British Columbia is raising its foreign buyers tax and expanding it to areas outside of Vancouver, while bringing in a new levy on speculators, as part of a sweeping plan to improve affordability in the province's overheated housing market.

The New Democrat government unveiled a 30-point housing plan in its first full budget on Tuesday that also increases the property transfer tax and school tax on homes over $3 million, and invests $6 billion in building 114,000 affordable homes over the next decade.

``Our intent is to bring stability to housing prices with these changes and have revenues to invest in building affordable housing,'' said Finance Minister Carole James in a speech to the legislature.

``We recognize these are bold actions. But that's what B.C.'s housing crisis demands.''

The previous Liberal government introduced a 15 per cent tax on homes purchased by foreigners in Metro Vancouver in 2016. Sales slowed for several months before rebounding and prices have continued to rise.

The minority NDP government will increase the tax to 20 per cent and will also apply it to homes in the Fraser Valley, central Okanagan, the Nanaimo Regional District and the Victoria area. The changes take effect Wednesday.

The speculation tax will be introduced this fall. The annual property tax will target foreign and domestic homeowners who do not pay income tax in B.C., including those who leave homes vacant. Satellite families, or households with high foreign incomes that pay little local income tax, will also face the levy.

Exemptions will be available for most principal residences, long-term rental properties and certain special cases, so most homeowners in B.C. won't be affected, James said.

``This tax will penalize people who have been parking their capital in our housing market simply to speculate, driving up prices and removing rental stock,'' she said.

In the 2018 tax year, the rate will be $5 per $1,000 of assessed value. Next year, the rate will rise to $20 per $1,000 of assessed value. It will initially apply to Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, the Victoria area, the Nanaimo Regional District, Kelowna and West Kelowna.

A non-refundable income tax credit will also be introduced to offset the new levy, providing relief for people who do not qualify for an exemption but who pay income taxes in B.C.

Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association, said the tax could hit B.C. residents who have vacation properties or second homes, as the credit may not be enough to offset it.

It's also unfair to penalize people from other provinces who own vacation homes in B.C., Muir added.

``That's a really big tax increase for Canadians who have done nothing wrong but own recreation property in one of Canada's most amenable climates,'' he said.

Asked whether out-of-province owners of recreation properties in B.C. would be subject to the levy, James said the government was still considering possible exemptions.

The government also moved to close loopholes that allow people to skirt tax laws. It's building a database on pre-sale condo assignments and a beneficial ownership registry that it will share with tax authorities.

The plan also addresses supply through what the government says is the largest investment in housing affordability in B.C. history _ more than $6 billion over 10 years to deliver 114,000 homes. That includes more than 14,000 rental units, 1,750 units for Indigenous people and 2,500 homes for the homeless.

It will increase a grant for elderly renters and expand a program that helps low-income families.

The government said it's working with municipalities to develop new tools, such as rental zoning, and creating a new office to partner with non-profits and developers to build affordable homes.

Green Leader Andrew Weaver, whose three-member caucus struck a deal to support the minority NDP government, said the speculation tax and foreign buyers' tax should be applied province-wide.

``We support these first steps, however, our view is that they're not really as bold as we need to actually deal with the crisis before us,'' he said.

The Opposition Liberals said the New Democrats have forgotten about creating revenue and tabled a budget that relies on taxes to pay for its promises.

Finance critic Tracy Redies doubted the government would be able to reach its affordable-housing goals.

``They said 114,000 housing units. They are coming up woefully short on that,'' she said.

Thom Armstrong, executive director of the Co-op Housing Federation of B.C., applauded the government's plan. Taxes on speculators and foreign buyers will help cool the market, he said.

``Anything that moderates demand in the market and has a dampening influence on prices will help the overall situation that our members and clients face,'' he said.

Canada remains one of the bright stars in the global real estate market despite a slowdown in 2018.

A new report from Fitch gives Canada a stable/negative rating as low arrears clash with rising house prices which are at risk of declining. It’s forecast for 2018 is for prices to rise 5% (around half of 2017’s increase) and for
mortgage arrears to remain at the 0.3% level of 2017.

However, it warns that Vancouver and Toronto’s price rises make them increasingly vulnerable to a correction.

The report highlights the relative affordability of household debt in recent years due to low interest rates, but notes that this led to tighter mortgage lending rules from OSFI and CMHC.

Fitch is calling for a rise in interest rates of 50 basis points for each of 2018 and 2019 and for mortgage credit growth to be 3% per year.

