The B-C Real Estate Association says the province's housing market is staying relatively calm this spring,
The association says sales were up more than 15 per cent last month compared to February 2023.
B-C-R-E-A Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson says activity is picking up, but home sales are still below normal and prices have been essentially flat since last summer.
Active listings are up more than 20 per cent over last year's levels as a result of slower sales.
Police in eastern British Columbia are warning backcountry users to be ready for emergencies after a snowmobiler was killed and two skiers had to be rescued this week in separate incidents. RCMP in the Golden-Field detachment say the death happened on Jan. 21 when a snowmobile driven by a 24-year-old man left the trail down a steep embankment and hit some trees.
Homes sales in the province are forecast to increase this year by 7.8 per cent, in what the B-C Real Estate Association says will be a delicate balance for the market. The association’s Brian Ogmundson says headwinds slowed last year’s sales with elevated mortgage rates, but the recent decline in fixed mortgage rates and the potential for Bank of Canada rate cuts make it a more optimistic year.
The manager of a Vancouver rooming house that was the site of a fatal fire in 2022 broke down in tears at an inquest, telling the jury that staff needed better training in fire safety. Gina Vanemberg testified that a "red book" with fire safety procedures was given to her when she became manager of the Winters Hotel in 2020, but no one from her employer, Atira Property Management, went over the paperwork or confirmed that she read it.
Defence Minister Bill Blair says the military's greatest responsibility is protecting Canadians, and his government intends to keep calling on them for help in domestic emergencies. Blair says he knows responding to natural disasters puts a lot of pressure on the Armed Forces, which is dealing with a personnel shortage of more than 16,000 troops.
Vancouver's city council has approved a high-density development concept for a 36-hectare site on the city's west side, involving13,000 new homes. The Council says the Jericho Lands Policy Statement sets the direction for development of the land owned by a joint venture that includes three First Nations.
Far from the jungle, Tarzan and Jane swing quietly into action in a sterile laboratory at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver. They are robots that work with artificial intelligence to handle and process up to 70 per cent of the hospital's microbiology samples. The pair unscrew specimen tubes and streak the samples onto bacterial culture plates in the new $1-million automated WASPLab, short for "walk-away specimen processor."