As Vancouver’s housing market cools, commercial property sales soar

Claire Wyrostok, owner of popular Vancouver vegetarian restaurant Black Lodge, wonders how long it will be until Vancouver’s hot real estate market pushes her out of business. In the four years that Ms. Wyrostok has been at her current location, on Kingsway just off Fraser Street, many of the buildings in her strip have been sold and property values have more than doubled. Since Ms. Wyrostok’s three-year lease came up for renewal in March, she says the landlord is allowing her to rent only month to month.

“Every day I don’t know if I am going to get a notice with 30 days to get out,” Ms. Wyrostok says. “Our business is done,” she adds. “You develop a business to make it bigger, but we can’t expand, and we can’t sell our business. Our business has no value on paper, because the asset is the lease.”

While the residential real estate market in Vancouver is cooling, sales of commercial properties in the region have skyrocketed. The Re/Max Commercial Investor Report says there was a 94-per-cent increase in the total dollar value of Lower Mainland sales in the first half of 2016 compared with the first half of 2015, to $7.1 billion from $3.7 billion. The number of commercial property sales in the first half of 2016 was 1,464, compared with 1,138 in the same period last year.

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And some, including Tony Letvinchuk, managing director for Macdonald Commercial Real Estate Services, believe that the foreign-buyer tax on residential purchases will play a role in driving the market, which is generally perceived as a balanced mix of local and foreign buyers.

“There’s no question that the additional 15-per-cent property purchase tax will motivate foreign entities – being those who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents – to consider purchasing commercial properties located in Greater Vancouver, where such transaction tax does not apply,” he says.

The chief factor driving interest in commercial properties is the low interest rate. It makes it more affordable to hold land, which is partly why the sale of developable land represents the biggest share of the market, says Paul Richter, director of commercial property consultants Altus Group. Empty lots or buildings ripe for multifamily residential redevelopment are the biggest draw, especially if located near a future transit corridor.

“We certainly haven’t seen the dollar volume and number of deals this high ever. I’ve been doing this job since 2002, and it’s never been busier. Even in 2007, [before the financial crisis], it was not anywhere near as busy as this.”

Like commercial markets in many cities, offshore money was playing a big role for some time prior to the tax, says Moojan Azizi, managing director of Re/Max Commercial Advantage. He also anticipates an increase.

“Buyers are typically private buyers, a lot of offshore, and whether that’s increased because of the tax, I don’t have the stats yet. But logic would say it’s most likely, because paying [an extra] 15-per-cent tax on residential compared to a commercial property could be a matter of millions of dollars … I know for a fact that offshore money has been pouring into commercial for last few years. That was happening already. But we do anticipate an increase.”

Land speculation is creating concerns for some residents of Vancouver and the surrounding communities. On a tree-lined boulevard in Surrey, B.C., for example, locals have noticed that a property that takes up an entire city block has sat empty since it was completed about 16 years ago.

The building at 14178 104 Ave. has 275,000 square feet of commercial space, and it sits on a lot of more than 1.4 hectares. Early on, it was called the Asian Centre, and its orange-brick-and-glass façade has details that reflect its intended use as an Asian community hub, where vendors and arts and culture groups would come together.

However, its Taiwanese investors pulled out as construction costs grew, and the building was sold, then went through a series of failed purchase negotiations and, eventually, ended up in the hands of a Tucson businessman named Donald Pitt. Mr. Pitt only wants to deal with a single tenant, according to his real estate agent and asset manager, Ron Emerson.

“He’s owned it for a long time, and he believes in its value. So we just continue to look. If someone offered him the right number, I think he would sell it.”

An empty building of that size is a blight on the business community that relies on every square foot of floor space to build quality jobs, says Anita Huberman, chief executive officer of the Surrey Board of Trade. Also, it skews the city’s vacancy statistics, and it just isn’t realistic to hold out for a single tenant for a building of that size, she says.

“It is a building that has so much potential, and it’s just sitting empty. It could even be a convention centre, which Surrey needs. We are really lacking in that infrastructure. And on a light-rail corridor, it could be one of the showcase pieces for our city.”

Follow Kerry Gold on Twitter: @goldiein604

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不收15%转让税 温哥华商业地产市场开始发烧

http://info.51.ca/life/estate/2016-11/480788.html

自卑诗省府从今年8月初开始对海外买家征收15%的转让税之后，大温地区房市逐渐变冷，近两个月来房屋交易量节节下跌，房价也开始下滑。但与此形成对照的是，温哥华地区的商业地产市场却开始发烧。

据加拿大地产公司Re/Max刚刚发布的商业投资者报告（Re/Max Commercial Investor Report），今年上半年低陆平原（Lower Mainland）房屋销售总额比去年同期上升92%，即从去年的$37亿升至今年的$71亿。而从商业地产来看，今年上半年销售量为1,464套，比去年同期的1,138套上升近29%。

温哥华Macdonald商业地产服务中心（Macdonald Commercial Real Estate Service）的总经理Tony Letvinchuk认为，由于省府对海外买家征收15%的转让税主要针对住宅物业而不是商业地产，估计不少海外买家会把投资转向商业地产，催动大温地区商业地产市场更为活跃。

温哥华一家商业地产咨询公司（Altus Group）的专家Paul Richter也有类似看法。他说，显而易见，低利率是驱动买家购买商业地产乃至空地的主要动力，尤其是靠近交通走廊的商业地产及空地特别紧俏。他说自己从2002年就开始从事商业地产咨询业务，几乎从来没有这么忙碌过，即使经济衰退之前的2007年，也没有这么多生意。

地产公司Re/Max商业地产部（Re/Max Commercial Advantage） 的执行经理Moojan Azizi指出，加拿大很多城市流入商业地产的热钱很大部分来自海外，温哥华也不例外。但在省府对海外买家征收住宅物业的转让税之后，可以预期本地商业地产会热起来。

Moojan Azizi还说，这是一道简单不过的算术题，你买住宅物业要付额外的税，而且税率高达15%，一幢千万豪宅就要付百多万额外的税，买家精明的很，他们把资金转向商业地产不足为奇。虽然最近几年就有海外买家购买商业地产，但毫无疑问的是，为了避开住宅物业额外的转让税，会有越来越多的海外买家涌向商业地产市场。

素里的“亚洲中心”被转卖多次

在大温地区素里（Surre）一个路树成荫的社区，位于14178 104 Ave的“亚洲中心”（Asian Centre）有275,000平方尺的商业营业面积，占地1.4公顷，几乎占了整个街区，其橘黄色及玻璃外观很是引人注目。但随着建筑成本上升，来自台湾的投资者撤资，导致这个商业物业被转卖多次。

最后这个物业由来自美国Tucson的商人Donald Pitt拿下，但他一直没有出手。按照其地产经纪的说法，新业主相信这个物业的价值，不见到他认为合适的买家拿出合适的价格，他不会出售这个物业。

10月份温哥华房屋销量及房价双降

就在本月初，大温房地产局 （Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver）发布了10月份的数字，该月房屋销售量为2,233套，而一年前则是3,646套，今年10月比去年同期下滑近39%。

就房价而言，今年10月份大温地区平均房价为$919,300，比去年同期上升24.8%，但比今年9月则降0.8%。地产局主席Dan Morrison认为，自卑诗省府从今年8月实施对海外买家征收15%的转让税之后，大温地区房屋销量开始下降，10月的数字也说明政府对房市的干预起到了作用。