Wednesday, November 24, 2010

My Website is Now Smartphone Friendly

I am happy to announce that my website (my clients listings) www.DeanBirks.com is now Smartphone friendly. Now, when buyers drive up in front of any of my listings they can enter my web address into their smartphone browser to get the price and details while sitting in their vehicle with ease.

Best regards

Dean Birks

 

Royal LePage Prince George

Phone (Direct): 250-612-1709

Prince George Real Estate

 

Oh, by the way. I'm never too busy for your referrals!

Posted via email from Prince George Real Estate

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Resale housing market stabilizing in Central BC

Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the BC Northern Real Estate Board remained below year-ago levels in October 2010, but have been showing signs of stabilizing in recent months.

According to the Board’s statistics, home sales numbered 264 units in October 2010, a decline of 27 per cent from October 2009. Seasonally adjusted activity dropped sharply from May to June this year, but has since posted only small month-to-month changes. On a year-to-date basis, activity remains slightly above levels reported over the first 10 months of last year.

The average price of home sales in October was $193,611**, a decrease of 11 per cent from the same month in 2009; however, the less volatile year-to-date average price figure was even with levels in the first 10 months last year.

**The Board cautions that the average residential price is a useful figure only for establishing trends and comparisons over a period of time. It does not indicate an actual price for a home due to the wide selection of housing available over a vast geographic area (the Board serves an area covering over 600,000 square kilometers or 72 per cent of the province).

The dollar value of all home sales in October 2010 was $51.1 million, down 35 per cent from year-ago levels.

Total sales numbered 306 units in October, down 28 per cent year-over-year. The total value of all properties sold was $57.5 million, a decrease of 33 per cent from October 2009.

There were 482 new residential listings on the Board’s MLS® System in October 2010, edging up two units from the same month last year. Active residential listings on the Board’s MLS® System numbered 2,671 units at the end of October 2010. This is up 11 per cent from year-ago levels, but stands below 2008 levels.

There were 10.1 months of inventory at the end of October, well above 6.6 months in the same month last year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

The BC Northern Real Estate Board is an association of about 410 REALTORS® that provides services to and sets standards for members. The BC Northern Real Estate Board covers the northern part of British Columbia, including Bulkley Nechako, Cariboo, Fraser Fort George, Peace River/Fort Nelson, and Skeena/Queen Charlottes.


The information contained in this report has been prepared by The Canadian Real Estate Association, in co-operation with the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board . The information has been drawn from sources deemed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of the information is not guaranteed. In providing this information, neither The Canadian Real Estate Association nor the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board assumes any responsibility or liability. Copyright©  2010 The Canadian Real Estate Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without written permission.

 

Above copy is courtesy of:

Dean Birks
Phone (Direct): 250-612-1709

Prince George Real Estate

 

Oh, by the way. I'm never too busy for your referrals!

Posted via email from Prince George Real Estate

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Charter doesn’t protect property rights in Canada

Charter doesn’t protect property rights
By: Larry MacDonald

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:56:08 +0000

There is no protection for property rights in the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet property rights are recognized in most other industrialized countries, and were recognized in the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights.

The National Citizens Coalition cites several examples of governments interfering with the enjoyment or use of property: Ontario landlords’ properties devalued by provincial legislation, companies put out of business by government monopolies in Manitoba, and B.C. dairy farmers compelled to surrender parts of quotas to the Milk Board.

How did it come about that property rights were excluded from the Charter? They were in the first draft but several provinces and the NDP objected to their inclusion. So they were left out of the final version.

The provinces balked at a property-rights clause because they though it would interfere with municipal/provincial land-use regulations. The NDP objected because of “social rights” such as rent control, labour standards, native land claims, environmental regulations and division of matrimonial assets. For more details, see Property Rights and the Constitution (http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp268-e.htm).

Constitutional entrenchment of property rights is the newest campaign of the National Citizens Coalition. Those interested can visit the NCC website (http://nationalcitizens.ca/respect_property_rights.html) to learn more, sign a petition, or share their story.

