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economist suntribune news saturday jan 12 2002 markham whitchurchstoufmie house sales boom in 2001 by carol cooper special torontos recording- breaking housing sales of last year affected york region running salespeople off their feet in markham and wliitchurchstouffville sales of singlefamily resi dential units and average and median prices skyrock eted in this area in 2001 according to figures from the toronto real estate board the number of dwellings sold increased from 1968 in 2000 to 2537 last year this includes detached semidetached townhouses and condominiums but excludes new houses and exclusive listings we did great- said markhambased century 21- south breeze realty bro kerowner cyril chen of a year that set records for his- business with 50 per cent of his sales in markham and the rest spread around the greater toronto area chen saw many firsttime buyers purchasing lowerpriced detached houses in the 200000 to 250000 range low interest rates high rents and lack of rental accommodation spurred them to buy he said the recordbreaking year can also be attributed to a booming construction mar ket and the influx of 300 new comers a day to the gta said david pearce president of the toronto real estate board chen agrees newcomers from sri lanka and mainland china contributed to his sales he said markham is still one of the more desirable areas to locate according to diane bromley a 19year real estate veteran currently with unionvilles min com new choice realty people continue to come here despite the drop in the job market she said high numbers of first- time buyers meant demand outstripped supply for maria gallo of gallo real estate in stouffville she estimated overall sales rose 10 per cent in 2001 if the inventory had been there it would have been higher gallo said no single type of housing predominated she said even though stouffville con sists mostly of detached dwellings when the market is this good everything goes meanwhile casey chan of gravel pit owner hit with fine by mike adler staff writer a sharon man and his sand and gravel operation in east gwillimbury have been fined 55000 for extracting too much aggregate and falsifying pit records floyd preston limited and its direc tor larry preston pleaded guilty to exceeding tonnage limits at the cone 7 pit from 1997 through 2000 and to filing false production reports in 1997 through 1999 the provincial ministry of natural resources said this week an audit last year by an industry group the ontario aggregate resources corporation discovered floyd preston limited exceeded its licensed 100000- tonne annual extraction limit by a total of 335216 tonnes from 1997 to 1999 the ministry said the companys 2000 production report showed its extraction was 161267 tonnes above the limit tonnage conditions are placed on aggregate licenses to help reduce the impact of a pit or quarry operation in an area including effects such as truck traf fic on neighbouring residents and addi tional wear on municipal roads the ministrys aurora district office added in a release for several months at least one other york region municipality has expressed its concerns to the province on the aggregate industrys compliance with regulations officials from whitchurchstouffville accompanied provincial inspectors late last month on a blitz inspection of a halfdozen pitsin the town the inspectors from mnr and the business group likes transit news from page 4 and provincial roads to handle automo bile traffic and transit service for the regions small er communities which despite their rural settings are growing the goal is to eventually have up to onethird of the regions commuters using public transit gordon said thats a huge jump from the less than 20 per cent that now use transit it is important for the region to improve public transit to coax york region residents away from their auto mobile said ruth burkholder presi dent of the markham board of trade if a bus is not going to get you to work any faster than your car people will choose the car she said environment ministry looked at fill being added to pits but they found nothing out of the ordinary whitchurchstouffvilles development services director tom parry admitted this week parry said the town and its neighbour uxbridge prompted the blitz because of their suspicions that pit operations are not being properly monitored normally only one provincial inspector is available to watch the areas 160 pits he said be a big brother its kids stuff 9057271251 this message brought to you as a community service of the economist suntribune informationnight tues jan 15 2002 7op 900 pm inlarkhaititheatrerehesrsanhali alaska 2002 gold rush hosted by princess cruises event ifs more than a cruite ifs the love boat special discounts draw prizes refreshments ja s markham f fx 548 carlton rdat kennedy rd rsvp 90594818002 uuwwcruiseshipcenterscommarkham the bridlri post 9356 highway 48 j u6riafhatfwaifordforhecliratbr4tlibatashe in toronto and a sof thexostumejsocietyownranomijtbffispeaking about thejewellery collections koraueensiyjctoyialexartarandjmaqjosephwill reveal the fascinating imm collection ofsiewels thalspclateaitffithe so r- sffortiinformatioff pp call may 21 2001 marck 31 2002 markhams homelife- principal realty found that- sales of executive houses in the 300000 to 500000 price range went up quite a bit estimating a jump of between two and four per cent chan expects continuing brisk sales for a couple of months into 2002 after that what happens depends on government policy and how it handles interest rates he said realestate is an interest- ratesensitive commodity he said whenever the rate starts to go up people start to hesitate when firsttime buyers make a purchase the former owners move up in the mar ket according to chen that creates a domino effect min corns bromley agrees noting if you elimi nate the first- time buyer in your realestate chain thats when your market starts to fail the markhaven foundation needs volunteers to organize the great raymerville doggie walk and grandmas run please call the foundation 905 4724779 inventortgllarangi toroivi arks already low price floor models tqromark furniture serving markham since 1950 5694 hwy 7 at galsworthy 9052942581 reading writing spelling french math study skills little readers con read give kids an early love of learning dxford learning centres uttle readers program offers an enriched individualized curriculum introducing three six year olds to reading writing math music and french a great beginning can be a great future wwwoxfordlearningcom highway 7 kennedy 9055138186 ojwrd