The B.C. government plans to tax foreigners who buy residential property in the Vancouver area – an announcement that follows months of pressure to address foreign speculation that many have blamed for the region’s superheated housing market.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the 15 per cent tax, which takes effect Aug. 2, will apply to the sale of all residential properties within Metro Vancouver, excluding treaty lands in the Tsawwassen First Nation. The tax will apply to buyers who are not Canadian citizens or permenant residents, as well as corporations that are either not registered...

“While national sales activity remains strong, there are still significant differences in housing market trends across Canada,” said CREA President Cliff Iverson. “While home sales activity and price growth are running strong in B.C. and Ontario, they remain subdued in other markets where homebuyers are cautious and uncertain about the outlook for their local economy,” he added. “All real estate is local, and REALTORS^® remain your best source for information about sales and listings where you live or might like to in the future.”

“June sales extended...

The Bank of Canada announced on July 13^th, 2016 that it was keeping its trend-setting target overnight lending rate at 0.5 per cent.

The announcement repeated many of the themes from its announcements and Monetary Policy Reports (MPRs) published in late 2015 and early 2016. Chief among these themes is how the Bank is still counting on the continuation of low interest rates and stronger U.S. economic growth to buoy Canadian exporters amid ongoing weakness in Canadian business investment.

However, the Bank again reduced its annual forecast for Canadian economic growth in light “a weaker outlook...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record 12,906 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in June, up 14.3 per cent from the same month last year. Total sales dollar volume was $8.97 billion in June, up 25.7 per cent compared to the previous year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was up 10 per cent year-over-year, to $694,925.

“Robust housing demand in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan drove sales growth in June,” said Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Economist. “At the...

The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 197,918 units in June compared to 190,302 in May, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“Overall, June saw housing starts pick up pace in Canada, bolstered by apartment construction in Ontario – especially new condo construction in Toronto’s downtown core,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC Chief Economist. “However, elsewhere in the country, construction activity slowed as apartment construction...

Home buyers continue to compete for homes listed for sale across the Metro Vancouver housing market.

Residential property sales in the region totalled 4,400 in June 2016, an increase of 0.6 per cent from the 4,375 sales recorded in June 2015 and a decrease of 7.7 per cent compared to May 2016 when 4,769 homes sold.

Last month’s sales were 28.1 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month and rank as the highest selling June on record.

"While we're starting to see more properties coming onto the market in recent months, the imbalance between supply and demand...

B.C. Premier Christy Clark has put the province’s real-estate industry under government oversight, declaring the industry’s self-regulating body has failed to protect the public from cut-throat and illegal practices and has lost the public’s confidence in its ability to police itself.

The announcement comes a day after an independent advisory panel issued a report that included 28 recommendations for how the Real Estate Council of British Columbia should beef up its oversight ability to adjust to a market fuelled by speculation.

“The point of regulation is to protect people,...

The B.C. real estate industry’s self-regulating body should become the sole agency responsible for enforcing far stricter rules, including dramatically higher penalties of up to $250,000 for unscrupulous agents, says a damning report from an independent panel created after Globe and Mail investigations into the Vancouver region’s housing market.

The panel’s report, released Tuesday, calls for a series of new rules designed to punish shady real estate agents and ensure they don’t profit from taking advantage of consumers. It also says agents should no longer be allowed to...

Bright corner unit on 3rd floor! First time buyer or investment alert! Very close bu transit, Coquitlam Centre and Henderson Malls, Parks, Lafarge Lake, Douglas College, Elementary Schools, and Hwy 1. You don't need a card to live here. The unit is a bright and breezy open space, large bedroom with walk-in closet leading to a semi-ensuite, large sunny balcony & completely private, brand-new washer dryer, pets allowed, rentals allowed. Great investment or place to call home.

Vancouver’s mayor says the city will impose a tax on property owners who don’t live in their residences as part of an effort to make housing more affordable, but Gregor Robertson acknowledges his council will have to figure out a way to work around a provincial government that has rejected previous efforts to tax empty houses.