Should property rights be protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Posted via email from Prince George Real Estate

Friday, October 29, 2010

Top Ten October 29, 2010 - BC News

This Top 10 is coming from Shanghai China as I lead the largest ever BC Lumber trade mission. Altogether we have 38 attendees including CEO's from Canfor, West Fraser, Conifex, Interex (representing Carrier and Dunkley), Tolko, Hampton and Interfor.

This mission represents phase 3 of our plan to open the Chinese market to BC lumber. Phase 1 was building code development and product knowledge. Phase 2 included wood frame construction training and building a distribution network.

Phase 3 starts now and is about marketing to large developers that are capable of using significant volumes of our lumber. That brings me to the week’s Top 10, the inside story on some of the 40 developers we are meeting with and I'm sure you'll be impressed. For translation purposes 100 square meters is about the size of a newly constructed apartment in China and is approximately 1,000 square feet.

Have a great week! Pat Bell - http://www.patbellmla.bc.ca

1)     Vanke Co. is China’s largest developing group (by $$), focusing on residential buildings. In 2009, Vanke finished new construction area of a total 5.6 million sqm, sales value of 63.4 billion RMB ($CAD 9.75 billion) with a net profit of 5.3 billion RMB ($CAD1 billion).

2)     Jinqiao Co. is responsible for Jinqiao Zone planning, construction and investment, the total area is 27 km2. In 2009, the company achieved sales of US$120 million and haJinqiao Group Biyun International Community covers 4 km2. It is a low density community with large development of villas.  More than 1000 foreign families are settled here and occupies 90 per cent of the total residence of the area.

In the next 3 years, Jinqiao is working to attract a total of 5,000 western families to live here and develop it into the biggest western community in Pudong. 100% villas and 90% of apartment buildings are for rental rather than for sale.

They’ve built 500 units of WFC villas to date, and will increase the amount of WFC used in their projects in the future as they embrace green building.

3)     Greenland – one of China’s leading integrated real estate enterprises. In 2009 ranked no 2 among Chinese real estate enterprises and 169 of top 500 Chinese companies. In 2010, it’s rank rose to #96.  Sales revenues in 2011 are targeted at CAD $21 billion.  This year, Greenland has 22 million m² of residential floor space under construction and 13 million m² of commercial floor space.

4)     BNBM is a subsidiary of China National Building Materials, which has assets of CAD$14 billion and a staff of more than 80,000.  BNBM builds 10,000 rural homes per year.

At present, it has already grown to a large state-level enterprise group integrating building materials industry investment, logistics and trading, wood products industry and housing industry development with total assets surpassing 60 Billion RMB CAD $9.2 billion and a sales turnover in excess of 30 Billion RMB (CAD $4.6 billion).

5)     BRC has completed over 100 large property development projects to date, most located in the Southwest of China. (Chengdu, Chongqing and Kunming).

6)     Vantone , Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Code: 600246, hereinafter "Vantone") is an A-share public company on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with the total capital stock of 507,000,000 shares. As of September 30 2008, Vantone's total assets were RMB 8382 billion (CAD $1.33 billion)(its net assets were RMB 2,632 billion (CAD $40 million. With Grade One Qualification for Real Estate Development, Vantone owns 10 holding subsidiaries and 1 affiliated company, all of which are engaged in real estate development.

With its mission of "Creating the most valuable life space", Vantone strives to be a first class real estate company by international standards. Vantone has embedded the "green" into its corporate strategy   which contains green value, green behaviour and green products, hereby leading to long-term competitiveness and the industry.

7)     TEDA  is perhaps China’s most advanced, and best, development zone. Major companies, such as Toyota, Motorola, and Samsung have their main China manufacturing bases in TEDA.  The Tianjin Economic Development Area was established in 1984.

The TEDA Group, which is the development arm of TEDA, development company (the property is very interested in enhancing its leadership in WFC and has visited B.C. and met with FII and CWG as well as industry.

