2010 Olympics - Property Vancouver, Whistler, Canada
Taking a look at the positive effect the 2010 Winter Olympics is having on property in Whistler and Vancouver, Canada
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The Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee will today unveil a massive clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery to begin counting down towards the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada that will open in exactly three years time and bring the global spotlight to Whistler and Vancouver - the joint hosts of the games.
Little has been said about the impact that the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will have on property in Vancouver and Whistler in Canada and it is only now that public awareness is starting to realise that there could just be a real estate investment opportunity in the offing that deserves closer inspection.
As part of the development and construction work underway in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics all major roads are being improved and seven hundred and seventy five million Canadian dollars is being spent on upgrading the road that links Vancouver to Whistler. What’s more, almost two billion dollars is being spent on a brand new fast transit train line which is being constructed to link Vancouver airport with Richmond, the city centre and the athlete’s village in False Creek – and this transit line has already had a very positive effect on the commercial property market in Greater Vancouver.
The transit line makes certain areas of the city far more accessible now and as a result commercial activity in the West Broadway area in particular is heating up. Companies that are being priced out of the central business district (CBD) are happy to have the opportunity to rent out or buy up real estate and premises in the Broadway corridor now that it is an area of Greater Vancouver so much more accessible than before.
Vacancy rates have dropped dramatically and rental rates have gone up in the last year as demand for light industrial and office space in the Broadway corridor just keeps on increasing. In spite of the increase in rental rates the area is still highly attractive and will remain so because operating costs outside of the CBD are so much more affordable and real estate in this area is now so much more attractive thanks to the Winter Olympics investment into the transit line.
An encouraging knock on effect of the development of this area of Greater Vancouver as a business hub is the fact that retail space is now being constructed in the immediate vicinity to service the greater number of consumers flooding in – this creates more and diverse opportunity for property investors and you could say that the property market in Vancouver is on a positive roll.
But it’s not just the transit line having a positive effect on property prices in Vancouver; all of the massive infrastructure developments for the Winter Olympics will have an incredibly positive knock on effect for property prices. Furthermore, Whistler which is already an incredibly attractive international ski and winter sports resort and which has correspondingly high property prices will gain a global audience when it showcases the superiority of its natural amenities and enhanced facilities in 2010 and this is expected to bring an increase in tourism traffic.
As the resort of Whistler is being made even more accessible to visitors thanks to the Winter Olympics funded upgraded road linking Vancouver, its international airport and Whistler this will have a positive effect on real estate prices going forward and so those who buy in today have a great asset that will derive them an income immediately and generate them a nice increase in underlying capital over the medium term.
In terms of where to buy real estate in Canada and what to invest in, investors need to take a close look at which areas of Vancouver are being positively affected by the 2010 Winter Olympics, where amenities, facilities and infrastructure are being improved upon or added to and then consider whether the benefit will be for commercial or residential interest and purchase property accordingly. In terms of what property to buy in Whistler, anything that will let out to short term tourism traffic will generate the best income potential and be the easiest type of real estate to resell. Bear in mind that those coming for winter sports need to be within very easy reach of slope access as well as close to social amenities.

Whistler Blackcomb has done it again.

B.C.'s Olympic co-host venue has been rated No. 1 by Skiing Magazine for the 13th year in a row.
"We are thrilled to be on top again this year," said Dave Brownlie, president and chief operating officer at Whistler Blackcomb.
"We are extremely fortunate to be blessed with the incredible physical attributes that our mountains offer -- their size, scope and variety of terrain tops the rankings every year."
The magazine rates resorts based on several criteria and Whistler Blackcomb gets consistently high marks for terrain quality and variety, thanks to its 3,300 hectares.
"It's a poll of our readers, not the editors. And the readers overwhelmingly chose Whistler," said Jake Bogoch, editor of Skiing Magazine.
Apres-ski and nightlife also rated high. "Whistler exudes an energy that is difficult to replicate anywhere else, and guests love it, citing it as one of the key reasons they come back year after year," said Brownlie.
Ninety per cent of Whistler Blackcomb's terrain will remain open during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The resort was also rated No. 1 by Freeskier magazine and No. 2 by Ski magazine.
Whistler Blackcomb's official opening day this year is Nov. 26.

