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Canada will allow 30-year mortgages for first-time homebuyers

New rules also mean first-time homebuyers can pull $60,000 rather than $35,000 from RRSPs to use in a downpayment on a home

Canada will relax the rules on home lending to allow first-time buyers to take out 30-year mortgages when they purchase newly built homes.  The change to the rules for insured mortgages comes into effect on Aug. 1, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said. It’s a move that’s primarily aimed at younger people who have been squeezed by soaring housing prices and high-interest rates.

“First-time homebuyers will now have 30 years to pay off their mortgage instead of 25,” Freeland said Thursday in Toronto. “That translates to lower monthly payments so more younger Canadians can afford to pay that monthly mortgage on a new home.

Canada is dealing with a huge shortage of homes to accommodate its rapidly growing population. Housing starts rose in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, but construction activity softened when interest rates began to rise. The government’s housing agency has estimated that at the current pace of activity, by 2030 Canada will be millions of homes short of what is needed to create a more affordable market.

BCREA Economics Housing Market Update – October 2023

Watch BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson discuss the October 2023 statistics.

Click here for the Housing Market Update charts.

Click here to visit BCREA’s YouTube channel. Read the news release here.

For more information, please contact:  

Brendon Ogmundson
Chief Economist
Direct: 604.742.2796
Mobile: 604.505.6793
Email: bogmundson@bcrea.bc.ca
The Housing Market Update video is produced monthly by the British Columbia Real Estate Association. Real estate boards, real estate associations and REALTORS®may reprint this content, provided that credit is given to BCREA by including the following statement: “Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.” BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information.

Additional economics information is available here on BCREA’s website. 

Could ‘upzoning’ mean higher property taxes for B.C. homeowners?

B.C. Assessment taxes properties based on highest and best use. Experts question whether that will apply to single-family lots where up to six units can be built.

Tax and housing experts are concerned that sweeping housing reforms proposed by the B.C. NDP, which would force higher density in single-family neighbourhoods and around transit hubs, could leave homeowners and small businesses on the hook for inflated property taxes that are based on the “highest and best use” of the land.

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Canadian Inflation (June 2023) – July 18, 2023

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 2.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis in June, down from 3.4 per cent in May. While declines occurred in several categories, the largest contribution was from lower gasoline prices compared to the same month last year (-21.6 per cent). Ignoring gasoline, year-over-year inflation would have been 4 per cent in June. Shelter costs were up 4.8 per cent year over year, driven by much higher mortgage interest costs (up 30.1 per cent from last year) along with higher rents (up 5.8 per cent from June 2022). The homeowner’s replacement cost, which tracks home prices, was down 0.7 per cent year over year. Grocery prices were up 9.1 per cent year over year. Month over month, CPI rose 0.1 per cent. In BC, consumer prices rose 3.5 per cent year-over-year.

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Great Canadian housing bailout: How real estate unaffordability is being propped up

A latticework of government demand-side policies are seemingly tailor-made to hold the line on unaffordably high housing prices

Author of the article:

Tristin Hopper

For a brief, shining moment in the spring of 2022, it appeared that some semblance of sanity was returning to the most unhinged real estate market in the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic had taken Canada’s already-overheated housing prices and bid them up to meteoric heights. And now, finally, the “correction” was happening; a downward plunge that would not stop until a Canadian earning a normal wage could once again own property without the help of a windfall inheritance.

But the moment is over. The price drops slowed, the unaffordability ratchet held fast, and untold millions abandoned their last lingering hope of owning their own home. Real estate publications praised the country’s return to “normalcy” although normalcy, in this case, referred to annual double-digit spikes in value that remained wholly detached from local economic conditions.

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The promise and pitfalls of upzoning and ‘missing middle’ housing policies

Jurisdictions around the world, including B.C., are following Auckland’s lead in green-lighting density on single-family lots. Does it work?

By: Katie DeRosa

Published May 27, 2023  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  9 minute read

Wilson Commonsin Victoria, missing middle housing.
Wilson Commons, 230 Wilson Street in Victoria, is an example of so-called missing middle housing. PHOTO BY DARREN STONE /TIMES COLONIST

Meredith Dale spent years sharing flats with roommates during university and the early part of her career in Auckland, New Zealand.

The eviction pushed Dale, then in her late 20s, to explore buying a place of her own, a daunting prospect in one of the world’s priciest real estate markets.

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Local Residential Market Sales Trending Upwards Heading into Spring

KELOWNA, B.C. – April 6th, 2023.

Residential real estate market moving in a positive direction for spring as sales activity picks up after a slow start at the beginning of the year, reports the Association of Interior REALTORS® (the Association).

A total of 1,207 residential unit sales were recorded across the Association region in March representing a 37.2% decrease in sales compared to the same month last year, yet up compared to February’s 831 unit sales.

“The upwards movement in sales activity compared to the previous month is showing signs that market activity is on its way to recovering from the previous month’s slump, while still maintaining healthy market activity,” says the Association of Interior REALTORS® President Lyndi Cruickshank, adding that “a more balanced market allows both parties to confidently move forward with their real estate aspirations.”

New residential listings saw an increase over the previous month’s 1,579 with 2,442 new listings recorded, despite a 15.7% decrease within the region compared to March 2022. Overall inventory saw a healthy 61.1% uptick with 5,903 units currently on the market at the close of March. The highest percentage increase in active listings was recorded in the South Okanagan with a total increase of 81% compared to the same month last year.

“This is the highest volume of new listings we’ve had for some time now, indicating that we are heading in a positive direction,” notes Cruickshank, adding “while we’re not out of the woods yet, this will help provide more options to buyers and sellers.”

“The spring months usually witness a surge in market activity, and REALTORS® will certainly be instrumental in providing adequate information and support during this period. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, it’s always a good idea to work with a real estate professional who can assist you in navigating current market conditions,” says Cruickshank.

The benchmark price for single-family homes in the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, South Okanagan and Shuswap/Revelstoke regions all saw decreases in year-over-year comparisons, with the highest percentage decrease for single-family homes in the Central Okanagan region coming in at $1,001,500. The townhome and condominium categories all saw decreases across the various sub-areas in the benchmark price with the exception of townhomes in the North Okanagan, which saw a 9.2% increase compared to March 2022.

Given the high stakes on such a significant financial transaction, home sellers and buyers can benefit from the knowledge and skills of a practiced REALTOR®. Contact your local REALTOR® to find out more about the real estate market and how they can help you achieve your real estate goals. 

On the first day of this year, the federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act came into effect. While the government’s stated intention was to make more of the existing housing supply available to Canadians by restricting new foreign buyers, the rules are structured in such a way that they will hamper much-needed investment in new housing projects, making Canada’s housing supply crisis worse, not better.

Limiting the ability of non-Canadians to purchase a home from Canada’s tight supply probably sounded like a reasonable measure in the middle of last year, when many seemed to agree that the housing market needed cooling. It made for good political sound bites, despite the fact that most foreign owners of residential property in Canada offer it for rent, thereby adding to the housing stock available to Canadians.

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