Vancouver Real Estate Newsroom

 Low supply keeps upward pressure on home prices across Metro Vancouver’s housing market VANCOUVER, BC – February 2, 2022 – The first month of 2022 saw home sales come down from last year’s record-setting pace, while low supply continued to cause home prices to edge higher across Metro Vancouver*. The Real Estate Board of…

 Metro Vancouver home sales set a record in 2021 VANCOUVER, BC – January 5, 2022 – Metro Vancouver* home sales reached an all-time high in 2021 as housing needs remained a top priority for residents in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential…

 Home sales activity remains up, listings down across Metro Vancouver’s housing market VANCOUVER, BC – December 2, 2021 – As we near the end of 2021, home buyer demand remains well in excess of long-term averages and the supply of homes for sale continues to decline across Metro Vancouver’s* housing market. The Real Estate…

 Metro Vancouver home buyers compete for fewer home listings in October VANCOUVER, BC – November 2, 2021 – Home sale activity in Metro Vancouver* remained above historical averages in October while the overall supply of homes for sale dipped to levels not seen in three years. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV)…

 Elevated home sale activity continues to outstrip the supply of homes for sale in Metro Vancouver VANCOUVER, BC – October 4, 2021 – Home sale activity remains elevated across Metro Vancouver’s* housing market while the pace of homes being listed for sale continues to follow long-term averages. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver…

 Summer sees home listing supply decline across Metro Vancouver VANCOUVER, BC – September 2, 2021 – While home buyers have remained active in Metro Vancouver* throughout the summer, the supply of homes for sale has declined steadily since June. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the…

 Steady sales, reduced listings and virtually unchanged home prices in July VANCOUVER, BC – August 4, 2021 – Metro Vancouver’s* housing market saw more moderate sales, listings and pricing trends in July compared to the heightened activity experienced throughout much of the pandemic. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential…

 Metro Vancouver’s housing market sets a steady, calmer pace to begin the summer season VANCOUVER, BC – July 5, 2021 – While still elevated, home sale and listing activity in Metro Vancouver* has eased back from the record-setting pace seen in March and April of this year. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver…

 Home sale and listing activity in Metro Vancouver moves off of its record-breaking pace VANCOUVER, BC – June 2, 2021 – The Metro Vancouver* housing market saw steady home sale and listing activity in May, a shift back from the record-breaking activity seen in the earlier spring months. The Real Estate Board of Greater…

 Supply response emerges in Metro Vancouver’s active housing market VANCOUVER, BC – May 4, 2021 – Home sellers have become increasingly active in Metro Vancouver’s* housing market this spring in response to heightened demand and rising home values that have materialized during the pandemic. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that…

 March home sales and new listings set records in Metro Vancouver VANCOUVER, BC – April 2, 2021 – Home buyer and seller activity reached unprecedented levels across Metro Vancouver* in March. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 5,708 in March 2021, a 126.1…

Asking $ 545,000 1 BED | 1 BATH | 463 SF Welcome to Electric Avenue! This bright, West facing 1 BR with designer upgrades has been meticulously maintained & features stunning mountain & city views, plus peek-a-boo views of English Bay. Unbeatable location in the centre of downtown, steps to Robson, Financial District, & the…

 Home buyer competition intensifies across Metro Vancouver’s housing market VANCOUVER, BC – March 2, 2021 – Competition amongst home buyers is putting upward pressure on home prices across Metro Vancouver’s* housing market. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,727 in February 2021, a…

 Home buyer demand remains elevated across Metro Vancouver VANCOUVER, BC – February 2, 2021 – In the first month of 2021, Metro Vancouver’s* housing market continued the pattern set at the end of last year with home sale activity outpacing the supply of homes listed for sale. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver…

Asking $1,488,000 3 BED | 3 BATH | 1,714 SF IMMACULATE, SHOW HOME, MOVE IN READY! The amazing house has it all, updated gourmet kitchen, stunning bathroom and two large bedrooms on the main floor. Down has a great one-bedroom suite, full height updated separate entrance suite. Plus, down has a 2pc bathroom (shower and…

 Metro Vancouver housing market shows resilience in 2020 VANCOUVER, BC – January 5, 2021 – Strong December activity brought Metro Vancouver’s* 2020 home sales total in line with the region’s long-term annual average. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 30,944 in 2020, a…

 November home sales outpace seasonal norms and long-term averages Vancouver, B.C. – December 2, 2020 – Housing demand in Metro Vancouver* continues to outpace historical averages with November sales eclipsing 3,000 for the first time since 2015. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled…

Asking $499,999 STUDIO | 1 BATH | 444 SF The Max – great Yaletown location! This north facing, 15th floor studio is turn key ready for you to start your Vancouver Investment Empire with new carpet, paint, and baseboard heater. Previously rented out for $2150/month, this unit features a queen size Murphy bed, built-in office…

 Home sale and listing resurgence extends into the fall Home sale and new listing activity remained at near record levels across Metro Vancouver* in October. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,687 in October 2020, a 29 per cent increase from the 2,858…

 Metro Vancouver home sales and listings surge in September VANCOUVER, BC – October 2, 2020 – Home sale and new listing activity reached record levels in Metro Vancouver* in September. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,643 in September 2020, a 56.2 per…

 Home sale and listing activity continues to increase in August VANCOUVER, BC – September 2, 2020 – Home buyers and sellers remained active across Metro Vancouver* in August, with home sale and new listing activity outpacing the region’s historical averages. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in…

Asking $389,900 1 BED | 1 BATH | 655 SF   Location! Location! Location! Welcome home to this perfectly designed BRIGHT & SPACIOUS 1 bed at Kensington at Willoughby Town Centre, feat. floor-to-ceiling windows, over height ceilings, recessed lighting throughout & gorgeous wide plank H/W flooring. Sun drenched terrace, perfect for entertaining! Open chef’s kitchen…

 Metro Vancouver housing market sees steady summer activity VANCOUVER, BC – August 5, 2020 – Home buyer and seller activity in Metro Vancouver* exceeded historical levels in July. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,128 in July 2020, a 22.3 per cent increase…

CMHC made headlines this Spring predicting big drops for Canadian Real Estate and now we have the Vancouver edition. CMHC Economist & Market Analyst, Eric Bond, sits down with Adam & Matt to interpret the data, discuss methodology and provide some startling predictions. What will be the long-term effects of Covid-19? Will Vancouver real estate…

Asking $549,900   This is your chance! Live the Olympic Village lifestyle at Meccanica by Cressey. Perfectly designed BRIGHT & SPACIOUS CORNER home feat. over-height (9ft+) ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows & generous south-facing balcony – just in time for spring! Signature Cressey chef’s kitchen w/ integrated AEG appliances, quartz counters & backsplash, under-cabinet lighting, high gloss…

 Steady increases in home sale and listing activity continue in June VANCOUVER, BC – July 3, 2020 – Home buyers and sellers have gradually become more active in each month of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, home sale and listing activity in Metro Vancouver* returned to more historically typical levels. The Real Estate Board…

 Home prices remain steady, buyers and sellers become more comfortable operating in today’s market VANCOUVER, BC – June 2, 2020 – Metro Vancouver* home prices have remained steady since provincial health officials implemented physical distancing requirements in March. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the MLS® Home Price Index1 composite…

Ever wonder what it’s like to put together some of the biggest real estate transactions in Vancouver? Mark Goodman, Principal of Goodman Commercial Inc. and coauthor of the popular Goodman Report, was behind a quarter of those transactions in 2019. Perhaps you read about Beach Towers selling recently for a modest 305 million dollars? Yeah,…

  COVID-19 may be a dress rehearsal for the rolling catastrophic events that cities like Vancouver face in the coming years. But is Vancouver and the real estate market ready for ongoing economic shocks? Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst Jeb Brugmann joins Adam & Matt to talk about the COVID-19 crisis, the idea of…

Is Vancouver broken or just potentially broke? Adrian Crook and Rob McDowell join us to grade the City Council after its first 18 months. Spoiler alert: this report card might not make the fridge; in fact, one Councillor might even take to Zoom and flush it down the toilet. Stay home and listen up. Episode…

Adapt and overcome. If you agree with that statement, you will likely agree with the overall mindset of today’s guest and with his thoughts on the commercial real estate market. This week, Cory Wright, Managing Broker at William Wright Commercial, joins Adam & Matt to highlight the commercial market pain points and which industries and…

Emergency rate cuts, bond yields plummeting, economies around the world screeching to a halt, yet mortgage rates are on the rise?! Top Mortgage Broker and Owner of The Mortgage Hub, Ray Macklem, joins Adam & Matt for an in-depth strategy session. It’s time to make sense of the current state of the mortgage market and…

 The new Coronavirus, which results in COVID-19, is causing major uncertainty in the global economy and has the potential to trigger a large-scale global recession. But should we be ringing alarm bells just yet? And what does this mean for our real estate market in Vancouver? This week, we catch-up with Central 1 Credit…

 We’ve had SFU Profs, Journalists, Architects, Developers, and public intellectuals on our show, but never all at once! And we haven’t amassed a panel. Ladies & Gentleman: Michael Geller. This conversation is wide-ranging. Full stop. We discuss how top developers tackle tough times, how Michael’s ideas about real estate investing have shifted, and how…

  Steady demand and low supply benefits home sellers VANCOUVER, BC – March 3, 2020 – February saw steady home buyer demand and reduced home seller supply across Metro Vancouver*. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,150 in February 2020, a 44.9 per…

 On today’s show: accelerated wealth-building through leverage, disciplined investing, and active risk management. Back by popular demand, CBC’s Guide to Personal Finance and Partner at Foundation Wealth, Mark Ting, joins Adam & Matt to discuss COVID-19, skyrocketing strata insurance deductibles, and other risks to our rising real estate market. But if there truly is…

 Vancouver Real Estate Live with our guest, Partner with Foundation Wealth and CBC On The Coast’s Guide to Personal Finance, Mark Ting. Bring your real estate and finance related questions!

