A proposal to build more than 200 apartment units on the St. Andrew’s School site would create a fortress-like building funneling traffic in and out of a quiet residential street, some neighbours worry.

Vancouver-based Bosa Properties has optioned the school property at Pandora Avenue and Vancouver Street.

It wants to build a six-storey, wood-frame building with studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom rental apartments over ground-floor commercial.

But some neighbours say the project, which should be before the city’s planning and land use committee early in the new year, is totally out of scale for the quiet residential street and would dwarf nearby Franklin Green Park and one of the oldest urban farms in the city.

The new development would have an interior courtyard for private use by tenants and townhouses fronting Mason Street.

The project would have two levels of underground parking accessed off Mason via Vancouver Street.

City policies are that access should be off the street with the lowest use — in this case, Mason Street — but residents would like to see a smaller, lower building with access off Pandora Avenue.

Coun. Shellie Gudgeon, council liaison to the North Park neighbourhood, notes that Bosa has undertaken considerable consultation with the neighbourhood.

But, she said, the local resident association is opposed to the development, and neighbours “have some valid concerns.”

Gudgeon said she would like to see an attempt to access the property from Pandora Avenue instead of Vancouver Street, which is a cycling route.

Creating two-way cycling lanes on the south side of Pandora would make access from Pandora easier, she said.

Tristan Trotter, co-owner of Yoka’s Coffee on Mason Street, said that after all the consultation, the company “has not significantly altered its plans. The neighbourhood is expected to make all the concessions.”

Trotter said there’s no need for the suggested commercial tenants, which include a bank, coffee shop, grocery and pharmacy.

“The commercial tenants they’re looking for duplicate businesses around here that are still not operating at full capacity,” he said. “So it’s not as though the neighbourhood needs that.”

A visioning process suggested that a development more in keeping with the neighbourhood would have a maximum of three storeys fronting Mason Street, an open greenspace connected to Franklin Park and staggered commercial buildings on Pandora only.

“They’ve offered a [600-square-foot] community room,” Trotter said.

“That does not balance what the community loses in terms of light, greenspace, [additional] traffic problems and the bad precedent it sets in terms of bulk and mass.”

Coun. Pam Madoff, who sits on the planning committee that will be evaluating the development, said the site is “an interesting one” to try to develop, with busy Pandora on one side and quiet Mason street on the other.

She called Mason Street, with its urban farm and restored heritage building housing Yoka’s Coffee, “a valuable little hub in the neighbourhood.”

“I think what I would be looking for would be a significant stepping down on Mason and stepping back so the street edge supports the kind of properties we have across the street,” Madoff said.

Access will be an issue, she said.

“I’ve got absolutely zero interest in Mason Street becoming the loading dock for a development on Pandora and having all that traffic there. So there has to be a resolution that does not do that.”

bcleverley@timescolonist.com

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/proposed-apartment-building-would-dwarf-victoria-residential-street-neighbours-say-1.36804

Sales of homes in the states are starting to look pretty darn good.  In fact, recent reports indicate that demand is at a three year high.  We know that the real estate market is a strong driver of economic activity so this is good news all round.  

We also know that our economy is tied very tightly to that of our neighbour to the south.  When they hurt, we hurt.  When their economy grows, ours will improve as well.

Click here to read more:

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http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/rental-vacancies-up-but-market-remains-tight-1.28924

New rental vacancy figures released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. paint an increasingly positive picture for the Capital Region’s estimated 50,000 renters and their families. The vacancy rate for purpose-built apartments is up to 2.7 per cent, a significant increase from 2.1 per cent a year ago and far above four straight years of 0.5 per cent from 2005 to 2008.

Still, a Victoria two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,059 on average, compared to a national average of $901, says Carol Frketich, CMHC market analyst. A one-bedroom rents for $828 and a bachelor apartment commands an average of $695 — roughly 50 per cent of full-time pay for someone earning B.C.’s minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.

Some vacancies may reflect tenants becoming homeowners in a softer real estate market, but with fewer jobs for young people, more may be moving back home or doubling up in apartments with friends.

“The employment level in the 15-24 age group has declined consistently since 2008. Younger household groups have a higher tendency to rent,” the CMHC report said.

Survey results also show rent increases were held under one per cent at least for two-bedroom units during the last year, even though landlords legally could have charged more than four per cent.

