British Columbia

There is a hefty premium for Metro Vancouver office rents close to Canada Line or Skytrain stations: nearly 23 per cent, according to a study by Jones Lang Lasalle.

Many Canadians would cut back on discretionary spending, buy with friends or buy a lakefront lot and build later – anything to get their own vacation cottage, according to a survey this spring by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

It is possible to buy an investment condominium for less money – and with better returns – in New York City than in Vancouver, according an expat New Yorker now living in Vancouver.

U.S.-based imited Brands Inc., owner of the Victoria's Secret retail chain, is the only major retailer currently negotiating to lease the 30,000-square-foot former HMV location on Robson Street, according to several sources.

Capitalization rates for commercial real estate in Metro Vancouver have plunged to all-time lows, spooking investors. A capitalization (cap) rate is the ratio between an asset's net operating income and its original price.

A new web page, BCjustice.

The retail vacancy rate in downtown Victoria has spiked to 7 per cent, according to NAI Commercial, while space in power centres and regional malls remains tight with a vacancy in the 2 per cent to 3 per cent range.

Surrey condominium developers are offering some sweet incentives to pre-sell new condos to investors who now account for a huge share of sales.

Metro Vancouver sales of real estate assets valued at more than $1 million hit a near record level in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey by RealNet Canada Inc.

Thousands of other construction workers may be seeing more work this year in northwest B.C. as a consortium of resource giants, including Shell Canada, are planning a $12 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Kitimat.