 Where can you buy cash flow properties in British Columbia? Cynthia Aasen from Investment Revenue Realty joins Adam and Matt to discuss an amazing new opportunity in the fastest growing municipality in British Columbia, Langford! This is possibly the best investment on Vancouver Island. These properties are starting at under $275,000 and they cash…

 Not all of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods were created equal when it comes to buying in 2020. This week, Adam & Matt skip the guest and sit down to analyze three key factors shaping our city and – in turn – creating HUGE opportunities for real estate investors. Looking to buy a new home this year?…

 The City of Vancouver is at a crossroads after a turbulent decade of unparalleled growth coupled with deep social and political divisions. So, where do we go from here? Enter Vancouver’s Chief Planner Gil Kelley: the man with the ‘city-wide’ plan. Gil sits down with Adam & Matt to lay the groundwork for his…

  Home sale activity up, supply down to start 2020 VANCOUVER, BC – February 4, 2020 – Home sale and price activity remained steady in Metro Vancouver* to start 2020 while home listing activity declined in January. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled…

 Your Vancouver strata insurance deductible and premium probably just went up 50 to 300% and now a simple toilet leak could potentially bankrupt you. What happened? Reliance Insurance Specialist Douglas Chan sits down with Adam & Matt to detail the rapidly changing BC strata insurance market and the prognosis is not good. This will…

Selling For $569k   2 Bed + 1 Bath at Vantage in Squamish Only availability in a sold out development 413 / 4th Floor / 680 SqFt 50 SqFt balcony South-East facing unit featuring the most sought-after floor plan   For pricing and floorplans or to set up an appointment to learn more, Call Matt @…

Selling At Cost ($405,900) + Fees   One-bedroom at King George Hub Development Located at King George Station 3308 / 33rd Floor / 501SqFt Estimated Completion Early 2022 The first two towers in this development sold in a record 2 days! Exclusive amenities: expensive rooftop entertainment lounge, games room+lounge,  fitness centre, yoga studio & much…

Selling At Cost ($369K) + Fees   One bedroom + den available at One Water in Kelowna 1107 / 11th Floor / 587 SqFt Estimated Completion Mid 2021 Best floor plan in the building – All other 1-bedrooms sold out instantly in this project Flip closet around to make a Jr. 2- bedroom Stunning views…

 Cut out the noise and listen up ’cause Andrew Ramlo and Ryan Berlin from Rennie Intelligence are finally here! And there’s a lot riding on the data compiled and interpreted by two of the industry’s guiding voices. In fact, this data drives the decisions of some of our region’s biggest players including home-builders, realtors, project…

Professor of Finance, Andrey Pavlov, joins Matt & Adam to discuss Vancouver real estate market conditions in 2019, predictions for the market in 2020, concerns around strata insurance deductibles, rent control, and more.

 Should you buy that assignment? Are Foreclosures really a good deal? And what happens when one party of a real estate transaction decides not to complete? Real Estate Lawyer Ken Pazder joins Adam and Matt in this riveting season finale to answer these questions and so much more. Big risk always exists where there…

Asking $1,598,000   This 2 level Vancouver Special offers 8 bedrooms 5 bathrooms in a great neighbourhood. Move in ready with lots of updates in this 3 bedrooms up and 3 separate rentals downstairs (2+2+1), new laminate, new paint, countertops, appliances, bathrooms, kitchen, windows, security cameras , electrical panel and the list goes on. New…

  Home sales decline below long-term averages in 2019 despite increased demand to end the year VANCOUVER, BC – January 3, 2020 – The Metro Vancouver* housing market experienced below average sales activity and moderate price declines in 2019. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and…

 2020 is HERE! So, who better than SFU’s Professor of Finance at Beedie School of Business, Andrey Pavlov, to join Adam & Matt to not only dissect the year that’s passed but also inform the year ahead! Where’s the market going? What mistakes have we made along the way? And what’s posing the biggest…

 Hangout with us and ask us anything about real estate and the Vancouver market. 7pm PST – December 11th

  Metro Vancouver home sales return to historically typical levels VANCOUVER, BC – December 3, 2019 – After a quieter first half of 2019, home buyer activity has returned to more historically typical levels in Metro Vancouver*. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled…

 How do the best and brightest pivot and maintain a competitive edge in Vancouver’s ever-changing market? Sunny Hahm, Director of Marketing & Strategy at Beedie, joins Adam & Matt to discuss some of Beedie’s biggest successes in the down market and the secret to maintaining a competitive edge through careful analysis and bold choices.…

 Jodi Vetterl left her lucrative twenty year career in high-tech software sales for Fortune 100 companies to build a real estate portfolio that is truly passive. And when we say passive, we mean no flips, no tenants, and no headaches! Jodi sits down with Adam & Matt to discuss her recent best-selling book, Beyond…

 Sometimes the biggest threats come from the things you cannot see. And, no, we are not talking about ghosts, although that’s what’s keeping Secret up at night. Today’s show takes us underground to talk about an often overlooked danger lurking just beneath your feet: oil tanks. GeoScan Subsurface Surveys’ Joseph Salazar joins Adam &…

Starting at $399,000   This presale project, Ella, is located at Vancouver’s Grant and Nanaimo Streets – a family-oriented community full of old-world charm and thriving local family-run businesses. It is one of the last remaining pockets of Vancouver with genuine, honest character and a lot of potential upswing when it comes to investment. These…

 How will Real Estate be Disrupted? We are living in an age of disruption. Seemingly no industry or Investment is safe. But what does this mean for real estate? The industry has seen some big changes but there are undoubtedly many more to come. How do these changes impact you – as an owner,…

  Home buyer activity increases in October The Metro Vancouver housing market is experiencing a fall pickup in home sale activity. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,858 in October 2019, a 45.4 per cent increase from the 1,966 sales recorded in October 2018,…

 What does it take to claw your way to the top of the hyper competitive world of Vancouver real estate? Turns out a lot more collaboration and a lot less clawing than you might think. Michael Uy & Morgan Browne, co-founders and Partners at Oakwyn Realty, sit down with Adam & Matt to discuss…

 “What’s going on?” Not only a provocative question posed by soul icon Marvin Gaye, but also the title of Michael Ferreira’s State of the Union address at the recent UDI breakfast series. And, in the last quarter of 2019, what better time to reflect not only on what’s going on in the market but…

 When it comes to Vancouver real estate, “location, location, location” has become “SkyTrain, SkyTrain, SkyTrain”. So many industry leaders on this podcast have advised to buy near SkyTrain Stations but what if you want to get in on the ground floor? Translink’s CEO Kevin Desmond sits down with Adam and Matt to discuss the…



Asking $899,000 2 BED | 2 BATH | 1,050 SQFT   Creston is a modern collection of 52 one to three bedroom homes built by award winning local developer Pennyfarthing Homes. This Northwest corner home is located on the second level with a bright & functional open layout: Features 9′ ceilings, in-floor hot water radiant…

 Many homeowners strive to pay down their mortgage as the first step to financial freedom but what if that was absolutely wrong? Forgot the warm & fuzzy feeling that freedom from mortgage debt promises and think logical paths to true financial freedom. Robinson Smith and Kyle Green sit down with Adam and Matt to…

 Hanging out with Todd Talbot has greater benefits than being the envy of every soccer mom (and dad!) across Canada; you can also learn from a seasoned and VERY strategic real estate investor! This week, Todd joins Adam & Matt to chat about failures, successes, motivations and lessons learned in the Vancouver market. We…

 Increased demand helps housing market reach balanced territory VANCOUVER, BC – October 2, 2019 – Home buyer demand has returned to more historically typical levels in Metro Vancouver* over the last three months. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,333 in September 2019,…

 What’s an insider’s take on the Vancouver Real Estate Market? Well, with a Spring Market that didn’t show up, an anticipated uptick in our Fall market & an election on the way, few people are offering an opinion. Until now. This week, Ben Taylor, Director of Sales at Anthem Properties Group and long-time real…

 Join us for a Live Hangout with Matt & Adam Scalena, featuring an interview with top commercial broker Cory Wright.

 Newly wed and nearly dead? Not anymore! With a burgeoning tech sector, thriving universities, and a growing Millennial population, Victoria has transformed into a hip and thriving city. Top Commercial Broker and investment advisor Cory Wright sit down with Adam & Matt to detail the opportunities in both commercial and residential real estate. Is…

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Has the Greater Vancouver housing market turned a corner? At least one expert believes buyers are ready to rekindle real estate in our region. “We feel that the low unemployment rate is supporting the housing demand and I think we have a lot of pent up buyers who are starting to spill…

Vancouver’s $1 million-plus home market is set to see a gradual recovery from this fall, according to a September 25 forecast from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. The brokerage said that the signs are there that the city’s housing market is already on the rebound, pointing to board statistics that Greater Vancouver sales increased 23.5 per…

 The B.C. government has announced the locations of the six new underground stations for the future 5.7-kilometre extension of SkyTrain’s Millennium Line along Broadway. Here are the stations announced Wednesday: Great Northern Way — to be located on the east side of Thornton Street, just north of Great Northern Way. The government says this station…

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is raising its annual home price and sales forecast for the year, due in part to the rising fortunes of Ontario’s housing markets, including the Toronto region. The association predicts prices will rise a slight 0.5 per cent in Canada this year — up from its June forecast of…

Not even the promise of a new national tax on foreign homeowners may be enough to chill a Canadian housing market that has been showing signs of warming up again. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau triggered an election campaign this week, and his party has already vowed that if re-elected, they will “address the impact of…