The lowest bachelor rents are in Esquimalt and in West Shore communities, at $643 and $642, respectively.
Bachelors also had the lowest vacancy rates — at 1.3 per cent.

The local vacancy rate is just under the national rate of 2.7 per cent that CMHC found in 35 urban census areas. Cities, such as Regina at one per cent and Guelph at 1.4 per cent are far tighter than Victoria. The Abbotsford rate is 4.2 per cent, the highest in B.C.

What makes it difficult for families who need to rent is the higher percentage of one-bedroom apartments in Greater Victoria compared to two-bedrooms elsewhere, Frketich added.

All told, there are 23,495 purpose-built apartments from Sooke to Sidney, and another 700 rental townhouses.
Year-to-date, from Sooke to Sidney, there were 276 new apartment units built, up from 234 in 2011. Secondary suites in private homes or condos are not included in the CMHC survey.

The vacancy rate in investment condos — a significant slice of the local rental market — was a bit lower at 2.2 per cent, Frketich said.

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http://www.timescolonist.com/business/royal-bay-owner-wants-fresh-look-at-plan-1.27605

The new owner of the Royal Bay property is gearing up for a fresh look at how to develop the 419-acre waterfront site in Colwood.

B.C. Investment Management Corp. purchased the property, once a massive gravel operation, from Lehigh Heidelberg Ltd., earlier this year.

GWL Realty Advisors, on behalf of the provincial agency, issued a request for qualifications for master planning and design services to map out the long-term development of the land. Responses must be submitted by Jan. 14.

Royal Bay is one of the largest contiguous tracts of undeveloped residential land in Greater Victoria.

Colwood council voted in favour of a mixed-used development plan in 1998 that allows for up to 2,800 homes, schools, commercial uses, parks, a village centre and community facilities, to be rolled out in phases. The mixed-use concept remains.

“The predominant land uses will include single-family and multi-family homes with some supportive, village-oriented retail and commercial uses, as well as recreational features such as waterfront parks and trails,” the RFQ states. “The task is to bring new ideas and vision to improve and evolve a previously created master plan.”

Gwen-Ann Chittenden, manager of corporate initiatives at B.C. Investment Management Corp., said Thursday the previous master plan was completed “some years ago.”

She said the new advisers will “provide fresh input and new ideas on how to further enhance the value of this community.

“Considering other opportunities, such as the marina, will form part of the process. However, we have not considered any specifics or had discussions with any party,” she said.

The corporation is one of Canada's largest institutional fund managers, handling $91 billion on behalf of 475,000 public employees.

A high school is slated to be completed at Royal Bay by 2015 and will be one of two new schools on the WestShore to replace Belmont Secondary. The other is at Glen Lake.

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Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Condo+Smarts+Highly+charged+parking+issue+strata+council/7686616/story.html#ixzz2Er3rZn6I

Over the last 30 days, 199 single family houses were sold, up by 18 houses from last week.  The median price is down $1,000 to $530,000. The average house was on the market for 53 days.

In the last 30 days, 84 condos were sold, down by 13 condos from last week.  The median price is down $100 to $259,900. The average condo was on the market for 65 days.

There are now 1,878 houses for sale, down by 47 from last week.  Condo inventory has risen by 7 to 941 suites.

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Over the last 30 days, 181 single family houses were sold, up by 1 houses from last week.  The median price is up $2,000 to $531,000. The average house was on the market for 51 days.

In the last 30 days, 97 condos were sold, down by 7 condos from last week.  The median price is down $13,500 to $260,000. The average condo was on the market for 60 days.

There are now 1,925 houses for sale, down by 105 from last week.  Condo inventory has fallen by 36 to 934 suites.

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By David Larock

Statistics Canada recently changed the way it calculates key economic data to bring its methods into line with agreed upon international accounting standards. As a result, the debt-to-income ratio for the average Canadian household shot up 11 per cent, literally overnight, to 163 per cent (a record high).

This has inspired lots of foreboding talk about how our “soaring” household debt-to-income levels are now higher than U.S. debt-to-income ratios were at the peak of their housing bubble. That may be technically true, but it is also totally misleading.

That’s because the standard method for calculating this ratio uses after-tax income, which isn’t a fair comparison because Canadian personal income taxes cover health care costs and American personal income taxes don’t. (To put this difference in perspective, according to my initial research the average American spends anywhere from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of their after-tax income on health-care related costs.)

