Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate

So what happened with False Creek real estate (this is for False Creek South) in June. I must apologize for taking so long to get this out this month. Despite the doom and gloom in the local papers though it was a pretty good month for False Creek real estate. Inventory dropped compared to May and a couple more homes were sold than in May. False Creek does look great in the sun and that can't have hurt. The stats were skewed a bit this month by the listing of the some of the units at the new Lumen development on the MLS®.

LISTED IN FALSE CREEK IN JUNE (last month's numbers in brackets)

Freehold Strata Units Listed: 14 (22)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 7 (9)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 2 (actually 1, but there was one listed as a "non-prepaid non strata" and I am pretty sure it is a strata so we'll say 2) (2)
Total Units Listed: 23 (33)

Total Listings Available as of June 30th: 56 (61)

SOLD IN FALSE CREEK IN JUNE (last two month's numbers in brackets)

Freehold Strata Units Sold: 5 (6,7)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 6 (3,4)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 0, (0,1)
Total Units Sold: 11 (9,12)

Average Days on Market: 37 (24,21)
Median Days on Market: 26 (17,14)

Average Sold Price: $490,781
Median Sold Price: $490,000

Absorption Rate: 5.09 months (6.7)
What is the absorption rate. It is the number of months that it would take to absorb, or sell, the present inventory of homes for sale.

If you have any questions about False Creek real estate or a topic you'd like to see covered on the Comet please let me know. If you are interested in seeing what is for sale in False Creek you can always search for False Creek real estate here.

This post originally appeared on my False Creek neighbourhood blog, the False Creek Comet.

New Works is a Vancouver based dance company that "really likes dance. A lot." That is according to the New Works website. Their mission statement is:

To produce and present performance events for the public, and to build audiences for diverse dance forms locally, nationally and internationally. To also provide support to emerging, mid-career and senior dance artists and managers of all cultural traditions in the development of their careers.

New Works is bringing their fun attitude towards dance to Granville Island the next 4 Sundays (at 2pm), and twice in August, with the All Over The Map dance series. All performances take place at Ron Basford Park (beside Performance Works), on the east side of Granville Island.


Here is the schedule:

July 6 World Dance and Music: Silk Road Music and Friends
July 13 African Dance and Music: Miyanda and Kunaka
July 20 Polynesian Dance and Music: Langley Ukulele Ensemble & Kauhane Polynesian Dancers
July 27 Hip Hop: SOULdiers’ Dance
August 17 Flamenco: Mozaico Flamenco Dance Theatre
August 24 First Nations Dance and Music: Dancers of Damelahamid

ENJOY!

This post originally appeared on my False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) released their February 2008 statistics yesterday with the headline "Housing options broaden for buyers in February". Sales across all categories (detached, attached and condominiums) were down 6.2% compared to February 2007 while listings were up 26.2% compared to February 2007. New listings were actually 21.2% higher than February 20006 so I see no cause for panic.

As the headline says this the recipe for a more balanced market, but may or may not be the start of any kind of significant change in the market. Real estate is local, very, very local. Vancouver East saw a year over year increase in listings last month, but Vancouver West actually saw numbers about the same as last year. Multiple offers are still common in Vancouver, as are sales prices well above the list price

Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Brian Napthali had this to say:

"We continue to see the market rebalance, particularly with detached properties, where listings climb and sales either hold or decline slightly," says REBGV president Brian Naphtali. "This shift increases buyer options and allows people more time to make decisions when purchasing a home."

The report also mentioned these:

Bright spots in Greater Vancouver in January 2008 compared to January 2007:

Detached:
West Vancouver/Howe Sound..... up 16.7 per cent (56 units sold up from 48)
Whistler/Pemberton........................ up 100 per cent (10 units sold up from 5)
Port Moody/Belcarra................... up 22.7 per cent (27 units sold up from 22)

Attached:
New Westminster......................... up 216.7 per cent (19 units sold up from 6)
Port Coquitlam............................ up 68.4 per cent (32 units sold up from 19)

Apartments:
Burnaby..................................... up 9.5 per cent (150 units sold up from 137)
Whistler/Pemberton....................... up 62.5 per cent (13 units sold up from 8)
Port Moody/Belcarra................... up 27.6 per cent (37 units sold up from 29)

This post originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog, the 604homesblog.

CBC reported the other day that Bill Eden's Eden Developments had stopped construction of its only active development, the Sophia. In a situation eerily similar to the Riverbend development that cancelled the contracts of pre-sale buyers earlier this year The Sophia, located in Mount Pleasant, was nearing completion and now it looks like pre-sale buyers who bought 2-3 years ago may be forced to buy back in at today's prices if they wish to keep their units, and if they can afford too.

I have a thank a few people for the heads-up on this one. Firstly a commenter, the mysterious mr. x, from my post about the cancelling of Eden Developments other projects, the Elyse and Montgomery Estates, mentioned this on the 21st, and yesterday I first found news of the CBC story (which I can't find on their site) about this on Yatter Matters. Thanks guys, and good luck to you Sophia pre-sale and especially assignment buyers.

This story originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog, the 604homesblog.

This is the 4th year for the BC Real Estate Convention and it has gotten bigger every year. It must be the cost of admission. It is free!

There will be exhibitors from many different real estate related fields, including developers both local and international), lenders, renovators, insurers, and of course some REALTORs will be there as well. My office, Royal LePage Westside will be there and you can find me there from 4-6pm on Tuesday, February 26th. There are a series of free seminars throughout the day each day as well, but I can't find the schedule online.

The Vancouver Sun wrote a piece on the convention that was quite enthusiastic. The convention's own website is quite good, but annoyingly keeps asking me to install Korean characters on my PC and I have no use for them. Just click cancel if it happens to you and move on.

Say hi if you are there. I'd love to meet you.

This post originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog: the 604homesblog.