 Metro Vancouver housing market sees summer uptick in sales VANCOUVER, BC – September 4, 2019 – Home buyer activity increased to more typical levels in Metro Vancouver* throughout the summer months. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,231 in August 2019, a 15.7…

Sales were up in all types of housing in August, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.  Home sales in Metro Vancouver were slightly up this summer compared with last year, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. There were 2,231 residential properties sold in August, a 15.7-per-cent increase over…

Central bank leaves key rate at 1.75%, but appears ready to adjust lower. Canada’s central bank has decided to keep its benchmark rate at 1.75 per cent, despite “escalating trade conflicts” that are starting to take a toll on the country’s economy. The Bank of Canada said Wednesday it has elected to neither raise nor…

Sales total lower than July but a marked recovery from a year ago, as industry hopes the worst is over. The real estate industry is beginning to hope that the worst of the Metro Vancouver housing slowdown is over, with August home sales posting a strong performance. There were 2,231 residential resale transactions in August,…

Asking $849,000 2 BED | 2 BATH | 1 DECK | 912 sf   Welcome home to this PRESALE CONDO ASSIGNMENT in North Vancouver’s Lynn Valley tentatively completing November 25, 2020 and being constructed by one of the Vancouver areas top development companies. The project is steps to everything great at Lynn Valley Centre including…

 The fallout from Hong Kong residents’ months-long clash with China’s government could put further pressure on the real estate markets of Vancouver and Toronto, as well-heeled expatriates and new Chinese immigrants seek safety in Canada, say market observers. “Yesterday, we had a listing where three different groups came in on a bus, they were…

 The per-square-foot price of a condo in Greater Vancouver fell 8.3 per cent year-over-year to $764 as a correction in the region’s housing prices continued, the real estate company said Wednesday. That compares with a 9.1 per cent increase to $743 per square foot for a Greater Toronto Area condo, Royal LePage said. “With…

Metro Vancouver’s residential real estate market had been accelerating since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. However, even that recession only paused the city’s price appreciation, which had been swelling for years. Data indicates that average detached-house values in Vancouver increased 95 per cent from 1999 to 2009. Since 2009, the average detached value…

While Metro Vancouver’s residential sector struggles, its commercial real estate market is holding firm, with vacancy rates extremely low, according to a monthly analysis by commercial market intelligence company CoStar Group. The group analyzed the office, industrial and residential sectors and offered some forecasts on each market. Office space With minimum wages rising and unemployment…

OTTAWA – The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has lowered the vulnerability rating of Vancouver’s housing market to “moderate,” marking the first change in three years as prices have eased. The federal agency says in a report that “evidence of price acceleration” in Vancouver has eased to low, prompting a downrating after 12 consecutive quarters…

It’s hard to lose money in real estate these days, almost anywhere, but Vancouver is among an elite group of cities where the wealthy are doing just that. The city, once an unstoppable juggernaut of foreign money and rising prices, has ranked at the bottom of a list of the world’s hottest luxury housing markets…



Asking $798,000 1 BED | 1 BATH | 1 DEN | 786 SQFT   NO EXPENSE SPARED on this COMPLETELY RENOVATED home in the heart of the West End! Welcome home to this BRIGHT & SPACIOUS (over 780sf!) 1-bed home feat soaring vaulted ceilings, Maple H/W flooring & custom millwork throughout & dual sliding patio…

 Home sales increase in July Home buyer demand picked up across Metro Vancouver* last month, making July, a traditionally quieter month in real estate, the second highest selling month so far this year. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,557 in July 2019,…

Residential turmoil Release of June housing resale data last week by the Canadian Real Estate Association provoked mixed reactions. On the one hand, RBC Economics headlined its analysis of the figures: “A stable market isn’t a bad thing.” While downward pressure on prices was evident in Greater Vancouver, RBC said sales volumes were largely flat compared with a month…

For the first time in three years, the Bank of Canada has lowered its five-year qualifying mortgage rate, from 5.34 per cent to 5.19 per cent. This provides some slight relief for home buyers and mortgage renewers who have to pass the mortgage stress test, by qualifying at the posted rate or their contract rate plus two…

Four Canadian cities have earned places on a new list of North America’s top 50 markets for tech talent. The list, published by global property brokerage house CBRE, scores and ranks the top markets using 13 metrics such as the supply of tech talent, market growth, concentration of talent, cost, completed tech degrees, industry outlook and…

After a brief flurry of activity in May, home sales in B.C. in June saw a typical early summer decline, according to statistics released July 14 by the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA). The BCREA reported that 6,960 residential unit sales were recorded by the province’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in June, a drop of 15.3…

What would happen to Canada’s housing market if immigration to Canada was substantially reduced or even cut to zero? It’s a crucial question for the public, and for real-estate developers who start new construction projects on the basis of predictions of future sales. Surprisingly, however, the answers are all over the map. Some specialists suggest…

The severely depressed nature of the Lower Mainland’s housing market throughout the first half of 2019 is prompting more developers to hold back on their approved projects, according to MLA Canada’s mid-year market update report. Approximately 4,100 new homes within multi-family developments were introduced into the pre-sale market during the first six months, including 1,400…



Vancouver has been declared the one of the hottest office markets in North America, tied with Toronto, with downtown office vacancy rates plummeting, according to a July 9 report. CBRE’s Canada Q2 Quarterly Statistics Report said that downtown Vancouver’s office vacancy rate was 2.6 per cent in 2019’s second quarter, down from 4.7 per cent one year…

Home sales in B.C. in 2018 would have been approximately 10 per cent, or 7,500 units, higher if the B20 mortgage stress test hadn’t been introduced, according to a new economic study by the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA). The rest of the real estate slowdown can be explained by other market factors such as rising interest…

 Housing supply up, home sales and prices down in June With home buyer demand below long-term historical averages in June, the supply of homes for sale continued to accumulate in Metro Vancouver. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,077 in June 2019, a…

When Amazon announced its expansion into Vancouver in April 2018, an almost imperceptible shift happened in the local tech ecosystem. With the exclusion of Microsoft’s move into the city in 2016 to establish a two-floor, 750-person office, the technology landscape has been dominated almost entirely by small, 50-employee-or-less startups. While breakout local successes like Hootsuite, Avigilon, and Slack have made a…

Asking $899,900 3 BED | 2 BATH |1,259 SQFT   BRAND-NEW & BREATHTAKING VIEWS from this CONCRETE CORNER HOME that rises above Glen Park on the 21st floor and is only steps to Coquitlam Centre. Completing this Summer and built by one of the most celebrated developers in Metro Vancouver. This BRIGHT & SPACIOUS 3-bed,…

We all know that real estate prices in Metro Vancouver have gone nuts over the past decade or so, but how does that growth compare with other North American cities? Canadian housing blog Better Dwelling crunched the numbers and came up with a jaw-dropping graph that shows just how dramatically prices have risen in the region since…

This is the first of a five-part series on the state of real estate in Metro Vancouver.  Back in 2016, Vancouver’s white-hot real estate market looked as if it would never cool down. Three years later, industry experts say times have changed. “Prices now are back to where they were around, say, mid-2015,” Brendon Ogmundson…

Architect James Cheng didn’t feel confident with his earliest drawings of The Stack, a new 36-storey office tower being built at 1133 Melville St. on the western edge of downtown Vancouver’s financial district. “When I first sketched up the stacked boxes, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to get fired,’” he laughed, while speaking with Postmedia…

The regional fees for development had been already penciled in at $250,000 for one of Domus Homes’s major projects, a 200-plus-unit tower. Then, as the deadline approached for dramatically increased Metro Vancouver fees, it became obvious the bill would go up to $750,000 after May 1. So Domus principal Richard Wittstock and his team went…

Building more homes just became easier in two of the most densely populated areas in Ontario: Toronto’s downtown core and its “midtown,” a small strip of land centred at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave. For anyone interested in finding a place to live in those areas, this is great news. Unfortunately, the responses from many…

A new analysis paints the picture of how housing market cycles come and go, and based on 20 years of data Metro Vancouver’s market is “primed for a comeback.” Kevin Skipworth, the Chief Economist and Managing Broker of Dexter Realty, says recent sales figures indicate there is “renewed confidence” in the housing market, despite recent…

When you cross over the Granville Street Bridge that winds into downtown Vancouver, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in Hong Kong. The skyline has the same ribbon of gleaming apartment towers hugging the waterfront, and similar mountains in the distance. There is also an unabashed display of wealth, readily apparent in the city’s Kitsilano…

There was an uptick in pre-sale condominium project launches in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley throughout May 2019, according to MLA Advisory’s latest pre-sale real estate insights. Analysts recorded 10 project launches creating a combined total of 539 pre-sale units for May, and the forecast for June calls for nine project launches with 737…

There was a modest increase in home sales in Metro Vancouver during the month of May, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. While home sales were up 44 per cent from April, they were down just under seven per cent from May 2018, and the 2,638 sales were…

 Monthly Metro Vancouver1 home sales eclipsed 2,000 for the first time this year in May, although home buyer demand remains below historical averages. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,638 in May 2019, a 6.9 per cent decrease from the 2,833 sales recorded…

Any home will sell if the price is low enough but that’s of little comfort to people trying to sell their homes during a buyers’ market. In this market, sellers need to be realistic about the price they set. Forget about last year’s property tax assessment or what homes in their neighbourhood sold for during…

A simple addition and subtraction equation might not add up to the right answer when calculating money laundering’s impact on the B.C. economy, according to some experts. A May report led by Simon Fraser University public policy professor and former B.C. deputy attorney general Maureen Maloney concluded $5.3 billion was laundered through the province’s real…

The Bank of Canada is done raising interest rates until at least the end of next year, with a serious risk of a cut by then as policymakers become more wary of slowing growth and global trade tensions, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The central bank, which last raised its overnight rate in October,…

