Lower Mainland real estate markets climbed modestly in the first two months of the year.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB), which includes Surrey, White Rock and North Delta, reported a benchmark detached house price of $558,100 in February, up about 1.5 per cent from December and up 3.2 per cent year-over-year.

Townhouses were up 0.7 per cent to $296,700 from February of 2013 but the benchmark price of Fraser Valley apartments dropped 4.6 per cent from a year ago to $193,200.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said its benchmark price for a typical detached house climbed 3.5 per cent from a year ago to $932,900.

Attached units were $458,300 – a 0.6 per cent one-year gain. Apartments were up 3.6 per cent over one year to $373,300.

The biggest one-year gains reported were for detached houses in Vancouver and South Burnaby, which are up more than seven per cent, while detached houses in North Delta and Langley were up six per cent.

The biggest recent drop was in Abbotsford apartments – their benchmark price is down 21 per cent from a year ago.

Other areas where prices have dropped include apartments in Squamish and Whistler – both down 13 per cent – and detached houses on Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast, both down more than four per cent.

The most expensive market to buy a detached house remained the west side of Vancouver, where the benchmark price is $2.15 million, while the cheapest was Mission at $352,800.

It’s taking less time for a home to sell – an average of 51 days in the Valley.

Both real estate boards reported sales are up significantly, reflecting a typical jump in buyer interest as spring approaches.

Source: Jeff Nagel – Surrey North Delta Leader

The number of homes sold in Vancouver increased 44 percent in February compared to the previous month, after a monthly drop reported in January.

A total of 2,530 homes were sold in February, up from 1,760 sales in January, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

“Home buyer demand picked up in February, which is consistent with typical seasonal patterns in our housing market,” said Sandra Wyant, REBGV president. “We typically see home buyers become more active in and around the spring months.”

Last month, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported the fifth consecutive decline in monthly sales for the country, citing weather conditions as a detractor.

Today’s report shows home sales grew 41 percent from 1,797 sales in February 2013. The February figure was just 17 sales away from the 10-year sale average for February of 2,547.

The number of listings for all property types totaled 4,700 in February, dropping 2.8 percent from a year ago, and declining 12.1 percent from listings in January. February’s listing count was less than the region’s 10-year new listing average for the month.

“With the market continuing to perform at a steady, balanced pace, it’s important for home sellers to ensure their homes are priced correctly for today’s conditions,” Ms. Wyant said.

The benchmark price for all homes in Metro Vancouver is $609,100, increasing 3.2 percent increase from a year ago.

More from the report:

* Sales of detached properties in February 2014 reached 1,032, an increase of 46.6 percent from the 704 detached sales recorded in February 2013, and a 6.3 percent decrease from the 1,101 units sold in February 2012. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 3.5 percent from February 2013 to $932,900.

* Sales of apartment properties reached 1,032 in February 2014, an increase of 35.8 percent compared to the 760 sales in February 2013, and a 1.2 percent increase compared to the 1,020 sales in February 2012. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.6 percent from February 2013 to $373,300.

* Attached property sales in February 2014 totaled 466, an increase of 39.9 percent compared to the 333 sales in February 2013, and a 9.9 percent increase from the 424 attached properties sold in February 2012. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 0.6 percent between February 2013 and 2014 to $458,300.

The UK and London are still the leading targets for UHNWIs (ultra-high net worth individuals), while property markets in some cities hammered by the global crash are now prospering and prices are generally rising around the world, according to the 2014 Wealth Report, from Knight Frank.

London retains its crown as the world’s leading global city for the world’s richest, followed by New York, and the two are set to remain there for at least a decade, according to the Knight Frank Global Cities Survey, which is part of the Wealth Report.

And at the same time, UHNWIs appear to be getting richer, with the highest optimism about the future among those in Europe and the Middle East.

But the fastest growing luxury residential property market is dominated by Asia Pacific destinations. Jakarta, Indonesia, has the highest annual home prices, rising 38% year-on-year. New Zealand has performed well, taking second place with Auckland, where values are up 29% and Christchurch in fourth at 21%. Bali is in third place, with a 22% increase, according to Knight Frank’s Prime International Residential Index.

In general, prices are rising, and some locations that suffered most in the global market crash are performing particularly well.

