Lol they do that and that area will no longer be worth much. People want to move near metrowtown so they can have everything within walking distance. Brake that up into smaller shops..... Most likely won't happen.

With the way how some of shops are now they need to have large IE Cinplex, Superstore, T&T, Winners. Not to mention everything is indoor now with tons of parking. Brake that into smaller streets where are these shops going to be located or where is people going to park. It won't be as attractive as it is now.

on top of that population density ! fuk

I'm not so choked about 3.09% from Scotia, more annoyed that's the best that my broker could come up with when I've now discovered that I can basically walk into any bank and do significantly better. He seemed in awe that the credit union could even post 2.89% and figured there must be some exclusive fine print. The broker is supposed to help us sift through the junk and offer something at least competitive.

We have access to a staff rate with a credit union, 2.74% fixed for 5 years but OPEN. Trying to weigh this with the thought of going to 2.59% (or better) with HSBC that people have been saying is so easy to get, keeping in mind we don't use any of HSBC's services currently and not really looking to jump ship with the rest of our banking over to HSBC to save a few points.

I should tell my broker about what I've found since him and his wife are moving to the Scotia product as well, because he says its the best value out there currently...

The Forbes article is in reference to US tax law. In Canada, we do not have a similar tax law that enables trading of properties like they do in the US.

We do have "replacement" property rules but those rules are triggered when only very specific criteria are met. In the absence of meeting these specific criteria, a "like-kind" trade is still a disposition and will trigger the realization of any accrued gains.

Scotia 5 year insurable is 2.99 fixed / 2.45 variable. High ratio rate was 3.09 fixed but they have a special for 2.99 this month (fixed) 2.45 variable for high ratio as well. Non-insurable is 3.14 / 2.6

Thanks.. I guess this is more intended for relatives to transfer titles... and although the rules recently changed for a disclosure of "seller" and "buyer", the loop is still effect? All one needs to do is find someone to setup the trust? My mother has a Bayshore condo (mostly used as rental property) and we would like to find a trade for a house of similar value.
Well if the title can be transferred as a bare trust... there would be no need to even look into this option.

Dam that capital gains tax... they inflate the currency so that peoples saving are squandered... and if you put those saving into your home and it keeps its true value... youre not allowed to use it.

My parents and sisters are swapping their house. Parents are getting too old to take care of the house and with me moving out the place is just too big for 2 people. My sister currently lives in a 2 bedroom apartment with her husband and a baby is looking for a house since they want more speace (planing to have a 2nd baby). They like our parents a lot and decided to just to do a swap.

My sister have to fork out more money but I think since both buyer/seller are related there isn't any tax on both property just name transfer that was doen at a lawyer office.

This is not directed related to real estate, but take a look at this map which illustrates the change in the proportion of native Chinese speakers in various neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver over the last 10 years:


He points out that the number of native Chinese speakers has declined in many parts of East Van which largely reflects what many of us have been saying for a long time - East Van has gentrified and is the preferred area for white people who can't afford to buy a house on the West Side where they would have lived a generation ago. It's no surprise that various neighbourhoods such as Richmond and Burnaby have seen an increase in Chinese native speakers/immigrants. Also, noteworthy is the double digit increase in Burke Mountain and the 3+% increase in Anmore (half acre lots and up).

The guy is putting out some really interesting maps based on census data as it's released. I look forward to the next release of household income data in Canada in September.

How does one determine a "native" Chinese speaker? Is a CBC who only knows how to order Dim Sum in broken Cantonese a "native speaker"? Or is he out of the tribe now?

There's no doubt there are now more whites living in East Van but it's still full of Asians left and right. And immigrants from China? Methinks there's a bit more going on here than just "Asians moving East and Whites moving in"

NATIVE SPEAKERS ARE THE ONE THAT SPIT ON THE FLOOR :rukidding:

Stats Canada defines native tongue as the language spoken most commonly at home. Some CBCs may speak Cantonese or Mandarin at home, but the majority of them don't.

East Van is losing more native Chinese speakers meaning people who speak Chinese dialects at home. Does it reflect a declining number of ethnic Chinese? Not necessarily. But, my point is that East Van was where working class Chinese immigrants lived. Are there children of these immigrants staying in East Van? As someone from this very demographic, my experience says no. None of my ethnic Chinese friends live in East Van.