Metro Vancouver detached home prices should stabilize later this year but condo prices will continue to fall, according to the deputy chief economist of Central 1 Credit Union. “We expect to see some stabilization by the end of this year, we are going to see those prices stabilize,” Bryan Yu said of detached homes in…

For the first time in five years, it is no longer a sellers’ market, with Canadians reporting the housing market as balanced between buyers and sellers. The makeup of homebuyers has also seen a distinct change from the more traditional trend of buying with a partner/spouse. Today, almost as many homebuyers reveal that they need help and…

Wesgroup’s offer, which is good for the month of June, follows Woodbridge Homes’ enticement of free avocado toast for buyers who signed up for $400,000 condos in its Kira project in Coquitlam in early May. “It’s clearly a cheeky response to the avocado toast incentive that got so heavily picked up (in the media),” said…

Richmond city council is not pushing for an extra empty-homes tax, but they are going to ask the province to return the tax it collects on vacant homes to municipalities. Coun. Kelly Greene brought a motion to council’s committee meeting on Tuesday asking for council to push the Union of B.C. Municipalities to allow cities…

While falling home prices may be good news for those trying to get into the real estate market, they’re certainly not welcomed by the 63.7 per cent of Metro Vancouver adults who own their home. A study released May 21 found that in the past year, from April 2018 to April 2019, $89.2 billion has…

When British Columbia released its bombshell findings last week that more than C$7 billion ($5.2 billion) was laundered in a single year through the Canadian province — mostly through real estate — it trumpeted that “thousands” of properties might be involved. It appeared to be conclusive evidence of what many in the city suspected: the…

Last week, a panel of three academics established by British Columbia’s Minister of Finance released a report exploring the role that money laundering played the province’s real estate market. The report found that money laundering had likely inflated B.C. housing prices by five per cent. The 184-page report details the methods and assumptions used to…

The “menu” of options approved by legislators includes more backyard cottages, duplexes, triplexes everywhere and apartments near transit. Seattle’s affordable housing shortage gets a lot of airtime, but the city isn’t alone in having one. It’s an issue just about every state legislator is hearing about from their constituents, said Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Seattle. “We…

Canada’s rental market saw little change over the past month, according to the May 2019 report from Padmapper. VANCOUVER—Money laundering “distorted” the B.C. real-estate market, hiking prices by as much as 20 per cent in Vancouver, the province’s finance minister said during an announcement of a long-awaited public inquiry into dirty money. The inquiry, which…

B.C. Premier John Horgan announced Wednesday his government will launch a public inquiry into money laundering activities across the province. Speaking in Victoria, Horgan cited the province’s sharp rise in real estate prices and opioid deaths as primary reasons for a public inquiry. “We have an obligation to British Columbians to get to the bottom…

If we could distill an entire year’s worth of real estate news about Vancouver into a single headline, it would probably look something like “Home prices in Vancouver are dropping in a rate not seen in decades.” At this point, no one can argue that the market has definitely shifted away from being a seller’s…

A new quarterly report on the Metro Vancouver housing market says there’s a high degree of vulnerability in the market, but prices are down, and inventory is up, which means buyers will find some advantage. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the region’s soaring real estate prices have cooled since last June’s highs —…

The Alberta government is casting doubt on the findings of a new report commissioned for the B.C. government that warns money laundering is widespread across the country. The report released last week from British Columbia’s expert panel on money laundering in real estate concluded that almost $47-billion worth of dirty money – the proceeds of…

Growing population, increased public space usage, and aging facilities have prompted the City of Vancouver to launch a master planning process for English Bay Beach and Sunset Beach in downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood. The municipal government is seeking a design contractor to lead the creation of a new master plan for waterfront area in…

Home prices across Metro Vancouver are continuing to slide, reported the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) May 2. The board said that the composite benchmark home price across Metro Vancouver dipped to $1,008,400 in April, very close to edging back down over the million-dollar mark. This is 8.5% decrease over April 2018’s price, and a…

The Province of British Columbia is cracking down on landlords and renters who break tenancy laws by setting up a compliance and enforcement unit within the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB), housing minister Selina Robinson announced at a media conference in Victora May 8. Responding to findings from the Rental Housing Task Force, the role of…

A stretch of buildings west of Clark Drive along East Hastings could be coming down to make way for a three-building development. Developer Onni Group’s rezoning applicationf or the project, which is being considered under the Downtown Eastside Area Plan, proposes two 11-storey market condo buildings that feature 152 units in total, along with one…



We all know that “location, location, location” is key when it comes to homebuying priorities – but what makes a really good location? Mustel Group and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada’s Modern Family Home Ownership Trends Report: Neighbourhoods “In Transit” polled young “modern family” homeowners in Canada’s four biggest cities to find what their top priorities were when…

TD says impact of rules have been longer-lasting and more significant than originally intended and government should consider flexibility The Canadian government should consider being flexible on its new mortgage lending rules because the impact has been longer-lasting and more significant than originally intended, Toronto-Dominion Bank says. Home sales were about 40,000 lower between the…

A new quarterly report on the Metro Vancouver housing market says there’s a high degree of vulnerability in the market, but prices are down, and inventory is up, which means buyers will find some advantage. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the region’s soaring real estate prices have cooled since last June’s highs —…

A few years ago, an article in Newsweek stated: “Across the globe, empty luxury apartments darken many of the most desirable cities—Miami; San Francisco; Vancouver, British Columbia; Honolulu; Hong Kong; Shanghai; Singapore; Dubai; Paris; Melbourne, Australia; and London. The reason: The world’s richest people are buying these grand residences not to live in but to store their…

Decreased demand continues to allow the supply of homes for sale to accumulate across the Metro Vancouver* housing market. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,829 in April 2019, a 29.1 per cent decrease from the 2,579 sales recorded in April 2018, and a…

Vancouver businesses being squeezed by the city’s high real estate prices are getting some relief from City Hall. On Monday, council voted to shift 2 per cent of the tax burden from businesses to homeowners. This comes after City staff recommended against the shift, warning it will add a burden to homeowners, and would benefit…

Housing demand continues to wilt in March Poor housing market conditions in B.C. extended through to the end of the fi rst quarter as home sales declined for a fi fth straight month in March. MLS® residential sales fell 0.6 per cent from February to a seasonally-adjusted 5,266 units and the lowest level since February…

The idea of social housing can change definition depending on location. But the general image that this phrase evokes is affordable homes, usually built to help out the less fortunate. The city of Vancouver has made quite some noise recently about its success in constructing 1,938 units of new social and supportive housing units in…

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz addressed the media yesterday with an update on the Canadian economy and what to expect with monetary policy as we move further into 2019. The big take away? Don’t hold your breath for an increase to the prime lending rate in the coming months. Moving out of 2018 and…

No one but those perched atop the income ladder can afford to buy a home in Toronto and Vancouver, a new study confirms. For first-time homebuyers hoping to buy an average house with an average wage, the Prairies are a much better place to be, data compiled by real-estate search site Zoocasa. And yet, Canada’s…

What happened: Vancouver added 16,000 young people to its population last year amid a housing affordability crisis, according to new report Why it matters: Migration from other provinces and countries making up for cohorts leaving for cheaper housing in other cities Vancouver’s notoriously high housing costs aren’t preventing young people from making the city their…

March saw increased sales activity across the six projects that launched, the majority of which were within concrete buildings in Central Surrey and Burnaby. To date, approximately 28 per cent of the units released in March have been sold, which is the strongest activity we have seen in four months. Central Surrey continues to stimulate…

Canadian interest rates are almost certainly on hold until at least sometime next year. The Bank of Canada published a revised outlook on April 24 that shows the economy essentially stalled over the last six months, extinguishing the sparks that had caused policy makers to starting worrying about inflation. Stephen Poloz, the governor, and his…

VANCOUVER—The 5,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom house in West Vancouver’s Sandy Cove neighbourhood features a roomy three-car garage, an elegant white interior-design scheme and a state-of-the-art “chef’s kitchen.” For two years, the minimansion with a mock-Tudor roofline has been sitting at the end of its stately driveway empty, unsold and forlorn, and it’s now in foreclosure. BlueShore…

The federal government’s mortgage stress test has done its job and it’s now time to rethink the rules, according to a leading economist. Benjamin Tal, chief economist at CIBC, published a report citing CIBC research findings that the B-20 stress test has been responsible for a $13-15 billion decline in new mortgage loan values since…

CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate and investment firm in the world, recently released its annual Global Living Report. This report examines the housing markets of 35 major cities from around the globe, in order to give a macroeconomic look at the global state of the real estate market. Although most of Canada has…

Prices will double Ten consecutive months of declines in the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s benchmark home price have brought the figure down 7.5% since last May to $1,011,200. Sales are also down, with March seeing the lowest tally in 33 years. On the bright side, this was the smallest monthly decline of the…

Real estate is often the biggest investment that people make, whether it be in the form of a family home, cottages, investment properties or investments in the real-estate sector. The BNN Bloomberg Advisor panel discusses several topics including how real estate fits into a financial plan, taxation, helping adult children buy their first home, and…

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and the BC Real Estate Association partnered with the Appraisal Institute of Canada – BC Association, BC Notaries Association, and the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association – British Columbia to submit joint recommendations to the provincial and federal governments on April 15, 2019 on how to strengthen anti-money laundering…

The estate of Charles Hyland, who owned a home on East 48th Avenue, has been waiting for nearly a year for the City of Vancouver to process an application for an exemption to the empty home tax. The estate of a Vancouver man is suing the city over what it considers unreasonable delays in processing…

When Canada’s 2019 budget news broke a few weeks ago (catch up if you need to), Canadians were handed a layout to affordable housing — with new incentives to boot. The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTGBI) allows home buyers to reduce the amount of money they need for an insured mortgage. Budget 2019 also vowed to help…