There are two other wood frame office buildings that will be built, invested by TEDA. The sizes of these two building are 1200 m2 and 4000 m2.  Canada Wood will provide Quality Assurance support as well as design review. There is also a villa project in the planning stage.

8)     Longfor In 2006, Longfor was listed among “Top 100 Real Estate Developers in the PRC Real Estate Industry” by the Ministry of Commerce and the China Real Estate Association., Longfor was consistently ranked number one in the “National Residential Customers’ Satisfaction Survey” for four years in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2007, Longfor entered into the “Top 100 China Real Estate Enterprises for Tax Contribution”. In 2008, brand name “Longhu” was accredited by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce as a “Well-known Trademark in China”. Longfor was also recognized as the “Top 10 Brand Values in the PRC Real Estate Industry” as well as the “Top 10 Outstanding Property Service and Corporate Service Quality” by the State Development and Research Center in 2008 and 2009 consecutively.

After a decade of development, Longfor has formed an all-in-one system capable of performing investment planning, project development, and commercial and residential property management operations. Its product offerings range from residential buildings, office buildings, high-rise apartment buildings, garden townhouses, luxury villas, as well as large scale shopping malls and business complex. The Company has built masterpieces in every product category.

9)     Beijing Capital Land Ltd. ("BCL") is one of the leading integrated property operators in the PRC, being listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 19 June 2003 (HKEx stock code: 2868) . Its comprehensive capabilities have placed it in the top rank of the PRC's property industry.

BCL is based in Beijing and its accumulated development scale in Beijing has surpassed 5 million sq. m since its establishment with total investment of over RMB30 billion. Since 2005, it has been expanding by introducing those successful standardized property series into other cities or places. BCL has now expanded into nine cities from four large regions in China with land bank of over 10 million sqm. It owns high popularity in the market and brand influence.

10) Greentown China Holdings Limited (“Greentown” or “the Company”, and its subsidiaries the “Group”) together with its associates and jointly controlled entities (the “Greentown Group”), is one of the leading property developers in the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC” or “China”). It commands a leading position in the industry by leveraging on its quality properties. From 2005 to 2010, we have been ranked for six consecutive years as one of the TOP 10 property enterprises in China jointly by four authoritative institutions, including Enterprise Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, China Real Estate Association, Qinghua University Real Estate Research Center and China Index Institute.
Since its establishment 15 years ago, the Group has been based in Zhejiang province, one of the most economically vibrant and developed provinces in the PRC. With property projects covering most of the prosperous cities in Zhejiang province such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Shaoxing and other places on the list of the Top 100 most competitive counties and county-level cities of China in Zhejiang province, the Greentown Group has built a sizable operation in the province with exceptionally high brand awareness. Due to the Group’s national expansion strategy commenced in 2000, Greentown has successfully extended its business to other important cities such as Shanghai, Nanjiang, Suzhou, Wuxi and Nantong in Yangtze River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Jinan and Dalian in Bohai Rim Economic Belt, as well as other provincial cities such as Hefei in Anhui province, Zhengzhou in Henan province, Changsha in Hunan province, Linshui in Hainan province and Urumqi in Xinjiang. This expansion has boosted the Group’s business growth and reputation further. Greentown is currently at the forefront of quality property developers in the PRC.
As at 31 December 2009, the Greentown Group’s premier land bank comprises over 30 million sq.m. of total GFA, which ensures the Group’s sustainable and steady development in the next three years. Leveraging on its quality human resources and effective corporate management structure, Greentown has established a strong presence in Zhejiang province and other cities where it has operations. The Group is confident that its excellent track record in developing high quality projects and outstanding operational capabilities has laid a solid foundation for its further expansion.

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The above copy courtesy of:

Dean Birks

Royal LePage Prince George

Phone (Direct): 250-612-1709

www.DeanBirks.com

 

Oh, by the way. I'm never too busy for your referrals!

 

 

Posted via email from Prince George Real Estate