News

Published 2009-09-23 14:07:21

Whistler Blackcomb top rankings, again Skiing Magazine readers rank Whistler first for 13 years
By Andrew Mitchell


Whistler Blackcomb is heading into what's likely to be a difficult season with an early shot in the arm from some of the industry's biggest magazines.
Skiing Magazine's annual readers poll ranked Whistler Blackcomb as the number one resort in North America for the 13th year in a row, as well as the resort readers want to ski more than anywhere else.
Freeskier Magazine also ranked Whistler Blackcomb in the top spot.
And in Ski Magazine, Whistler Blackcomb moved up one spot from third to second this year, behind Deer Valley, Utah.
While visitor numbers are expected to be down this season as a result of reduced access during the 2010 Winter Games, as well as something called the "Olympic aversion effect," Whistler Blackcomb is counting on regional visitors and regular customers to help make up for the loss in destination business. As well, Whistler Blackcomb expects residents and pass holders to take advantage of mountains that will likely be less busy than usual even though 90 per cent of terrain will be open to the public all season.
Do rankings matter? Dave Brownlie, president and COO of Whistler Blackcomb thinks they do, even if not every reader will book a trip right away or even for this season.
"I think (the rankings) certainly get people's attention, and we definitely want to be up near the top in how the skiing and snowboarding public out there is rating us," Brownlie said.
"At the end of the day these are from people out there in North America who are telling the magazines what they think, so it's important to be up there and recognized for what we do."
Thirteen years is a long time at the top of the Skiing Magazine poll given the amount of competition from other resorts in Canada and the U.S. Meanwhile, the top ranking in Freeskier was welcome given the younger, more park-oriented readership of that magazine. Brownlie says those rankings, coming from readers instead of editors, will keep Whistler Blackcomb front and centre in the minds of people "who aspire to ski here."
The awards are sure to keep coming as other polls are released. Notably, Whistler Blackcomb was voted the top resort by Transworld Snowboarding readers for three years in a row, as well as number one for terrain parks.
In recent years Whistler Blackcomb and the resort in general have also won awards from travel publication Conde Naste Traveler, Forbes, Sunset Magazine and other publications that are not as industry specific as ski and snowboard magazines.
Brownlie says those awards are always the least expected but most gratifying in terms of what all of Whistler is trying to accomplish as a destination that can offer something for everybody.
"The question has always been 'how do you appeal to the broadest network of folks out there?'" he said. "We're a big resort and we need people from all walks of life and geography to come and want to be here to sell this place. I think it's great, we have our high-end clientele at places like Fairmont and Four Seasons, we have the more budget-conscious people who might stay at other hotels, and the young folks who come and stay at the hostel. Some of those people are coming to enjoy the skiing and snowboarding, but some are also coming to enjoy our other offerings like the nightlife, our restaurants and other activities off the mountain.
"To be recognized for those things as well as skiing and snowboarding is really the icing on the cake for us."
Whistler Blackcomb was the only Canadian resort to crack the top 30 in Ski Magazine's poll this year and the top 10 in Freeskier. Ski Magazine also voted Whistler as the top resort to party, with nods also going to Canada Olympic Park in Calgary and Mont Tremblant in Quebec.

Should I Purchase Now or Wait??

Should I Purchase My Home Now or Wait for the Market to Stabilize?

