Blogs

As of April 2021, the changes to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive program the federal government announced as part of the Fall Economic Statement on November 30, 2020 are in effect.  The eligibility for the program has been expanded in the higher priced housing markets of Victoria, Vancouver, and Toronto.

The Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT) was introduced by the B.C. government in 2018 as part of the plan to address affordable housing. Property owners must make a declaration by March 31, 2021 for their 2020 tax status.

In a continuing trend, British Columbia is still the least affordable region in Canada to live, led by Vancouver and Victoria. Vancouver is also the second least affordable city among major international housing markets, trailing only Hong Kong.

There has been a lot of speculation about the impact of foreign property ownership on real estate prices over the past couple of years. In joint research from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Statistics Canada, we can finally see some numbers and what they mean for our local housing market.

No one likes change, especially future homeowners as the change relates to the mortgage rules.  Every time the rules change, they only seem to make it harder & harder for folks to qualify.  Well in my humble opinion, the latest change announced by the Finance Minister in December could have been more massive.

The Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that for properties between $500,000 and $1 million, those of you getting an insured mortgage will now need to put more down—up to an additional 2.5% of the purchase price if you max out at the 1.0 million mark.