Stay up to date with the latest Real Estate News in Vancouver BC! We add new podcasts every week to our Newsroom. What is going to happen in Real Estate in Vancouver this year? Will the Vancouver real estate market home prices rise or fall? What are the best real estate investment goals for 2019?
Cory Wright, Managing Broker of William Wright Commercial discusses the investment opportunities in the commercial real estate market in Victoria, BC.
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…
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…
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,…
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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)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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.…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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 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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
January 2018 REBGV Statistics Package: Home listings increase while buyers remain in holding pattern
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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%…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Coun. Colleen Hardwick wants to overturn the last major and one of the most contentious decision by the previous Vision Vancouver-dominated city council. It involved the mass rezoning of 99 percent of all 68,000 lots zoned as single-family properties to…
As the real estate market shifts, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is launching a new ad campaign. In a video to members, board president Phil Moore explains the $2-million campaign, which started this month on radio, will expand…
The City of Vancouver says it has collected $18 million from the first year of its empty homes tax and another $12 million could still flow into its coffers. The city says in a news release that it expects to…
The B.C. government has introduced legislation to ban mega-mansions on agricultural farmland by overriding local zoning in cities like Richmond. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham’s bill introduced Monday would restrict the maximum size of a home on agricultural land reserve property…
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Looking for bang for your home-buying buck? Detached home prices on the North Shore – even in West Vancouver – offer much better value than Vancouver’s West Side in terms of cost per square foot, a new national survey reveals.…
A pilot program to cut down the time to process building permits for single-family homes has yielded promising results, the City of Vancouver says. Builders and developers in the city’s Applicant Supported and Assisted Process (ASAP) pilot program have completed…
“Vancouver’s scariest pumpkin” isn’t the monster of the week for a Doctor Who episode, or even the title of SyFy Channel’s newest B-Movie. The pumpkin doesn’t hover ominously, nor does it move when you’re not looking at it. It’s far…
Many prominent Canadian analysts, pundits, and investors agree: Canada’s housing market — especially in large centres like Toronto and Vancouver — is in a massive bubble. These folks have some compelling evidence on their side. Record-low interest rates made large…
Let’s go back to that vote Sept. 19 at city hall that saw Mayor Gregor Robertson, his five Vision colleagues and Coun. Hector Bremner vote in favour of allowing duplexes in most single-family neighbourhoods. Remember how controversial that was? Well,…
On his last full day as mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson announced what he called an historic framework agreement between the city, B.C. Housing and Concord Pacific to build up to 650 units of affordable, non-market housing in Yaletown. The units will…
September may have been dismal for Metro Vancouver real estate sales, but October showed a slight improvement, the latest statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reveal. There were 1,966 home sales in the region October 2018, according…
Kennedy Stewart has made it clear that housing is Priority 1 on his agenda when he is sworn in as Vancouver’s first independent mayor in more than 30 years on November 5. “That’s the overwhelming message from the electorate,” said…
Home sale activity across Metro Vancouver* remained below long-term historical averages in October. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,966 in October 2018, a 34.9 per cent decrease…
The promised condo-flipping registry, designed help crack down on tax evasion and create transparency in B.C.’s real estate market, was launched November 5 by the B.C. government. The new regulations will require developers selling presale condos and other strata units…
Prices for Metro Vancouver homes are starting to decline in the wake of sluggish sales and plenty of residences up for sale, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). “Home prices have edged down between 3% and…
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The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home supply is rising and reaching levels not seen in roughly four years, even as the average price inches up year-over-year. The board says the composite benchmark price for all homes was…