Liam Bailey, Head of Global Research at Knight Frank, says, “Continued global wealth creation, particularly in emerging markets, has been a key driver for prime property markets. This trend looks set to continue with a forecast increase of 28% in the total number of UHNWIs around the world by 2023.

“One of the most significant changes from a year ago is the general trend towards increasing prices. In 2013, values fell in 39% of the locations featured, compared with almost 50% in 2012. Last year there was double-digit growth in 20% of markets. In 2012 this level of price rise occurred in just 15%.

“Cities in Asia-Pacific have, by and large, performed particularly strongly, although government cooling measures have pulled back growth in Singapore and Hong Kong.

“Another trend is the strong rebound of some of the markets like, Dubai (+17%), Madrid (+5%) and Dublin (+17.5%), that were hit hard by the global financial crisis.”

Shifts in wealth distribution contribute to changing fortunes in our Global Cities Survey, which measures the most important cities to the world’s UHNWI community.

Three-quarters of the 600 or so private bankers or wealth advisors representing around 23,000 UHNWI clients across the world questioned for the survey say the net worth of their clients increased in 2013 and around two-thirds (65%) say their clients are positive about their wealth creation prospects in 2014.

On average, 28% of the net worth of an Ultra High Net Worth Individual comes from the person’s main property and the 2.4 second homes they each own, on average.

Just over a fifth of UHNWIs are considering buying another home in 2014, while 15% are thinking about permanently changing their domicile of country of residence. Quality of life was cited as the main reason for wanting to make a move and the UK is the country people are most likely to head to.

Almost a quarter of UHNWI investment portfolios is accounted for by property and it is growing in popularity. Just over 40% of survey respondents say their clients increased their allocation to property in 2013 and 47% expect it to increase further in 2014. Residential property was the most popular area to invest in (54%), followed by commercial premises (34%) and agricultural land and forestry (12%).

Investors are now showing more of an appetite for risk, says the report. The withdrawal of stimulus measures such as quantitative easing may be one catalyst, but so is rising economic confidence, especially in North America and Europe.

“Investment decisions are destined to take on an increasingly adventurous flavour; and recovering European property markets, which were firmly off the radar two years ago, are seen by many as a key opportunity for this year and next.

The top six nations in the 2014 Global Cities Survey are the same as in 2013. The full top 10 list is: 1. London, 2. New York, 3. Singapore, 4. Hong Kong, 5. Geneva, 6. Shanghai, 7. Miami, 8. Dubai, 9. Beijing, 10. Paris.

But Knight Frank also lists the five fastest growing city hotspots, which feature Middle East and Latin American destinations. They are: 1. Sao Paulo, 2. Istanbul, 3. Abu Dhabi, 4. Mumbai and 5. Sydney.

“The number of centamillionaires – those with US$100m in net assets – has risen by 62%, while the tally of billionaires has climbed by 80% to 1,682, according to WealthInsight, a leading wealth intelligence firm, which has supplied data for the report.

Source: Adrian Bishop, Editor, OPP Connect

The million-dollar club isn’t so exclusive in Greater Vancouver, where the average price for single-family detached houses sold has soared to a record high of more than $1.36-million.

Prices surged as total residential sales climbed to 2,530 last month for detached homes, condos and townhouses, up 40.8 per cent from volume of 1,797 properties changing hands in February 2013, according to data released Tuesday by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Detached properties have soared in value, rising to an average of $1,361,023 last month, an increase of $139,986, or 11.4 per cent higher than $1,221,037 a year earlier and smashing the previous high of $1,287,213 in January of this year.

But the board cautions that average prices give a skewed picture of the market because sales of many high-end homes boost the figures to well above other transactions that are considered more typical.

The board prefers to focus on the benchmark index price, which strips out the most expensive properties. On that measure, detached index prices reached $932,900 last month, up 3.5 per cent from February, 2013. On Vancouver’s West Side, the detached index price jumped 7.2 per cent to more than $2.14-million.

Over all, the index price hit $609,100 for Greater Vancouver detached houses, condos and townhomes sold on the Multiple Listing Service last month, or a hike of 3.2 per cent over the past year.

