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Friday, 29 September 2006 |
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Canada's housing market both vigorous and stable - Country's market poised to show growth throughout 2006 -
The Royal LePage Survey of Canadian House Prices is the largest, most
comprehensive study of its kind in Canada, with information on seven types of
housing in over 250 neighbourhoods from coast to coast. This release
references an abbreviated version of the survey, which highlights house price
trends for the three most common types of housing in Canada in 80 communities
across the country. A complete database of past and present surveys is
available on the Royal LePage Web site at www.royallepage.ca, and current
figures will be updated following the end of the third quarter. A printable
version of the third quarter 2006 survey will be available online on
November 15, 2006.
Housing values in the Royal LePage Survey are Royal LePage opinions of
fair market value in each location, based on local data and market knowledge
provided by Royal LePage residential real estate experts. Historical data is
available for some areas back to the early 1970s.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 September 2006 )
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
Price of paradise takes a hit
The price of paradise is rising precipitously for quarter-share owners in vacation properties, who are finding their taxes doubling and tripling after they buy.
Taxes on one vacation unit in a Vancouver Island resort jumped from $3,800 to $15,200 when BC Assessment changed its classification from residential to business in a shift that is hitting resort properties around the province.
At Pender Island's Poets Cove resort in the Gulf Islands, strata fees including taxes tack on almost $1,100 a month to the cost of a quarter share in a townhouse that is listed for sale at $229,000 for 12 weeks of occupancy a year.
Some buyers are signing up for fractional ownership in vacation homes only to find long after the deal is sealed that the residential tax rate has given way to business and their costs are much higher than they expected.
"The developer comes in, sells the project and sells the management of it to a management company and he takes all the profit and gets out of Dodge," said Errol Winter, real estate director at Crown Isle, a resort and golfing community at Courtenay on Vancouver Island.
"He's gone, the assessment comes in the following year, the taxes go through the roof and the management company is left holding the bag.
"People are yelling."
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
Vancouver area close to levels reached before previous downturn
The cost of carrying the average mortgage is nudging levels that preceded the last two significant downturns in the greater Vancouver housing market, a study by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says
While Lower Mainland home prices have risen dramatically in recent years, the federal agency says the monthly cost of carrying a five-year mortgage at posted interest rates, when adjusted for inflation, has yet to top $2,600 as it did in 1990 and again in early 1995.
However, in July, the average mortgage sat at $2,322, its highest level in 12 years, thanks to a combination of higher interest rates and rising prices.
"We haven't been where we are today since 1994 and 1989 which were both peak years in their respective cycles," Cameron Muir, senior market analyst with CMHC, said in an interview.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 September 2006 )
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
Housing starts drop more than expected
Home construction has slowed more than expected, and the sector -- which has been an engine of overall economic growth -- was already a drag on industrial activity as early as last spring, a pair of agencies report.
Housing starts fell 10 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 213,700 -- their lowest level in a year after three straight months of increases, pulled down by a drop in apartment and condominium construction, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Monday.
Urban housing starts declined even further, by 11.3 per cent to 179,300 units in August compared to July. Urban multiples decreased 22.2 per cent to 87,800 units in August, while singles were up 2.6 per cent to 91,500 units.
The drop for urban housing starts was even greater in British Columbia, where they fell 21.2 per cent, the biggest percentage plunge of any province.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 September 2006 )
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
Sep 12, 2006
B.C.'s new-home buyers take double blow with high prices and six-percent GST
The high price of new houses in British Columbia means buyers are out of pocket in two ways: First, because of the high prices themselves; second because almost all now have to pay the six-per-cent goods and services tax.
GST is payable on the purchase of a new home, but a rebate kicks in for houses under $450,000. The size of the rebate depends on the price of the house, with homebuyers entitled to a 36-per-cent refund if the house costs less than $350,000. Once the $350,000 threshold is reached, the amount of the rebate dwindles to zero as the price nears $450,000.
The aim of the GST rebate program was to help middle- and low-income purchasers in every region of the country, said David Gamble, spokesman with the federal finance department.
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Wednesday, 20 September 2006 |
Sep 8, 2006
Home building declines the most in BC
B.C. saw the biggest decline in the value of residential building permits of any province in Canada from June to July, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.
The 9.6-per-cent drop, to $579 million from June's $640.5 million, was the third decline over the past four months, the federal numbers cruncher said.
But the value of home-building permits issued from January to July is up 14.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, from $3.7 billion to $4.2 billion.
And the value of non-residential permits continued to climb, increasing by 11 per cent in B.C. from June ($283.9 million) to July ($315.1 million) and by 11.1 per cent in the January-to-July period compared to the first seven months of 2005.
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