Province to tax foreign buyers of Metro Vancouver homes

[Mr. Rhino]

The world economies do not look god at this moment, but these things work in cycles. The government knows that eventually ( one day ) the situation will improve. In these mediocre economic times house prices are moving higher. Imagine a time when things get better and interest rates increase by 3-4 times. Houses will be dumped on the market. I remember when there were streets on the west island with 15-20 for sale signs in the early 80s.

 

[BookerL]

I remember when there were streets on the west island with 15-20 for sale signs in the early 80s.

Yes mortgages where at 24%,25 % but different Province different economics Different laws B.C. and Quebec are very very Different in many ways






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Booker

 

[BookerL]

Cardboard moving boxes are piled about the living room of an otherwise half-packed house nestled on a tree-lined residential street in a quiet Vancouver-area suburb — a scene frozen in time that the home’s owners blame on British Columbia’s controversial new tax on foreign buyers.

The in-transition state of the home in Coquitlam has been the status quo ever since its owners learned the house’s sale, which they understood was a done deal, was thrown into question by the tax.

The couple is at risk of losing an $80,000 deposit they made to purchase a smaller duplex further east in the city, and reneging on the real estate contract would also open them up to being sued.

“We feel like we’ve been let down,” Heather Nyberg told reporters Tuesday in the family’s small backyard as the couple’s two young children, aged one and three, played together in the grass.

“I just feel really disappointed that our family and many, many others like ours are being affected by a poorly planned tax that’s unfair because it’s retroactive.”


The B.C. government has said the 15-per-cent tax is aimed at addressing skyrocketing real estate prices in Metro Vancouver, the province’s most densely populated region. The levy came into effect Aug. 2, days after it was announced, sparking a frenzy of last-minute activity as buyers and sellers rushed to close deals.

The couple sold their home earlier this year, but the deal isn’t slated to close until Sept. 15.

Nyberg said the people who agreed to buy their property had originally provided a local address, but that shortly after the tax was announced she and her husband discovered they were based in China.

She said the buyers’ real estate agent won’t reveal whether the clients are foreign but has floated the idea of the couple helping to pay part of the 15-per-cent tax. The confusion has created additional uncertainty around the deal, Nyberg said.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said in an email that the initial adjustment period may be difficult, but the tax will eventually reduce demand from foreign investors until supply catches up to local needs.

“This transition period is expected to be short-lived, and over the long term the additional property-transfer tax will help to ensure British Columbians can continue to raise their families in Metro Vancouver communities,” he said.

Nyberg’s husband Dan Zimmermann said the new law has put the couple under a lot of strain and uncertainty, which defeats the purpose of selling it in the first place.

“All we wanted to do was reduce the stress and reduce the size of our mortgage, and all of that’s been thrown up in the air now,” he said, adding that the change was also designed to allow them to spend more time with their children.

“We made the best decision with all the information we had at the time and that’s all we can do.”

Nyberg said if the sale of the home they bought three years ago falls through, they would likely have to back out of buying the new property because they can’t afford two mortgages.

“I’ve stopped packing. I don’t want to move into a duplex then move back three days later. Until we get more information we can’t really make a plan,” Nyberg said. “We are just really stressed out.

“We’d been doing these weekly drive-bys of our new place so my son can get used to it. We’re really excited to join a new community where there are more families. We had been setting up our lives to move and now we don’t know what’s going on.”

Jodie Wickens, an Opposition NDP politician who represents the area in the legislature, said she receives dozens of calls and emails every day from people affected by the tax.

“I think that families that entered into a contract with an understanding shouldn’t be unfairly penalized,” she said.

“To be impacted by this bill in such a negative way is unfair and unnecessary. It’s not putting British Columbians first at all. It’s a reactionary way to deal with bad headlines.”

Cheers



Booker

 

[BookerL]

Cooling red hot Vancouver real estate market healthier, says economist


'We expect the pace of price hikes to slow through 2018,' Credit 1 Economist Bryan Yu

A new forecast by Central 1 Credit Union predicts B.C.'s hot real estate market will remain robust for the next two years, despite fears a tax on foreign buyers is chilling Metro Vancouver sales.

But market overseers say the trend will even out and benefit other parts of B.C.'s housing market in the short term, with B.C. sellers remaining in a strong position.

Senior economist Bryan Yu said the new foreign buyers tax announced by the provincial government in July and rolled out on Aug.2 will temporarily slow sales in Metro Vancouver by about 10 per cent.

He says the 15 per cent levy on homes purchased by non-residents puts downward pressure on a market that was already beginning to slow after a blistering start to the year.



"The foreign buyer tax will result in a temporary but substantial short-term cut in Metro Vancouver sales trend ... the tax puts further downward sales pressure on a market already slowing from spring fever," said Yu

Outcry is growing from Greater Vancouver realtors who blame the new provincial tax for halting new sales and killing deals caught up in the unexpected levy, but Yu said losses will be offset by sales gains in other B.C. locations — such as Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

The annual median price in Metro Vancouver jumped by nearly 20 per cent in 2016 to $705,000 dollars.

Yu said slower growth is healthier for the market because sky-rocketing Greater Vancouver prices seen during what he described as "spring fever" were unsustainable.

He predicts prices in the region will rise by about four per cent in both 2017 and 2018.

That is slightly lower than the B.C. Real Estate Association forecasts of 5.8 per cent average growth in Greater Vancouver home prices for 2017.

Central 1 Credit Union is a $15-billion-dollar firm that manages lending and acts as a trade association for 42 B.C. and 72 Ontario member credit unions — servicing 300 credit unions across Canada.

Invitations to B.C. Premier Christy Clark to comment on the effect of the new tax were declined, but the Ministry of Finance did offer this statement:

"It's too soon to conclude how the real estate market has responded to the additional tax. ... As time goes on, we will have a better sense of how the market responds to the additional tax and to assess the effect of the tax. The intent is to slow the rate of price growth and cool demand while Metro Vancouver's housing market responds by building new homes to meet local needs."



Predictions from Central 1 forecast:

-The new foreign buyer tax will reduce Metro Vancouver area sales by 10 per cent.
-The provincial median annual price will rise 12 per cent this year to $480,000.
-The median annual price will gain four per cent in 2017, and 3.5 per cent in 2018.
-In Metro Vancouver, following a near 20 per cent gain in annual median price this year to $705,000, prices will rise 4 per cent in 2017 and 4.4 per cent in 2018 to $765,000.
-Housing sales growth rotates towards Vancouver Island and the Central Okanagan in 2017, before shifting back to Greater Vancouver by 2018.

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Booker

 

[blkone]

If you know how properties are evaluated ,you might see where the problem is ?





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Booker

Yes, they are evaluated by land speculators. The very people that not so long ago were either shot or sent to labor and or death camps.

Have we run out of bullets?

 

[blkone]

Credit 1 [credit union]






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Booker

A company of which Don Wright, a traitor to this nation, is CEO.

He negotiated softwood lumber disputes to the dispossession of his own people. He helped to further destroy education by way of siding with 'educators' all of the while providing the details to private interests who had absolutely no interest in a real education for the children of a certain province. The same thing he did when it came to softwood.

Not only that but he has been educated in the U.S and even supplied vital economic knowledge, of our nation, to the Japanese.

In short; a treasonous little shit.

 

[BookerL]

A citizen should be able to build whatever 'hideous' home he/she desires if they have paid for the land.

If you know how properties are evaluated ,you might see where the problem is ?

Cheers

Booker

Yes, they are evaluated by land speculators.

Huh !

Since when ?



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Booker