Real Estate News

It started with a “Stop the Speculation Tax” petition that was launched last month by disgruntled home owners opposing the province's proposed annual tax on underused second homes in areas across B.C.

Chinese consumers can now buy Canadian homes online through a deal inked with Juwai.com, China’s largest real estate website selling international properties, and JD.com, which is China’s largest retailer, both online and offline.

If one goal of the B.C. government’s new housing taxation policies was to cool home sales in the province, it has likely succeeded, if the results of a new poll of real estate agents are anything to go by.

This massive, resort-style “Tuscan villa” in Surrey raised eyebrows and hit media headlines last summer with its record-breaking listing price of $28 million, 10 times its assessed value – later adjusted to $26 million and did not sell at the time.

A report presented to city council on Monday night indicated a significant jump in the number of approved building permits so far this year, as well as a marked increase in the estimated value of these developments.

Under changes to the proposed speculation tax, B.C. residents will now only have to pay 0.5 per cent a year on second homes valued at $400,000 or above, finance minister Carole James announced in a media conference March 26. The tax will apply to B.

The B.C. NDP government is responding to the backlash from B.C. home owners against the speculation tax, and will have an update on its details within days, Premier John Horgan announced March 21.

After years of Metro Vancouver leading the country in terms of soaring detached home sales, the recent softening of that market has paved the way for a boom in Montréal, according to a report published March 21.

Canada is a hugely diverse country – and so are its real estate markets. The Lower Mainland and Greater Toronto are notoriously expensive, while some areas are still extremely affordable – even if you’re on a single-person income.

Despite it being completed back in 2006, one of the most bleeding-edge contemporary homes on the market right now has to be this five-bedroom house in West Vancouver’s Altamont, which looks like it belongs in the Hollywood Hills.