February 2017 - Synergy Mortgage

08Feb

Vancouver’s pre-sale condo market is HOT!

[Source: Huffington Post, January 27, 2017] More than 10,500 new condo units* are slated to hit the Greater Vancouver housing market this year, according to MLA Canada's 2017 Market Intel report -- opening up plenty of more-affordable housing options for prospective homebuyers who have been priced out of the single-detached segment. It's welcome news in the city that has once again taken its usual place atop the unaffordability scale, as per the latest RBC Housing Trends and Affordability Report. Vancouver also [...]

Vancouver Real Estate

08Feb

BC’s first-time home buyer program already working, province ready to approve applicants: minister

[Source: Financial Post, January 17, 2017 British Columbia’s housing minister says a program to help first-time homebuyers received applications within hours of launching. Rich Coleman said that within six hours of the provincial loan program’s launch on Monday, 29 applications had been submitted. He said the province would be ready to approve eight of the applications by Tuesday for the loan that is interest- and payment-free for five years. “This opportunity will change a number of lives,” Coleman said. The B.C. Home Owner Mortgage [...]

British Columbia, Vancouver Real Estate

08Feb

Vancouver’s economy is on fire

[Source: BIV.com, January 27, 2017] Economic growth in B.C., particularly Vancouver, was so strong in 2016, it has nowhere to go but down, according to the Conference Board of Canada. But even with an expected cooling of the real estate market, lower expected GDP growth of about 3% and job growth of 23,000 per year for the next two years, Vancouver is expected to continuing sharing “superstar” status with Toronto, Alan Arcand, associate director of municipal studies for the Conference Board, [...]

Canada, Quarterly Economic Update, Vancouver Real Estate

08Feb

Saving money with a semi-detached house (aka: Duplex in BC)

[Source: Moneysense.ca, February 8th, 2017] For buyers dead-set on moving into a single family house, there seems to be little room to budge. The price-tag for detached urban homes is out of reach for many, but that’s doesn’t mean a move to a condo apartment is the right step. For some buyers, no amount of amenities or nearby transit stops are enough to give up on a private backyard, more living space or the freedom to renovate. Lengthy commute times be [...]

Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Vancouver Real Estate

08Feb

Will Vancouver recover from ‘policy shock’?

[By: Chana Fay Charach, February 8, 2017] Vancouver is one of the most watched real estate markets in Canada and possibly internationally as well. Over the last couple of years, we have experienced extraordinarily heated conditions to say the least. Not only was there a rapid rise in values in many areas but also a significant number of sales. However, in the later part of 2016, things cooled off after numerous government policy changes were implemented. “From a real estate perspective, [...]

British Columbia, Canada, International Influence, Quarterly Economic Update, Vancouver Real Estate

08Feb

Foreign tax in B.C exempts foreigners with work permits

[Source: Hibusiness.ca, February 6, 2017] In an effort to cool down homes prices in Vancouver’s hot housing market, the British Columbia government implemented a 15% tax in August last year on foreign buyers. This tax had led numerous foreign buyers to move to other markets in search of affordable markets or markets that are not effected by the tax. However the British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is planning to make a few exceptions to the tax which includes freeing foreigners with [...]

British Columbia, International Influence, Vancouver Real Estate

06Feb

Don’t expect the housing bubble to burst: expert

[Source: News 1130, January 9,2017] Housing was the biggest story of 2016 in Metro Vancouver but don’t expect the local residential real estate market to collapse this year. Romana King, a senior editor with Money Sense magazine, says the housing bubble will shrink and despite endless predictions of its inevitability, it will not burst. “We’re not going to see any big major crashes because there’s still a great deal of demand for very little supply,” she explains. “We saw the US crash [...]

British Columbia, Vancouver Real Estate