Richmond Review, May 04, 2012

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richmondreview.com

REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1932

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

40 PAGES

INSIDE

Meet Gateway’s new artistic director Page 3

The winning group from Richmond included mentor Rattan Bagga, CEO of New World Natural Foods, students Rajeev Bagga, Dayah Johal, Karnpreet Sanghera, Aman Malhotra, Ravi Chalhotra and mentor Amit Sandhu, CEO of Ampri Group of Companies.

Young business minds make winning pitch Five-member crew wins $25,000 prize in Atlanta

Martin van den Hemel photo An expected April real estate sales surge did not materialize.

Market correction?

by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter Dayah Johal and Karnpreet Sanghera are still feeling the buzz from an amazing trip to Atlanta last week, in which they and three teammates competed against 18 international teams, and came out on top. Together with Vancouver’s Ravi Chalhotra, Aman Malhotra and Rajeev Bagga, the group developed the idea of a spray-on cast, and earned bragging rights and a $25,000 prize. “It was awesome,” said Sanghera, in her final year at R.C. Palmer secondary. “For us just being there was such a milestone.” Johal said the teams made presentations over the course of two days, and on the third day, during an awards ceremony, all gathered to hear who’d come up on top in the eyes of the judges. The third-place team was announced first, then the secondplace group, and before reading out the winner’s name, the announcer dropped a hint by saying the top group came from a country making its debut at the competition. “We had no clue what to expect,” Johal said. The team, who are copyrighting their company’s name, GenAid, and patenting their product, Regenacast, is doing the unexpected again, by donating $5,000 to the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation, and hoping to triple that amount through a fundraising campaign. See Page 6

Regional sales for April were lowest since 2001 by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter Spring has sprung, but the expected boost to the Richmond real estate market that usually accompanies the warmer weather didn’t materialize in April. According to the latest numbers from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the sale of single detached homes dropped more than 20 per cent last month compared to a year ago, with 114 homes being sold, compared to 143 in 2011. “It’s not where it should be in April,” said realtor Austin Kay, who said we’re currently in a buyer’s market, with prices trending downward. While there was a drop in sales, the median selling price remained relatively strong,

with the 114 homes selling for a median of $974,000. The number of townhouses and condos sold, and their selling price, also dropped last month compared to April of 2011. Townhouse sales dropped 34 per cent, while prices fell about five per cent to $519,000. Condo sales dropped 10 per cent, with prices falling 1.5 per cent to $341,000. Kay believes there’s already been a market correction since a strong four-month stretch early last year saw prices soar. “Prices have come down in certain segments,” he said, with sellers looking for “more realistic prices.” Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Eugen Klein said April sales for the region were the lowest total for the month in the region since 2001, and 16.9 per cent below the 10-year April sales average. “Although April sales were below what’s typical for the month, we continue to see, with a sales-to-active listing ratio of nearly 17 per cent, a balanced relationship between buyer demand and seller supply in our marketplace,” Klein said.

TONY LING

Planned obsolescence Page 3

Newcomers to get green thumbs Page 5 Real Estate Services

FREE HOME EVALUATION Find out what other homes in your area are selling for • Free list of Available and Sold Homes with full details and pictures • Detached Homes • Townhomes • Condos • Duplexes

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Richmond Review, May 04, 2012 by Black Press Media Group - Issuu