July 2023

Reprieve from rates, recession and inflation?

Posted on Jul 25, 2023

Is there anything more tiring than hearing about interest rates and the economy, week after week, month after month? Well, it may be time for some good news.
As in…hearing next to nothing about both.
Perhaps.
Statistics Canada is reporting that inflation fell to 2.8 per cent, and that’s just within the Federal Government’s tolerance target of one to t...

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The days of summer — hot and ‘humidex hot’

Posted on Jul 19, 2023

There is “How hot is it?”…and there is “How hot does it FEEL?” The definition of each — and the difference between them — is measured by Canadian meteorologists as the “humidex.” In the U.S., it’s called “heat index” and is calculated using a slightly different formula of combining temperatures and humidity.
As climate change evolves, more attention...

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Reactions to latest increase in interest rates

Posted on Jul 13, 2023

The latest interest-rate increase by the Bank of Canada to five per cent, the highest it has been since 2001, is not helpful for the real estate industry. 
The nature of the preliminary market response and the discussions in the last couple of weeks among experts has left the impression that interest rate are maxed out so there doesn’t seem to be a...

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A look at ‘repurposing’ downtown office space

Posted on Jul 09, 2023

There are high rises, and there are high rises. Some are for offices, the others for apartments. Generally, downtown areas have a generous supply of both. At least Vancouver does.
The pandemic resulted in more office employees “working from home” and many of them liked it so much that it has turned into a semi-permanent — or in some cases permanent...

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