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Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:55:28 PM
B.C. housing sales strong in February
British Columbians were still shopping for homes despite the 2010 Winter Olympics.
B.C. housing sales recovered from their eight-year lows last February, climbing 63% to 5,955 units sold last month, according to data released by the B.C. Real Estate Association.
Total B.C. sales dollar volume almost doubled, rising 91% to $2.96 billion from dollar volume in February 2009. The average MLS residential price rose 17% to $497,807, due partially to a 12.1% decline in the number of active listings on the market.
Regions with the most declines in the number of active listings included Metro Vancouver (-20.3%), Victoria (-19.3%) and the Fraser Valley (-11.9%).
While low interest rates continue to spur demand, residential unit sales declined 13% in February from the number of sales in January.
Toronto gold producer acquires Vancouver junior mining firm
Toronto's Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) plans to acquire Vancouver's Underworld Resources Inc. (TSX-V:UW) in a share and cash deal worth approximately $139.2 million.
Kinross is acquiring Underworld for the White Gold project, located in the Tintina gold belt, approximately 95 kilometres south of Dawson City, Yukon.
Underworld shareholders will receive approximately 0.141 Kinross shares plus $0.01 in cash, valuing Underworld at $2.62 per share. The deal represents a 36% premium over the closing price of Underworld shares on March 10 and a 50.2% premium of the volume-weighted average price of Underworld shares for the 20-day trading days ending March 10.
Underworld's share price range during the past week: $1.76 and $1.93; 52-week high: $2.64; 52-week low: $0.41.
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