Despite the rising home prices and highly-leveraged households, Fitch says that the financial infrastructure in Canada is well protected due to mortgage insurance from CMHC.

It sees further lending restrictions to cool demand in overheating markets and also expects foreign ownership rules to have an impact in 2018. 

Welcome to 5491 Dominion ST Burnaby publice open on Jan 28 2-4PM. Half Duplex, pefect for own use or rent out(up and down could be rent out seperately ), Great value! must see! 

本周日公众开放5491 Dominion St本拿比 2点至4点。适合自住或者出租（楼上和楼下可以分开出租）绝佳投资，欢迎莅临

Surrey may be BC’s “second city” but it is the number one place to invest in the province, according to a new report.

It has topped a list of the 10 towns and cities with the best real estate potential.

Surrey’s proximity to major transportation and trade routes, a six per cent growth in businesses last year, and its relative affordability helped push it to the top of the list.

Don Campbell is a senior analyst with the Real Estate Investment Network, which prepared the report.

“So, we’re looking at population growth, job growth, we’re seeing transportation growth and densification. All of those factors are starting to play into Surrey being the outperformer in the whole region.”

He expects Surrey’s real estate market will outperform the rest of the province for the next five years.

“So, you’re starting to see that the demand for secondary suites, the demand for densification is really occurring as the population is growing both in births and in migration.”

Campbell points to a number of other attributes also working in Surrey’s favour.

“Demographics, economics, transportation, location, and, if you said this in any other province there would be laughter but, affordability.”

Second and third were Abbotsford and New Westminster, respectively.

The complete list, in order:

1. Surrey
2. Abbotsford
3. New Westminster
4. Victoria
5. Kamloops
6. Kelowna
7. Chilliwack
8. The Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody),
9. Burnaby
10. Vancouver

Surrey 也许是BC省的所谓”第二城市“，但却是新出炉最具投资潜力城市报告上，省内排名第一的城市.

Surrey有便利的交通和道路，去年有6%的商业增长率，它的房屋可负担率也让它变得瞩目。

资深投资分析顾问Don Campbell说：当我们分析一下人口增长，工作增加，以及其他方面，我们不难看出Surrey是一支独秀.，他预期Surrey的地产在今后的五年里会有卓越的表现。

排名如下:

1. Surrey
2. Abbotsford
3. New Westminster
4. Victoria
5. Kamloops
6. Kelowna
7. Chilliwack
8. The Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody),
9. Burnaby
10. Vancouver

Businesses in Canada remain bullish about the future, shaking off concerns about U.S. protectionism, rising interest rates and the stronger Canadian dollar, according to the Bank of Canada's fall business outlook survey.

The overall mood has cooled a bit from the summer, but the results still "point to continued positive business sentiment across the country, with business activity becoming entrenched," according to the report released on Monday.

The bank characterized business sentiment as "healthy."

 For some companies, finding enough good people is becoming a significant challenge. The intensity of labour shortages is now at its highest level since the 2008-09 recession, as companies report growing problems finding qualified workers, particularly in tourism, construction and technology.

"Capacity and labour market pressures have intensified over the past year, suggesting that slack is being absorbed amid robust demand," the bank said.

Typical of the challenge is fast-growing technology company SOTI Inc. of Mississauga, which manages mobile communications for governments and businesses in 22 countries. The company is adding workers at roughly 30 per cent a year to keep up with its growing sales, but struggles to find enough qualified software developers, architects and quality-control personnel.

"I've been in human resources for 15 years and this is definitely the most intense it's been," said Michelle Brooks, SOTI's vice-president of global human resources. "The universities are doing a good job of bringing out great tech talent, but the demand is too intense … It's like going to war every day."

From the Globe and Mail

加拿大银行秋季商业展望报告显示，即使面临美国的贸易保护，利率的增长以及强劲的加元走势，加国的商业依然欣欣向荣，报告同时指出，即使在夏季稍有冷却的情况下，整体预估都是乐观向上的，整体商业状态也是健康的，目前对于很多的商家来说，找到合适的员工变成了一个挑战.目前市场面临着自2008-2009年经济衰退以后最大的劳工短缺，这包括了各行各业：旅游，建筑和科技。

其中典型的例子就是快速增长的位于密西沙加的SOTI Inc技术公司，管理着22个国家政府和商业的Mobile Communication.公司每年以百分之三十的速度增加员工，以应付快速增长，但是依然因为员工不足而困扰。Michelle Brooks说：“我已经在HR工作了15年了，目前真的是（人力）最紧缺的时候，各个大学已经尽力培养和输送人才了，但是需求太旺，每天就像是在打仗。”

节选自The Globe and Mail

The federal government of Canada has begun cracking down on capital gains taxes, which home owners are only exempt from on the sale of their principal residence.