One of the biggest barriers to development in Greater Vancouver may be newly elected municipal governments in the region. Developers, consultants and former city hall representatives told an audience at the Vancouver Real Estate Forum last Thursday that while stakeholders in communities throughout the region want solutions to affordability challenges, they are far from figuring…

What happened: Greater Vancouver municipalities issued $800 million in building permits this February. Why it matters: That figure, which signals builders’ construction intentions, was down 20.5% over January. After three consecutive months of more than $1 billion in building permits issued, the value of green-lit permits in Greater Vancouver fell by 20.5%. Statistics Canada said…

Many of us media types have done some reporting about the mountain of information released April 2, and the fact the city approved 15,406 housing units over the past two years. But there’s so much more to tell. To set this up, just a reminder the city’s goal is to approve the construction of 72,000 new homes…

As home prices across the Greater Vancouver Area continue their decline, and the total number of sales are dropping to numbers not seen in decades across all housing types, once again we find ourselves talking about the issue of housing. Although Vancouver is in the middle of a buyer’s market, that matters little for most…

Requirements that B.C. taxpayers provide social insurance numbers, email addresses and phone numbers while filing speculation and vacancy tax declarations are being examined by the province’s information and privacy commissioner. “We are aware of the concerns and our office is currently considering matters related to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information for the…

In California, where home prices are pushing people farther from their jobs, rising traffic is creating more pollution. California has long been seen as a leader on climate change. The state’s history of aggressive action to reduce air pollution, accelerate the use of renewable energy and speed the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy has…

The British Columbia government introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at preventing tax evasion and money laundering by shining a spotlight on anonymous real estate owners hiding behind shell and numbered companies. Finance Minister Carole James said the proposed Landowner Transparency Act would create Canada’s first public registry of property owners to compel corporations, trusts and partnerships…

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,727 in March 2019, a 31.4 per cent decrease from the 2,517 sales recorded in March 2018, and a 16.4 per cent increase from the 1,484 homes sold in February 2019. Last month’s sales were 46.3 per cent…

Increases in B.C. real estate prices have been so large that the value of 2018’s top 100 real estate deals in the province (biv.com/lists) jumped 61.1% to an average of $65.4 million from $40.6 million in 2017. Over the past five-year period, the average deal on the top-100 list grew 67.9%; most of that growth…

Things are turning around for those looking to buy a home in Metro Vancouver. We are now into a buyer’s market, and real estate agents are gearing up for a busy spring season. You need to be prepared before heading out to look for a new home. CTV News sat down with the Phil Moore,…

As the picture of foreign property ownership in Vancouver comes into clearer focus, new analysis shows non-residents of Canada own a much bigger proportion of local housing than previous official reports, with at least $75-billion worth of Vancouver-area residential real estate tied to offshore owners. It wasn’t long ago that high-profile figures, in both industry…

Given how home affordability is front and centre in many Canadians’ mind, its only natural that one of the most talked about measures brought about by the latest federal budget has got to be the First-Time Home Buyer incentive. In a nutshell, the First-Time Home Buyer incentive is a program to help new buyers accomplish…

Canada’s major cities currently face a rental shortage. Vacancy rates have long been low in many Canadian cities and below 1% in much of the Vancouver market, with Toronto not significantly higher. Meanwhile demand continues to grow as these cities generate jobs and attract migrants. The result has been rising rental rates, especially as home…

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the United States economy was slowing more than it had previously thought and painted a far less rosy economic picture than the White House as it left interest rates unchanged and signaled little appetite for raising them again in the near future. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed…

Real estate investors looking for a foothold in the path of the biggest pipeline project in B.C. may want to check out at a surplus land sale in Fort St. John. Fort St. John city council has formally declared the former Condill Hotel property as “surplus” and directed city staff to secure a real estate…

Across the country, an entire swath of young Canadians are being consigned to a life of renting — their home ownership aspirations tempered in the wake of a series of policy failures by the Ottawa Liberals. The Liberal government rode to power in 2015 on a promise to champion the middle-class and those working hard…

The 2019 federal budget includes a tantalizing pitch for prospective first-time home buyers — one that could see Canada’s housing agency contribute up to 10 per cent of the purchase price of a home and bring down the mortgage load for borrowers. The budget offers the program, known as the First Time Home Buyer Incentive, as a…

Because residential real estate prices have only dropped further since last summer and real-time information about recent transactions in March 2019 have revealed sharper declines, especially in more expensive areas, there are predictions the uptick in foreclosures could gather pace. With recent home sales in the Lower Mainland showing some dramatic price declines, there has…

The Bank of Canada will likely hold off raising interest rates through all of 2020, and could even cut rates later this year, according to TD Securities’ senior rates strategist for Canada. “Near-term risks skew decisively towards easing. If the [Bank of Canada] moves in 2019, it is more likely to be a cut,” Andrew…

For many of us, the idea of living in a detached home in Vancouver seems like an impossibility. In a city where a newly developed studio apartment could set you back a monthly $1,600, just being able to afford a place to live is a struggle. And that struggle is particularly harsh for students. Even…

Even before the Alaskan Way Viaduct finally comes down, the gold rush to cash in on soaring property values in the area is in full swing. On just one block near the waterfront: Prolific developer Martin Selig, known for building the Columbia Center, paid $44 million to buy a drab, century-old office building connected to the viaduct…

For buyers looking for a new-build condo in Metro Vancouver, there’s good news – the number of available units has skyrocketed, according to a report released March 7. In its quarterly State of the Market report for the Urban Development Institute, real estate research firm Urban Analytics said that the number of concrete condos that were either…

Canada’s construction sector generated $87 billion in residential projects in 2018 and $53 billion in commercial and industrial real estate in nearly 1,500 projects. Infrastructure to support new development and population growth tallied another $70 billion in 280 major projects. This year started with significant headwinds from government policy aimed at reducing residential demand, but…

Major Canadian cities may be struggling with affordability issues, but the rate of homeownership is among the highest in the world, according to a recent report by RBC. The bank compared Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary to other global cities and found Canadian cities to have much higher homeownership rates than most, and around twice as high…

In the most recent Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends Q3 2018, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) reports that the total number of delinquent mortgages in Vancouver have remained basically unchanged over the past 4 quarters. As it stands right now, the rate is at 0.1% for Vancouver; a number well below the provincial average…

A total of 1,484 home sales took place across the Metro Vancouver region in February, which is down 32.8% year-over-year and is 42.5% below the 10-year average for the month (see graph below), according to Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) data released March 4. This sales total is a 34.5% increase compared with…

   The Metro Vancouver* housing market saw increased supply from home sellers and below average demand from home buyers in February. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,484 in February 2019, a 32.8 per cent decrease from the 2,207 sales recorded in February…

Every year, the National Association of Home Builders presents its vision for the New American Home, showcasing trends in home design and construction. The association describes this effort as “America’s residential construction laboratory” and boasts that concepts first used in the New American Home project “often go on to become industry – and consumer – favorites.” The…

How did it come to pass that thousands of people who came to Metro Vancouver through a provincial immigration scheme bought pricey houses? A Statistics Canada report shows 2,370 people who recently arrived in B.C. through a provincial immigration program have bought single-family houses worth an average of $2.38 million in Metro Vancouver, which is…

City of Vancouver staffers presented a robust presentation to City Council today, outlining a number of ways they think they could work to protect renters in Vancouver The document presents a whole lot o’ facts and ideas around how they might help the majority of people in our city; the 53% of residents who don’t…

As real estate goes, so goes the B.C. economy. The Conference Board of Canada is forecasting at least two more years of slowing growth ahead for the province amid a cooling real estate market. The Ottawa-based think tank’s latest provincial outlook, released Wednesday (February 27), estimates real GDP growth in B.C. will fall from 2.6%…

The B.C. government today launched Canada’s first online pre-sale register in an effort to thwart tax evasion and real estate speculation. Starting this year, developers are required to collect information on pre-sale condo assignments and submit that information quarterly to the new Condo and Strata Assignment Integrity Register (CSAIR). “For too long, speculators and tax…

The government of British Columbia released 2019 budget on Tuesday, and Vancouverites will get a much welcomed round of good news. Those who were wary of new taxes will be relieved to know that this year’s budget does not introduce any new ones. In fact, the budget introduces a number of tax cuts, and a…

Canada’s once-roaring housing market has been tamed, according to the latest Reuters poll of analysts who predict house prices will rise nationally and in key urban hot spots they will not outstrip overall inflation over the next two years. While a mild price correction has already taken place in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and is…

The intricacies of B.C.’s property assessments are meeting the realities of Metro Vancouver’s property market in a way that discourages the operation of long-term affordable rental housing in favour of the development of new condos, landlords say. In other words, the system seems to incentivize the opposite of the outcome our leaders say they want. Development…

After reporting a record number of B.C. real estate audit assessments in 2018 – amounting to roughly $170 million – the Canada Revenue Agency is expected to receive a treasure trove of data from the B.C. government tying home ownership to income declarations. The province is estimating it will collect $642 million over the next…

Metro Vancouver’s luxury detached homes will see a further median price decline of 7.1 per cent over the next year, according to a forecast issued February 21 by Royal LePage. The national real estate brokerage’s 2019 Royal LePage Luxury Properties Report, which assesses high-end homes in five major cities across Canada, said that the sale price…

One of the biggest complaints Vancouver builders have had for years is the difficulty of obtaining housing permits. And for good reason too. Vancouver has the dubious distinction of having the slowest building permit issuing system of all major Canadian cities. To get an idea of just as slow it is, for a simple Building…

Vancouver property owners with vacant homes may have to pay more taxes. City hall is looking at the likelihood of increasing the empty homes tax. The tax is currently one percent of the property’s assessed value. According to a city staff report to council, the present rate may be low. “Given the number of property…

