories because Mukesh Ambani has around 168 cars in his collection!

1 Billion dollars! If you could get someone to make the loan at current standard (US) jumbo mortgage rates, the monthly payment on a 30-year loan would be about $12.5 million per month!

More Antilla Mumbai Facts

1. 3 helipads on top. Mumbai corporation has not given permission for making this operational yet.
2. Hanging gardens within the structure
3. Swimming pool within the structure
4. A two storey Health centre
5. Parking space for 168 cars (6 floors). I initially thought that meant there will be a mini office in the building but apparently that is not the case. All these cars will belong to Mukesh Ambani! Just in case you are interested, he drives a 5 crore Maybach now.
6. A floor exclusively for servicing these automobiles within the building.
7. A floor for Home theatre – sitting capacity of 50

Most absurd of all, the house will have a staff of 600 (sic) to do the maintenance activities. That gives a ratio of 1:100 for people living in the house and those who are paid to take care of it. The six lucky ones are the man himself, his wife, his 3 children and his mother Kokilaben. The family will be moving in from their old home ‘Sea Wind’ which was a 14 floor building at Cuffe Parade.

Villa Leopolda, Cote D’Azur, France: $506 million

Ramshackle French chateaus are always ripe for development, but the Villa Leopolda pretty much blows the idea out of the water. Built on 29,000 square on the French Riviera, the villa has 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, vast formal gardens, swimming pool and private beach front, and has been valued at $506 million. This villa is having the best beachfront in the south of France. This villa was built for King Leopold from Belgia and was later bought by Edmund Safra. Now the building is the house of the wife of the late Edmund Safra, Lily Safra though it was rumored to be sold to Bill Gates, Gianni Agnelli and undisclosed Russian Tycoon.

The Villa Leopolda estate is spread over two guest houses across 20 acres of grounds with countless olive, cypress and lemon trees taken care by 50 gardeners. Villa Leopolda is most famous, not for the King’s gift to his lover, but because of one the home’s rumored owners, Bill Gates – the Microsoft founder.

Since the luxury home was built, there have been multiple rumors about who has and who hasn’t lived there. Bill Gates is just one of the many people who have never called Villa Leopolda home, yet is one of the most commonly placed people within the estate’s walls. Regardless of who owns it, Villa Leopolda can easily be considered one of the great wonders of the world.

The front of the estate is landscaped beautifully and surrounded by a thick, well-kept tree line. The steps leading up the estate are pink and beige and are the original steps Leopold had constructed. Lily Safra, former owner and wife of the deceased Lebanese businessman Edmond Safra, kept the house in remarkable condition. The mere size of the estate is mind-boggling, with guest homes, swimming pools, and much more covering around 18 acres – most of it being the main house.

There are 19 luxurious bedrooms inside of the Villa, including huge bathrooms, antique furnishings, walk-out terraces, and fireplaces. Other features inside of the home include sporting courts, a bowling alley, multiple kitchens and dining rooms, a movie theater, and other touches like rare marble and period artwork.

Outside of the home, the olive, cypress and lemon trees are like miniature orchards on the residence. It takes over 50 full-time gardeners to maintain the lavish look of the landscape, and most are able to stay on-grounds in living quarters. The 80,000+ square-foot estate is easily one of the worlds most spectacular. Villa Leopolda has been featured on many television shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and VH1′s Fabulous Life Of. It has also been featured in many magazines such as Forbes, and is constantly considered one of the foremost historical properties in all of Europe.

Villa Leopolda was built in 1902 by King Leopold II of Belgium and takes its name from him. Check out the Villa Leopolda Birds Eye View

The Penthouse, London, UK: $200 million

This apartment that located in Hyde Park will become the most expensive flat in the world at the price of £6,000 per sq/ft. This apartment is guarded with top level security system. You can find many feature of security here such as panic room, bulletproof window, iris scanner, and you can find a tunnel to the nearby area of Mandarin hotel. You can see the communal spas, squash courts and you can find amazing wine tasting rooms here. Of Course this apartment will be served 24 hours by the staffs.

Fairfield Pond, The Hamptons, US : $170 million

This large home is the home of Ira Rennert. It has 63 acres area and become the largest residential compound in the US. The house has 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms, 5 tennis courts, bowling alley, large dining room (91 feet long), and you can find $150,000 hot tub as well. This is a beachfront home is completely use for private house. People was hard to believe for the first time that this house is not used for hotel, spa or retreat place.