The world’s most valuable publicly traded company has never had a corporate presence in Vancouver. But this week, many people thought that was about to change when a website declared that Apple has leased 60,000 square feet of office space in a…
While more than half of homeowners have given up their dreams of owning a single-family home, experts are urging the city to follow suit and make zoning easier for families to access higher-density homes. The finding confirms his study on…
Most young families in Vancouver’s property market remain confident their property values will do as well or better than other investments, despite a recent slowdown in the market, according to a new survey commissioned by a property firm. In total,…
The top two spots, according to BIV’s sister publication Western Investor, in B.C. for real estate investors in 2019 are in the northwest part of the province, which is ground zero for the biggest private investment in Canadian history. The third…
The pace of industrial real estate construction in the Calgary region is the second-highest in the city’s history as the robust market continues to see high demand. Although a significant amount of the current construction is on spec, millions of…
VANCOUVER—As the city’s new mayor prepares to take office on a promise to build 25,000 affordable housing units over the next decade, non-profit housing operators are warning that a fundamental disconnect inside city hall bureaucracy is eroding the number of…
In a move that surprised no one, the Bank of Canada (BoC) increased its overnight interest rate by 0.25%, to a total of 1.75%. This marks the fifth interest rate hike since mid-2017. Economists believe that this isn’t the last…
Construction and real estate add up to a hugely disproportionate share of the Cascadian province’s economy, Bloomberg Businessweek noted Saturday, as BC voters went to the polls in dozens of municipal elections whose overriding issue was housing. Those elections indicated that…
It wasn’t all that long ago that the prospect of buying a detached home in the City of Vancouver for under $1 million seemed like a dream from another era. The so-called “million dollar line” that used to divide Vancouver’s east…
The Metro Vancouver housing market is still exhibiting signs of overvaluation as home prices continue to outpace local income growth, according to a new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report released October 25. Although home price growth is moderating in…
Sitting down at a Yaletown coffee shop on Tuesday, the former NDP MP told StarMetro how he plans to make it all work, including getting started on an ambitious housing plan and securing funding to extend a planned subway extension…
In Vancouver, the tidal wave has wrought a dramatic economic, demographic, and physical transformation. Alberni Street, a formerly dowdy downtown thoroughfare, has in the past decade welcomed a two-level Prada boutique with a black marble facade, one of the largest…
If you’re looking for a new condo in Greater Vancouver, a whole lot of supply is kicking around. Greater Vancouver is seeing a lot of new pre-sale projects launch in October. MLA anticipates 2,086 new units expected to hit the…
The aggregate home price in Greater Vancouver rose 3.9 per cent in the third quarter to $1,270,675, compared to the same period last year. When broken out by housing type, the median price of a condominium increased 9.5 per cent…
The Bank of Canada has raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point for the fifth time since last summer, pushing up the cost of borrowing for Canadians. The bank’s rate is now set at 1.75 per cent. That’s…
All signs point to the end of the residential land rush in the Lower Mainland – though Michael Ferreira of market research firm Urban Analytics Inc. didn’t use those exact words in his presentation last week to the Urban Development…
Following a steep drop-off in Metro Vancouver homes searches by potential buyers in China, interest spiked again in 2018’s third quarter, according to data mined for Glacier Media by China’s biggest international real estate website Juwai.com. The number of inquiries on Metro…
Among Kennedy Stewart’s plans on the file are immediately hiring a renters’ advocate and increasing supply by 85,000 new units, including 25,000 non-profit rentals, over 10 years. Following his victory, Kennedy told reporters he wants the conversation to move beyond…
British Columbia legislation introduced Tuesday would impose a tax of either 0.5 per cent, one per cent or two per cent on the assessed value of a vacant property in the 2019 taxation year and onwards. For the 2018 tax…
The B.C. Green Party, which has been vocally opposed to the NDP’s speculation tax, has reluctantly agreed to support the legislation after three changes are made, the parties announced October 18. The Ministry of Finance said it will support the…
Metro Vancouver’s current housing slump will last until 2021, but will be followed by dramatic doubling in single-family prices, predicts analyst A real estate analyst who accurately predicted Metro Vancouver’s housing crash a year ago says the current slump will…