If you’re looking to upgrade to a luxury house or condo in Metro Vancouver, a Canadian real estate company says it might be a good time to make the move. A newly released report by Royal LePage forecasts a 7.1-per-cent drop in the median price of a luxury home in the region in 2019. That’s…

B.C.’s housing market is moderating and moving in the right direction, according to finance minister Carole James. “It’s what we are looking for. We are continuing to monitor it.” The correction in the market is not over, she said Tuesday. B.C. committed in its 2018 budget to seeing 114,000 new affordable homes constructed within its…

These buildings are in almost every U.S. city. They range from three to seven stories tall and can stretch for blocks. They’re usually full of rental apartments, but they can also house college dorms, condominiums, hotels, or assisted-living facilities. Close to city centers, they tend toward a blocky, often colorful modernism; out in the suburbs,…

Property Manager, Robert Herman, sits down with Adam Scalena to discuss the rental market overall in Fort St John, the decreasing vacancy rate, the benefits of owning newer construction, how the ‘turn-key’ corporate rental program works, and why he is excited about the future opportunities in Northeast BC with LNG and Site C Dam! Don’t…

The $1.9-billion replacement project for Vancouver’s 124-year-old St. Paul’s Hospital should be open within seven years, Premier John Horgan said Feb. 15. ”By 2026, there will be a new St. Paul’s Hospital on Station Street,” Horgan said. “It will be big, it will be better.” “That’s pretty fantastic,” Minister of Health Adrian Dix said. “The…

Inside a beautiful craftsman house in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood is a heartwarming story of family, support and housing affordability. “It starts with how do kids get to live in Vancouver with a piece of grass outside,” explained Vancouver real estate lawyer Richard Bell. His family is a living example of how to make that…

 On where he sees the market right now: Looking forward to 2019, Richard is bullish on the market. Domus will be looking to aggressively make acquisitions. Domus is looking to refill their pipeline. The local economy is still strong, driven by strong job growth and strong immigration. This signals to him that the market…



Local and international architects have been invited to take part in a special review for a proposed Vancouver high-rise. The Urban Design Panel has set a meeting on Tuesday (February 20) to evaluate the design of a 54-storey tower at the north end of Granville Bridge. The development at 601 Beach Crescent, a property that…

The real estate market slowdown may feel like good news for many who are struggling to afford a home in our pricey province – but it’s certainly not good news for provincial coffers. The B.C. government has reported that it is expecting property transfer tax (PTT) in the 2018/19 fiscal year to bring in $400…

One of the most common complaints from developers, homeowners and local business owners in Vancouver is the amount of time it takes to get a project approved at city hall. Last April, I wrote a column about the impacts of “red tape” on the cost of housing, which included a photograph of rolls of architectural…

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news lately, or simply been skimming through headlines on real estate news sites, you’re probably running into articles about how Vancouver is now solidly in a “buyer’s market.” Seeing as how Vancouver’s infamously expensive real estate market weighs heavily on buyers’ mind, news about how the market…

As Metro Vancouver’s office vacancy rate plunges to near record-lows, a condo developer is adding thousands of square feet of gig-friendly work space to a four-tower complex in Central Surrey. Concord Pacific is currently pre-selling Park George 2, a 337-unit, 36-storey high-rise as the last of the Park George development and it has designated much…

 Eitel Insights’ long-term forecast for the Condo market in Vancouver: Eitel Insights has recently released their analysis on the Condo Market in Greater Vancouver. At this time, the condo market has peaked and there will be no more price increases. There was a growth phase from Q4 of 2016 to Q2 of 2018. The…

The number of Vancouver homes declared vacant has dropped 15 per cent since the implementation of the Empty Homes Tax, according to numbers released by the city Wednesday. There were 922 properties declared vacant by the Feb. 4 deadline, compared to the 1,085 declared vacant by the deadline last year. Officials said just over half…

January real estate numbers show further softening of the Metro Vancouver real estate market, and nowhere is that effect more dramatic than on Vancouver’s West Side. One realtor says a lack of foreign buyers is why homeowners who bought in the pricey part of the town a few years ago are now selling for huge…

TORONTO, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Canada will consider changing the terms of a stress test designed to cut out risky mortgage lending if market conditions change, one of the country’s top banking regulators said on Tuesday. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada’s main financial regulator, introduced rules last January requiring banks to…

There’s no shortage of homes available for sale these days in Vancouver, and those hoping for better bargains in one of the world’s least affordable housing markets may get their wish soon. The latest data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) shows the number of homes for sale in the region jumped…

Georgetown One by Anthem is a new concrete condominium project that is steps from the King George and the Surrey Central SkyTrain stations as well as the SFU Surrey Campus and a host of restaurants & cafes. It is set to be a major component of the reimagining of Surrey City Centre, a 10-acre masterplanned community plan…

Zombie attack! Zombies fleeing Vancouver want to eat your brain… drain… or something. A couple of weeks ago The Canadian Press reported a story asserting that young professionals were leaving Vancouver because of the high cost of housing. This fits in with a common zombie refrain that we hear from the media. It’s a story that just won’t die, no matter…

 Home listings continue to increase across all housing categories in the Metro Vancouver housing market while home buyer activity remains below historical averages. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,103 in January 2019, a 39.3 per cent decrease from the 1,818 sales recorded…

Consider somebody who owns property in Vancouver but does not use it, does not rent it and does not pay any income taxes in Canada. This person is clearly benefiting from our society because over time their property is gaining value. It seems reasonable to ask them to contribute a bit through a marginally higher…

The federal statistics agency’s analysis of homeownership in the Vancouver and Toronto Census Metropolitan Areas found that immigrants to Canada between 2009 and 2016 own about five per cent of the region’s detached homes, valued at an average of $2,336,300 million. This is $823,900, or 54 per cent, more than the average $1,512,400 value of…

Even though Metro Vancouver’s real estate market has seen a significant slowdown recently, the affordability of both houses and condos has eroded, according to a study by National Bank of Canada. The nationwide study found that a mortgage payment for a median-priced single-family home in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area – based on a set of…

Economic growth in Canada from residential real estate investments will go negative in 2019, according to the Bank of Canada (BOC), which has conceded that stiff new mortgage regulations, local housing restrictions and rising interest rates have had a larger and more negative impact than expected. Consumer spending and housing investment “have been weaker than…

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may be done raising interest rates. In a statement following a two-day meeting of its policymaking committee, the Fed said that economic growth remained “solid,” and that it expected growth to continue. But in a sharp reversal of its stance just one month ago, the Fed did not…

Vancouver’s office vacancy rate has dipped below 5 per cent for the first time since 2008. Metro Vancouver vacancy has dropped to 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018, and as low as 3.4 per cent in the downtown market. Demand has driven up prices to more than $50 per square foot for…

The owners of the Columbia Theatre are prepared to invest several hundred thousand dollars into a feasibility study to assess the possibility of building a hotel and residential tower above the heritage theatre. Tricor Pacific Land and Redic Developments have submitted a pre-application review to the city regarding a proposal to build a 22-storey mixed-use…

According to Loans Canada, the current mortgage stress test is “a way of testing how you and your finances might be affected by a sudden bout of financial turmoil, such as loss of employment.” It also carries the added benefit of discouraging new home owners from getting mortgages too big to handle. Under the current…

City staff are recommending the city start public consultations on the downtown bridge’s re-design Plans for a new greener, more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly Granville Bridge are closer to fruition as a report on its purported redesign will be presented to Vancouver city council within a week. The report, which calls for council to start public engagement on…

The NDP’s speculation and vacancy tax will do nothing to make homes more affordable. If you think about who can afford to leave homes empty, it is wealthy people, whether they be foreigners or Canadians. The multi-million-dollar homes are not going to be accessible to low- or middle-income renters if they are sold. The tax…

How did your property value fair with the new BC Assessment values released earlier this month? How did your neighbour fair? What about that building on the corner of Thurlow and Comox or that 3rd house in off of Dunbar and 16th that you’ve always liked? Friend and three-time past guest of the Vancouver Real…

A recent proposal to the City of Vancouver aims to add colourful, modern townhouses to a site at the northwest corner of Columbia Street and 63rd Avenue in Marpole (a site that was formerly three single-family homes. The redevelopment application of 333 West 63rd Avenue was put forth by Fougere Architects and describes the architectural…

Want to live and work in Canada? That dream could become a reality now that the government has announced plans to accept more than a million immigrants in the next three years. In his 2018 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, the country’s immigration minister, Ahmed Hussen, revealed plans to admit as many as 1,080,000 new permanent…

 Asking$1,099,900 2 BED | 2 BATH | 1,012 SQFT Breathtaking skyline VIEWS from this rare luxury corner unit at highly sought-after West Five. Stunning Scandinavian design w/ AIR-CONDITIONING, wide plank oak flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows, striking marble accents & overheight ceilings. The best floor plan in the bldg w/ BRIGHT & SPACIOUS principal rooms &…

How many more sub-million dollar single family detached homes appear on the market over the next year is truly anyone’s guess It’s back. After several years of continually rising prices for single-family detached homes in Vancouver, the sub-million dollar house has re-appeared — and it even has a white picket fence and grassy back yard.…

The widely reported annual Demographia Housing Affordability Survey has been released January 21 – and despite Vancouver’s real estate market slowdown, the city has moved back up in the rankings of the world’s least-affordable housing markets. Having been ranked in third place for three years running (after Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia), Vancouver has the…

Vancouver’s housing market is looking more fragile than Toronto a year after policy makers tightened mortgage lending to slow a boom. While the country’s two most expensive real estate markets have both been hit hard by higher interest rates and tougher mortgage regulations, the data suggest Toronto is faring better and showing signs of stabilizing,…

