If you want to transform a room into something that’s functional, beautiful and perfectly matched to your taste, then you might want to hire an interior designer.

It’s an interior designer’s job to come up with imaginative ideas that will wow you.

It’s a myth that interior designers just deal with paint colours, décor and furnishings. In fact, according to the Interior Designers Institute, these professionals have the training needed to handle all aspects of a renovation or remodeling project, including selecting and managing contractors. They can direct a project from beginning to end.

If you want to renovate your basement into a stunning home theatre and gathering place, an interior designer can:

• Draw out several concepts for you to choose from,

• Purchase the best building materials,

• Hire the contractors, and

• Manage the project.

He or she can even pick out classic movie pictures for the walls!

There are many professional associations that have “Find an Interior Designer” links on their websites in Canada, it’s the Interior Designers of Canada (www.idcanada.org). Or you can just ask us.

We are here to help.

Thanks,

AA

Momentum has begun to wane in global housing markets, which are beginning to lose steam in most of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Nevertheless, property markets in Europe, Canada, and parts of Asia have remained robust in Q1 2017.

This quarter, Hong Kong reigned as the top performing global housing market that saw the biggest surge in home price increase, followed by most of Europe – six out of the top 10 housing markets in Q1 2017 were in Europe, and house prices grew in 17 out of its 23 European housing markets.

The 5 strongest markets in Q1 2017 were Hong Kong (+17.27%),  Iceland (+16.01%), China (+13.16%), Canada (+11.70%), and Ireland (+8.91%).

In North America, home prices have continued its rally in Canada in spite of repeated cooling measures being imposed in the market, while US home prices – buoyed by bullish homebuilder sentiments – maintained its slow but steady rise.

Over at the Pacific Ocean, a slew of tax increases and loan restrictions in Australia failed to significantly cool property prices in Australia, which have continued to spike. In New Zealand, reconstruction work following the earthquake have led housing prices to accelerate, even in the face of a loan restriction imposed by the government at the end of last year.

Here in Asia, housing prices in four out of ten Asian markets fell y-o-y. Asides from Hong Kong, two other markets that rose significantly this quarter were the Philippines and Taiwan. Although home prices in China continued to surge, property prices in Shanghai declined.

Elsewhere, the downtrend continues, as housing markets in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa either remained stagnant or saw falling housing prices, with the weakest performers being Egypt (-16.68%), Qatar (-10.63%), Russia (-8.33%), Macedonia (-7.92%), and Puerto Rico (-6.96%).

Regional snapshots:

North American markets rally

• US home prices rise slowly, but sentiment remains bullish – although the S&P/Case-Shiller seasonally adjusted national home pricing merely grew 3.29% y-o-y, the slowest pace since Q3 2014, residential construction activity remained robust amidst supply shortage and President Trump’s promise to ease building regulations.
• Canadian housing prices withstand cooling measures to surge onwards – policy restrictions have been introduced repeatedly to no avail, as home prices in 11 major cities rose 11.7% y-o-y in Q1 2017, the biggest y-o-y growth since Q3 2006.

Fraser Valley home sales still strong despite summer slowdown

SURREY, BC – Sales activity remained strong in July, despite month-over-month decreases for each of the three major residential property types. This was the sixth strongest July historically for the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board processed 1,937 sales of all property types on its Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in July, a decrease of 1.3 per cent compared to the 1,962 sales in July of last year, and a 24.7 per cent decrease compared to the 2,571 sales in June 2017.

Of the 1,937 sales processed last month, 447 were townhouses and 544 were apartments. This is the twelfth consecutive month attached sales have outpaced detached sales in the region.

“Even though activity has eased off for the summer we’re continuing to see the same trends we’ve seen all year. Namely, strong demand for attached-style homes and slight but steady increases in pricing," said Gopal Sahota, Board President.

Last month the total active inventory for the Fraser Valley was 5,970 listings. Active inventory decreased by 0.7 per cent year-over-year, and increased 8.8 per cent when compared to June 2017.

The Board received 3,301 new listings in July, a 2.3 per cent increase from July 2016, and a 11 per cent decrease compared to June 2017’s 3,707 new listings.

"Thankfully we’re continuing to see greater amounts of inventory come on to the market, with homes that are priced effectively still selling fast and encountering multiple offer situations,” continued Sahota.

“If you’re looking to buy, you’ll be in the best position to do so if you know what you want and can make a decision quickly. Talk to a REALTOR® to help you get where you need to be.”

For the Fraser Valley region, the average number of days to sell a single family detached home in July 2017 was 24 days, compared to 18 days in July 2016.

HPI® Benchmark Price Activity 

• Single Family Detached: At $966,000, the Benchmark price for a single family detached home in the Valley increased 3.4 per cent compared to June 2017, and increased 10.0 per cent compared to July 2016.

• Townhomes: At $485,900 the Benchmark price for a townhome in the Fraser Valley increased 4.0 per cent compared to June 2017, and increased 18.1 per cent compared to July 2016.

• Apartments: At $341,100, the Benchmark price for apartments/condos in the Fraser Valley increased 4.9 per cent compared to June 2017, and increased 33.3 per cent compared to July 2016.

Full package:
http://www.fvreb.bc.ca/statistics/Package201707.pdf