Condo king Brad Lamb insists it's not just about money – it's about building his city

YOU'VE PROBABLY never met Brad Lamb. So why do you feel like you know him? Easy. That's him, emblazoned on billboards and trash cans all over town, paired with a handful of non-sequiturs ("this lamb sells condos;" "we stand out in a crowd"). There he is again, glowing on HGTV as the centrepiece of his own reality show, Big City Broker, now in its third season ("I thought the idea was absurd," he says. "But here we are.")

He is the name, face and marketing shtick of two local real estate powerhouses, Brad J. Lamb Realty, through which he sells condos, and Lamb Development Corp., through which he builds them.

Over the course of the evening at thekingeast, 47-year-old Lamb, six foot five and wiry, glides from one clutch of investors to another ("I have about 300 guys who always buy apartments from me when I call them up," he says), regaling them with war stories, TV cameras trailing his every move.

Sales tax harmonization will hurt resale home market

For a resale house priced at $360,000, a HST could add over two thousand dollars in new taxes to closing costs. In total, a HST will add $313 million annually in new taxes to resale home transactions.

"In the last decade, Ontario's homeowners have faced a barrage of new costs," said Aunger. "From municipal land transfer taxes to sky rocketing property taxes, homeowners are being pushed to the brink to accommodate increasing demands from government. A harmonized sales tax is yet another cash grab on Ontario's already overtaxed homeowners."

The Ontario Real Estate Association represents 47,000 brokers and salespeople who are members of the 42 real estate boards throughout the province. Members of the association may use the "REALTOR(R: 28.26, -1.5492, -5.2%)" trademark, which identifies them as real estate professionals who subscribe to a high standard of ethics and service.

Vancouver remains Canada's wealthiest city

Vancouver is still Canada's wealthiest city despite a huge drop in real estate values, according to a new study by Pitney Bowes.

Although house prices in Vancouver fell an average of 11 per cent in 2008, or nearly $57,000, the city's average household net worth was $592,851, still $30,000 greater than in its nearest rival, Toronto. Cities with high real estate values were ranked highest in the study, despite also having the most debt.

Calgary was hit hardest by the stock market crash, because it has the highest rate of stock ownership in Canada, at 14.4 per cent of households, and the highest average value of equity investments. Those investments, if they mirrored the decline in the TSX, shrank by nearly $30,000 in 2008 to just under $55,000, the study says.

Canadian property 'fabulous value for money'

Property investment in Canada could see a rise in 2009 due to a combination of relative economic stability and natural allure.

According to the company behind one major real estate development in French-speaking Quebec, investors from the US and UK in particular could soon be flocking to the country, Homes Overseas reported.

Developer of the Rabaska resort, George Lathouras, told the website: "The eastern part of Canada, with its snowy peaks, winding rivers and lush forestry, represents fabulous value for the money."

Mr Lathouras also reassured investors that the economic situation in Canada was far milder than that seen in many of the world's other developed nations.

"Our economy cycle never swings as far up or down as the UK or USA," he added.

Vancouver office vacancy rate jumps to 7.3 per cent

With British Columbia's resource sector in decline and capital spending related to the 2010 Olympics dwindling, Vancouver's office vacancy began to rise in the first quarter, a major commercial realtor reported Thursday.

CB Richard Ellis Canada, in its latest office report, calculated that Metro Vancouver’s office vacancy rose to 7.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 from six per cent at the same point in 2008.

Downtown Vancouver's notoriously tight vacancy rate, which approached rates of 2.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, has crept up to 4.2 per cent.

However, CB Richard Ellis senior analyst Nicholas Westlake, in an interview, said the amount of additional office space downtown tenants hold, but are willing to turn over into subleases, is the more important statistic.

Decline in Toronto housing sales and prices slows

It's another sign that Greater Toronto's real-estate market may be stabilizing: Sales are still declining year over year, but not as steeply as they have for the past five months.

In the first two weeks of this month, 2,565 houses were sold in the GTA, down 19.4 per cent from the 3,183 sold the same two weeks in March, 2008, according to Toronto Real Estate Board figures released yesterday.

But the 19.4-per-cent drop marked the smallest rate of decline in volume in five months.

