Peter Mitham
A shift in markets has begun, and the outcome is uncertain
The market shifts The World Health Organization’s declaration on March 11 that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 was a pandemic triggered a wave of public health and fiscal policy measures abundantly...
Risk avoidance drives disruption in construction practices
Sum of the parts Disruption was in the spotlight at two recent Urban Development Institute (UDI) seminars, which highlighted how builders are trying to avoid disruptive construction programs with...
B.C. brokers scramble to assemble strata insurance coverage
Collaborative approach A year ago, this column flagged the dramatic rise in premiums for condominium insurance for both strata corporations and homeowners as the insurance companies that write the...
Private and institutional real estate investors flock to Vancouver
Institutional investment Vancouver saw approximately $6.3 billion in investment deals worth $5 million or more last year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle IP Inc., 13.4% of the $47 billion recorded...
B.C. budget boosts housing funding, cuts off local government
Local losers Prudence was the message as B.C. Finance Minister Carole James tabled her budget last week. “The old practice of hoarding surplus at the expense of people is over,” she declared early...
Collaboration essential to resolving B.C. development dilemmas
Crisis response A year ago, Anthem Properties Group CEO Eric Carlson announced at the Urban Development Institute’s (UDI) annual forecast luncheon that he was decamping for Sacramento, as the...
Regional transit funding pushed ahead of government budgets
Growing demands “B.C. keeps growing,” remarked BC Stats in its weekly roundup of statistics last week. According to the most recent estimates of the province’s population, an additional 70,000...
Rezonings, capped rents stymie Metro Vancouver development
Kill rezonings One thing was clear at the January 23 Urban Development Institute’s (UDI) annual forecast luncheon: local developers are not happy with government. The mood was sour, the anger was...
Metro residential land market shows signs of life in early 2020
Vote of confidence Year-end housing data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) earlier this month pointed to record housing starts of 28,141 units for Metro Vancouver in 2019. This was up...
Metro Vancouver’s apartment building sales drop in tight rental market
Vacancies flat According to Simon Fraser University associate professor Josh Gordon, the biggest driver of rental vacancies in a given market is economic activity. “The low vacancy rate is a...