Hearst Mansion, Beverly Hills, US: $165 million

This Luxurious home that located on Beverly Hills is formerly the prestigious home of the U.S. newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The house has 6 separate residence, three swimming pools, eight fireplace,

tennis courts, night club and 29 bedrooms. Those facility is spread in 6 hectares area in the famous platinum triangle neighborhood in Beverly Hills. This renowned house was purchased by Leonard Ross, a lawyer and investor in 1976 that wanted a change of lifestyle. If you own this house you become the close neighbor of Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and David and Victoria Beckham.

“The Pinnacle,” Montana, US: $155 million

This ski Lodge is the largest property in the exclusive private ski and golf community “Yellowstone Club”. You can get a conclusions that this become the owner’s home. Yes, It’s true. It’s the home of Tim and Edra Blixseth. It’s not that big compared to other house in this list with only 10 bedrooms. What’s the facility can be found here? You can find the heated flooring system that stretched throughout the house, fireplace in all bathrooms, a huge wine cellar, indoor and outdoor pool as well as gym and massage room.

The Manor – Los Angeles – $150 Million

Spelling towers is still on the market, after the wife of the television producer Aaron Spelling put it up for sale two years ago – despite not selling, the huge price tag has remained static at a staggering $150 million. Set in 4.2 acres, the 123 room chateau-style mansion has a cinema, bowling alley, tennis courts, swimming pool, a 100 car parking lot and three rooms dedicated purely to the art of present wrapping.

This house was built in 1991 with French Chateau style. This house has 5,248 square meters of room area with more than 4.6 hectares total house area. It’s also the biggest house with the private ownership in the Los Angeles County. The main house is located at the end of long road and well protected with security system. You can find bowling alley, humidity controlled silver warehouse, tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, and luxurious woman beauty care such as beauty salon in the attic and a spa. You can find several garden as well like 18th century style gardens,roof gardens and orange gardens. This house has a parking lot that large enough to park up to 100 cars. You can also find private cinemas on this luxury house.

Updown Court, Windlesham, Surrey, UK: $139 million

This amazing house built on 58 acre land in the Windlesham neighborhood. This huge structure offers 103 rooms with all facility you can imagine as a rich person. There’s a private cinemas in the north part of the house as well as bowling alley for recreation of the owner. You can find horse barn, squash and tennis courts in case you want to get some refreshing with sport. You can find a marble drive away as well that wait you every morning with a parking lot that large enough to park up to 8 limousines.

One Hyde Park – London – £135 million

Launched at a lavish, celebrity studded party in January 2011, One Hyde Park is reputed to be the most expensive residential property in the world – retailing in excess of £6,000 per square foot. Composed of 86 properties, one of which is rumoured to have sold for £135 million, the building boasts a private cinema, sauna, gym, swimming pool, golf simulator, wine cellar, concierge, valet and room service, never mind the highly desirable address.

Dracula’s Castle, Romania: $ 135 million

Dracula’s Castle seems like a bad name but it’s actually a Romanian castle. The castle became a museum during 1980s. The owner of the castle, Archduke Dominic put up the castle for sale. This amazing house, though named as a castle has 57 rooms, 17 bedrooms and unique and beautiful antique furniture.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 1,577 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in January 2012. This represents a 4.9 per cent decrease compared to the 1,658 sales recorded in December 2011, a decrease of 13.3 per cent compared to the 1,819 sales in January 2011 and an 18 per cent decline from the 1,923 home sales in January 2010.

January sales in Greater Vancouver were the second lowest January total in the region since 2002, though only 146 sales below the 10-year average.

“We’re seeing trends emerge in our market that favour buyers, such as increased selection and more stability in pricing compared to this time last year,”  Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “Last month’s activity tells us that competition amongst home buyers was reduced in January, which means that individuals looking to purchase a home had more time to do their homework, consult with their REALTOR®, and make a decision.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,756 in January. This represents a 19.9 per cent increase compared to the 4,801 new listings reported in January 2011, and a 253.3 per cent increase compared to the 1,629 new listings reported in December 2011.

Last month’s new listing count was the highest January total in Greater Vancouver since 1995.

The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the Greater Vancouver MLS® is 12,544, a 12.5 per cent increase compared to December 2011 and an increase of 20.2 per cent compared to January 2011.

