Raising hellebores

Though buried under snow, hellebores survive to push flowers up through the last vestiges of winter's grasp to bloom in shades of white, yellow, purple, red or pink. Models of ruggedness and determination, hellebores (Helleborus spp.) are stars when few other plants are flowering in northern gardens. The blooms of these easy-care perennials are either solid colours, or have centre highlights, speckles or intricate streaks. The flowers are really sepals, which is the reason for their long flowering time—some last as long as three months

http://www.canadiangardening.com/plants/perennials/raising-hellebores/a/29587

Single-family homes still winners in property price race

Single-family homes have been the winners over the long term while apartments have been struggling, an analysis of Metro Vancouver real estate statistics released last week shows.

B.C. Assessment released 2013 assessments on Wednesday, while the region's real estate boards released December and year-end information on Thursday.

"The resource that is scarce is land," said Tsur Somerville, director of the centre for urban economics and real estate, Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C. "You can always build more condominiums, but if you want a backyard, there's a limited space."

He said that isn't likely to change soon, despite the large cohort of baby boomers who could choose to downsize in the near future.

"Most people stay in their houses longer than you expect," Somerville said. "They want space for the grandkids."

Cameron Muir, B.C. Real Estate Association chief economist, said 80 per cent of the housing starts in Metro Vancouver are now for multi-family homes, so the stock of single-family homes is becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the market, thus earning an increasing premium.

"Since the end of 2009, the apartment and townhouse market has been essentially flat in terms of pricing," Muir said. "Real elevation has come in the single-detached side."

Over the past five years, single-family homes were the big winners, particularly in Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond, where the five-year gains are still more than 20 per cent.

However, this year, for the first time in many years, a number of homeowners in some areas of B.C. will see a drop in their property assessments. In tony areas like Whistler and Vancouver's west side, assessments fell, while more affordable areas like Surrey or the Tri-Cities, held their own.

On Thursday, the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley real estate boards' reports showed that both buyers and sellers are holding off, waiting to see which direction prices will head. Both sales numbers and properties for sale are down, the numbers show.

The real estate boards' reports provide information on the benchmark price of homes in each Lower Mainland community, and price performance in both the short and long term. Benchmark prices are the estimated sale of a typical property within a market. The data is divided into 85 categories, including 30 areas divided into single-family homes, apartments and townhouses. Some communities do not have housing in all three categories.

For example, comparing the benchmark price in December 2012 to December 2011, apartments in Whistler, South Surrey/White Rock and townhouses in North Surrey all saw their benchmark prices drop more than nine per cent. But not all apartments and townhouses were on the wrong side of the real estate equation: The biggest growth in benchmark prices was in townhouses in Whistler and Squamish and apartments in Pitt Meadows and North Surrey. For single-family homes, the benchmark price has not moved up or down by more than 6.5 per cent in any region, the data shows.

For more immediate trends, an analysis of the one-month change in benchmark price shows a drop of about four per cent in the prices of townhouses in South Surrey/White Rock and North Surrey and houses on the Sunshine Coast between November 2012 and December 2012. At the other end of the spectrum, there was an uptick of 5.8 per cent in the benchmark price of an apartment in North Burnaby between November and December, and one of 3.7 per cent on the benchmark price of an apartment in Pitt Meadows.

Year-over-year, 30 categories showed gains in benchmark price, while 58 categories showed losses. The five-year change, which compares benchmark prices from January 1, 2008, before the housing crash in the U.S., is negative in 43 categories. Those include apartments in 24 of 30 areas, townhouses in 12 of 30 areas and single-family homes in seven of 30 areas. The slide ranges from 39.1 per cent over five years for an apartment in Whistler to 0.5 per cent for an apartment in Tsawwassen.

Apartments in the city of Vancouver, in Burnaby South and in Ladner were the only dwellings to show gains in benchmark prices over the past five years, while townhouses showed gains in most areas over that period.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Single+family+homes+still+winners+property+price+race/7783241/story.html#ixzz2HJunclcr

Greetings! .. Attached is the latest current analysis on the housing market entitled "Home resales fell modestly in Canada in November".

Highlights of the report

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  • Home resales in Canada fell 1.7% from October to November (on a seasonally adjusted basis).
  • Relative to November 2011, resales were down 11.9% (on an unadjusted basis).
  • Among Canada’s largest markets, Toronto registered the biggest monthly decline (-4.4%), followed by Vancouver (-2.9%), Montreal (-2.3%) and Calgary (-1.4%). Resales in Ottawa (+0.6%) and Edmonton (+0.1%) rose marginally in the month.
  • At the national level, the number of homes newly listed for sale in November fell by 0.9% from October. This was the fourth decline in the past five months.
  • The sales-to-new listings ratio edged lower to 0.50 in November from 0.51 in October– still in the middle of the range (between 0.40 and 0.60) that generally corresponds to a balance market.
  • While rising only marginally from October to November, the number of months’ inventory of homes listed for sale in Canada, at 6.6, represented somewhat plentiful supply relative to demand, however.
  • The annual rate of increase in the national composite MLS Home Price Index (HPI) eased to 3.5% in November from 3.6% in October and a recent high of 6.3% in October 2011.
  • At the local level, the strongest rise in the MLS HPI was in Regina (+11.6% year over year), followed by Calgary (+7.1%) and Toronto (+4.6), although this constituted further moderation in the pace in both Regina and Toronto. The Vancouver MLS HPI was down 1.7%.