December and January posted sales declines of 45 and 47 per cent, respectively, from a year earlier. Last month, sales were down 32 per cent from a year earlier.

Real estate showing signs of life

Using my new recession-era rule for good news – that it’s the absence of new bad news – Canadian homeowners had some reason for optimism on Monday.

A sharp deterioration in this country’s real-estate market that began last year is showing signs of tapering off.

The number of home sales, which had been declining month after month since last September, turned upward in February, which saw 8.6 per cent more sales than in January.

While this improvement might have been helped along in some cities by mild temperatures last month following bitter ones in January, there are also other indications that the real estate market is showing more stability.

Housing slump at half-way point

VANCOUVER–Canada's housing market is about half way through a cyclical downturn that began in late 2007, says the president and CEO of Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

"Starting back in the end of the third quarter of 2007 we saw unit sales peak in Canada and we've been in a downhill slope ever since," said Royal LePage's Phil Soper said Thursday in an interview

"We're in the fifth quarter of correction now."

Soper said he expects unit sales to flatten at the end of this year or in early 2010.

While the general public is focused on home prices, the real-estate industry concentrates on sales activity and revenues, he said

The real estate market escalated "beyond belief"

The uncertain economy over the last few months has had a drastic effect on the real estate market, which has seen local listings reduced by 1% a month for the past seven or eight months, said David Nicholls, broker and owner of Prudential Lifestyles Real Estate on Coldwater Street.

The market is also seeing a large reduction in the number of sales.

The real estate market has been troubled to say the least, Nicholls said. "You get dressed every day, you come to work and there's just not a lot happening. It's been difficult for a lot for real estate people."

From 2005 to 2006, the average prices in the Orillia area increased by 4% to $240,519. In 2007, the average building sold for $258,718, an increase of 7.5% from the year before. The year 2008 saw an increase of only $97 to reach an average cost of $25,8815.

In a league of their own

In Canada, CREW chapters have sprung up in Toronto (187 members), Montreal (150), Vancouver (60) and Calgary (50), and they earn an average of $125,800.

CREW serves the purpose of building business relationships between women who are involved in every aspect of the commercial real estate transaction – real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, lawyers, construction workers, bankers, property managers, landlords, developers and interior designers, to name a few. The general criteria for most chapters is that to join, a member must be involved in the real estate transaction, and she should have several years' experience. There is a mentorship and education component to the mission statement, so that senior members can guide the junior ones.

“It creates power for you, it's really strong,” says Ms. Kraus, who is the Toronto chapter president and has been with it since it began 12 years ago. “That's the basis for success, really. With any group, the more you put in, the more you get out.

Increase in home sales brings hope

A bright ray of optimism has pierced the leaden clouds that were hanging over Calgary's real estate market early this year.

Sales of single-family homes increased 50% to 825 units in February compared to January, show figures released yesterday by the Calgary Real Estate Board. Condominium sales rose 52% to 334 units during the same period.

But despite the more brisk pace, activity and prices in Calgary's real estate market are a far cry from what they were at this time last year.

Unit sales of single-family homes plunged more than 34% in the course of one year, while condo sales retracted 39%. Prices declined as well, albeit at a slower rate.

A single-family home that one year ago cost $471,696 now costs $415,568, a price drop of nearly 12%.

Arrested development

The Standard Building is almost a classic, one of those dowager brick piles that somehow survived the 1970s wrecking ball and is now protected by law. It's one of downtown Vancouver's last pre-war office towers, and has a certain old world charm. Far less elegant than its small, ornate lobby is the scruffy side entrance, next to a Mexican food joint and a busy bus stop, where restless self-talkers and vagrants scrounge for cigarette butts.

A doorway leads downstairs to a basement level office suite, headquarters for Aquilini Investment Group Inc. The space seems surprisingly down-market for a private family business with assets thought to be worth something in the low billions. Then again, the Aquilinis aren't fancy folk. Unlike other moneyed West Coast moguls - the Giustras and the Pattisons, say - they don't rub shoulders with Hollywood celebrities and former U.S. presidents, or cruise with Oprah in the mega-yacht.

