Investor interest in Metro Vancouver commercial real estate topped $2 billion in 2012

[SpongeG]

Investor interest in Metro Vancouver commercial real estate topped $2 billion in 2012

VANCOUVER – Seeking alternatives to stocks and bonds at a time of volatility for the former and low interest rates on the latter, investors snapped up B.C. commercial real estate in all categories with 2012 sales totaling a record $2.35 billion, according to a report by the Avison Young real estate services company.

Of the 117 transactions recorded in the Avison Young report – itself a record number – “the first and foremost was Bentall 5 downtown, in late spring, for $401 million,” says Bob Levine, principal at Avison Young. Other significant transactions: the Plaza at New Westminster Station (mixed use) for $100 million; Richmond’s Hopewell Distribution Centre, phases one and two, for $102 million; and Coquitlam’s Whitgift Gardens (multi-family) for $57.5 million.


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Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz2OmTtISoE

[Millennium2002]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Investor interest in Metro Vancouver commercial real estate topped $2 billion in 2012

VANCOUVER – Seeking alternatives to stocks and bonds at a time of volatility for the former and low interest rates on the latter, investors snapped up B.C. commercial real estate in all categories with 2012 sales totaling a record $2.35 billion, according to a report by the Avison Young real estate services company.

Of the 117 transactions recorded in the Avison Young report – itself a record number – “the first and foremost was Bentall 5 downtown, in late spring, for $401 million,” says Bob Levine, principal at Avison Young. Other significant transactions: the Plaza at New Westminster Station (mixed use) for $100 million; Richmond’s Hopewell Distribution Centre, phases one and two, for $102 million; and Coquitlam’s Whitgift Gardens (multi-family) for $57.5 million.

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Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz2OmTtISoE

This sort of reaction, where one invests in property as being "safer" than stocks and bonds, is rather ill-advised and potentially dangerous. For one, the property market is still a market and continues to exhibit volatile tendencies, such as when the number of sales dropped in the past few years. Secondly, the value of properties is based mostly on demand and speculation (and less so on desirability): if both of those go, the value of the land is going to fall. Finally, what happens if the property value drops or plummets? You get the same as the markets: a loss.