Laneway homes and rental suites on a property are not exempt from capital gains tax upon the sale of the home, Western Investor editor Frank O’Brien explained to last week’s Real Estate Therapistshow on Roundhouse Radio 98.3FM.

The federal government has introduced a new rule that for the first time requires home owners to declare the sale of their principal residence in their annual income tax return, as of the 2017 tax year. As has been the case for many years, income from rental units – including laneway homes and suites on the property – must also be declared.

This new combination of information will allow the Canada Revenue Agency to see where home sellers are selling a principal residence that has been operating rental suites, leaving the portion of the home that was rented out liable for capital gains tax.

“People have been playing pretty fast and loose with the principal residence exemption on your home… It’s not just foreign buyers, it’s Canadians themselves who have been doing this for years,” said O’Brien.

“The problem now is that there has been rapid price appreciation in places like Metro Vancouver, and increasingly more homes are being allowed on individual lots [and they are required to be rented out or face Empty Homes taxation.]

“If you have a single-family home with two rental suites in the basement and a laneway house, all rented out. Only a third of the house could be said to be the principal residence and the rest is income-producing property and subject to capital gains tax.

“The bottom line is, say you sell the house and it’s worth $3 million. The government says ‘Aha, but $1 million of that property value is not exempt from capital gains.’ … The tax on $1 million, if you’re in the higher tax bracket – which you probably are in this scenario – is $238,500. If you’ve made a $200,000 capital gain, you pay $47,000.”

He added, “So now you have to start thinking, is it worth doing the rentals, because you may lose at the end, if it’s going to be subject to capital gains tax? It could remove these units from the rental pool.”

When asked if this is at odds with the City of Vancouver’s mandate to increase the numbers of basement suites and laneway homes being added to the rental pool, O’Brien agreed.

He said, “This is an indication of how the different levels of government don’t co-operate together on the housing file, with the federal government doing one thing and the province and municipalities doing something else – and the poor homeowner is just trying to follow the rules. But they’re the ones who get blindsided. It’s a great idea to have low-density rentals to help with the mortgages in the most expensive places in Canada – not so great if the homeowner is going to get nailed with huge capital gains tax. And a lot of these are older homeowners who are going to get nailed.”

加拿大联邦政府将全面展开追索出租单位和后巷屋的增值税. 屋主出售自用住宅时固然可以减免增值税, 但是同一个物业内的出租部分和后巷屋则不在减免范围内.

从2017 年度起,联邦政府新规定要求在每年报所得税时必须申报出售自用住宅的所得. 也一如往常地,包括套房和后巷屋的出租所得也都必须申报清楚.

这样的申报措施,让加拿大国税局能清楚看到自用住宅是否有部分是用来出租的,从而针对出租部分征收增值税.

The Bank of Canada is sticking with its trendsetting interest rate of 0.5 per cent, saying uncertainties continue to overshadow the economy's stronger-than-expected start to the year.

In explaining its decision Wednesday to hold the rate, the central bank once again highlighted weak wage growth and the softening rate for underlying inflation as examples the economy still has room for improvement.

The bank's scheduled rate announcement comes after it raised its 2017 growth projection last month following a surprisingly healthy start to the year in areas such as employment, consumer spending and the housing markets. In Wednesday's statement, the bank added better business investment numbers to the list.

"Recent economic data have been encouraging,'' the bank said.

"Consumer spending and the housing sector continue to be robust on the back of an improving labour market, and these are becoming more broadly based across regions.''

The bank's statement, however, also predicted that the ``very strong growth'' over the first three months of the year will be followed by some moderation in the second quarter, even though at the same time it expects the U.S. economy to rebound.

One of Canada’s largest mortgage lenders just imploded, and it may have serious consequences for Toronto real estate.

Home Capital Group, a publicly traded company that engages in non-prime (a.k.a. subprime) lending, saw its stock drop over 60% in a single day.

The reason? They’re facing a liquidity crunch, as their capital for subprime mortgages dried up very quickly.

This could be the start of a broader trend of investors derisking, and it may kill a significant segment of high-leverage buyers.