Artist rendering of Coquitlam Central Station on the Evergreen Line SkyTrain extension.

Project construction expected to create an estimated 8,000 direct and indirect jobs

METRO VANCOUVER — The Tri-Cities are preparing for a rush in development applications after the province announced Wednesday that pre-construction would begin on the $1.4-billion Evergreen Line, following years of delays.

B.C. Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom said the province has signed deals with two contracting firms — Pedre Contractors Ltd. and Hans Demolition and Excavators — to, respectively, install new underground power lines and remove vacant buildings to prepare for construction of the 11-kilometre rapid transit line linking Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam.

The line, expected to be completed by the summer of 2016, will whisk passengers from Coquitlam City Centre to downtown Vancouver in 40 minutes, shaving about 45 minutes off highway commute times.

An estimated 70,000 passengers are expected to use the new SkyTrain daily. The project will also create 8,000 direct and indirect jobs through construction.

“This is a landmark day for all of us,” Lekstrom said.

Port Moody, which had instituted a no-growth policy due to the on-again-off-again nature of the project, plans to lift the restrictions and start this spring on a new official community plan to densify Moody Centre. The city had developed Newport Village and Klahanie, but halted growth after it resulted in gridlocked traffic on St. John’s, Murray and Clarke streets.

“The traffic situation had got out of hand with too many cars on the road and not enough transit,” Mayor Mike Clay said.

He noted many developers have been buying or holding land in the area and expects they will start to come forward.

“We need more residential to bring in new amenities and developments and spruce up the commercial core,” he said. “Lots of these landowners have been waiting to see what happens. Like the city, they don’t want to be sitting on a piece of unviable land.”

The Evergreen Line was considered a priority in 2002, but was bumped by the Canada Line and then shelved indefinitely because TransLink couldn’t come up with its $400-million share of the project.

The Evergreen Line will join the SkyTrain system in 2014

It was approved last fall after the regional mayors’ council approved TransLink’s plan to generate $70 million annually through a two-cents-a-litre boost in the gas tax and other alternative funding sources such as a vehicle levy or road and bridge tolling.

If alternative sources of funding aren’t approved by the end of this year, a temporary property tax increase of about $23 per home will come into effect for 2013 and 2014.

In Coquitlam, development has been continuing steadily in the City Centre and Burquitlam areas, said Jim McIntyre, general manager of planning and development.

“The development community has seen the opportunities; they’ve been building here at a pretty frantic pace for a few years,” he said. “Now that the project is a go, we’re seeing more interest.”

Mayor Richard Stewart said the Evergreen Line will help shape Coquitlam City Centre, which was designed for the rapid transit line with lots of residential towers, few roads and limited parking. “The West Coast Express has proved people are ready to get out of their cars and use public transit,” he said.

The province hasn’t yet announced who will build the line, which will include six stations. Pre-construction activities include widening roads, relocating utilities, realigning railway tracks and removing vacant buildings.

Lekstrom said the province learned from its experience with the Canada Line along the Cambie corridor, and will keep the public apprised of potential disruptions either face-to-face, over the phone or through social media.

“This a significant project; it’s going to take years to complete,” Lekstrom said. “There will at times be disruptions but we will be working with the community.”

Stewart said he doesn’t anticipate similar problems with the Evergreen Line, mainly because this project includes a bored tunnel along a route that roughly follows the train tracks east of the Barnet Highway to Coquitlam City Centre.

Over the last 20 years, my research team and I have been analyzing the Canadian real estate markets from a unique point of view – we don’t look at the real estate numbers. This approach has allowed us and the sophisticated investors who understand this approach to move forward when real estate signals all seem to be showing “stop” – and stop when signals all seem to be green.

Using this approach is now more important than ever with the European debt crisis, turmoil continuing in the Middle East, a US government unable to solve their massive job loss problem and soaring world oil prices. In fact, never before have investors been faced with so many mixed signals.

We call this the Long Term Sustainable Market Indicator approach, a long name with a long history of correctly predicting real estate market trends. Here are five insights to ensure you cut through a lot of the confusion and take the sophisticated approach in 2012 and beyond:

#1 Ignore Real Estate Statistics

If you are trying to predict what is coming in the real estate market, don’t look at the real estate statistics – they only represent the past. That would be the equivalent of trying to drive across the city while only looking in the rear view mirror. A sophisticated investor understands that what is going to occur in the market is more important than what has already happened. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet, people still allow monthly headlines to dictate how they invest and how they feel about their portfolios.