While it has become fashionable to predict that Canada is headed for a U.S.-style housing crash, most economists still think that is unlikely and they use plenty of data to support their position.

To be clear, I readily agree that our household debt levels are too high and that’s why I have consistently supported the federal government’s attempts to reign in borrowing by changing the lending policies and regulations used by CMHC and OSFI. But that’s a far cry from believing that our debt levels are about to cause our houses to start spontaneously combusting. (Did I just give Maclean’s an idea for their next apocalyptic magazine cover … or have they used that one already?)

Before you start loading up on canned soup and fire extinguishers, consider this sampling of recent comments from the experts I read:

* A report by BMO economists in January 2012 first pointed out the flaw in using after-tax income to compare Canadian and U.S. debt-to-income ratio levels. Instead, they argued that using a debt-to-gross income ratio would provide a better apples-to-apples comparison. Using this revised methodology, BMO economist Sal Guatieri reported recently that Canada’s debt-to-gross income ratio (121 per cent) is still well below both the current (146 per cent) and peak (166 per cent) U.S. levels. That presents a very different comparison from the popular one being bandied about in much of the mainstream media.

* David Rosenberg, a well-known Canadian economist, wrote recently that our ratio of housing starts to the civilian population is “not far off the average of the last 10 years, whereas as in the U.S. back in the 2006-07 peak, that ratio was 25 per cent above the long-run norm.” In other words, Canada has not seen the kind of short-term spike in speculative real-estate investing/borrowing that we saw in the U.S. during the latter stages of their housing bubble.

* Mr. Rosenberg also notes that Canadian policy makers and regulators have been pro-active in responding to our rising household debt levels while their U.S counterparts were basically asleep at the switch until it was too late (hyperbole mine).

* Further to that last point, Benjamin Tal, an economist with CIBC, recently noted in an interview with Rob Carrick that overall Canadian household debt is now rising at its slowest pace in 10 years, while consumer debt levels are actually falling for the first time in 20 years. That kind of momentum makes for a trend in the right direction.

* In a separate report, Tal notes that the crash in U.S. house prices was far more extreme in cities with above-average levels of sub-prime lending, where prices corrected by an average of 40 per cent. This is more than double the average decline seen in U.S. cities with below-average levels of subprime loans.  “Eradicate subprime from the U.S. housing market and, instead of the most severe house price meltdown since the Great Depression, you get a soft landing.” By comparison, Canadian subprime loans account for about seven per cent of our total mortgage debt outstanding while U.S. subprime loans peaked at a little under 25 per cent of their total mortgage debt outstanding before their housing crash.

The bottom line: Like any informed observer who can see beyond his own short-term self interest to what is best for the whole economy over the long term; I am concerned about how ultra-low interest rates have pushed our household debt levels to record highs. But I reject the implication that we have driven over the debt cliff to financial ruin and are now in free fall just waiting to hit the ground.

David Larock is an independent mortgage planner and industry insider specializing in helping clients purchase, refinance or renew their mortgages. His posts appear weekly on his blog,www.integratedmortgageplanners.com/blog.

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Our friends at Mortgage Architects just told us that 3-year fixed rate mortgages have dropped and can be had for as low as 2.85%.  That's a pretty darn good deal!

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The main theme of my report last week was that the market seemed to be recovering.  Now, another week has gone by, and we have another week of positive results.  In the single family home market, the number of sales is slightly higher than last week, prices are stable, and the inventory is dropping.  This is surprisingly good news this close to the traditionally quiet Christmas season. 

The results for the condo market are even more surprising!  The number of sales are up, the prices are up, and inventory has dropped significantly!  I can’t tell you exactly why the market is seeing this flurry of activity, but we expect that it is a combination of buyers realizing that prices are not dropping any more, combined with sellers realizing that they need to set realistic prices. 

Here are the stats from last week:

Over the last 30 days, 180 single family houses were sold, up by 1 houses from last week.  The median price is down $1,000 to $529,000. The average house was on the market for 43 days.

In the last 30 days, 104 condos were sold, up by 2 condos from last week.  The median price is up $3,500 to $273,500. The average condo was on the market for 63 days.

There are now 2,119 houses for sale, down by 41 from last week.  Condo inventory has fallen by 13 to 992 suites.

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