Real Estate News & Articles

First Time Home Buyers' Program

2016-02-17

Other Here is what we know: 1. There are no changes to the first time home buyer exemption limits; 2. All buyers (whether first time buyers or not) no longer pay PTT on purchases of NEW homes up to $750,000 in value; note the buyer must be …

BC drops home tax to stimulate building in tough to get into housing market

2016-02-17

REP Other British Columbia introduced tax changes in its provincial budget Tuesday to help buyers and builders of new homes valued up to $750,000, while targeting people able to afford properties priced above $2 million. Housing policy expe…

BC budget offers new-home buyers big incentives

2016-02-17

Jen St. Denis Van. Courier In a bid to make housing within reach of more people, the B.C. government will give a big tax break to buyers of new homes worth up to $750,000. The property transfer tax exemption, included in today's 2016 provin…

BC Supreme Court approves city rezoning to allow West End rental tower

2016-02-17

Glen Korstrom Van. Courier B.C. Supreme Court on February 16 ruled that the City of Vancouver’s proposed rezoning of a site on Pendrell Street near Denman Street is OK to proceed. That opens the doors for Westbank to build a proposed …

How Netflix Inc's new global recommendation algorithms are upping the ante with Canadian rivals

2016-02-17

Claire Brownell The Vancouver Sun Drawing on the power of Netflix Inc.’s global programming database could give the company’s new recommendation algorithms an advantage over Canadian competitors shomi and CraveTV when it co…

BC Real Estate Council hits back at media claims

2016-02-15

Steve Randall Other Reports in some media outlets regarding the number of investigations into realtors in British Columbia have been inaccurate according to the BC Real Estate Council. In a statement it says “The Council wishes to cor…

Turf war reaches new heights in Vancouver?s West End

2016-02-14

One co-op?s land value skyrockets by 95 per cent in one year, leaving residents shaking their heads JOANNE LEE-YOUNG Other The West End is turning into the latest front in the turf wars over residential land in Vancouver. As city planners o…

Vancouver's property transfer tax revenues are one-quarter of B.C.'s $1.15 billion total

2016-02-13

Critics ask for changes to reduce costs to homebuyers Gordon Hoekstra The Vancouver Sun The B.C. property transfer tax is one-per-cent on the first $200,000 of the purchase price and two per cent on the portion of the price above that. Firs…

Various considerations for assignment sales

2016-02-12

Ephraim Vecina Other Assignment sales, wherein properties are sold and resold, have seen increased popularity in Canada and many other markets worldwide. While it has proven to be attractive for enterprising sellers and realtors, however, i…

These renters were hit hardest by the financial crisis

2016-02-12

Patrick Clark Other The financial crisis turned a lot of Americans into renters, because they couldn’t keep paying their mortgage, or because high unemployment and stagnant wages in the ensuing years forced them to put off home o…

Council doing 'nothing' over reports

2016-02-12

Eby says just one of 536 complaints sent to organization in 2015 was investigated SAM COOPER The Vancouver Sun NDP MLA David Eby said in the legislature Thursday the B.C. Real Estate Council is unfit to ?investigate itself.? MARK VAN MANEN/…

Who decides the consequences when someone violates the strata bylaws

2016-02-11

Tony Gioventu Other Download Document

Lougheed Heights 515 Foster Avenue Coquitlam 334 homes in a 36-storey tower by Bosa Properties

2016-02-11

celebrates official launch with Grand Openint Other Download Document

Two Hot Investment Markets Outside of Metro Vancouver

2016-02-11

There are two BC cities where condominiums priced lower than Metro Vancouver make for positive cash flows Frank O'Brien Other Condominium investors buying units to be used as rentals could take a look outside of the Metro Vancouver market a…

What's involved in selling a strata property

2016-02-11

Jo Boxwell Other Download Document

Don't expect real housing relief in next week's provincial budget

2016-02-11

Barbara Yaffe The Vancouver Sun B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong delivers the 2016 provincial budget next Tuesday, Feb. 16. Photograph by: CHAD HIPOLITO , THE CANADIAN PRESS Exasperated by all those $1.5-million fixer-uppers out there tha…

Some BC real estate agents insider trading and helping to money launder: NDP

2016-02-10

Laura Kane Other The independent office charged with overseeing the British Columbia real estate market will investigate allegations of fraud and insider trading by some Metro Vancouver realestate agents, the provin…

Real estate "contract assignments" not illegal, but are they ethical?

2016-02-09

Barbara Yaffe The Vancouver Sun Real estate "contract assignments" are not illegal, but are they ethical? Photograph by: Sean Kilpatrick , THE CANADIAN PRESS My neighbour told me last fall he had sold his Kerrisdale home with a distant clos…

For foreign buyers, Vancouver housing is a bargain as city becomes a "U.S. dollar play"

2016-02-09

John Shmuel The Vancouver Sun Steve Bosch/Postmedia NewsIn U.S. dollar terms, Vancouver still remains affordable to foreign buyers and in fact is a bargain compared to some other cities in the Pacific Rim Vancouver’s eye-popping housi…

Housing starts slowed in January except in one province

2016-02-08

Steve Randall Other The pace of housing starts was slower in January according to new figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The trend measure was 199,169 in January 2016 compared to 203,304 in December 2015; the seasonally-adju…

The real estate technique fuelling Vancouver's housing market

2016-02-06

Kathy Tomlinson Other They had a deal. The Rappaports’ home, on Vancouver’s West Side, would net the couple $5.2-million last year. Jo and her husband had bought the stately Craftsman home in 1987 for $362,000. They raised their…

Canadian and US Employment - February 5, 2016

2016-02-05

Other Employment in Canada was essentially unchanged in January with the total number of employed Canadians dipping by 5,700 people. The national unemployment rate edged slightly higher from 7.1 to 7.2 per cent while the total number of hou…

300,000 Chinese Citizens were issued temporary resident Visas to Canada in 2014 which allows them to stay in Canada for up to 6 months a year for 10 years

2016-02-04

Vancouver house-buying frenzy leaves half-empty neighbourhoods Kathy Tomlinson Other When Clare Cullen looks out her windows or takes her dog for a walk, she said it often makes her sad. In every direction, she sees old houses sitting empty…

History shows that home prices will eventually fall

2016-02-03

Mike Klassen Van. Courier With car sales breaking records in B.C., and long lineups happening in Vancouver’s trendiest restaurants, not many of us can imagine a sudden shift in our economy that could drive house prices down. However, …