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Government listens to Real Estate Board on HST

The BC Government has announced that it will exclude new homes costing up to $525,000 from its proposed 12 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) scheduled to take effect July 1, 2010.

The government has also increased the rebate of the provincial portion of the HST paid on a new home to a maximum of $26,250.

This represents a 30 per cent increase over the original government proposed home price threshold of $400,000 and maximum rebate of $20,000.

This is good news for the Real Estate Board and proof that its lobbying efforts produce results.

In October, 2009, the Board asked the government to raise the threshold for the HST on new homes as well as the new housing rebate.

Clearly the government listened to the Board and the real estate sector.

“We heard the concerns from consumers and industry about how the HST might affect home buyers, and
this increase will move the threshold to above the average new home price in the province,” said the Hon. Colin Hansen, Minister of Finance.

A similar rebate will also support the construction or substantial renovation of affordable rental housing.

The government has released its proposed Residential Housing New Housing Rebates and Transitional Rules for British Columbia HST, which provides details on new housing rebates including transitional rules for real property. This includes:

Transitional rules: the HST would not apply to sales of new homes where ownership or possession is transferred before July 1, 2010;

Grandparenting: sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale including presales entered into on or before midnight November 18, 2009, would generally not be subject to the provincial portion of the HST, even if both ownership and possession are transferred on or after July 1, 2010. Any home sold on or after November 19, 2009 is subject to HST transitional rules.

For a copy of the new Transitional Rules, visit: http://www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/business/Consumer_Taxes/Harmonized_Sales_Tax/HST_Transitional_Rules.html

REBGV October Stats

High sales levels spur rise in home values

VANCOUVER, B.C. – November 3, 2009 – Strong demand has led to a steady rise in Greater Vancouver home prices compared to last year.

Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 6.8 per cent to $553,702 from $518,668 in October 2008.

"While home prices have been rising in 2009, they have not eclipsed the peaks reached in early 2008," Scott Russell, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) president said. "We're coming off several months of unseasonably high sales levels, which has allowed for a gradual increase in home values this year,"

The REBGV reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 3,704 in October 2009, an increase of 4.1 per cent from the 3,559 sales recorded in September 2009, and an increase of 171.6 per cent compared to October 2008 when 1,364 sales were recorded. Looking back two years, last month's sales increased 22.3 per cent compared to October 2007 when 3,028 sales were recorded.

"High confidence and low mortgage rates are continuing to drive the activity we're seeing in the housing market today," Russell said.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 4,977 in October 2009. This represents a 2.3 per cent increase compared to October 2008 when 4,867 new units were listed, and a 13.4 per cent decline compared to September 2009 when 5,764 properties were listed on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver.

At 12,084, the total number of property listings on the MLS® decreased 4.1 per cent in October compared to last month and declined 37 per cent from this time last year.

Sales of detached properties increased 201.6 per cent to 1,487 from the 493 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties increased 7.7 per cent from October 2008 to $749,808.

Sales of apartment properties in October 2009 increased 148.4 per cent to 1,607, compared to 647sales in October 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 6.3 per cent from October 2008 to $380,975.

Attached property sales in October 2009 are up 172.3 per cent to 610, compared with the 224 sales in October 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 4.6 per cent between Octobers 2008 and 2009 to $468,798.