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The average rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver jumped 2.4 per cent last month to $2,100 per month, according to the latest Canadian rankings released by PadMapper. Toronto, with a median asking rental price of $2,230, is the most…
The vast majority (85 per cent) of first-time buyers are spending the maximum they can possibly afford on their first home purchase, reveals a Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) survey released October 18. That compares with 68 per cent…
With the new cannabis laws coming into force, would growing pot at home reduce your property’s value? What about smoking weed at home? Do you think a new cannabis store in the neighbourhood would help or hinder a home sale?…
The newly named “speculation and vacancy tax” will apply to those who own second and vacant homes in applicable areas of B.C. as of December 31, the provincial government announced October 16. Anyone who owns a home that is not…
A recently toughened stress test is making it more difficult for young people and newcomers to the country to buy homes, Canadian mortgage industry leaders say. The stress test requirement came into effect in January. Anyone taking out an uninsured…
VICTORIA — B.C.’s New Democratic government dug in its heels on the contentious real estate speculation tax Tuesday, moving forward to bring it into law despite the protests of local mayors and a development community that warned it could cause…
Three emerging factors are set to disrupt and transform the real estate market in the near future, according to a new report by Montréal-based real estate website Shupilov.com. Remote working and self-employment, disruptive technology such as autonomous vehicles and virtual…
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Peter Cox wants to vote for people in the Vancouver civic election who will tackle housing for people like him: a renter. The 41-year-old, who runs his own recycling business, is renting a one-bedroom condo in Fairview for a reasonable…
Canadian home sales declined for the first time in five months as activity in Vancouver and Toronto weakened. Sales in Vancouver fell by 1.5 per cent in September and benchmark prices declined 1.2 per cent, the Canadian Real Estate Association…
OTTAWA—Condo flipping was never pervasive in the Vancouver and Toronto housing booms and that sliver of the market has faded over time, suggesting tougher measures to curb speculators won’t make those cities more affordable. Just 3.4 per cent of Vancouver…
Despite B.C. home sales taking a nosedive in September, the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) stands by a previous assertion that the “downturn is largely behind us” and that market activity is expected to pick up. According to BCREA…
Canada’s housing market slowdown, which began with a drop in sales, is now spreading to home construction. Housing starts in Canada have fallen steeply in recent months as the country’s developers react to a slowdown sales brought on by rising…
What would be city’s fourth-tallest high-rise aims to echo under-construction Vancouver House opposite, to create new “Granville Gateway” A rezoning application, along with a fresh set of renderings, has been filed with the City of Vancouver for what would be…
“Finally, the market correction we’ve been waiting for!” I hear people saying recently. “Maybe now I’ll actually be able to buy my first home.” Well, cool your jets there, enthusiastic would-be buyer. I’m sorry to break it to you, but…
Labour market momentum intensifies in September B.C. employment surged in September, marking a fourth consecutive monthly increase and pointing to a fi rm rebound after a weak fi rst half. Estimated employment surged by 33,300 persons during the month, marking…
What if, in the midst of a housing and rental crisis the government implemented a 26 per cent tariff on all new homes. How would you react? Many of you would likely protest on social media, demonstrate, sign petitions and even…
Duplexes might not seem like the most revolutionary form of alternative housing. It’s just two homes on a lot, after all, instead of one – all still in one building. But they are a small step that a cluster of…
Surrey is the fastest-growing metro centre in B.C., and its young population – 22 per cent of B.C. births are now in Surrey – is gunning to claim the title of the province’s biggest city within a generation. The population…
VANCOUVER — The Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board says home sales across the region in September plunged more than 40 per cent compared with the same month last year. Statistics from the board show 1,595 homes changed hands in Metro…
More Supply And Less Demand Seen Across Metro Vancouver Housing Market The supply of homes for sale continued to increase across the Metro Vancouver* housing market in September while home buyer demand remained below typical levels for this time…
Minister Mike de Jong’s predictions for the Vancouver Real Estate Market: As we now know, the majority of that demand was domestic, and that’s a good thing. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep pace in terms of the supply of homes…
The B.C. government is launching its promised Phase 2 investigation into money laundering in the province, this time focusing primarily on real estate, as well as luxury cars and horse racing. The move follows the sweeping regulatory changes made in…