Many people are debating whether they want to buy a property now or whether they should wait. They are getting mixed messages from the media about the market conditions and the state of the economy. Reports are indicating that the real estate market is rebounding. However, we are still hearing negative news about businesses folding and job losses. So is now a good time to buy?
The decision whether to buy a home now or wait is very tricky at the moment. On the one hand you have very low mortgage rates as the Bank of Canada had cut the interest rate several times in the last few months to try and get the banks lending again. Deals as low as 2.75% are being advertised to entice new customers into the market and get the chain moving again. Also, property prices have dropped in the last year and there are many good deals to be made.
On the other hand, there is still the question whether housing market prices will hold or drop further. Potential buyers are wary about taking on such a huge borrowing to find that the dream house they have just bought may be worth appreciatively less in six months’ time.
House prices are cyclical. A low market is always a good time to buy even though it may be several years before the market rebounds. The property market will rebound. If you are in a position to buy a house and can afford the repayments, buy now. Waiting to buy could result in paying much higher prices in a rising market.
Are you really ready?It is also important to consider how long you will be in the home that you are about to purchase. Once you buy the home, it may be very difficult to resell right now. If the market continues to drop and you end up moving and selling in a year, you may have been wiser to wait a bit longer. So that is something that you want to make sure that you consider when making the decision to purchase a home.
Of course, if you have a long-term plan to be in the home, the fluctuations and potential decrease in value in the near term doesn’t need to get you down, as the only price that matters is the price you are able to sell for when you need or want to move.
Another thing that you need to think about is if you can afford the home that you are considering buying. While prices have dropped recently, you want to make sure that you find a home that is going to fit your budget. As a precautionary measure you should also budget for the fact that the cost of living might rise even further, and that being able to afford these increases will be important.
If you have the funds available for a down payment and you are eligible for a mortgage, and feel comfortable about your job security, and currently meeting the rising costs of living fairly easily; then the time is probably right for purchasing property. It is still a buyer’s market, so find your dream home, negotiate your best deal and jump in. Buying property now is one of the best times in the last hundred years to get a bargain.

Recession over, Bank of Canada says
July 24th, 2009
The recession is over, the Bank of Canada said in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report released Thursday.
After shrinking since the last quarter of 2008, the Canadian economy will grow by an annualized rate of 1.3 per cent in the current quarter, the bank said.
“We are on track for the recovery both in Canada and globally,” Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney told reporters.
However, unemployment will continue to rise, he said.
For many Canadians, “it’s not a recovery until they start getting their jobs back. And on that score, we could still be in for a long wait,” Avery Shenfeld, CIBC economist, said in a report published Thursday.
“Don’t break out the champagne yet,” said Patricia Croft, chief economist of RBC Global Asset Management.
The return to growth after three quarters of decline signals the end of the recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinkage.
Growth will accelerate through late 2009 and by the first half of 2010, the Canadian economy will be booming along with four per cent growth. But that will begin to taper off to less than three per cent by the last half of 2011, the bank said.
Carney said consumer spending and housing are pulling the growth, especially in the U.S. But there is a “speed limit” to that kind of growth, and the economy will hit it after the burst in 2010, he warned.
The bank said in its report that “stimulative monetary and fiscal policies, improved financial conditions, firmer commodity prices, and a rebound in business and consumer confidence are spurring domestic demand growth.”
“However, the higher Canadian dollar, as well as ongoing restructuring in key industrial sectors, is significantly moderating the pace of overall growth.”
The loonie was up 1.14 cents to 92.17 cents US, which may have been a reaction to the bank’s forecast.
The economic outlook is not much changed from its April report, although it says “the growth profile is slightly altered by a faster rebound in domestic demand,” the bank said.
It projects that real gross domestic product, a measure of the economy, will fall 2.3 per cent this year, then grow three per cent in 2010 and 3.5 per cent in 2011.
Its 2009 forecast is in line with other projections, but it’s more bullish about 2010 than many other projections.
However, the economy will not reach capacity, when supply and demand are in balance, until 2011.
Carney said the prospect of “extreme financial risk from beyond our borders” is no longer an issue, but the recovery is not certain.
Inflation, which has fallen with energy prices, will not increase to the target rate of about two per cent until the second quarter of 2011.
But “significant upside and downside risks remain to the inflation projection,” particularly from the volatile loonie, the bank said.
The bank will set policy to ensure the inflation target is met, Carney said
Source: CBC News website 23 July 2009

