Housing market feels impact of HST introduction
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Adjusted Basis, Ahead, British Columbia, Buy Homes, Canadian Real Estate, Consumers, Decline, Existing Home, Harmonized Sales Tax, Housing Market, Implementation, July 1, Ottawa Citizen, Real Estate Association, Real Estate Commission, Sales Tax, Slowdown
Ottawa Citizen- The new harmonized sales tax introduced in British Columbia and Ontario last month had an immediate impact on the housing market, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
The Ottawa-based group, which represents 100 boards across the country, said July sales plunged 6.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a month ago, a decline “almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario.”
The slowdown had been expected as consumers rushed to buy homes ahead of the July 1 implementation in those provinces. The HST only applies to services used in purchasing and selling an existing home, such as real estate commission, and not the actual sale price.
In British Columbia sales dropped 14.1% from a month ago on a seasonally adjusted basis and Ontario the decline was 8%. The two provinces accounted for 85% of the the change in national activity…
Housing market feels impact of HST introduction
Why I wouldn’t mind being a first-time buyer right now
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Confusion, Consumers, Estate Organizations, Favour, First Time Buyer, Homebuyers, Hst, Lotus, Lotus Land, Metro Vancouver, Property Ladder, Pundits, Purchase Decisions, Real Estate Market, Resale Homes, S Market, Summer Fling, Tactic, Vancouver Real Estate, Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun- Real estate pundits are starting to announce -albeit somewhat apologetically, in some cases -that the Metro Vancouver real estate market is now leaning away from sellers in favour of buyers.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a buyer’s market. If market balance and sharper pricing allow more folks to climb on to the property ladder, bring it on. And history teaches us market conditions in Lotus Land-by-the-Sea can shift quickly. The buyer’s market might be short-lived, a summer fling.
I have also noticed that real estate organizations believe the HST has caused some confusion among homebuyers, perhaps stalling their purchase decisions. These organizations want consumers to know there is no HST on resale homes. Hmm, I wonder if this messaging, given the increase in listings, is aimed at steering buyers to resale homes. That tactic would be way too obvious, wouldn’t it?…
Why I wouldn’t mind being a first-time buyer right now
Why I wouldn’t mind being a first-time buyer right now
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Confusion, Consumers, Estate Organizations, Favour, First Time Buyer, Homebuyers, Hst, Lotus, Lotus Land, Metro Vancouver, Property Ladder, Pundits, Purchase Decisions, Real Estate Market, Resale Homes, S Market, Summer Fling, Tactic, Vancouver Real Estate, Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Sun- Real estate pundits are starting to announce -albeit somewhat apologetically, in some cases -that the Metro Vancouver real estate market is now leaning away from sellers in favour of buyers.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a buyer’s market. If market balance and sharper pricing allow more folks to climb on to the property ladder, bring it on. And history teaches us market conditions in Lotus Land-by-the-Sea can shift quickly. The buyer’s market might be short-lived, a summer fling.
I have also noticed that real estate organizations believe the HST has caused some confusion among homebuyers, perhaps stalling their purchase decisions. These organizations want consumers to know there is no HST on resale homes. Hmm, I wonder if this messaging, given the increase in listings, is aimed at steering buyers to resale homes. That tactic would be way too obvious, wouldn’t it?…
Why I wouldn’t mind being a first-time buyer right now
B.C. posts dramatic drop in July real estate sales
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: British Columbia, Cameron Muir, Chief Economist, Decline, Dramatic Drop, Extent, Favour, Fraser Valley, Multiple Listing Service, Quot, Real Estate Association, Real Estate Sales, S Real Estate, Sharp, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Victoria
The Vancouver Sun- A year ago, British Columbia’s real estate markets were rising to a peak in sales. In July, they dramatically fell off it.
Sharp drops in sales in B.C.’s biggest markets led the province to a 42-per-cent decline in July sales through the Multiple Listing Service compared with the same month a year ago, the B.C. Real Estate Association reported Thursday.
"What we’ve seen is that the province was buoyed up by Vancouver, Victoria and to some extent the Fraser Valley earlier in the year as those markets were very strong indeed," Cameron Muir, the association’s chief economist, said in an interview.
"Now of course, those markets have shifted back toward being more in favour of buyers, so they’ve brought the entire province into that category…”
