In March we said goodbye to 35-year amortizations, and with concurrently rising interest rates the entry-level buyer pool has now basically dried up through April. This means that Sellers wishing to move up will have more and more difficulty with so few new buyers in the market. So if you are selling and you want … Read more
Rebate Threshold and Transitional Rules for New Housing The Province is proposing to increase the threshold for the BC HST new-housing rebate from $400,000 to $525,000 to ensure that, on average, purchasers of new homes up to $525,000 pay no more tax due to harmonization than is currently embedded as PST. The government has also … Read more
When the City of Toronto implemented a Land Transfer Tax (LTT) as a way to address a revenue shortfall, instead of bringing in revenue, the LTT did the opposite. An estimated 3,500 families who would have otherwise moved, stayed put because of the LTT, according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute and economics … Read more
BC’s population grew by an impressive 14,440 individuals or 0.33 per cent from October to January 2009. This was the highest fourth quarter rate of growth since 1996 and reflected a net increase of 10,255 international immigrants, 64 per cent more than a year ago. In fact, net international was the highest on record in … Read more