Blog by Rob Balasabas

< Previous

South Surrey’s South Point Exchange mall sold for $91 million

September 1st, 2010
south-surrey-south-point-exchange-mall-real-estate-vancouver.jpg

Save on Foods is an anchor store of the South Point Exchange mall in south Surrey.
Photograph by:
South Point Exchange image

METRO VANCOUVER - One more major mall sale has pushed retail property further in front of Metro Vancouver's commercial real estate rebound, reports released Tuesday show.

South Surrey's South Point Exchange, a 267,000-square-foot, open-air shopping cen ...

Outdoor Malls are a Hot Commodity!

September 1st, 2010

outdoor-malls-canada-real-estate.jpg

By: Steve Ladurantaye Real Estate Reporter

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail


There's a flurry of sales happening at Canada's outdoor malls, and it has nothing to do with back-to-school savings.

The malls themselves are being snapped up by investors who crave ...

A home you like and can afford trumps the market

September 1st, 2010
Great article from the Vancouver Sun....

Are we in a housing bubble that's about to burst? Most real estate analysts don't think so. But it's still a pretty scary prospect for homeowners who owe what may be more than their house is worth if we have an American-style crash here.

And the prospect of a 20-to 30-per-cent decline in the cost of housing in Vancouver certainly rais ...

Faye Leung is ready to rumble - "The Hat Lady Sings"

August 31st, 2010
faye leung vancouver bill vander zalm.bin

Our Lady of the Hats, Faye Leung, hobbled into the restaurant sporting a broad-brimmed, lilac-toned beauty, asparkle in jade, diamonds and pearls.

Although a third-generation Canadian of Chinese heritage, her feet were bound like some traditional Han princess.

"You won't believe it," she said before even sitting down, "both my feet crushed by the lift in a bus. One of ...

Congratulations to Sebastian Salas for beating the Grouse Grind Record!

August 26th, 2010
GG-SebastianSalas-201008.jpg

August 24, 2010. Grouse Mountain, North Vancouver, B.C . - Twenty-three year-old Sebastian Salas of Vancouver knew when he reached the ¾ mark of the Grouse Grind trail in just over 18 minutes that he stood a real chance of setting a new course record today.

To say the previous record of 24:22 - set by New Zealand champion mountain runner Jonathan Wyatt - was "beaten" is an understatem ...

What Vancouverites are saying about House Prices

August 26th, 2010
The spirited things Vancouverites say about house prices
By Don Cayo

Hundreds of readers have weighed in with views on Vancouver house prices in response to my three-part series in the Vancouver Sun.


Messages poured in as comments added to the stories themselves, by email and telephone, and, of course, as comments added to posts on this blog.

Because of their numbers, the comments do ...

There are two million reasons for high prices in Vancouver

August 21st, 2010
3425137.bin.jpg

City's housing affordability problem boils down to too many people on too little land

By Don Cayo, Vancouver Sun columnist

What drives Vancouver's house prices so relentlessly to levels four times higher than Winnipeg's, and more than half again what Torontonians pay?

It's simple, says Tsur Somerville of UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate.

...

Surrey tops for investment: REIN

August 17th, 2010
surrey_bc_future_city.jpg

Surrey is the best city in the province to invest in real estate, according to a national group assessing the viability of markets.

The Real Estate Investment Network released its list of the Top B.C. Investment Towns, which analyze the current and future prospects for real estate investments in this province.

The 120-page report indicates the c ...

Vancouver parking spaces will be transformed into parks

August 12th, 2010
vancouver_parking.bin

On Sept. 17, volunteers from 140 cities in 21 countries will transform more than 700 metered parking spaces into mini public parks.

Andrew Pask, director of Vancouver Public Space Network (VPSN), says PARK(ing) Day, as it's known worldwide, allows people to "repurpose" a parking space for one day.

"It's as if you can own that public space for a day," Pask said.

PARK ...

Surrey blows competition away when it comes to housing starts

August 12th, 2010

Take this, Vancouver - nearly as many new homes started here so far this year than in all of Metro Vancouver combined


surrey_housing_starts.bin

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association, says Surrey is at the top of the heap - take that, Vancouver.

Photograph by: Brian Howell, The Now

SURREY - Growth, thy na ...

< Previous