To accurately predict where the market is going, an investor must understand the basic principle of “No economic growth = no sustainable real estate market”. If you pay close attention to economic and population growth, you can accurately predict the direction of a real estate market 18 months in advance of its move. These are called the Key Drivers of a market.

The Sustainable Momentum Graph (below) shows the impact of economic activity on a real estate market.

In a nutshell this graphic states the following:

GDP growth = Job growth = Population growth = Job Growth = Population Growth = Increased rental demand (12 months later) = Increased rents = Property purchase demand (18 months later) which eventually leads to property price increases.

This cycle works in the opposite direction as well, over roughly the same time lines. Sustainable real estate price increases occur approximately 18 months after a region’s economy begins to grow and they drop approximately 18 months after the economy in a region begins to shrink.

As you can see, if you are only analyzing the real estate market using real estate numbers you are at least 18 months behind the sophisticated investor. Below is my most recent interview with BNN talking about these very points. Give it a watch to help you set up the rest of the article.

BNN: December 30, 2011

#2 Ignore National “Averages”

Using the Long Term Real Estate Formula is key; however, it is important to not try to predict your specific target region’s market using national numbers. For instance, it is impossible to predict Ottawa’s or Calgary’s real estate market when only looking at GDP or job stats for Canada as a whole. This is especially true when analyzing markets in countries with a large geographic size such as Canada, the US and Australia.

Averages Don’t Matter

Market averages are areas of confusion for most real estate investors. Real estate values are measured in various ways throughout the world, including averages, medians and other forms of indexes. Some of these measurements produce an inaccurate indication of what is actually happening to real estate values.

It is surprising how often less reliable data, such as averages or median sales prices, are quoted as a representation of what’s happening in a real estate market. These figures often present a distorted view of a market’s performance. For instance, when there is a disproportionately high level of sales activity of superior real estate in an area in a given period, it may appear that values in the whole region are increasing purely because the average and/or median price will look higher than it had previously. Prices as a whole may have actually decreased, but this may not be represented by the average or median figures.

The reverse is also true. A high level of sales activity of inferior or lower-priced real estate in the same area may indicate that overall values in the area are decreasing purely because the average and median sales prices are lower. In reality, that period may have been characterized by a few sales of higher priced real estate, so while the average and median figures indicate that values are declining, they may actually be increasing.

In order to cut through the confusing signals, it is important to look at your target city’s specific economics, rather than real estate market numbers. A great place to begin in 2012 would be to get answers to the following questions on your region:

1. Are long term jobs being brought into the region?
2. Is the unemployment rate dropping?
3. Is population growing with younger families?

Real estate investing involves a lot of variables, so minimizing your risk is imperative. The best offence is a good defence, and making sure you’re informed and on top of the latest trends and research is going to keep you ahead of the curve. Be proactive – get out there and find as much information on your target region as possible. This is going to give you the confidence to make the right decision when you need to.

#3 Be Aware of Key Influencers

Key Influencers differ from key drivers in that they often prove to have a shorter term, yet dramatic, impact on specific markets. These key influencers can confuse a real estate investor as they make it look like a boom or bust is occurring when it really isn’t. These influencers can be economic or government based.

For instance, the introduction of HST in BC and Ontario created mini-booms in new housing during the period between the announcement and the implementation as buyers tried to ‘avoid’ the new tax on their purchases. And now that BC has voted to remove the HST, the market is once again confused and there is a slow-down in new property purchases until the repeal.

A second influencer we are witnessing in some cities across the country is the ‘Canada as a Safe Haven’ trend. With world economic confusion occurring, investors large and small across the globe are parking their money in Canadian real estate and other assets. This influencer has pushed property demand beyond the true economic demand of the region, making it over-priced. How long this influencer will be in effect is more difficult to predict. However, as we have seen in the past, once the economic confusion begins to clear, a lot of this money will be repatriated to higher yield economies and when that happens, an increase in supply will hit these markets.

Remember: influencers push real estate markets outside of their predictable real estate cycles and can lead to a false sense of security to those investors who don’t understand that they are temporary.