They had no crystal balls or tarot cards, but B.C. developers still predicted Thursday that people hoping for “the housing bubble to burst” in 2019 will be disappointed. During the Urban Development Institute’s 2019 real-estate forecast luncheon, attended by about 1,150 people with interests in the industry in B.C., a panel of experts argued that…

U-Eight by Mission Group is an exciting new development in the growing university district of Kelowna. Situated immediately south of Kelowna’s UBC Okanagan campus, this impressive condo building, located on freehold land and within walking distance to the campus, will be the 8th offering from Mission Group to this mixed use, master plan community. The…

The Conference Board of Canada’s latest Travel Markets Outlook, released January 17, paints a rosy outlook for the Canadian and Vancouver tourism sectors. It projects that Canada will welcome 2% more overnight visitors from within Canada and international markets in 2019. The think tank projected an even higher increase for Vancouver in 2019 – a…

The Speculation and Vacancy Tax has come into force for the 2018 tax year, and homeowners can expect to get declaration letters from tomorrow (January 18) until the end of February. All homeowners – not just owners of second or vacation homes – in applicable regions of B.C. can expect to receive a declaration letter.…

The B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA) says the mortgage stress test introduced by Ottawa one year ago is “largely to blame” for a 24.5% decline in home sales across the province last year. Data released January 15 reveals the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) recorded 73,345 residential unit sales in 2018 — down significantly from the…

It will be up to homeowners to apply for exemptions, with a deadline of March 31. VICTORIA — All homeowners in B.C.’s largest urban centres will need to apply for exemptions from the province’s new speculation tax or receive a bill, whether they are speculators or not, the government announced Tuesday. The Ministry of Finance…

 Asking $369,900 1 BED | 1 BATH | 553 SQFT BREATHTAKING CITY, WATER & MOUNTAIN VIEWS from this BRIGHT & SPACIOUS CORNER HOME in the heart of the West End. Perfectly designed 1-bdrm feat. floor-to-ceiling windows & tons of natural light w/ beautifully restored H/W flooring, newer appliances, counters & backsplash, modern cabinetry, paint…

Here’s a sentence you probably didn’t think you’d read in this space: Fertility rates in Metro Vancouver have shifted by large margins over the past 20 years. Here’s another one: Overall, fertility rates for younger women aged 15 to 30 are on the decline while rates for women aged 30 to 45 have seen a…

Many first-time buyers are taking a wait-and-see approach, in case home prices drop further – is that the best strategy? Recently I was asked to guest live on CityTV’s BT Vancouver morning news show to recap a range of industry predictions for real estate in 2019. During the interview, I was asked what strategy first-time…

Home buyers and those with mortgages coming up for renewal gave a sigh of relief this past week after the Bank of Canada decided to leave its overnight interest rates untouched at 1.75%. Since mid-2017, the BoC has raised its interest rates a total of five times. The last raise took place in October of…

Homes prices in the City of Vancouver aren’t quite coming back to Earth, but their stratospheric heights lost some altitude in the fourth quarter of 2018. The aggregate home price in Vancouver decreased 0.6% year over year to $1,418,252, according to the Royal LePage house price survey released January 11. Meanwhile, the aggregate home price…

A surge in the assessed values of rental buildings, coupled with new rules around rental rates, could translate into reduced investment in existing buildings and fewer new developments, says the head of LandlordBC. David Hutniak, chief executive of the organization that represents rental property owners and managers, said another year of increased assessment values could…

REBGV President Phil Moore provides a summary of the December 2018 housing market statistics.    For more information please visit: December 2018 REBGV Statistics Package: Metro Vancouver home sales decline below historical averages in 2018

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver’s residential real estate market is at standoff that doesn’t appear to have an end in sight. The city saw a 26 per cent drop in sales of all types (condos, attached and single family homes) last year over 2017 and that has created two diverging points of view, says Sotheby’s…

Haider-Moranis Bulletin: A slowdown is the intended response to regulatory changes and must not be seen solely as a sign of market weakness As real estate market stats pour in from across Canada, it is becoming abundantly clear that property markets in 2018 lost the momentum of recent years. Households, governments and industry watchers alike…

As many as 20 per cent of all residential property owners in the province should be appealing their property assessments, says the man who has literally written the book on the assessment appeals process. Peter Morris, a commercial real estate agent who has co-written a book entitled How to Successfully Appeal Your B.C. Assessment, said…

The Bank of Canada is keeping its key interest rate unchanged in the face of a new, grimmer forecast that shows Canada’s economy is slowing down fast. As it did in December, the central bank left its rate at 1.75 per cent Wednesday as the country takes a hit from lower oil prices, weaker housing…

Last August, respondents to an Insights West poll in August identified four “primary causes” affecting the real-estate market. They were, in order of responses, foreign homebuyers (84 percent), population growth (80 percent), shadow flipping (76 percent), and money laundering (73 percent). But recently released B.C. government statistics suggest that foreign capital is not nearly as…

Vancouver is already widely-known as an expensive place for renters, and now, a newly-released report is predicting that the cost of putting a roof over one’s head in this city is only going to rise. The figures come courtesy of Rental.ca’s 2019 rental market predictions and includes insight from housing experts from across the county. In crafting its…

The City of Richmond is considering introducing a second penalty option, which carries a smaller fine but speeds up the process of adjudicating disputes, for illegal short-term rentals. Currently, the city issues a $1,000 fine per offence to illegal short-term rentals under the Municipal Ticket Information (MTI’s), and any disputes are handled in the provincial…

Metro Vancouver’s real estate market may no longer be “red hot,” but a price drop from $1,605,800 to $1,479,000 for a typical single-family home doesn’t offer much hope to those being squeezed by the unrelenting housing affordability crisis.In 2018, all levels of government took steps to fix the problem and improvements were made. However, the…

 The legalization of cannabis opens up new risks for homeowners and new opportunities for REALTORS® to add value as trusted advisors as consumers make the biggest financial decision of their lives. That’s why BCREA is launching a series of videos called Conversations on Cannabis. Listen to the always popular guest, Dustan on the podcast:…

Statistics Canada released its third-quarter report on national wealth at the end of last year, and it showed that Canada’s total GDP is currently at over $2 trillion, and the national wealth is valued at around $11.415 trillion. Of that total amount, real estate holdings make up $8.752 trillion, which is around 76% of the…

Canadians are finally getting a taste of what a world with rising interest rates will look like, and one thing is painfully clear: we’re not ready for what happens next. Kirk Marsh first noticed the mood start to turn in Vancouver’s housing market a year ago. As a real estate investor who buys homes and…

Notaries across British Columbia saw “an overall decrease in first-time buyers in most regions of the province” in 2018, according to the Society of Notaries Public of BC. What the province’s notaries collectively saw in 2018 was “an overall decrease in first-time homebuyers in most regions of the province” according to spokesperson Brenda Jones. Their…

Metro Vancouver’s sluggish residential real estate market continues to endure slow sales, with 2018 notching a mere 24,619 homes that transacted. There has not been that few homes that sold in the region during a calendar year since 2000, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). That tally is also 31.6% down…

 Metro Vancouver home sales in 2018 were the lowest annual total in the region since 2000. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and apartment properties reached 24,619 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2018, a 31.6 per cent decrease from the 35,993 sales recorded in…

By the time you read this, most property owners will know what the BC Assessment Authority thinks their property is worth – or was worth, as of the valuation date of July 1, 2018. However, interest rate hikes, government policies and other factors have helped keep prices in check in recent months. The benchmark price…

In a tumultuous year for B.C.’s real estate market, what were Glacier Media’s most-read real estate stories? 2018 has been a tumultuous year for B.C.’s real estate and rental markets, with a slew of new policies introduced at the federal, provincial and municipal levels that have dramatically altered the housing landscape. In order to help…

Sure, a single-family home anywhere in Metro Vancouver is pricey, but have you ever wondered just how your neighbourhood – or city – stacks up compared to others across the region? If so, then a new heat map from estateblock.com might be just what you’re looking for. The team at Estate Block – a Real Estate Search Engine for…

 For full interview, see Vancouver Real Estate Podcast – Episode 149 | Vancouver Price Tags with Gordon Price About Gordon: Gordon is a fellow with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, and a former Vancouver city councillor (1986-2002). He came from Victoria in 1978 and has lived in the West End for most of…

In the end, Amazon disappointed everyone. A year ago the e-commerce giant said it would open a second headquarters, and solicited bids from cities keen on the 50,000 new jobs and $5bn in investment it would bring. The gambit might have produced a fascinating experiment in urban development, and a departure from the concentration of…

According to a lot of analysis when the Canadian housing boom was at a peak, people were so anxious to get into the market that any fall in prices couldn’t last long. I remember Carol Off at CBC Radio’s As It Happens  grilling me about that in an interview almost exactly four years ago, after I’d written a somewhat…

Canada’s a rich country with a gross domestic product of over $2 trillion and national wealth valued at over $11 trillion. But just how much of those riches are wrapped up in real estate? A sizable share, it turns out. Statistics Canada released last week its third-quarter report on national wealth, which is the “value of non-financial assets…

Falling home sales in B.C. are set to drag national sales down to lows not seen in nearly a decade, according to projections released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Monday. The association’s latest quarterly forecast projects B.C.’s market to take another 5.2-per-cent hit in 2019, bringing home sales in the province down…

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has sent a letter to Premier John Horgan asking the province to rescind a new tax on real estate even though Stewart supports the tax. The tax, called a school tax surcharge, was announced as part of the B.C. 2018 budget and will start in 2019. It is an additional tax applied to homes worth $3 million or more.…

We at Price Tags are having a great time with our new podcast, PriceTalks.  So we appreciate the opportunity to be invited to other podcasts that are exploring our city and its issues – like that time on Cambie Reports with Sandy James, Gord Price and the three Cambie Reporters. So when Adam and Matt Scalena asked Gord to appear on…

