VICTORIA — City council is calling on the province to immediately impose a 15 per cent non-resident buyers tax here to cool what has become one of the three hottest real estate markets in the country.

The request comes after what some councillors see as the success of the same foreign buyers tax imposed last fall in Vancouver, and as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a 15 per cent foreign buyers levy in the Toronto area.

“We all know that we have a housing crisis and that the cost of home ownership and rent is getting higher and higher and the dream of home ownership is getting...

The B.C. government unveiled a foreign-buyer’s tax last summer aimed at tamping down Vancouver’s runaway real estate market and making homes more affordable.

Eight months later, has home affordability actually improved?

Vancouver-area sales, listings and prices all dropped after the measure – a 15-per-cent property transfer tax on foreign national home buyers – went into effect Aug. 2.

But by then, the market was already cooling, Royal Bank of Canada senior economist Robert Hogue said last week in a report.

“The impact of the tax in Metro Vancouver...

Vancouver’s presale condo market is in need of regulation and transparency, say realtors whose clients are being routinely shut out of the frenzied market.

The presale market is the “wild west” of the industry, says realtor Steve Saretsky, who posted a blog post recently, titled “Vancouver Pre Sale Condo Ponzi Scheme.” Mr. Saretsky, who often speaks out against his own industry, says it’s common that offshore investors get first dibs on presale purchases. Those purchases are assigned, or flipped, to local buyers at a premium. He says in recent months,...

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The rental market is an important housing option for approximately 30% of Canadians. Effective May 15, CMHC will introduce enhancements to its multi-unit mortgage loan insurance that will address the rental needs of Canadians while supporting efforts to expand and preserve the supply of affordable rental housing.

“CMHC’s products and services facilitate access to housing for all Canadians, not just homebuyers” said Steve Mennill, Senior Vice-President, Insurance. “The enhancements to our multi-unit mortgage loan insurance products and policies are designed to expand our ...

Five-pillar approach will build stronger communities

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) today announced a five-pillar approach to address housing affordability for renters, homebuyers and homeowners across British Columbia.

BCREA’s five pillars include timely recommendations to:  assist consumers with housing costs,  encourage the creation of more rental housing,  densify urban areas,  adjust the Property Transfer Tax, and  promote best practices among local governments.

“REALTORS® understand the importance of housing affordability in creating strong communities,...

According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey[1] released today, Canada’s residential real estate market saw substantial price growth in the first quarter of 2017. While the majority of Canadian housing markets posted modest gains, price appreciation across much of Ontario significantly outpaced the rest of the country, with similar market dynamics to those that have driven housing activity in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) beginning to impact the entire “Golden Horseshoe” region of south-central Ontario, and as far away as Windsor and London in southwestern Ontario. Meanwhile,...

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales were up on a month-over-month basis in March 2017.

Highlights:

• National home sales rose 1.1% from February to March.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity in March was up 6.6% from a year earlier.
• The number of newly listed homes climbed 2.5% from February to March.
• The MLS^® Home Price Index (HPI) was up 18.6% year-over-year (y-o-y) in March 2017.
• The national average sale price increased by 8.2% y-o-y in March.

Home sales over Canadian MLS^® Systems edged up 1.1% in March 2017,...

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The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 9,826 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March, down 21.8 per cent from the same period last year. Total sales dollar volume was $6.79 billion, down 30 per cent from March 2016. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $690,597, a 10.5 per cent decrease from the same period last year. 

“Consumer demand continues to normalize following blockbuster home sales in 2016,” says Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Economist. “However, the supply...

A shortage of residential property listings coupled with strong demand, particularly for condos and townhomes, continued to impact Metro Vancouver’s housing market in March.

Residential property sales in the region totalled 3,579 in March 2017, a decrease of 30.8 per cent from the 5,173 sales recorded in record-breaking March 2016 and an increase of 47.6 per cent compared to February 2017 when 2,425 homes sold. 

Last month’s sales were 7.9 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month. 

“While demand in March was below the record high of last...