Mayor Gregor Robertson has announced Vancouver will move forward on taxing empty homes as the affordability crisis grows larger and rental vacancy rates shrink to unprecedented lows. “Vancouver housing is first and foremost for homes, not a commodity to make money with,” he said. “We need a tax on empty homes to encourage the best use
The average price of a Canadian home sold in May was $509,460, a 13 per cent increase in the past year and the highest figure on record. The strong gains are largely tied to hot markets in Ontario and British Columbia, according to the numbers released Wednesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Stripping those two markets out of the calculations,
A forthcoming study of Vancouver real estate provides clear evidence that foreign money does impact home prices. However, the effect may be far less significant than many believe. SFU’s Andrey Pavlov and UBC’s Tsur Somerville examined how prices changed in neighbourhoods favoured by Chinese immigrants during a three-month period following the July 2012 closure of