Housing affordability has fallen to “never-seen-before” levels in Vancouver, according to a new report from RBC Economic Research. Metro Vancouver residents on average would have to devote 88.4% of their income in the second quarter to cover the cost of…
VICTORIA — B.C. will conduct a second independent review into money laundering, this time focusing on whether illegal proceeds of crime have been used to buy real estate, to gamble at horse-racing tracks and to buy expensive luxury cars. Attorney…
Following a lacklustre summer performance, Metro Vancouver’s $1 million-plus real estate market is set to see even greater declines this fall, according to a Sotheby’s forecast released September 26. The luxury real estate brokerage said that the patterns in “top-tier”…
For the past three years, housing has consistently topped the charts as the most important issue facing most cities in Metro Vancouver. Aside from Surrey, where crime and public safety are regarded as a more pressing concern, all other municipalities…
Vancouver city council’s vote to allow duplexes in most parts of the city’s single-family home areas could be easily reversed after the Oct. 20 election. One independent mayoral candidate, Sean Cassidy, is already calling on city council candidates to reverse…
BC Home Sales May Be Turning A Corner August Canadian Real Estate Association data suggest sales in the Greater Vancouver area are stabilizing, though activity remains well below year-ago levels. This is occurring just as Labour Force Survey data show…
Annual rent increases for tenants in B.C. should be limited to the cost of living, a provincial government task force is urging. The recommendation by the B.C. Rental Housing Task Force would do away with the current calculation that allows…
The year of discontent persists for the housing sector as the confluence of federal mortgage stress-testing measures, higher interest rates, provincial policy measures and buyer skittishness continued to weigh on the market. Price levels are in retreat as sellers tone…
During B.C.’s municipal election campaigns, we are going to hear a lot about the so-called not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitude. Depending on which municipality you live in, the next five weeks will be dominated by political discussions that will inevitably involve what…
The Canadian real estate industry expects sales to slow further than previously thought. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) economists have revised their annual forecasts. The good news is the summer was better than expected, leading to an improved outlook for…
At one point on Sept. 18, the first day of a public hearing to determine whether duplexes should be permitted in most single-family neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Vision Coun. Andrea Reimer turned to a speaker and asked what she made of…
The Courier, Business in Vancouver and Vancouver is Awesome co-hosted the first mayoral debate of the election campaign Monday night. Here’s a summary of what six of the candidates had to say on housing issues. (Due to the format of…
It’s worth putting a highrise in Central Lonsdale to put $17 million in the city’s coffers. That was the consensus in City of North Vancouver chambers Monday night as council voted to approve an 18-storey, 162-unit strata building on East…
Shifting towards the right supply of housing to meet the needs of people who live and work in Vancouver is a key objective of the Housing Vancouver Strategy. To meet the right supply targets, we are looking at new opportunities…
With renters facing significant rent hikes, Premier John Horgan says he’s hopeful a new formula for setting limits on increases will arrive soon. The provincial government currently uses the B.C. Consumer Price Index to determine increases. It adds up to…
OTTAWA – Canada’s housing market rebound appears to be slowing amid diminishing increases in national home sales, says the Canadian Real Estate Association. The organization said on Monday that home sales saw their fourth consecutive increase in August, rising 0.9…
VANCOUVER—The fall of commercial real estate transactions continued into the second quarter of this year, with fewer transactions compared to recent years. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reports there were 569 commercial real estate sales in the Lower…
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We all know that for most households earning a median income, buying a detached house in Metro Vancouver is highly unaffordable, unless they have already built up considerable equity or have another source of wealth. But exactly how much of…
REBGV President Phil Moore and President-Elect Ashley Smith provide a summary of the August 2018 housing market statistics.
The Province of British Columbia has announced the maximum allowable rent increase for 2019, and it’s the largest rent hike in more than a decade. Next year, landlords can raise rents by a maximum of 4.5%. This figure is partly…
As mayors and provincial leaders gather for the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities summit in Whistler this week, the union is taking the opportunity to renew calls for the province to do more on real estate speculation. In a document…