After months of demanding action from the provincial and federal governments on the affordability crisis, Mr. Robertson said Tuesday he has no faith that the province in particular will intervene. He said city staff are looking at all options, even if it means...

Novo 1. Prime Burnaby Mountain  close to SFU. 1 bedroom & den.. open floor plan. 1 parking stall. All info and measurements are approximate. Buyer to verify if important.

Major condo developers in Vancouver are shutting out average buyers by selling their most affordable new units privately – to clients of select realtors and “family and friends” – before their advertised sale dates, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The typical sales contracts also allow those insiders to legally flip the units under construction (known as presale) before closing as long as the developer gets a cut from that transaction. Like shadow flipping with houses, flips of presale condos have been controversial in Vancouver. When supply is scarce and prices are escalating,...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says overseas money from Asia is “obviously” playing a role in Vancouver’s increasingly out-of-control housing market.

But, during his two-day visit to Vancouver, he said he doesn’t want Ottawa to take any action that could make things worse, possibly by hurting other regions that benefit from foreign investment.

During an interview with CBC Radio, Mr. Trudeau said “obviously overseas money coming in is playing a role” in the region’s affordability challenges, which have seen housing prices soar by more than 30 per cent in some...

In its latest quarterly economic forecast, TD Bank said that while housing investment currently remains strong, "the party will come to an end."

TD pointed out that the Canadian housing situation is one of three stories: red hot Toronto and Vancouver; weak Alberta; and the rest of the country somewhere in-between with little or no growth in house prices.

Exactly when that housing market correction will happen remains difficult to predict, economists at the bank said.

In the second half of this year, resale activity and price growth are expected to cool as borrowing costs rise and "stretched...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record 13,458 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in May, up 32.3 per cent from the same month last year. Home sales last month exceeded April’s record of 12,969 units. Total sales dollar volume was $9.72 billion in May, up 51.1 per cent compared to the previous year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was up 14.2 per cent year-over-year, to $722,146.

“Record housing demand and dwindling inventories are continuing to push home prices higher in most...

The Canadian economy is making progress in adjusting to low oil prices and recovering from the global financial crisis, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen S. Poloz said today.

In a speech to the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, Governor Poloz gave a progress report for the economy since the Bank’s last forecast in April. He reviewed the outlook in light of key risks the Bank had identified earlier, as well as the impact of the wildfires in Alberta that led to the evacuation of Fort McMurray and affected oil sands production.

While the energy industry continues to struggle, there are signs of strength...

The vacancy rate for seniors’ residences decreased modestly over the past year, reaching 7.4 per cent in 2016, compared to 8.1 per cent in 2015, according to the Seniors’ Housing Report released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Our survey makes the distinction between two types of spaces: standard and non-standard spaces. Standard spaces are those occupied by a resident paying market rent and who does not receive 1.5 or more hours of care per day. A non-standard space is one in which the residents are receiving at least 1.5 hours of care per day,...

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has updated its forecast for home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service^® (MLS^®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards and Associations in 2016 and 2017.

Canadian resale housing market trends that defined 2015 have intensified. National sales activity and average prices reached new heights in the first half of 2016 amid a growing supply shortage of single family homes in British Columbia and Ontario, particularly in B.C.’s Lower Mainland as well as in and around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Price gains in these regions stand...

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales dropped in May 2016 after having set an all-time monthly record in April.

Highlights:

• National home sales dropped 2.8% from April to May.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 9.6% compared to May 2015.
• The number of newly listed homes fell 3.2% from April to May.
• The MLS^® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 12.5% year-over-year in May.
• The national average sale price climbed 13.2% in May from one year ago; net of Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, it advanced 9.1% year-over-year....

Commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland outpaced historical averages in the first quarter (Q1) of 2016, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

There were 660 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q1 2016. This is a 26 per cent increase over the 524 sales in Q1 2015, and represents the most active quarter for commercial real estate in the last five years.

The total dollar value of commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q1 2016 was $2.904...