Market news and stats

Rent-to-own is an alternative route to home ownership for those who can’t obtain financing due to poor credit or because they don’t have enough money for a down payment (or both).

Most Canadians probably haven’t heard about rent-to-own housing. Unlike the U.S., this arrangement is still not that common in Canada.

What is a rent to own home?  It’s pretty much exactly as it sounds.  It’s where an investor, or home owner, rents out their property to a tenant, but gives the tenant the “option” to purchase the home after a certain period of time at a predetermined price. The idea is that you rent a home for a certain period of time with the goal of buying the property at the end of your lease. If all goes according to plan, by then you’ll have repaired

The Province is proposing more residential flexibility for people living in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) as outlined in a new policy intentions paper released Jan. 27, 2020, by the Ministry of Agriculture.

In order to support farmers and non-farmers living in the ALR, government is considering regulatory changes to enable landowners to have both a principal residence and a small secondary residence on their property, provided they have approval from their local government. ALR property owners would not be required to apply to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for approval.

“We are continuing to do the work necessary to help farmers farm and protect farmland for future generations,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture. “The ALR is

Are your instincts telling you that you have the wrong Realtor? Trust those instincts and watch out for these telltale signs you’re working with the wrong person

There are many wonderful REALTORS® out there who work hard for their clients and help them with every detail of their transaction, but this type of service isn't always guaranteed.

Perhaps you’re preparing to list your home or currently searching for a new one. Either way, it’s absolutely essential that you hire the right Realtor for the job. The home purchase and sale process can stress out buyers and sellers, including their agents and brokers. This stress can be caused or amplified when personalities clash or when the real estate transaction does not go as planned.

Your agent will

BCREA 2020 First Quarter Housing Forecast Update

Vancouver, BC – January 23, 2020. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) released its 2020 First Quarter Housing Forecast Update today.

Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential sales in the province are forecast to increase 10.3 per cent to 85,290 units this year, after recording 77,349 residential sales in 2019. MLS® residential sales are forecast to increase 6.3 per cent to 90,700 units in 2021. 

“The outlook for home sales in 2020 is considerably brighter than the past two years,” said Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Chief Economist. “Momentum carried through from the end of 2019 to 2020 will put the housing market on more solid footing, aided by low interest rates and an improving

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has defended mortgage stress test rules and warned federal policymakers to hold the line amid calls from industry associations to ease the rules.

“My job is to advise you against this reckless myopia and protect our economy from potentially tragic consequences,” Evan Siddall, CMHC’s president and CEO, said in a letter to the Standing Committee on Finance dated Thursday.

Siddall urged the committee to “look past the plain self-interest” of the parties lobbying for easing the rules. The Mortgage Professionals Association of Canada (MPAC), the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA), and the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) have all called for such change, according to a report by The Canadian

Real estate association offers optimistic forecast, saying buyers are gradually “adjusting” to mortgage stress test

Home sales in B.C. are likely to rise slightly this year, and more in 2020, according to a forecast released February 25 by the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA).

The association said it expects residential sales in the province to rise two per cent to 80,000 units this year. This follows a slow 2018 in which 78,345 homes traded hands on B.C.’s MLS®, which was 24.9 per cent lower than in 2017.

BCREA also predicted home sales to increase a further 6.9 per cent to 85,500 units in 2020. This would be a very normal level of activity, as the 10-year average for home sales in the province is 85,800 units.

The association

Follow This Simple Recipe to Safely Age in Place

Written by Karen Weeks for Kamloops Property For Sale.

Most of us want to remain in our homes throughout our senior years. Thankfully, there are often simple home modifications to help turn that goal into reality. Here are some key ingredients in creating or finding an appropriate home for aging in place.

Older and Better

As the general population ages, the housing market is working to keep up, and many people are choosing to remain in their homes throughout our golden years.

In order to realize that goal, many people are making their homes more accessible to accommodate the changes minds and bodies experience with age. Some people are referring to the trend as “aging in place,” some call it

The cost of borrowing for a home is predicted to get a little cheaper this year.

That's according to the latest mortgage rate forecast from the B.C. Real Estate Association.

"The average contract rate for 5-year mortgages has declined about 30 basis points from its peak in 2018, reaching 3.44 per cent in March," the BCREA states in a two-page report. "Unfortunately, this still means a stress test rate of 5.44 per cent, even for the highest quality borrowers."

However, the association points out that if five-year bond yields remain at the current level, "a 5-year qualifying rate of under 5 per cent should follow suit." The contract rate refers to the interest percentage listed on the face of a note or a bond.

The qualifying rate refers to a

Vancouver, BC – March 12, 2019.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) is calling on the federal government to revisit the B-20 stress test so that more BC families can achieve their dream of home ownership. Mortgage lending rules, known as the B-20 stress test, have eroded housing affordability by reducing the purchasing power of families by as much as 20 per cent. Introduced last year, the stress test forces even the most credit-worthy borrowers with large down payments to qualify at an interest rate that is two percentage points above the rate they negotiate with their bank.
 
“We would like to see a review and reconsideration of the current mortgage underwriting ‘stress test,’ as well as a return to 30-year amortizations for

The Housing Cycle is Entering A Big Shift In Key Cities Across North America

If you are a baby boomer, this might sound familiar: You moved out of your parent’s home as soon as you graduated from high school; you lived in a place you rented – maybe even a ‘room’ in a larger house, where you shared the bathroom with the other tenants; you could put all your belongings in one small bag; and you saved up to buy a car.

That was the ideal lifestyle of the largest demographic ever to populate the world. It’s estimated that 9.6 million baby boomers are in Canada today and they are rapidly becoming the senior population – a population whose living conditions are far different today.

But did you know that there is another demographic as big as – if not