Sears Canada Launches Sears Certified Real Estate Services

Sears Canada Inc. (TSX: SCC) announced today the
launch of 'Sears Certified Real Estate Services', helping make real estate
transactions professional, easy and rewarding. Starting today, customers
buying or selling a home in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), can earn 0.6% of
the home's selling price in Sears gift cards, potentially receiving thousands
of dollars in rewards. For instance, on a $350,000 home, the rewards equal to
$2,100 in gift cards that can be used to help furnish the home with brand name
appliances, electronics, housewares, furniture, and more.

"Buying a home is the largest investment most Canadians will make," said
Dene Rogers, President & CEO, Sears Canada Inc. "No company in the country is
more trusted than Sears Canada, and Sears is committed to helping our
customers find a home, or sell their home using a Sears Certified agent that
is experienced and dedicated to customer service and demonstrated results. In
addition to trusted service, customers will earn 0.6% of the home's selling
price in Sears Gift Cards, guaranteed."

Public Storage Canadian Properties Announces Fourth Quarter 2008

Net income of the Partnership was $1,552,000 or $0.17 per partnership unit ("Unit") (based on 9,040,181 Units) for the three months ended December 31, 2008 compared to $2,209,000 or $0.25 per Unit (based on 8,804,350 Units) for the same period in 2007. The decreases in net income and net income per unit were due primarily to a slowdown in rental activity, the dilutive impact in connection with the lease-up of newly developed self-storage facilities whereby operating costs exceed rental income, additional amortization expense of the new facilities placed in service, and higher administrative expenses and income tax expense in connection with the new SIFT legislation.

Net income of the Partnership was $7,267,000 or $0.80 per Unit (based on 9,040,181 Units) for the year ended December 31, 2008 compared to $8,484,000 or $1.11 per Unit (based on 7,628,427) for the same period in 2007.

Recession has REITs in retreat

As little as a year ago, Canadian real estate investment trusts were among the darlings of the investment world -- on the rise and in demand.

Now, battered by a deepening global economic recession and a crippling credit crunch, many of them are in full retreat. Lenders and investors are giving them the cold shoulder, unit prices have tanked, and debt reduction, not acquisitions, are top of mind.

Winnipeg has six locally based REITs, and several of them have been active players in the local commercial real estate market.

Lanesborough REIT, for example, owns six apartment blocks in Manitoba. And its sister trust, Huntingdon REIT, owns 37 office, retail and industrial properties in the province.

It had 38 up until last Thursday, when it sold one of the jewels in its portfolio -- the downtown cityplace office/retail complex -- for $80.5 million.

The real estate industry is seeing its numbers dwindle

As more agents compete for fewer deals in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, the real estate industry has already seen its numbers dwindle.

"In the last five years, we've had incredible numbers come in," says Beth Crosbie Alexander of Coldwell Banker ProCo in St. John's of the national tally, which reached more than 100,000 last year.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has seen its membership roll dip to about 97,000 this year, she says, and she expects the number to fall further.

Ms. Crosbie Alexander is chairing a task force set up by CREA to explore the trials of starting up.

Many of those who leave are part-time agents who were able to boost their income by selling one or two houses a year when listings were easy to come by. But the costs of running an office, printing business cards, advertising and putting together brochures are not worth the investment for some part-timers.

Brits see opportunity in Canada

The government stalls at the exhibit, including those of six Canadian provinces, are in a battle to win the vital skills foreign labour can offer, even in the midst of a global recession.

In 2006, a total of 385,000 people left the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics, and 196,000 of those were British citizens. Another 189,000 were "long-term migrants" who moved on.

Canada welcomed 8,128 British immigrants last year, up 25 per cent over the previous year and making Britain the sixth-biggest source of immigrants to Canada.

The days of multiple offers when buying the house you were bidding on was like winning the lottery are over

Scotiabank is forecasting that Canadian housing starts will fall to 155,000 units this year, below long term replacement demand, and far below the 211,056 units registered in 2008.

"The housing boom is clearly over, and if anything, that's an understatement," said Scotiabank economist Adrienne Warren.

Soper said the Canadian market has in the past been driven by Generation X and first time buyers who have "largely checked out."

"This is a generation that has been much more comfortable than their parents with mortgages," said Soper at the conference. "But they have checked out in large numbers. They're living at home, they're renting, they don't have to buy."