W E L C O M E H O M E Y V R - 

REAL ESTATE  W I T H  K A T H A R I N E  R E Y N O L D S

Hello and welcome to my January 2025 newsletter

I’m very excited to be a practicing REALTOR and appreciate you joining me on this journey! 

I’m wishing you health, happiness and success in the year ahead.

In the first issue of my monthly newsletter I’ll recap the 2024 housing market, 

discuss predictions for 2025 and spotlight a local favourite North Vancouver cafe. 

If you’re thinking of buying or selling please get in touch, I’m here to help!

2024 Market Recap

I’m Katharine!

I’m a licensed REALTOR with Oakwyn Realty based in North Vancouver BC

working in all areas of Greater Vancouver. I come from a 26 year career as a

production designer in the film industry. The skills acquired have translated

wonderfully to real estate as I have a strong knowledge of client relations,

construction/design practices, marketing and financial management. I work

extremely well under pressure and love to find creative solutions to any

challenge. Please get in touch in you’d like to chat real estate!

In 2025 most experts are saying the real estate industry is “in for a boring year”. It’s expected there will be a few more rate cuts in 2025 but not as dramatic as the cuts in 2024.  2025 is expected to end with an overnight rate somewhere between 2.5%-2.75%. Inventory and sales are expected to be steady and balanced with inventory dropping slightly as sales ramp up in the spring. There are some factors that could mess with these predictions though, namely newly elected President Trumps threatened 25% tariffs, reduced immigration numbers, a growing unemployment rate and a dropping Canadian dollar...all of these factors could be signalling the beginning of a recession. Politics in both the US and Canada have been anything but boring the last few months. There were many new taxes put in place in 2024 and early 2025 (flipping tax, capital gains tax increase) which make the landscape for investing more challenging. There were also new policies put in place by the CMHC mid December 2024 increasing the mortgage amortization timeline to 30 years for 1st time home buyers and increasing the uninsured mortgage amount from $1 million to $1.5 million. While this allows many more people access to more mortgage dollars, it doesn’t do much to address affordability. Prices in 2025 are expected to remain fairly flat with anywhere from a 0-3% increase depending on the neighbourhood. These predictions are common across the board from many of the banks chief economists, but as the BCREA chief economist Brian Ogmundson said in a recent CBC article, the last time he predicted a boring year was 2019 heading into 2020 when the Covid 19 pandemic made it anything but that so you really never know!  Bottom line, if you’re looking to buy your first home, upsize or downsize it’s still a great time to be in the market.

If you’re selling your property I can assist in staging and decluttering your space as well as do a front of house refresh. If you’re buying I can assist you in making sure your current furniture will work and assist in placement. I’m offering this service free of charge for all of 2025!

Send me your referrals of friends or family & if your referral results in a completed purchase or sale I'll send you a $500 referral fee as an appreciation of your support.  Please call me directly or send your referrals via a group text to 604-831-3616 - include a brief intro of who you're referring and what they’re looking for, thank you!

A wonderful local cafe with a cosy interior and great coffee

Overview:  Andrews on Eighth Cafe has been a favourite spot of mine for many years now. I lived across the street until recently and loved being able to stroll over for coffee or lunch. The coffee is consistently good (they use Moja beans, a wonderful North Vancouver Coffee Roaster), the food is great value & quality & the interior space is warm and cosy. They offer outside seating with big umbrellas so even on rainy days the customers often spill out to the patio. I’ve found the staff to be warm and friendly and often end up chatting with other customers as the space is cosy and lends itself to conversation. It’s a busy well loved community cafe, throughout the day there’s a steady stream of customers with their kids & dogs, older folks reading the paper, friends visiting and people grabbing coffee or a bite to go. The building is on the North Vancouver Heritage registry and I applaud the current owner (another film industry veteran) who has done an incredible job restoring the exterior. Note the cafe is across the street from the wonderful Sam Walker Park. On sunny days groups gather to play music and you can often hear a trumpeter practicing...there is also a dog area and a very well used putting green that’s great for kids and adults alike!

Food: There is the usual array of bakes goods which I’ve found to be consistently fresh and tasty. There are usually several gluten free options but note things sell out quickly as everything is made fresh every morning. There are also ready to go sandwiches/quiches/soups/paninis/breakfast wraps and salads. Again, most food items sell out by 2-3pm so after that it’s slimmer pickings.

Other offerings: The cafe stocks many handmade and local goods as well as Moja coffee beans and seasonal dried flowers. It’s worth popping in to check out their cute retail items. I love buying gifts here as the items are wonderful quality and I love supporting local retailers. One of my favourite gifts last Christmas was from a friend who knew I was coveting the adorable felted Christmas ornaments so he snuck over and bought me one. I loved hanging it on my tree this year!

Cafe Info: Hours 7am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Sat/Sunday.

Address: 279 8th Street East, North Vancouver BC

ww.welcomehomeyvr.com | kr@welcomehomeyvr.com

604-831-3616