Lots of dem whites in ol' Hastings sunrise.

Honestly, I'd say there are as many if not more non-Asian ethnicities in east van now than my old hood Fraser heights, where it's seemingly 75%+ Korean now

And all my friends (Asian and White) have moved out of the West Side. A few friends from Burnaby even moved into East Van! Not to belittle your anecdote but a bit of confirmation bias perhaps? People grow up and move away from home. Many move into the most affordable place they can get others want to get away from the dotting eyes of their parents but still remain within driving distance. Nothing really new here - Dunbar was a working class area too when my family moved in, but now it's held up as some sort of money laundering dystopia. Many of my old neighbours are still there and there are still families moving in contrary to popular belief. To look for sweeping demographic trends over a period of 5-10 years is shaky and misleading to say the least.

Lived in East Van forever 30 years and going. Actually been in the same house since I was born except for like 3-4 years. It's crazy watching it change over the years. The last several has definitely been the most noticeable.

Sussex Metrotown virtual lineup starts today ...what a gongshow so far.. website is uber slow and crashing left and right.

$1100/ft for Metro and already 50% sold out to insiders :/

Didn't want to jinx it until the mortgage commitment documents were signed.
After a 7 month search, fiancee and I bought a condo on Fraser Street. Only 6 years old, and paid $795/ SF. To stay in East Van at that price, we are very happy. And we don't have to wait 2.5 years for it to be built.

Century building?

Metrotown is going to undergo a major redesign in the future. Instead of a giant mall like it is now. It will get broken into city blocks with apartments on top and small shops on the button. Still not sure how they will do that with some of the larger shops (Cinplex, Superstore T&T). If these shops were to close, metrotown wouldn't be as attractive as it is now and there won't be as much parking so less people will shop there.

Is funny how they are trying to copy the hipster style Vancouver have (more small shops, less cars, more foot traffic, expensive grocery store).

Oh and $1100/ft is normal around that area now.

dat hipster revival tho

Depends which pocket you're in. Certainly a lot of the area in general is white but my area which is around the Gun Store has a shit load of Asians, usually Chinese. Based purely on seeing neighbors around the hood I would dare say it's close to 50/50 but this is a relative small sample size for the entire neighborhood itself. I know for certain part of the neighborhood especially North of Hastings is mainly white.

Was just reading an update about this on News1130:

Metrotown to come down... within 40 years: councillor - NEWS 1130

and they say it's a 40 year plan. So it isn't going to change overnight -- or even at the pace of Brentwood (which they've mentioned as well).

I'm skeptical of how that vision is going to pan out, and it sounds like Burnaby is on track to demolish all the malls within its boundaries as a means to increase (residential) density. But in terms of clues, I suspect we can look at the Price Smart and the adjacent buildings that are already in use at Metrotown right now.

Even with weather as mild as Vancouver, I am skeptical how outdoor, street level retail is going to fare compared to a traditional mall setup. Burnaby is betting big on this one, and I wish them good luck -- for both their sake and ours.

So like east of renfrew between Hastings and first?

If so yea definitely seems more Asian in that pocket from going to different open houses etc over the last few years there

They are forgetting one major factor. Right now is not just close by resident that visit the mall. Is also people around the cities. Right now the mall have everything indoor (theater, shops, supermarkets, food court etc etc) is a one stop for everything. You turn that into smaller shops like commerial dr, yaletown or even robson, you lose a lot of people. The one main reason people stop going to DT is that there are 0 parking.

Not to mention with the way it is now even if it rains/snow/sun is still confortable to shop in. You turn it into more open space say bye bye to shoppers when it snow when people have to walk in and out of shops. And where is people park and shop?

All they need to do is look at Chinatown. Is exactly what they plan to do. Small shops with apartments and look at if anyone there loves going out shopping in the daytime or go out for dinner.

As much as I hate going Metrotown I'd sure hate it if it gets demolished. Will be a sad day when that happens

I think one of the most frustrating things here is how many resources we use up, and the waste we cause building things here just to tear them down for the sake of rebuilding. Its so wasteful.