Marpole residents rally against proposed zoning changes.

Close to 1,000 residents streamed into Marpole community centre Sunday to sign petitions and pick up lawn signs protesting proposed zoning changes in their neighbourhood.

The City of Vancouver’s draft community plan for Marpole includes rezoning to allow more highrises, apartments up to 12 storeys, stacked townhouses and mixed-use buildings.

Community spokesman Mike Burdick said the draft plan, which goes to council for consideration on October 24, came as a surprise to most Marpole residents.

“We are not opposed to rezoning or densification,” said Burdick, “but we need to slow down.”

Burdick said the city wants to increase the density of Marpole by as much as 50 per cent.

“Do the transit routes first, then take a breath and see if we need to do more.”

As we approach the end of summer, a look at transaction activity in Metro Vancouver at the 2/3 mark of the year shows a fairly significant drop compared to this time last year. Research prepared by Colliers International shows the number of transactions of over $3 Million down slightly for retail and apartment properties, and down almost 50% for office buildings (where supply has been scarce) and land (where demand is down after a busy 2012 that saw many large sites acquired).

An article in the Vancouver Sun mentions Realnet research reflects these numbers and shows even greater declines in Calgary and Toronto during the same period.

Perhaps this indicates the market’s collective belief that valuations are peaking for both investment properties and development sites.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has released their July 2013 stats. Generally, the market is showing increased sales activity over the summer months, and while pricing has been generally flat or slightly increasing in most areas. Some other highlights:

• Sales of condos reached 1,210 in July 2013, a 30.5% compared to the 927 sales in July 2012.
• The total number of properties currently listed for sale on in Metro Vancouver is
  16,618, which is an 8.1 per cent decrease compared to July 2012 and a 3.9 per cent decline from June 2013.
• Single family prices continued a downward trend, and are down 3.1% year over year (YoY). Vancouver Westside is down 4.7% during the same period.
• Overall Condo prices in Metro Vancouver are down 1.6% YoY.
• The only area where the overall benchmark price has increased since July 2012? Pitt Meadows, at 1.9% growth.
• Bowen Island (-0.7%) and the Sunshine Coast (-4.3%) are the only areas where single family pricing has declined since January.
• Ladner (-1.4%), Port Coquitlam (-2.9%), Maple Ridge (-3.1%), West Vancouver (-2.9%) and Tsawwassen (-2.6%) are the only condo markets where average pricing has declined since January.

Source: REBGV