Blogs

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.

Just when you thought mortgage rule changes were done for now, here comes another round.  While these ones are directed at mortgage insurers (CMHC, Genworth and Canada Guaranty) rather than borrowers, there's a strong chance that consumers will suffer collateral damage from these changes.

A new record was set for condos and townhouses in Calgary for 2014.

According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, latest figures show an 18 percent year-over-year rise in sales of condos with 17 percent for townhouses. Monthly figures for December showed declines across all sectors; not unusual for the end of the year. Single family sales totaled 708 units in December, a year-over-year decline of 8.3 percent. Meanwhile, total condominium sales also declined by six percent over the same time frame, but overall activity remained consistent with long-term averages.

This past summer, CMHC attempted to determine the percentage of condos in Canada that are owned by domestic investors. Since then, it has admitted uncertainty of what percentage of condos are owned by foreign investors.