Maple Ridge continues to be a buyers market. Latest numbers tabulated by Eximus Real Estate Team show Sell Through Rate (STR) of 12% for detached homes in Maple Ridge. Town homes currently have an STR of 5%. Supply and demand is currently in the favour of home buyers. 

Maple Ridge has been ranked once again as one of the top towns to invest in British Columbia by the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN). Maple Ridge's strong economic fundamentals make the current low STR poised to grow. The current buyers market provides a good opportunity for the Savvy investor to invest in an area with a bright future.

VICTORIA -- Global energy corporations are “dead serious” about investing in British Columbia’s potential as a world supplier of liquefied natural gas, said provincial Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman after a $16 billion announcement on Tuesday.

Malaysian national oil company Petronas said the investment would go toward a natural pipeline, LNG plants and an export terminal near Prince Rupert, on B.C.’s northern coast. continue reading

We are a nation whose economy is buoyed by its exports.

Resource commodities such as oil, gas, lumber, copper and coal travel beyond our borders by rail, by road, by sea, by air, and by pipeline — supporting a large number of well-paying jobs and delivering revenue to government.

Exports of crude oil, most of it travelling to the U.S. via pipeline, accounts for roughly 20 per cent of Canada’s total net exports, Scotiabank vice-president and commodities analyst Patricia Mohr said in a recent interview.

“The size of our domestic market, in terms of what consumers can really contribute, is quite small relative to our exports,: Mohr said. “We are an exporting nation.” continue reading

Meeting on areas of common interest on economic growth and job creation, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford agreed to work together for the benefit of British Columbians and Albertans.

"Both Alberta and British Columbia benefit when we work together to grow the economy and create jobs," said Premier Clark. "As the economic powerhouses of Canada, it's in the national interest for us to succeed."  Continue reading

 Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas1 were trending at 21,980 units in May compared to 22,093 in April according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)2 of housing starts.

"The housing starts trend in British Columbia recorded little change in May compared to April. The trend has been stable during the past few months with slightly higher levels of single-detached construction offsetting fewer multiple-family starts," said Carol Frketich, CMHC's Regional Economist for British Columbia. Continue reading

The U.K.’s BG Group Plc has unveiled plans to export the equivalent of one-quarter of Canada’s current daily natural gas production from a British Columbia terminal starting in 2021. The company, whose Canadian office is in Vancouver, has no reserves nearby.

The contradiction of an exporter with no gas has emerged as energy giants BG, Imperial Oil Ltd., Nexen Inc. and Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. join the growing queue of companies willing to spend billions on liquefied natural gas projects in order to capture higher prices overseas. continue reading

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Consumer confidence is falling, according to a survey, but people in BC are by far Canada’s most optimistic.

Read the full article here.

British Columbia's real estate market could be recovering with a report predicting that housing starts will trend up this year.

The province's housing starts are expected to climb from 27,465 homes in 2012 to 28,800 this year, then to 30,100 in 2014, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said in a news release on Friday.

British Columbia's unemployment rate dropped last month, as the Canadian economy created more jobs than economists expected in December.

Statistics Canada says while employment numbers stayed the same in B.C., the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 per cent.

British Columbia could emerge as the world's second largest exporter of liquid natural gas if all its proposed LNG projects are developed, a Conference Board of Canada report suggests.

In the short term, Canadian gas production is expected to decline due to low market prices and a glut of cheap United States gas. This is deterring drilling activity all over North America- which is bad news for B.C.'s treasury because it means less royalty revenue to be collected by the province.