Weekly Vancouver Real Estate Update - August 10th 2009 - Sales Surge - 08/25/09 05:48 PM
After months of moving from strength to strength, the Vancouver real estate market finally took a bit of a breather last week. The previous week had been the strongest we’d seen in years and it showed no sign of slowing, but slow it did. New Listings - Vancouver New Listings swelled during this week to reach 386 from just 296 the week before. With inventory levels incredibly low in Vancouver at the moment, this is more than welcome. Eager buyers are anxious to see new listings come onto the market and this 30% increase over last week is a good start. … (0 comments)

July 2009 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver MLS Statistics - Another Month, Another Record - 08/13/09 01:49 AM
Another Record Month
In January 2009 we had the worst month Vancouver had ever seen. Just seven short months later and July 2009 was the best July on record. The turnaround we've seen in the last few months is nothing short of miraculous.
Sales are no longer improving on a month-to-month basis, but this is to be expected as we enter the slower summer months. Year-over-year sales are way up (+90.39%) while listings are down (-17.63%) significantly. The laws of supply and demand are now putting pressure on prices.
In March, Westside houses were off over 22% from prices the year … (0 comments)

Leaky Condo Loan Program Scrapped - 08/13/09 01:45 AM
The provincial government announced on July 31st, 2009 that it was ending the loan program of the Homeowner Protection Office. You'll recall that I first drew attention to the matter at the beginning of the month when the Homeowner Protection Office first indicated that there were funding problems for the interest free loan program.
The loan program was initially set-up by the NDP government in 1998. At the time, many advocates were calling on the government to pay outright for renovations required by the leaky condo mess. The loan program was intended to last 10 years and have a $250 million budget … (0 comments)

HST Will Result in Higher Vancouver Real Estate Costs - 08/13/09 01:40 AM
I recently provided an update on the BC government's proposal to implement a Harmonized Sales Tax and it's impact on the Vancouver real estate market. The HST was a surprise to us all. It's unfortunate that the provincial government chose not to consult those of us directly impacted before announcing the tax.
The Announcement
The announcement of the HST was such a surprise that those affected are scrambling to respond. Both the BCREA and the REBGV are currently trying to figure out exactly how to respond and just what the impacts on the real estate industry are. I expect that we … (0 comments)

Vancouver real estate and the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) - 08/13/09 01:38 AM
The following is commentary from the BCREA (BC Real Estate Association) on the impact of the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on the BC real estate. It is reproduced here with permission of the BCREA.________________________
Harmonized Sales Tax
On July 23, 2009, Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced that, effective July 1, 2010, BC will adopt a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), combining the seven per cent Provincial Sales Tax (PST) with the five per cent federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a single sales tax rate of 12 per cent.An additional seven per cent tax will be charged … (0 comments)

 

Sebastian Albrecht

Vancouver, BC

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Address: 5970 East Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6M 3E8

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