> These are interesting times for Canada’s housing market. Activity cooled substantially during the spring and summer but appears to have stabilized somewhat since August. Now the question is whether this apparent stabilization signals a bottom or is simply a pause ahead of further declines. While we recognize the risk of renewed weakness in an environment that is testing buyers’ confidence, we believe that the market is unlikely to crash. We expect demand for housing to be sustained at or slightly below recent levels in the near term. A rise in interest rates later in 2013, as we anticipate, will exert downward pressure on resales in 2013 but more so in 2014. We expect home prices to decline slightly in Canada in both 2013 and 2014.

Canada's headline and core inflation rates in holding pattern

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  • Canada's headline CPI rose 0.2% in October, above expectations for a 0.1% rise
  • On a year-over-year basis, the inflation rate was unchanged at 1.2%
  • Bank of Canada's core measure rose 0.3% and stood 1.3% higher than in October 2011, matching the annual increase in September
  • Inflation pressures remained muted in October with both the core and headline inflation rates lingering in the lower end of the Bank's 1% to 3% target band. This starts the fourth quarter off at a relatively low level although with the sharp drop in prices recorded last December unlikely to be repeated, the inflation rates are likely to end the year higher than they were in October. Other data reported this week signaled that the economy posted a very mild gain in September, sealing the case for growth of less than 1% in the third quarter as a whole. More importantly, the soft print in September sets up the fourth quarter on a weaker-than-expected note. The low inflation backdrop means that the Bank of Canada can keep policy aimed at supporting the economy from external headwinds and the  economy's recent softening. As the uncertainties associated with the US fiscal cliff recede, one of the headwinds blowing against Canada will wither and combined with the low interest rates will likely spark a reacceleration in growth. This means that the Bank's overnight policy rate will likely stay at 1.0% until the middle of next year.

The unadjusted all-items Canadian CPI index rose 0.2% in October with the annual inflation rate holding at 1.2%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, consumer prices rose at a faster 0.3%. The Bank of Canada's core measure posted a 0.3% gain on an unadjusted basis and was up 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The annual core inflation rate held steady at 1.3%, staying at the lowest rate since June 2011.

In October, prices for passenger vehicles, natural gas, fresh fruit and property taxes increased relative to September. The 2.8% rise in property taxes was faster than the 2.2% increase last October. Partially offsetting these increases were lower prices for traveler accommodation, gasoline, electricity and mortgage interest. Clothing and footwear prices posted a 1.5% monthly increase; however, this followed a period of declining or mildly increasing prices from April through August and as a result of this earlier weakness, prices were 1.5% lower than in October 2011. Transportation costs rose 0.2% in the month and were 1.7% higher than a year earlier. Gasoline prices posted a 1.2% dip in October though they were still 4.0% higher than a year earlier. Food prices increased by 0.2% in October, led by fresh fruit and baked goods and were 2.0% higher than a year earlier.

The core measure, which excludes the prices of the eight most volatile components of the CPI, rose 0.3% in October as rising prices for passenger vehicles and property taxes overpowered falling travel services prices. The core inflation rate held steady at 1.3% in October, defying market expectations that it would ease to 1.2%.

Inflation pressures remained muted in October with both the core and headline inflation rates lingering in the lower end of the Bank's 1% to 3% target band. This starts the fourth quarter off at a relatively low level although with the sharp drop in prices recorded last December unlikely to be repeated, the inflation rates are likely to end the year higher than they were in October. Other data reported this week signaled that the economy posted a very mild gain in September, sealing the case for growth of less than 1% in the third quarter as a whole. More importantly, the soft print in September sets up the fourth quarter on a weaker-than-expected note. The low inflation backdrop means that the Bank of Canada can keep policy aimed at supporting the economy from external headwinds and the economy's recent softening.  

As the uncertainties associated with the US fiscal cliff recede, one of the headwinds blowing against Canada will wither and combined with low interest rates will likely spark a reacceleration in growth. This means that the Bank's overnight policy rate will likely stay at 1.0% until the middle of next year.

 

$10,000 REBATE for first time home owners

f you are thinking of buying a new home and are a first time homeowner, you should be eligible for a $10,000 rebate from the government.  This credit is only available to households with less than $150,000 in income.

 

For more detailed information on this credit, see the following link:

 

http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2012/homebuyers/2012_First_Time_Home_Buyers_Fact_Sheet.pdf

 

The reinstatement of the BC PST is scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2013.  To make it clear, home owners will continue to pay HST until April 1, 2013.  After April 1, 2013, the 5% GST will apply.