It's a recession, not a depression


The analogy between today's economic woes and those of the early 1930s is being overplayed

Michael Nairne, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tacita Capital, Andrew Barr, National PostStocks And The Great Depression.
As jobless rates skyrocket, numerous pundits have raised the spectre of the Great Depression, capturing headlines and garnering lucrative speaking venues as they prophesize inevitable devastation. Already overwhelmed by painful losses, many investors capitulate, preferring the refuge of cash to the prospect of utter ruin.

Fortunately, the analogy between today's economic woes and those of the early 1930s is overplayed by many self-interested scaremongers. There is one fundamental similarity -- in both cases, very severe economic contractions were triggered by credit crises when excessive asset prices, inflated by too much leverage, poor underwriting practices and speculation, collapsed. Stocks and margin accounts were the culprits in 1929, housing and mortgage-backed securities in 2007. Both then and now, the credit crunch and contagion of fear spread to other sectors of the global economy and sent it into a tailspin.

The differences between these crises, however, are telling. Today's economy is much more resilient than that of the 1930s. Indeed, automatic stabilizers did not exist then as there were no social security or unemployment benefits and few private or public pensions. Other stabilizers that exist today -- more dual-income households, a high proportion of public sector and health care workers and a more diversified, service-oriented economy -- should mitigate this downturn relative to the 1930s.

Today's greater resilience already manifests itself. Based on U. S. statistics, this downturn is just over 15 months old. By October, 1930, 15 months into the onset of the Great Depression, production had fallen by 26%, prices by 14%, and personal income by 16%. The U. S. economy is nowhere near experiencing that broad level of decline. In 2008, the first full calendar of this contraction, real U. S GDP in the fourth quarter declined by less than 1% versus the prior year's fourth quarter; in 1930, real GDP declined by almost 9%.

A second pivotal difference is the failure rate of banks. With no federally guaranteed deposit insurance, fearful depositors in 1930 triggered a widespread run on U. S. banks that resulted in 1,352 bank failures. At its height, 256 banks failed in November followed by 352 failures in December. By the time President Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act in March, 1933, over 9,000 banks had ceased operation -- nearly one in five banks. In comparison, since December, 2007, 42 banks have closed in the U. S., many of those acquired by other institutions. At the end of 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) identified 252 banks in trouble, just over 3% of the 8,305 banks and saving institutions in the U. S.

In the first three years of the Great Depression, depositors and creditors suffered billions in losses as banks closed their doors. Depositors today who have account balances guaranteed by the FDIC suffer no losses when a bank closes. In fact, the FDIC was created in 1933 to stabilize the banking sector and prevent panic-induced bank runs.

Bank closures contributed to the rapid decline in the stock of money, which fell by over one-third from August, 1929, to the trough of the Great Depression in March, 1933. This contracting money supply reinforced deflationary trends which in turn thwarted economic recovery by inhibiting consumption and driving up real interest rates. Learning from this experience and no longer hampered by the gold standard of the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve has engineered a 14% increase in the money supply since December, 2007. It has also reduced interest rates and ensured liquidity is flowing to financial institutions as well as key credit markets.

Finally, the U. S. government has responded to today's economic crisis with speed. The Treasury announced the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) 10 months into this downturn. In contrast, Andrew Mellon, who was the Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, advocated spending cuts to balance the budget and opposed support for the banking sector. He is infamous for his advice to President Hoover to "liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate." It wasn't until Hoover belatedly acted in 1932, followed by Roosevelt's many initiatives when he took office in March, 1933, that the government dealt forcefully with the collapse of the banking sector and the economy.

