Blogs

As BC moves into Phase 2 of the province's COVID-19 restart plan, the Auxilium Team is here to assist with solutions that work during these difficult times. The reality is that borrowing funds through your mortgage remains one of the lowest-cost options available to homeowners.

A new international survey shows that Vancouver continues to be the least affordable city to buy a home in Canada – and ranks third internationally. But would you believe that Victoria comes in at second on the list in Canada, less affordable than all of the other major markets considered in the study?

The B.C. government is planning to lift the levy on foreign home buyers in Vancouver for those who have a work permit and pay taxes in the province. Originally implemented in August 2016, the 15% foreign home buyer tax had an immediate impact of reducing the number of real estate transactions involving foreign buyers. In Metro Vancouver, there were 1,974 deals involving foreign buyers from June 10 through August 1, 2016. In the remaining month of August 2016 there were only 60 transactions; the volume has slowly recovered and there were 200 transactions during November 2016.

Applications for the B.C. government's Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program open today, January 16, 2017. If you're an eligible first-time home buyer, do you have your documents in order?

The B.C. government's Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program, launching January 16, 2017, might seem almost too good to be true. The provincial government will match the down payment for eligible first-time home buyers to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price, up to a $750,000 property. This loan will be interest- and payment-free for the first five years.

The B.C. government's Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program, launching January 16, 2017, is meant to assist first-time home buyers cover part of the cost of a mortgage down payment. There some nuances to the eligibility criteria that you will want to keep in mind:

Victoria is now second only to Richmond in the number of residential real estate transactions in this province involving foreign buyers. According to data from October, 6.3% of the sales in the Capital Regional District were to non-residents. This volume is almost double the amount of September transactions.