HST blamed for slipping sales
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Greater Victoria, Harmonized Sales Tax, New Houses, Sales Tax, Statistics Canada, Vancouver
Times Colonist- The prices contractors are charging for new houses in Greater Victoria are slipping — and builders say it has a lot to do with the controversial harmonized sales tax.
Victoria and Vancouver each saw price tags trimmed by 0.4 per cent in September compared to August, while Hamilton, Ont., dropped by 0.1 per cent, Statistics Canada said yesterday.
"In Vancouver and Hamilton, a number of builders reported lower negotiated selling prices in September, while in Victoria some builders offered discounts to spur sales," the federal agency said…
Home sales rebound, but it won’t last long, analyst says
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Adjusted Basis, Ahead, British Columbia, Canada, Canadian Real Estate, Consumers, Existing Home Sales, Harmonized Sales Tax, Home Purchases, Hst, Implementation, Industry Consensus, July 1, Real Estate Association, Rebound, Sales Tax
Times Colonist- Existing home sales in Canada rebounded in August, but the industry consensus is both prices and activity will decline the rest of this year. The only argument is by how much.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported yesterday that August sales were up 4.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from July — a bad month for home sales because of the effects of the harmonized sales tax implementation in Ontario and British Columbia. As consumers scrambled to make their home purchases ahead of the July 1 HST deadline, June figures saw a boost, but July sales withered…
Home sales rebound, but it won’t last long, analyst says
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
HST cooling housing market: Realtors
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Bank Canada, Bank Of Canada, British Columbia, Downturn, Harmonized Sales Tax, Housing Market, Lepage Real Estate, Poll, Quarter Point, Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Services, Realtors, Reason, Respondents, Rising Interest Rates, Royal Lepage Real Estate, Royal Lepage Real Estate Services, Sales Tax
Times Colonist- Almost half of its real estate agents say the main reason for the cooling housing market is the harmonized sales tax, according to a survey from Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
The company conducted an online-only poll of its realtors at the end of July — almost a month after the HST went into affect in British Columbia and Ontario — and found that 43.9% of the 769 respondents in those provinces blamed the new tax for the downturn. The HST was considered a bigger threat than rising interest rates despite two recent quarter point hikes from the Bank of Canada…
