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Kathy Michaels, Penticton Western News, May 28, 2009

Real estate prices are showing signs of stability in and around Vancouver and Victoria, but experts say the bottom of the Okanagan’s market has yet to be established.

This week, Landcor and the BC Real Estate Association both released reports that downplayed the hysteria surrounding dropping home values, noting prices haven’t and won’t reach the depths previously anticipated. Both groups also highlighted that real estate values in B.C.’s larger urban centres,

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Paul J. Henderson, The Chilliwack Times, June 5, 2009

Balance, stability, gains–all words that have not been on the lips of economists or real estate experts for many months, but that may be changing.

“The majority of the decline in home prices has already occurred,” said Cameron Muir, B.C. Real Estate Association chief economist in a recent press release.

“Balanced markets are emerging in Victoria, Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

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Chris Bush, Nanaimo News Bulletin, July 7, 2009

Real estate sales in Nanaimo climbed through June, continuing a trend that started in February.

Multiple Listing Service statistics released by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board reports show 161 unit sales for June, beating May’s 124 units and well above June 2008, when just 111 units changed ownership in Nanaimo.

While sales are up, Nanaimo prices are down slightly from April’s average unit price of $352,555 – the highest so far this year.

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Kerry Gold, The Globe & Mail, May 22, 2009

It was a mere seven months ago that economists and newspaper headlines had declared a real estate downturn tantamount to the sky falling in on Vancouver homeowners.

But recent reports suggest the downturn wasn’t nearly as severe as previously imagined. According to the most recent statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, residential property sales in Greater Vancouver are up 31 per cent from March to April,

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Kerry Gold, The Globe & Mail,  June 19, 2009

In this economic climate, developers must sweeten the pot if they’re going to draw new customers.

Fractional ownership of a recreational property is a sweetener that’s growing in popularity.

It’s a type of ownership that can be used for the purchase of any property – real estate, boats and racehorses. In the case of real estate, the owner has clear title over a portion of the property.

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Pieta Wooley, Georgia Straight, May 28, 2009

This spring, Sarah McMillan and Gavin Wright pulled up their urban Vancouver roots and headed to a plot of leased land north of Pemberton. The couple met at UBC Farm last summer, fell in love, and shared their city-folk dream of country living. Unlike many other dreamers, though, they made theirs happen. This summer, McMillan and Wright plan to grow and sell beets,

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David Parkinson, Globe & Mail,- Sept 25, 2004

Ever wanted to swagger up to that idealistic young drifter, blow a cloud of cigar smoke in his face and drawl, “Son, I own this town”?

Well, put your millions where your mouth is. Several towns in North America have gone up for sale in the past few years — roads, buildings, businesses, homes, utilities, everything.

Most of these are ghost towns,

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Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, March 31, 2009

Invermere realtor Wende Brash surmises that what’s happening on the streets of Calgary has a lot to do with the slow sales of vacation property on the East Kootenays’ lake fronts and mountainsides.

“What’s happening is that Calgary is starting to do major layoffs,” Brash said in an interview, “and though we do have people who are ready to buy, they’re waiting to see if they have a job.”

Whether it is the oilpatch elites hesitating over job insecurities,

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Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, Friday, March 13, 2009

Seattle resident Steven Thompson admits he’s probably an anomaly as an American looking to buy a condominium in downtown Vancouver.

About 30 per cent fewer foreign buyers, including Americans, dipped into British Columbia’s real estate markets in 2008, compared with 2007, according to data from the property research firm Landcor Data Corp.

Many Americans saw their properties at home deflate in value during 2008,

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North Shore Outlook, January 12, 2009

More posh homes in the Lower Mainland now have assessed values of more than $1 million, despite the ongoing slide in real estate prices.

That’s because the province capped this year’s assessments at the lowest value of the past two years, so the new numbers don’t reflect the deteriorating market prices of the last several months.

Landcor Data Corporation, which analyzed the region’s property assessments,

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