According to the latest housing market outlook by CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.), existing home sales are expected to rise 8% next year due to BC's pick up in economy that is associated by jobs increases in 2014.

The CMHC also reported that the demand for homes next year is expected to ride the momentum of a rebounding market and post some positive gains.  There is also an  increased demand for B.C. goods key export markets that will improve the economic prospects next year.

Housing starts will be good.  However, it wasn't expected to rise substantially in 2014.  CMHC also forecast 18,200 new housing units this year and 18,400 units in 2014.

Mortgage rates are expected to rise marginally next year, but CMHC mentioned that the suggested lending rates will remain "supportive" for the housing market given rates remain low by historical standards.  By the end of 2014, CMHC is forecasting the one-year posted mortgage rate to rise 0.25% from 2013 levels to between 3.25% and 3.75%, and the five-year posted mortgage rate to rise to between 5.25% to 6% from between 5% and 5.50% in 2013.

The September home sales in Vancouver region were up to nearly 64% as the market posted big gains from last year's market when sales plunged due to the change in mortgage lending rules.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver also mentioned that there were 2,483 sales through it's Multiple Listing Service in September, which made up from 1,516 a year ago.

Board president Sandra Wyatt also mentioned that the sales are considerably up from last year but it's important to note that last September 2012 sales were among the lowest in three decades.  She also added that Home Sale and Listing activity this September were in line with the 10-year average for the month.

Real Estate sales in Vancouver have bounced back strong in recent months if we compare to last year when federal finance minister Jim Flaherty tightened the mortgage lending rules.  The move by the minister sent the sales down to Canadian real estate last year, however, the sales have since picked up again in many areas.

According to BCREA ( British Columbia Real Estate Association, the residential housing sales in B.C. were up by 28.6% in August.  The Multiple Listing Service showed there were 6,863 residential homes sales happened last month in B.C. which came to a total of $3.66 billion.  This is an increase of 39.7% from August of 2012 sales in dollar term.

Chief economist Cameron Muir noted that during 2012, a lot of home buyers stayed on the sidelines for almost the whole year due to fear of a housing market hard landing, but this year, it's the sense of urgency to lock in a mortgage at a low interest rate that cause a good summer home activity.

BCREA predicted that although mortgage is anticipated to rise, the impact on home sales will offset by the stronger economic conditions and the employment growth.

Thomas Edison once said " Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up".

This is also true to real estate.  There's no question that real estate investing can be very difficult for anyone, not only beginners.  There are so many things to take into account and might go wrong, the stakes are high as well...  Well, we're talking about one of the biggest financial commitments in our life!

When there are so many negative sentiment in the market, it's but natural that we question the soundness of our investments.  Am I making a big mistake in investing in real estate?  Should I cut my loses now? Should I wait to get in the market?  These are the many questions in our mind.  There is nothing wrong in constantly assessing our investments.  In fact, this is one thing that we dont do enough in our investments portfolio.  The trouble comes in when we response to a perceived threat to our investments without thorough and careful consideration of the facts.  Unfortunately, we are all highly susceptible to outside noise and we let ourselves influenced by a few people's opinion, without doing our own research,  We avoid the market or worse, we sell in the belief that we're protecting ourselves from further loses.  Another thing we should consider in investing in real estate is create a back up or second option plan.  

What we dont realized is that there are still some layers of market that we didnt take into account...Even in markets that are supposed to be overheated such as Vancouver, there are still some areas that we could go and make profits...we just have to be more creative and yes, there are still properties that could generate a cash flow in this city.  Just remember this saying by Seth Godin " Seek out the difficult, because you can.  Because it's worth it"

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.