#4 ALWAYS Invest Based on Cash Flow

Ensuring that your portfolio and each property within it creates positive cash flow from the beginning is extremely important in economic times like these. There is no telling what can happen when an unidentified market influencer hits your target market or one that is currently pushing your market goes away. The only way to ensure that you can hang on during dips in the market is to ensure that you are focusing on creating positive cash flow.

Many speculators whose only profit model is one where markets go up in value call themselves investors, which unfortunately is just not true. Investors focus on buying positive cash-flowing properties in areas of strong economic and job growth while considering the increase in value to be a bonus.

With a positive cash flow portfolio you can weather any storm, you can get additional bank financing for future investments and you can begin to replace your job income. If, on the other hand, you can only profit if the market goes up at the right time for you, then you have just added a substantial level of risk to your portfolio and in today’s market conditions, added risk is not a great choice to make.

#5 Invest Green – and I Don’t Mean Eco!

There is a lot of talk about “Going Green” these days, but when I say that you should invest “Green” I don’t mean buying a property and outfitting it with solar panels. What I am talking about is identifying how one specific green choice being made across Canada by your future tenants and buyers can dramatically increase the value of your property. If you want to own in an area that will increase in value, or increase in rents – upwards of 15% faster than similar properties in your region – then it must be in an area where major transportation changes are taking place. In fact, over the next 5 years, this demand trend will increase more quickly than it has in the last decade, providing you a unique opportunity.

Knowing this fact, we have completed an extensive analysis of transportation changes implemented in regions across North America and Europe. These peer-reviewed journal articles provide us with a snapshot of what we can expect in terms of the impact on real estate prices by major transportation improvements. The findings are quite remarkable for real estate investors.

As fuel prices continue to rise, commute times, commute costs and accessibility to job centres become key determinants for potential home buyers and renters. Residents now measure their commute distances in minutes, not kilometres, a process that leads to higher demand for properties that are located farther from their jobs in distance, yet closer in terms of commute time. Combine this fact with a larger cohort of people choosing to use transit for ‘green’ purposes and you have a dramatic increase in demand around rail and light rail stations.

In Canada, we have just surpassed a record number of people riding public transit and this positive trend has increased at an even faster rate than first expected. This increase in demand is beginning to provide property owners who own within 800 metres of a rail based transportation station an increase in value of 15% more than similar properties outside of this zone. This is also proving to be true with rents, as 2-bedroom apartments are shown to be renting for over 16% above similar units in the same city.

This is a trend that will continue no matter what the economic conditions are. To conclude, buying near a transit hub is the equivalent to playing both offence and defence with your real estate portfolio. You can have free access to our research on the effects of transportation changes on housing values for many major centers across Canada at the following link:

http://myreinspace.com/downloads/research_reports/m/research_reports/default.aspx

Conclusion

As I have emphasized many times over the last 20 years, it is great being a strategic investor during boom times, but it is critical to be a strategic investor during confusing economic times.

As we enter 2012 it is important to remember the 5 Insights above but to also remember that strategic investors always think and plan long term. For the long term investor, there are no other real estate markets in the world with the resilience of key Canadian real estate markets. It will not be a straight line – we will be influenced by what goes on elsewhere in the world. The position in which we sit as a country is quite remarkable.

Currently, during the economic turmoil, we are a safe haven for capital and investment which supports our economy. When the economic turmoil begins to disappear over the next decade, we will then step in to being the safe and secure supplier of the 4 key commodities the world will need during its recovery. Each of these commodities will bring strong job growth to specific regions of our country and, as you read in Insight #1 above, these jobs will further fuel demand for rentals and property purchases.

Markets are very specific (regional), and the fundamentals must be heeded exclusively to each individual area.

The 4 F’s the world is going to need (and we are going to provide) are:

Food:

Higher food prices are coming, with some saying they’re already here. As a matter of fact, the key food items around the world (i.e. rice, corn, wheat, soy) are already bouncing off of record prices and this is during an economic downturn. The world’s population just surpassed 7 billion and it is not shrinking, so food demand is going to increase. Canada, as a major food producer, will benefit from this trend: on one hand you will have to pay more for food, but the Canadian economy will also benefit from higher prices.

