Sun
This just in, from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. . . .
Number of homes started last year by builders and developers, urban B.C.: 34,364
started: 10,536
Number of attached homes started: 23,828
% change from 2006, number of attached homes started: 17
% change from 2006, number of detached homes started: -14
% change from 2006, number of all homes started: 5.5
Ten years ago, six attached homes were started for every four detached homes, the national housing agency’s statistics show. Last year, seven attached homes were started for every three detached homes.
” . . . high prices for single-detached homes forced some home buyers to look at denser housing forms, and the development industry responded accordingly,” agency economist Carol Frketich commented in a news release.
HOME BUILDERS SCHEDULE ANNUAL CUSTOM SEMINAR
Help is at the ready for anyone looking to have a home custom-built.
On Saturday, Jan. 26, the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. will be holding a full-day workshop called What’s New in Homebuilding.
The workshop, to be held at the Eaglequest Golf Course in Surrey, will address the latest in construction technology, design, indoor air quality and green initiatives.
As well, CMHC consultant Lance Jakubec will discuss his organization’s consumer resources and programs, including the Net Zero Energy Healthy House.
The workshop costs $60 for individuals or $100 for couples — plus GST — and includes lunch. Registration is limited to 50 people and is required by Jan. 17. For more information, call 604-588-5036.
AMERICAN CUSTOMER LIVES IN IKEA STORE
A 31-year-old IKEA customer, Mark Malkoff, lived in an IKEA store in Elizabeth, N.J., for a week in response to a promotion by the Swedish retailer asking Americans if they were “ready to take advantage of us.”
He was because his New York City apartment was being fumigated. It is full of IKEA furniture.
“I’m their house guest, so they take care of me,” Malkoff said in a telephone interview from the store, where he took up residence in a bedroom with the store’s approval.
If customers want to come into his room, Malkoff said he makes them take their shoes off.
He has received invitations to birthday parties and bar mitzvahs and last week played “laser tag” with the security guards.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008