Imperial Oil sells Esso gas stations for $2.8-billion + MORE Mar 9th

Vancouver SunMore than one in 10 Vancouver condos sit emptyVancouver SunVancouver's soaring single-family home prices have been blamed in part on foreigners snapping up investment properties and leaving them empty. That myth was dispelled by results of a study released by the city Tuesday that shows only one per cent of …Vancouver's vacant home rates in line with other cities, report saysThe Globe and MailReport dispels Vancouver's empty homes mythBlackburnNews.comVancouver's empty homes not driving affordability crisis, report findsTimes Colonistall 100 news articles »

Energy companies have sought to jettison assets to help weather the sharp plunge in oil prices to less than $40 (U.S.) a barrel

VANCOUVER – Vancouver’s rate of vacant homes is in line with other big cities and has been flat since 2002, but the vast majority of empty units are condominiums, a landmark study has found.
City staff and software company Ecotagious Inc. examined the electricity consumption of 225,000 homes in Vancouver over 12 years in response to growing public concerns that empty homes were driving up prices and leaving some neighbourhoods nearly abandoned.
The study, presented to city council Tuesday, found the residential non-occupancy rate was 4.9 per cent in 2002 and 4.8 per cent in 2014, although the number of empty units rose from 8,400 to 10,800 due to overall growth in housing stock.
Ninety per cent of vacant units were apartments. Apartments for rent had a vacancy rate of close to zero, while condominiums that are owned and not available for rent had a whopping 12.5 per cent vacancy rate in 2014.
“We know that there are thousands of units of empty homes that potentially could be available for rental, when we have one of the tightest rental markets in the world,” Mayor Gregor Robertson told council after the presentation…

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Pre-paid card users, under scrutiny, find tax refunds frozen
PHOENIX (AP) — Thousands of people have had their prepaid debit cards frozen when they try to direct their tax refund to their accounts, a result of financial industry efforts to combat an escalation in tax fraud.
It’s keeping people from their money, and delaying access to much-anticipated tax refunds. People who rely on prepaid debit card accounts are often poorer Americans who don’t have traditional bank accounts.
Prepaid debit card companies Green Dot, NetSpend and others say the problems are the result of tighter fraud protection measures. Both Green Dot and Wal-Mart have apologized, but emphasized the measures were there to protect their customers.
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The young and the nestless: Helping millennials with housing
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Realizing that millennials are burdened with debt, a difficult job market, weak wage growth and a less affordable housing market than their parents, some states are looking to keep educated young professionals within their borders for years to come by helping out with their housing costs…

American stock markets tumbled at the close amid lower energy and metal prices and concerns over the pace of China’s growth