Fuel:

There is no hiding from it. Petroleum based products are becoming increasingly more expensive, solar power is still very expensive, coal demand is through the roof as China tries to keep up with power demand and nuclear power is still increasing despite the Japanese disaster. What you’ll notice about all of these sources of fuel is that Canada produces all of the main components for these. In fact, we have quietly become a safe and secure source of these critical commodities and our influence will continue to grow as demand outstrips supply around the world.

Fertilizer:

The three primary macronutrients of fertilizer are: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K); large reserves of potassium are found in Canada and the other components are created by our petroleum industry. More than 150 countries use potash, but only 12 countries produce significant amounts. As a result, about 80 percent of the potash produced moves across borders.

Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters, accounting for about 40 percent of the total world potash trade. It is a world priced commodity, so as demand in other parts of the globe increase, the price we receive also increases.

The largest markets that Canada exports to include: US, China, India, Latin America (primarily Brazil), and other Asian countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea and Japan).

With food shortages throughout the world, countries will try to get a higher yield out of their food production, while trying to improve the quality of the food. Fertilizer will be required to support the global food demand and Canada is poised to grow, based upon this trend.

Forestry:

The images coming from the Japanese earthquake and resulting Tsunami were horrific but, as things starting to settle down, the task of rebuilding will begin. Japan is a large importer of high-quality lumber and will be importing this from Canada. In October of 2011, China imported a new record amount of Canadian forest products with no end in sight for this demand.

Couple those two facts with the forecasted recovery of the U.S. residential construction industry in 2014, the Canadian forest industry is soon to be entering a super-cycle. You are going to see lumber markets spike in the next few years, translating into more Canadian jobs.

So at the end of the day, what do these facts mean to you? Simply, 2012 – 2015 will be the years that the strategic, long-term thinking investor will come out on top. In times of confusion the more sophisticated investor digs deeper for the hidden trends behind the monthly headlines in order to position themselves best for what is coming… rather than continually looking in the rear view mirror.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2011 reached 32,390, a 5.9 per cent increase from the 30,595 sales recorded in 2010, and a 9.2 per cent decrease from the 35,669 residential sales in 2009. Last year’s home sale total was 6.3 per cent below the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales in the region.

The number of residential properties listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver increased 2.7 per cent in 2011 to 59,549 compared to the 58,009 properties listed in 2010. Looking back further, last year’s total represents a 12.8 per cent increase compared to the 52,869 residential properties listed in 2009. Last year’s listing total was 11.1 per cent above the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) property listings in the region.

“It was a relatively balanced year for the real estate market in Greater Vancouver with listing totals slightly above historical norms and sale numbers slightly below,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said.

Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,658 in December 2011, a decrease of 12.7 per cent from the 1,899 sales recorded in December 2010 and a 29.7 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 2,360 home sales occurred.

More broadly, last month’s residential sales represent a 34.1 per cent decrease over the 2,515 residential sales in December 2009, a 79.4 per cent increase compared to December 2008’s 924 sales, and a 12.6 per cent decrease compared to the 1,897 sales in December 2007.

The overall residential benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for Greater Vancouver increased 7.6 per cent to $621,674 between Decembers 2010 and 2011. However, prices have decreased 1.5 per cent since hitting a peak of $630,921 in June 2011.

“Our market remained in a balanced state for most of the year, although higher levels of demand for detached properties in the region’s largest communities caused prices in certain areas to rise higher than others,” Setticasi said. “For example, the benchmark price of a single-family detached home experienced double-digit increases in nine areas within the region over the last 12 months.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,629 in December 2011. This represents a 4.1 per cent decline compared to the 1,699 units listed in December 2010 and a 49.4 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 3,222 properties were listed.

Sales of detached properties in December 2011 reached 630, a decrease of 18.1 per cent from the 769 detached sales recorded in December 2010, and a 30.2 per cent decrease from the 902 units sold in December 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 11.2 per cent from December 2010 to $887,471.

Sales of apartment properties reached 774 in December 2011, a decline of 4.6 per cent compared to the 811 sales in December 2010, and a decrease of 32.9 per cent compared to the 1,154 sales in December 2009.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.7 per cent from December 2010 to $401,396.

Attached property sales in December 2011 totalled 254, a decline of 20.4 per cent compared to the 319 sales in December 2010, and a 44.7 per cent decrease from the 459 attached properties sold in December 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 4.2 per cent between December 2010 and 2011 to $511,499.

Residential Average Sale Price to Dec 2011