The Great Depression alarmists also stress the shattering 86% decline in stock prices that occurred from Sept. 7, 1929 to June 1, 1932. They are right to point out the massive damage to equity investments but fail to tell the whole story. First, dividends have to be included to provide a picture of total return. Second, the returns have to be stated in real, not nominal, dollars. Wealth is about purchasing power, and in a period of falling prices it is real wealth that matters. Finally, they leave out any discussion of the ensuing recovery.

Incorporating these three elements -- dividend returns, real prices and the recovery -- a more accurate picture emerges. Despite the colossal market plunge, patient investors saw the purchasing power of their equity capital fully restored by November, 1936, the year when real GDP had finally recovered to its 1929 level. In fact, the market began to recover in the summer of 1932 with a stunning rally that saw the stock prices nearly double in three months. The catalyst was the first large open market bond purchases by the Federal Reserve and the initiation of a lending program to banks by the newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation. This script is being followed today by the Fed and Treasury, but they are acting in the first year of the downturn, not in the third.

However, very few investors are invested solely in equities. A more illustrative portrayal of the Great Depression investment experience is that of a balanced investor. The accompanying graph tracks the cumulative real return of a portfolio invested 20% in government bonds, 15% in corporate bonds and 65% in stocks during the Great Depression starting with an index of 1.00 at the market peak in 1929. In this example, we have assumed the portfolio asset mix is not rebalanced.

A more positive picture emerges. At its worst moment in May, 1932, just before the market rallied, the real value of the balanced portfolio was down 37%; an incredibly challenging investment experience, but far from total desolation. A balanced investor would have spent only 16 months where the real value of their portfolio had declines greater than 20%, would have broke even in June, 1935, and would have gone on to enjoy a cumulative 35% real wealth gain by the end of 1936.

What if an investor had the fortitude to rebalance his portfolio back to the initial asset mix by selling bonds and buying stocks whenever the allocation to stocks fell too far, and, alternatively, selling stocks and buying bonds whenever the stock allocation rose too high?

The above graph tracks the cumulative real return of a the balanced portfolio with the same initial asset mix of 20% in government bonds, 15% in corporate bonds and 65% in stocks starting with an index of 1.00 at the market peak in 1929. In this example, we assume the portfolio is rebalanced whenever the stock allocation varies more than 20% from the initial target of 65% of the portfolio.

The rebalanced portfolio suffers deeper declines than the previous non-rebalanced portfolio, losing nearly 50% of its value by the market's nadir. This is caused by a rebalancing in 1931 when bonds were sold to buy stocks. The benefit is that as the market rallies, the higher equity exposure rebuilds value more quickly. An investor with this rebalanced portfolio would have broken even in May, 1933, and would have gone on to enjoy a cumulative 79% real wealth gain by the end of 1936.

Balanced investors were badly mauled in the Great Depression, but those with the fortitude and patience to stay with their long-term plans emerged with their real wealth not only intact but enhanced. Investors today with sound, diversified investment strategies should take note and heart.

There is no question that we are enduring a very severe recession. Although the fourth-quarter 2008 real GDP decline in the U. S. was smaller than drops in both 1980 and 1982, the prognosis is that further contractions this year will make this the worst downturn since 1946. Yet, a more resilient economy, early and extensive support to the banking sector by the Treasury and dramatic action by the Federal Reserve strongly suggest a catastrophe like that of the early-1930s will be averted. This is the Great Recession, not a replay of the Great Depression. - Michael Nairne is president of Toronto-based Tacita Capital.

I love Whistler

Here's a great article on Whistler published in the July 29 Pique Newsmagazine:

http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_Frontpage&content=Feature+1631

Dine in Whistler Specials April 27 - June 25

Here are some great deals for dining out in the spring. We always like to take advantage of the half price food this time of year.

Jeff


http://www.whistler.com/dinein