Chinatown

Vancouver Real Estate Sales break records in July

And we thought June was a great month for the Vancouver real estate market.

The Vancouver Sun reported a couple of days ago that both the Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley real estate boards reported record home sales for the month of July. Below are the juicy details (aka the numbers)!!

July Sales for Vancouver Real Estate

4,114 sales in Metro Vancouver (via MLS)
–> 89% increase from July 2008
Price of typical single family home in Greater Vancouver area: $711,702
–> -5.5% since July 2008
–> +10% since beginning of 2009

2,089 sales in Fraser Valley (via MLS)
–> 62% increase from July 2008
Price of typical single family home in Fraser Valley area: $477,420
–> almost -6% since July 2008
–> almost +4% in the last 3 months

Of these sales, a whopping 37% were comprised of first time home buyers.

#1 Place to Live!!

Vancouver has come out on top of a recent Livability survey!

Its not that surprising for the people that have already moved here, lived here or has ever been here.  But it might surprise people who have not been to Vancouver. Here is the Full Story.

http://www.news1130.com/more.jsp?content=20090608_174330_9272

Makes me proud to be living in a world class City!

Chinatown Area Info

Chinatown in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is the Western Hemisphere’s second largest Chinatown in area (after San Francisco), and third largest in population (after San Francisco and New York City). Centred on Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown and the Downtown Financial and Central Business Districts to the west, remnants of old Japantown and the Downtown Eastside to the north, and the residential neighbourhood of Strathcona to the east. The approximate street borders of Chinatown’s commercial area are Hastings, Georgia, Gore, and Taylor Streets, although its boundaries extend well into the residential area south of the Downtown Eastside. Main, Pender, and Keefer Streets are the principal areas of commercial activity.

Due to the large ethnic Chinese presence in Vancouver—especially represented by multi-generation Chinese Canadians and first-generation immigrants from Hong Kong, the city has been referred to as “Hongcouver” (a term considered derogatory by some). Chinatown remains a popular tourist attraction, but was more recently overshadowed by the newer Asian immigrant business district along No. 3 Road in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. Many affluent Hong Kong and Taiwanese immigrants have moved there since the late 1980s, coinciding with the increase of Chinese-ethnic retail and restaurants in that area. This new area is designated the “Golden Village” by the City of Richmond, which met resistance to the proposed renaming of the area to “Chinatown” both from merchants in Vancouver’s Chinatown and also from non-Chinese residents and merchants in Richmond itself.

Vancouver’s Chinatown is one of the largest historic Chinatowns in North America. However, it went into decline as newer members of Vancouver’s Cantonese Chinese community dispersed to other areas of the metropolis.

Chinatown was once known for its neon signs but like the rest of the city lost many of the spectacular signs to changing times and a new sign bylaw passed in 1974. The last of the spectaculars was the Ho Ho sign (which showed a rice bowl and chop sticks) which was removed in 1997. Ongoing efforts at revitalization include efforts by the business community to improve safety by hiring private security; looking at new marketing promotions and introducing residential units into the neighbourhood by restoring and renovating some of the heritage buildings. Current focus is on the restoration and adaptive reuse of the distinctive Association buildings.