Some of the biggest moves in the business world fly under the radar but can still have a massive impact on organizations and society at large. While such celebrity CEOs as Elon Musk make international headlines, Deb Liu never graced the front page for launching Facebook Marketplace.

Regardless, her efforts changed the way many people buy and sell. Interestingly, Liu first pitched integrating commerce into Facebook during a job interview in 2009. Liu landed a role at Facebook, but the commerce idea initially failed to gain much traction.

Nevertheless, she persisted, and the project slowly snowballed. Meanwhile, Liu helped set up the company’s Credits program, which people can use to play video games. She also worked on Facebook Platform, which enables developers to use Facebook data to build applications and services. 

Ultimately, Liu approached her time at Facebook with the mindset of an entrepreneur. She continued to pursue her vision for integrating commerce and Facebook Marketplace launched in 2016. The rest is history. Facebook Marketplace drummed up $26 billion in revenue in 2021 and Meta says that a billion shoppers a month use the platform. These days, folks use Facebook Marketplace to run virtual garage sales or even to remove vehicles from their garage.

In January, nearly 700 members took in our 2023 economic forecast event featuring REBGV's Director of Statistics and Data Analytics, Andrew Lis. Watch Andrew's presentation.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian employment rose to 20.03 million in January, up by 150,000 (0.5 per cent). The Canadian unemployment rate held steady at 5 per cent, hovering just above all-time lows. Employment gains were concentrated among workers aged 25 to 54; workers in Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta; and workers in wholesale and retail trade, health care and social assistance, and educational services. Average hourly wages were up 4.5 per cent from January of last year, while total hours worked were up 5.6 per cent year-over-year. 

Employment in BC rose by 7,700 (0.3 per cent) to 2.771 million in January, while Metro Vancouver's employment rose by 0.4 per cent month over month. BC's unemployment rate rose to 4.4 per cent, still near record lows, while Metro Vancouver's rate rose to 4.7 per cent. Among the provinces, only Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan currently have a lower unemployment rate. 

 

Link: https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-employment-january-2022-february-10-2023

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

At a restaurant, a June bug suddenly landed on a lady and frightened her. With a panic- stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping desperately, trying to shoo the bug.

Her reaction was contagious and everyone in her group also got panicky. Then the June bug flew away and landed on another lady in the group.

Now it was the second lady’s turn to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to her rescue. In the relay of throwing it back and forth, the June bug fell on

the waiter, who stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the bug on his shirt.

Confidently, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

While I sipped my coffee and watched with amusement, I wondered if the June bug was responsible for their frantic behavior.

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection without any chaos. It is not the bug, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the bug that disturbed the ladies.

When faced with an unexpected bug, the women instinctively reacted while the waiter wisely responded. Reactions can be emotional and uncontrolled, but by responding instead of reacting, we allow ourselves a chance to consider our decisions carefully.

In that moment, I understood that I should not react in life. Instead, I should always respond.

Valentine from your dog: Valentine, I love you to kibbles and bits! I still can't believe I found a human who loves sunsets and longs walks on the leash as much as I do!

From your cat: Valentine, I am marginally less indifferent to you than I am to others.

From the National Security Agency: Valentine, I love listening to you talk.

From a young adult: Baby, you are the only one in this dystopian world of blindly conforming adults who understands me.

• Amendments to the Strata Property Act that increase contingency reserve fund minimums are coming November 1, 2023.

• Changes to the From B Information Certificate requiring a summary of the strata corporation’s insurance coverage to be included will be coming April 1, 2023.

The BCREA Housing Monitor Dashboard has been updated with the latest data up to February 07, 2023. Click here to access the latest dashboard. 

About BCREA’s Housing Monitor Dashboard

The BCREA Economics team has created the Housing Monitor Dashboard to help REALTORS^® monitor BC’s housing market. This dashboard, which is updated monthly, provides up-to-date data on key variables for public education and use. Focuses include: 

• Resale Home Market

• Construction

• Rental Market

• Borrowing Costs

• Other BCREA Data

In the dashboard, the image and data are available for download under each chart, where possible. 

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

BCREA 2023 First Quarter Housing Forecast Update

Vancouver, BC – February, 2023. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) released its 2023 First Quarter Housing Forecast Update today.

Multiple Listing Service^® (MLS^®) residential sales in BC are forecast to decline 7.1 per cent to 75,150 units this year. In 2024, MLS^® residential sales are forecast to post a strong rebound, rising 23.8 per cent to 93,025 units. 

“A slowing economy and still elevated mortgage rates are expected to keep housing activity lower than normal through much of 2023,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “However, we expect a strong recovery, boosted by an expected decline in mortgage rates and record high immigration that will carry significant momentum into 2024.”
 
Inventories have increased from the depleted level at the beginning of 2022, but they remain low compared to historical levels, despite a sharp decrease in sales. However, the abrupt shift in market conditions has meant that prices have come down despite low inventory, falling from peak levels through the spring before stabilizing toward the end of last year. While we expect MLS^® average prices to trend relatively flat this year, they will be lower than the peak values of 2022. Consequently, year-over-year comparisons will register negative for much of 2023, likely resulting in negative annual price growth even if monthly prices begin to recover as expected later this year. 

For the complete news release, including detailed statistics, click here.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.