Greater Vancouver average home prices grew 2.3% annually in November, even as prices declined 1.9% for B.C. as a whole. Data released December 14 from the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA) reveals average home prices in Greater Vancouver climbed from $1,026,506 in November 2017 to $1,050,151 in November 2018. The average home price in B.C.,…

According to data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the benchmark price for a detached home in Greater Vancouver dropped sharply in November by 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. To put it into direct numerical terms, the benchmark home lost around $107,900 in value in just one year. Detached homes in West Vancouver…

A tempting bright-red advertisement for a new condo development in a Vancouver suburb circulated online this fall, sparking excitement from first-time homebuyers and concern among long-standing real estate observers. The developers of The Landing, a 78-unit complex in Langley, were offering to pay the mortgages for a year of the first 20 buyers and give…

The real estate market in most parts of Metro Vancouver has softened over the last year and homeowners will see those changes reflected in their property assessments next spring. Outside Metro Vancouver, it’s a different picture. Home owners in the rest of the province can expect increases of five to 15 per cent for assessed…

The Metro Vancouver housing market may look to many like it is heading for a major correction, but two separate brokerage forecasts, both published December 11, assert that this is not the case. The Royal LePage Market Survey Forecast predicted that the median aggregate price of a home in Greater Vancouver would remain fairly level…

Canada’s housing market is “relatively insulated” from a US-style crash and Canadians might simply need to get used to high home prices, according to the chief economist at Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA). In his report The real story behind housing and household debt in Canada: Is a crisis really looming?, economist Francis Fong examined the…

As the Vancouver real estate market softens, some are already making predictions on how quickly it will recover. A recent article published on Capital Economics by Stephen Brown argued that Vancouver’s housing market will recover much more slowly than Toronto’s market, even though both markets have experienced similar factors that have led to slowing housing…

Newport Beach Developments unveiled plans for its Oceanfront Park, making significant headway for what’s hoped to be the revitalization of the former Nexen Beach lands. Initial stages in getting the project running have taken years and included extensive public consultation. Newport’s showcase, which was held in Howe Sound Brewing on Nov. 29, provides the most concrete snapshot of…

Home buyer demand remains below long-term historical averages in the Metro Vancouver housing market. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales totalled 1,608 in the region in November 2018, a 42.5 per cent decrease from the 2,795 sales recorded in November 2017, and an 18.2 per cent decrease compared…

Today Patrick Condon (a friend and colleague whose passion I admire) wrote a column in the Tyee. A media outlet I admire. He writes about a book by John Gray, a local writer I also admire. In his column, Patrick criticizes the expensive condos that are going to be built along the Broadway Corridor. “The…

With the release of the latest Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s rental market report, residents of Metro Vancouver, and those looking to move into the city, will find some disappointing yet unsurprising news: there are simply next to no available apartments and condos to rent in the city. According to the report, vacancy rates for…

Renters are paying more and more, a new survey shows, even though the supply of rental housing is increasing in Metro Vancouver and across B.C. According to the annual rental market report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), vacancy rates in B.C. rose to 1.4 per cent this year from 1.3 per cent…

Vacancy control would tie rent controls to a unit rather than the tenant. Currently, rental owners have the flexibility to adjust rents between tenants to account for building and unit upgrades and other increased costs like property taxes, insurance and utilities. Vacancy control would remove this ability. If rent is tied to the unit, the…

Rental vacancy rates in Metro Vancouver and across the province have improved slightly over the past year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The Crown corporation’s annual rental market survey, released November 28, reveals Metro Vancouver’s vacancy rate improved 0.1 percentage points over the past year to land at 1%. The province’s…

 Bryan’s real estate investment advice: Bryan invests in residential and commercial real estate in Canada. His strategy is to buy and hold real estate. He is concerned that going forward, as real estate becomes more expensive, less and less people will be able to afford it. His advice for young people is to get into…

As busy people living in an increasingly complex world, we are drawn to simple explanations that answer complicated questions. We like to see things in black and white, with neat cause and effect correlations. We also love villains. Villains satisfy our need for a simple explanation, and give us the added benefit of shifting the…

In this year of municipal elections in British Columbia, housing was consistently the top-ranked issue for residents of Metro Vancouver – with the exception of Surrey, where public safety was deemed more important. Many campaign platforms, from winning and losing contenders, devoted paragraphs to housing policies. One of the first efforts to deal with housing…

Residential Investor Outlook 2019: Scout opportunities outside of the Lower Mainland for best returns on home buying and rental plays Metro Vancouver  Despite a 35 per cent plunge in Lower Mainland housing sales this year, home prices remain the highest in Canada while rising mortgage rates will also help to keep buyers sidelined. As of…

The stately $17-million mansion owned by a suspected fentanyl importer is at the end of a gated driveway on one of the priciest streets in Shaughnessy, Vancouver’s most exclusive neighbourhood. A block away is a $22-million gabled manor that police have linked to a high-stakes gambler and property developer with suspected ties to the Chinese police services.…

The Bank of Canada (BoC) is caught between a rock (rising inflationary pressures) and a hard place (waning economic momentum). On the one hand, the Bank may believe that it needs to raise its policy rate pre-emptively to stay in front of rising inflationary pressures, but on the other hand, if our economic momentum has…

It’s easy to see why so many economists, pundits, and investors are feeling so bearish about Vancouver’s real estate. If you type into Google the words “Vancouver real estate” you will immediately see a number of articles talking about how the market is cooling, prices are going down, and how the real estate market bubble…

Small is beautiful. This was the theme of a recent conference organized by Small Housing BC (SHBC), a non-profit organization created to promote smaller homes throughout the province. SHBC defines “small housing” as just enough space to live in. Depending on the household, it may be anything between 200 and 1,500 square feet, in a…

More than 12,000 new rental units under development would be at risk of cancellation if the oft-mooted “vacancy control” mechanism were to be implemented, according to a new Urban Development Institute (UDI) survey released November 21. Vacancy control is a form of rent control that is linked to a unit rather than a tenant –…

Metro Vancouver’s turbocharged residential real estate market is showing signs of slowing, with sales plunging, prices edging down and a large swath of properties hitting the market. It is enough to temper the enthusiasm of some longtime boosters of the market. Chip Wilson, for example, has for years been bullish on the region’s residential real…

B.C. Premier John Horgan received a warm reception and standing ovation from delegates attending Canada’s largest affordable housing conference, which got underway in Vancouver today. “I’m very pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish in the first 16 months,” the premier told a packed ballroom at the Sheraton Wall Centre Sunday morning. “We’ve taken…

 Brendan Lacerda’s predictions for the Vancouver Real Estate Market: Regarding the previous run-up in prices, there was a perfect storm or confluence of events with strong global growth, the fall of the Canadian dollar, and extremely low interest rates to boost prices. Going forward, Brendan is looking at different fundamentals that will dictate where…

The British Columbia government says it’s already seeing positive results from the policies it put in place to address the housing crisis, but one expert says there’s still a long way to go. Housing Minister Selina Robinson says the government is seeing some high-end house prices starting to drop. “Right now we’ve got the speculation…

The British Columbia Real Estate Association estimates that economic growth will remain strong enough to support a boost in sales next year after a substantial decline in 2018, according to its latest forecast. When the dust settles at the end of this year, association chief economist Cameron Muir expects sales recorded through the Multiple Listing…

A challenge so-called progressive cities aren’t meeting Shaw says the housing crisis has taken on a different tone over the last few years because its impact is so widespread. What’s changed in many cities is how the middle class is being affected; now, low-income households and young adults aren’t the only ones facing long commutes…

Home sale activity across Metro Vancouver remained below long-term historical averages in October, according to the latest figures. In its monthly report, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) said that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,966 last month, a 34.9% decrease from the 3,022 sales recorded in October of 2017. Last…

 Asking$1,269,900 2 BED | 2 BATH |1,103 SQFT The wait is over! Welcome home to this perfectly designed BRIGHT & SPACIOUS corner home at Pinnacle Living False Creek, feat floor-to-ceiling windows, over-height ceilings, A/C & engineered wood throughout. Open gourmet kitchen w/ granite counters, S/S Bosch & Fisher Paykel appliances, contemporary cabinets & an…

Speculation by condominiums flipping is currently not a major factor in Vancouver and Toronto’s housing markets, according to a new report by Bloomberg. The publication gathered and analyzed data from Teranet Inc.’s land and housing registry and found that 3.4% of condominiums in Vancouver sold between April and June 2018 were units that had been…

It appears a city council motion to stop allowing duplexes in a huge swath of Vancouver is on the way to passing, even as the city battles an ongoing housing crisis. Between the five votes of the Non-Partisan Association, including the mover of the motion, Colleen Hardwick, and Green party leader Adriane Carr, the motion…

It seems like nearly everyone you talk to these days is a landlord or is thinking of becoming one. While some of us may simply rent out our basement to bring in extra income to help cover the mortgage, others are forgoing more traditional retirement savings vehicles such as RRSPs and TFSAs for the allure…

Thinking of selling detached Vancouver real estate? It might be a little rough right now. Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) numbers show sales fell in October. The decline in sales helped to push inventory levels higher, and prices lower. Greater Vancouver Detached Real Estate Prices Fall Over 5% The price of a detached…

There appears to be a resurgence in Mainland Chinese interest in buying real estate in Vancouver, almost exactly two years after the BC provincial government enacted its foreign buyers’ tax. According to recent data released by Juwai, a major international real estate website in China, buyer inquiries from the country during the third quarter of…

Tighter mortgage rules and higher interest rates have dented buying power, but health of the economy backs higher demand. The British Columbia Real Estate Association estimates that economic growth will remain strong enough to support a boost in sales next year after a substantial decline in 2018, according to its latest forecast. When the dust…