B.C.'s housing speculation tax faces first major legal challenge Lawsuit alleges tax is unconstitutional and beyond power of B.C. government Eric Rankin · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2019 9:05 AM PT | Last Updated: September 26 The Oak Bay home of Denise and Robert Simpson is at the heart of a lawsuit challenging B.C.'s speculation tax (Mike McArthur/ CBC)Six homeown ...

Canadian home sales have ‘room to run’ in 2020 Home sales rose Canada-wide for the sixth straight month in August, leading one of the country’s largest real estate industry groups to increase its 2019 sales forecast on the back of the sustained strong results. According to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data and commentary released last week, the impacts of the new mortgage rules i ...

Vancouver ranked Canada’s #1 for real estate investment in 2020 “Despite headwinds” in housing, PwC forecasts strong commercial sector combined with likely residential recovery makes Vancouver the hottest market to watch Vancouver has been ranked Canada’s #1 market for real estate investment in 2020, in the annual PwC Canada Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, released this week. ...

B.C. speculation and vacancy tax still open to change: finance minister Carole James in Vancouver to meet with mayors of affected municipalities to discuss impact of tax on communities; working with housing ministry on various policy decisions The B.C. NDP government's speculation and vacancy tax (SVT) is “working” — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t open to some amendments, finance minister ...

City of Vancouver issues hundreds of short-term rental violation tickets First year of legal short-term rentals saw 660 violation tickets, 276 legal orders and 117 suspensions The City of Vancouver is touting its enforcement for helping its year-old short-term rental program run effectively. While the city believes that 73 per cent, or 4,266, of the 5,866 active short-term rental hos ...

73% of short-term rentals now licensed in Vancouver, city says One year after new regulations for short-term rentals were put into effect, the City of Vancouver says 116 illegal listings have been referred to prosecutors. Also during that time, 642 warning letters have been sent out, 660 violation tickets have been issued, 276 legal orders have been obtained, 150 listings have been canc ...

2020 Maximum Rent Increase 2.6%Today the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) released 2020’s maximum rent increase percentage as 2.6%. In their release, which can be read in full here, the RTB sets out the rent increase and speaks to their commitment to improving the outdated and underutilized above regulation rent increase process that is currently in place. Since September of 2018 the RTB has ...

Metro Vancouver housing market sees summer uptick in sales 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 per cent increase from the 1,929 sales recorded in August 2018, and a 12.7 per cent decrea ...

Capitalization rates for multi-family rental properties in Canada are the lowest of any commercial real estate sector, partly because of high demand, according to the recent Canadian Cap Rates and Investment Insights report from CBRE, released in August.  The multi-family sector remained the most sought-after asset class for investors in the second quarter of 2019, the study found. “Rock so ...

Overall, 5 cities experienced an upward trend last month, 4 downward, and 15 remained stable. Similar to the previous month’s report, more than half of the total markets were flat, which is surprising since it is hot moving season right now. Meanwhile, year over year growth rates told a different story as 11 cities experienced large, double digit growth rates. This suggests that while the Can ...