Deloitte Real Estate’s recent Crane Survey highlights a trend in retail mall ownership: there are few opportunities to buy malls, leading prospective mall owners to either build new developments or to reinvest in existing assets.

The report notes that a handful of groups own the majority of large retail assets in Metro Vancouver.

“Most of the larger shopping centres in Canada are owned by a select few groups, and they haven’t been sellers in recent years,” Andrew Evans, who co-authored the report, told Business in Vancouver.

Courtesy BIV. Read more: http://www.biv.com/article/20121113/BIV0111/121119994/0/small-business-confidence-continues-slide-in-june/mall-sales-scarcity-forcing-owners-to-reinvest-or-expand

Resales volume for single family houses in  Surrey (excluding South Surrey/White Rock) have slowed considerably since June 2012. There were 181 resales in October 2012, well below the average for this market which is closer to 300 resales per month.

Pricing in Surrey appears to be flat, with the October 2012 benchmark price index roughly unchanged from October 2011. Of the currently available 1,688 single family detached houses in Surrey, the average asking price is $706,000.

Source: FVREB stats.

Onni development backlash grows.

A group of City of North Vancouver residents, about 700 of them so far, are hoping to stay council’s hand on approving what could be the largest development in Upper Lonsdale history.

City resident Linda Heese and a few other volunteers have been collecting signatures for a petition calling on council to reject a proposal from developer Onni Group for the Safeway site at 13th Street and Lonsdale Avenue. The project would see 344 residential units in two towers measuring 180 and 240 feet in height, atop a commercial podium including a new grocery store. The project goes to a public hearing and likely vote by council on Nov. 19.

But in Heese’s view, the towers are too tall and dense for the neighbourhood and abut the sidewalks, which will “change, irrevocably” the character of what is now a nice pedestrian street.