News: Vancouver Real Estate Market

First-time home buyers received welcome news in today’s provincial budget. 

The government has announced, effective February 19, 2014, under the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) First-Time Home Buyers’ Exemption program, qualifying first-time buyers can buy a home worth up to $475,000. The previous threshold was $425,000.

The partial exemption continues and will apply to homes valued between $475,000 and $500,000.

With this change, the government estimates 1,700 additional...

A large portion of Coquitlam West is currently undergoing major redevelopment. The City's official community plan has rezoned much of the area West of Dogwood St to High Density housing which is in large part due to the new Evergreen Line that is scheduled for completion by the summer of 2016. Coquitlam West real estate could very well be the Lower Mainland's next real estate hot-spot. There are also major redevelopment plans coming up for the areas around Lougheed Mall over the next 20 years.

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Officially Government Road is bounded by Lougheed Highway to the north, Brighton Avenue to the east, Burnaby Lake to the south and Sperling Avenue to the west. The Government Road area is a neighbourhood consisting primarily of single detached houses on large estate size lots. Luxury homes are common. From a real estate perspective however the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver extends the eastern boundary past Brighton Ave all the way to the intersection of Government St and Lougheed Highway....

   In its recently tabled budget, the Federal Government effectively cancelled a program, the Canadian Immigrant Investor Program (IIP), which afforded wealthy prospective immigrants access to fast-tracked immigration. The program, which began in 1995, allowed immigrants with $1.6 million or more in assets (the amount was increased from $800,000 in 2010) to make an interest free loan to the Canadian government of $800,000 for a period of 5 years in return for Canadian citizenship. At the...

Uptown, a new development by Bosa Properties, consists of two high-rise towers containing 450 homes. The amenities include a 2,315 sq ft wellness pavilion with a fitness room and change rooms, a yoga studio, an infrared sauna and a steam room. Each of the two condo towers will have their own private, stylish entertainment lounge space as well. Located at the corner of Como Lake Avenue and Clarke Road and just half a block from a SkyTrain station along the brand new Evergreen Line, Uptown will be West...

The first month of 2014 saw home sale and listing totals outpace historical averages in the Greater Vancouver housing market.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 1,760 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in January 2014. This represents a 30.3 per cent increase compared to the 1,351 sales recorded in January 2013, and a 9.9 per cent decline compared to the 1,953 sales in December 2013.

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