The Victoria Times Colonist ran an article earlier this week centered around Victoria’s harbour.  It is a comprehensive article outlining the history, evolution, layout, jurisdiction issues, and land use challenges facing both the harbour and the people who use, enjoy and work on and around it.

Although the harbour has always been in the news over the years, it has been appearing in the local media more and more of late with many issues, such as: the inevitable need to replace or refurbish the Johnson Street Bridge, the proposed large-yacht marina off of Songhees Rd, the seismic upgrades to the Canadian Pacific steamship terminal and many more.

The article emphasizes the need for the amalgamation of authority over land use planning at the various sites surrounding the harbour, something that many Victorians (myself included) feel has been lacking for a long time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am so very happy to call Victoria home (that wasn’t always the case).  I always look forward to time spent on or near the water, and when doing so I always meet visitors who would love to call Victoria home. 

That being said, there is a lot of room for improvement – this article does a good job of summarizing some of the larger challenges for getting the ball moving towards improved land uses around the harbour, lest Victorians continue to be complacent with the status quo.

You can read the article by clicking here.

Thanks for reading, as always, please call us for all of your real estate needs in Victoria, BC.

Sean

Our colleagues in our Vancouver office recently posted a piece on the Macdonald Realty Corporate Blog reviewing the luxury market sales in Vancouver in the first six months of 2010. 

In that time there were 169 sales over $3,000,000 in Greater Vancouver!  That number is greater than the all sales in 2008 (167) and is poised to break the record of 209 sales set last year.

The article points out that mostly foreign buyers are responsible for the activity in the luxury market, particularly those from Mainland China. 

We have seen a sharp increase in the number of buyers from China in our listings in the last three months as well.  In a 6 week period ending in June of 2010 we were receiving several showing requests from Chinese buyers and we did indeed sell two properties to buyers from China, one well over $2.5 million in price.

Traditionally, the bulk foreign investment or interest in our luxury property listings in Greater Victoria has come from Western Europe, the United States and to a lesser degree, the Pacific Rim countries in South East Asia.

According to one source, the increase in interest from buyers from Mainland China could be partially attributed to the Chinese government placing Victoria on their official approved list of travel destinations for their citizens.  I haven’t been able to verify this despite researching it for some time, although I continue to try and confirm that.  Regardless, we are seeing increased interest of late from China.

EDIT:  I have recently read in a few places that the Chinese government placed Canada (not just Victoria) on it’s approved list as a destination for its citizens earlier in 2010.  That actually surprised me a bit given the number of Chinese immigrants that have been in Greater Vancouver for decades, I have always thought of Vancouver as destination for Chinese citizens, I didn’t realize it wasn’t “official” for their tourists!  I have yet to be able to track down a source for that news, it has been difficult to find, however, I’ve seen it a few times in on-line media so I suspect it will turn out to be valid news.

The entire post can be read here.

Thanks for reading, please call us with all of your real estate needs in Victoria, BC.

Regards, Sean