By Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun, February 15, 2016
The finance minister has hinted Tuesday’s provincial budget will increase the tax-exempt threshold for first-time homebuyers, and at the same time create a new luxury tax for high-end homes.
Mike de Jong has said these changes would not just take effect in Metro Vancouver, where a housing affordability crisis is brewing, but right across B.C.
So, where would first-time homebuyers benefit the most,
Bethany Lindsay, Vancouver Sun, February 12, 2016
METRO VANCOUVER — For the average young family living in Metro Vancouver, price tags for detached homes have climbed so high that there is little hope of ever being able to afford one.
And the alternatives — condos or townhouses with enough bedrooms for the children — are hard to come by in this part of B.C. The Canadian National Occupancy Standard holds that three-bedroom homes are the best choice for couple with two children,
B.C. ranchers and farmers are positioning themselves to meet higher demand for local farmland, driven in part by expected food and water shortages, a new land assessment report says.
Although overall agricultural land sales are sluggish, when farms do sell the buyer is often the farmer next door, Landcor Data president Rudy Nielsen said in an interview.
This “rapid consolidation” will create larger, more profitable farms that will increase in value as climate change reduces the amount of arable land,
Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, June 18, 2012
There’s renewed post-recession interest in B.C.’s recreational property market and it’s largely from young families attracted by lower prices, according to a RE/MAX executive.
“The local market has softened and prices have come down because of that,” said Elton Ash, regional vice-president, RE/MAX of Western Canada, of the RE/MAX Recreational Property Report 2012, which concluded that lower prices have stimulated interest with modest increases in sales in all regions except the North Okanagan,
Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, January 21, 2011
VANCOUVER — A sharp drop in demand for B.C.’s high-end rural waterfront properties has resulted in price reductions that in some cases are substantial.
Unlike Metro Vancouver, which has seen a market rebound over the past year after a recessionary slowdown, many rural areas across the province have experienced a prolonged slowdown in sales of such properties.
As well,
Derrick Penner, The Vancouver Sun, April 18, 2010
Developers are doing what they can to beat the harmonized sales tax July 1 deadline, building units ahead of schedule and hoping to make sales earlier rather than having to charge the unpopular tax later.
Opportunities are limited, the time fleeting, but with the tax adding a cost in the tens of thousands of dollars to homes, builders who have serviced lots figure they’re better off taking the risk of having to hold onto excess inventory.
Vancouver Sun, July 13, 2009
More than $178,000 was raised at Coast Capital Savings’ 8th Annual Charity Golf Tournament benefiting depression research and treatment at VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation for Depression Research. Since 2002, the annual event has raised over $980,000, with the majority of funds going toward research, treatment and awareness of mental illness.
The Westminster Savings Foundation provided $20,000 to Servants Anonymous Surrey, a society dedicated to preventing child and youth exploitation,
Derrick Penner, The Vancouver Sun, May 20, 2009
British Columbia’s real estate markets have reached a point where it is difficult to predict if they’ll go down any further or begin a recovery — or even when either might occur.
In its latest forecast released Tuesday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reduced its expectations for new-home construction, sales and prices for this year and next.
Province-wide,
Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, March 31, 2009
Invermere realtor Wende Brash surmises that what’s happening on the streets of Calgary has a lot to do with the slow sales of vacation property on the East Kootenays’ lake fronts and mountainsides.
“What’s happening is that Calgary is starting to do major layoffs,” Brash said in an interview, “and though we do have people who are ready to buy, they’re waiting to see if they have a job.”
Whether it is the oilpatch elites hesitating over job insecurities,
Derrick Penner,Vancouver Sun, Friday, March 13, 2009
Seattle resident Steven Thompson admits he’s probably an anomaly as an American looking to buy a condominium in downtown Vancouver.
About 30 per cent fewer foreign buyers, including Americans, dipped into British Columbia’s real estate markets in 2008, compared with 2007, according to data from the property research firm Landcor Data Corp.
Many Americans saw their properties at home deflate in value during 2008,