Sales volume last month was slightly lower than the 10-year average in what is shaping up to be a balanced market for sales and active listings in 2014, said board president Sandra Wyant.

The B.C. Real Estate Association noted that Ottawa’s shutdown of the federal immigrant investor program last month could reduce sales volume for the most expensive detached homes.

Dan Scarrow, vice-president of corporate strategy at Macdonald Realty Ltd., said he doesn’t think prices will change dramatically over the next several months, as long as interest rates stay low. If there is any slide in the housing market, it will be slow because prices are “sticky on the downside” due to the lack of major economic setbacks such as a huge spike in unemployment to force people to sell, he said.

The attraction of Vancouver remains high, including for wealthy immigrants from China, Mr. Scarrow said.

Greater Vancouver includes the City of Vancouver, the municipalities of West Vancouver and North Vancouver, and also suburbs such as Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and New Westminster.

In the Fraser Valley, which includes the sprawling and less-expensive Vancouver suburb of Surrey, residential sales climbed to 1,102, up 20.7 per cent from February, 2013. The index price for detached homes reached $558,100, up 3.2 per cent from year earlier. Average prices for detached properties rose 9.7 per cent to $644,574 in the Fraser Valley.

The index price for detached houses, condos and townhouses was $428,100 in the Fraser Valley last month, or 1.3 per cent higher than in February, 2013. The average price for those three categories reached $519,082 last month, or a 10-per-cent hike from $471,767 a year earlier.

Source: Brent Jang, The Globe and Mail

The world’s wealthiest may look at expanding their real estate portfolio as they may use sub-orbital space travel to reduce travel time, believes Knight Frank.

More than 70 wealthy individuals, with a combined wealth of over $200 billion, are investing in space research projects, which includes asteroid mining to sub-orbital space travel, the global real estate consultancy said ahead of the March 5 release of its Wealth Report 2014.

“By travelling outside the Earth’s atmosphere, gravitational forces will allow spacecraft to travel at over 4,000 miles per hour, so breakfast in Mayfair could easily be followed by lunch overlooking Sydney Opera House,” says Knight Frank’s Head of Research Liam Bailey.

The consultancy believes that space travel will have impact on global luxury property markets, with ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) will grow their luxury property portfolio.

Though the Wealth Report’s Global Cities Survey confirms, London currently wins over New York as a global wealth hub because it is more convenient for African, Middle Eastern, Russian and European UHNWIs.

But this convenience premium could be noticeably reduced if Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic succeeds in making his vision for sub-orbital travel a reality.

Transcontinental travel – London to Sydney – a distance of 10,553 miles will be completed in 2.2 hours from the current 21 hours. Dubai to Vancouver, a distance of 7285 miles that currently takes a flight time of 14.5 hours, will be cut short to just 1.5 hours, says Knight Frank.

Talking to The Wealth Report, entrepreneur Richard Branson said: “New commercial space will be one of the most exciting investment sectors in the next 20 years, driven by the initial successes of companies like Virgin Galactic.

“There is already some good evidence that the leading players are receiving high levels of interest from the mainstream investment community and attracting valuations that reflect confidence in future growth and opportunity.”

In 2013, Virgin Galactic spokesperson told Emirates 24|7 that it expects thousands will take the suborbital spaceflight from Abu Dhabi.

“If approved, Virgin Galactic intends for the UAE spaceport to be the first international commercial spaceport, contingent on US regulatory approvals. The UAE spaceport will be a very desirable destination attracting people from all over the world to experience the unique view of earth from above the UAE,” a spokesperson said.

Currently, over 600 people from more than 50 countries have placed reservations. Celebs including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Ashton Kutcher are among those said to have bought $200,000 tickets.

Ticket price will play a critical role in defining the impact on real estate.

“If this is a technology for billionaires only, then property market disruption might be limited to a wider choice of global lunch options. But if the price drops to allow the merely very wealthy to access sub-orbital flights, then every assumption about current property prices will have to be reconsidered,” Bailey said.

Knight Frank has rated Dubai among the most sought after real estate destination in the world. In 2013, over 140 foreign nationalities, which includes Americans, Canadians and Europeans, invested Dh116 billion in the Dubai real estate market.

Source: Parag Deulgaonkar, Emirates 24/7 News