The recent survey of EY published on August 29 shows that Canada is in the 5th place worldwide when it comes to real estate investment, the only developed nation to break into the top 5!  India, China, Qatar and Chile are the first four countries ranking as the emerging markets, which includes credit availability and economic stability.

With the exception of Canada, most investors are looking and focusing beyond the developed countries which can result to possible immense growth and potentials as per Krista Blaikie of EY's national real estate leader mentioned.

Canada still continues to attract the investors attention for  it's stable political and economic environment condition not found in the Eurozone.

This survey also suggested that 85% of the real estate executives believes that the global economy is stable and improving which is a big difference from 53% of last year.

Donald Trump will be lending his name to a $360M, 63 storey mixed used residential and hotel which will be located in downtown Vancouver.

Joo Kim Tiah of Holbourn Group (started 2001), which is one of the developers of Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver was said to have a common thing with Donald Trump Jr, both were sons of wealthiest families in their respective countries, and both are second generation people with a very successful father.

The Trump Tower which will be located at the intersection of West Georgia and Bute streets, will house 218 residential units and 147-room luxury hotel.  The hotel will feature a pool bar, restaurant, champagne lounge, Trump Spa, etc.  

The design, which was one of the last masterpieces of Arthur Erickson,  will be a twisting style tower which is thought to give each unit an unparallel view of the city of vancouver.  Residences will range in size from 644 to 2117sf and penthouses will be around 3500 and 4400 sf.  

Sales of Trump Tower will start in October 2013.  The project is expected to finish by Summer 2016.

For more info : visit www.TrumpVancouver.com

During the First Canadian conference of the Asian Real Estate Association of America which was held here in Vancouver, a Chinese-American agents from Chicago and other state agents have gathered here for a few days and talked about the latest "luxury-home tour".

The trend now is "contemporary".  Second generation Chinese are the driving force behind luxury homes nowadays, since the federal investor program that allowed immigration with an $800,000-plus investment ended in 2010, the new buying class is market-savvy, with the taste for contemporary design.  They are the main reason that Vancouver's overall housing market are recovering much faster.

It will be recall that in the 1980's wave of Hong Kong Buyers, whose raised on the British colonial tradition, would have gone for Tudor style mansions, but this new trend of Asian investor have a different taste. According to Ming Pao Chinese newspaper, this 2nd generation Chinese group is feeding 70-percent jump in sales of homes over $4-million in Greater Vancouver (according to Sotheby's Realty Report), they have already established themselves here.

Whistler market is on a downhill slide year after year for the past 5 years.  The bench mark price for a Whistler home fell 8% in the past year, 9.5% in the past 3 years, 21.5% in the past 5 years, this is according to Greater Vancouver (REBGV) statistics.  Condos on the other hand fared the worst, price declining 12.7%, 33.9% and 41.2% in the past 1 yr, 3 years, and 5 years respectively.

"Whistler is one of the best places to buy" Landcor Data Corp CEO Rudy Nielsen told BIV Vancouver.  " The market is definitely down, but you're never going to replace the best places in the world for skiing and recreational use." He added.

The key factor coud be:

- Global economic uncertainty;

- A comparative high Canadian dollar; and

- Tightened lending requirements for buying secondary homes.

However, a turnaround could be in sight as per Ann Chiasson told BIV last week that she sold a home worth $10Million even though the home was formerly listed at $15.7 Million, it's the most expensive Whistler home sales since 2009, she said.

read full story on www.biv.com/article/20130730/biv0111/307309931/0/biv0100