By Clark Wilson’s Commercial Real Estate Group, Clark Wilson LLP
Republished with permission from BCRELinks.com

At this year’s Annual Industry Forecast Luncheon of the Urban Development Institute – Pacific Region, 1100 guests heard moderator Diana McMeekin of Artemis Marketing coax a largely optimistic outlook from the panel of industry leaders, punctuated by some entertaining rants on world economic conditions, hysterical media and the prospect of political change.

Before moving onto more specific questions for individual panelists, the proceedings started with each being asked to answer the question “What’s in store in 2013?” for their respective areas:

Sarah Jones, Shauna Towriss & Kyle Wilson, Clark Wilson LLP
Republished with permission from BCRELinks.com

January 2012

UDI kicked off its 40th year with yet another sold-out Annual Industry Forecast Luncheon. Don Forsgren, UDI President and President of Intracorp Projects Ltd., launched UDI’s “More Homes for More People” initiative, explaining that lack of “affordable” housing, particularly in the lower mainland, is damaging to individuals, families, and business.

David & Mark Goodman

The question has come up from time to time from our readership as to how they can increase and/or unlock their property values. Many rental buildings are now between 40 and 60 years old and growing increasingly inefficient and costly to maintain. Often they are located in prime urban areas resulting in grossly underutilized land.  In these situations, the underlying properties may have greater value than present day value based on the Income Approach.  Value may be increased by improving density on the property. Many local municipalities, at times unbeknownst to owners, have implemented policies of densification in respect to multi-family housing. A timely review of your property may help to increase your ultimate asset value not currently reflected under the Income Approach.

Sarah Ripplinger, North Shore News
November 2009

Plans to densify parts of the District of North Vancouver could be undercut by a policy shift designed to place more money in district pockets, according to David Goodman, a commercial Realtor with HQ Real Estate Services.

District council reviewed a draft community amenity contributions policy during a workshop on Monday that Goodman worries could result in a further shortfall in market housing.

Michael Geller, Michael Geller & Associates
February 2009

This came to mind as I read the forecast for the coming year in the January issue of The Goodman Report. It is going to be a more challenging year. But as someone who was weaned on Edward de Bono, the British thinker who coined the term ‘lateral thinking’, I believe the next few years could also be a period of opportunity for those of us willing to be creative and seek out innovative ideas.