Eighth and perhaps final interest rate increase
Posted on Jan 25, 2023
Here is what you should know from the Bank of Canada, which just announced its eighth consecutive interest-rate increase, this one .25 per cent, a figure that was widely anticipated by financial analysts:
• It is expected to be the last of the increases that began early in 2022.
• The current rate is 4.5 per cent, and is expected to hold while the Ba...
Plan for provincial permit process
Posted on Jan 17, 2023
In what may be viewed as the first step in speeding up the permitting process for building homes, the B.C. Government has a plan to deal with the backlog at the provincial level. Or, as Premier David Eby put it: “remove obstacles to constructing new homes that families desperately need.”
Current regulations require builders to have multiple permit a...
Another avenue coming for first-time home buyers
Posted on Jan 10, 2023
Soon there will be another acronym to benefit first-time home buyers — FHSA. It will join TFSA and HBP as ways to encourage and assist people trying to get into the real estate market by purchasing their first home,
FHSA is the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account, and omitting TF from the front of the acronym is to avoid confusion withTFSA (Tax-Free...
Housing ministry to be unveiled next month
Posted on Nov 23, 2022
B.C. Premier David Eby, days after he officially succeeded John Horgan, announced some of the ways in which his government is going to address the province’s housing crisis. Starting December 7, housing will have its own stand-alone ministry — its official name will be known that day.
Premier Eby made the announcement this week, the day after the Pr...
Part 2: Government plan for housing affordability
Posted on Nov 11, 2022
When you dig deeper into the “mini-budget” that the Federal Government unveiled last week, you’ll find a section called “Making Housing More Affordable” that didn’t get a lot of attention in the media.
In it the Government says it is “moving forward with its ambitious package of measures to build more homes and make housing more affordable.”
Some me...
Bank interest rate jumped to 3.75 per cent
Posted on Oct 26, 2022
As expected, the Bank of Canada has raised the interest rate again, and once again by 0.5 per cent. It’s the highest the overnight policy rate has been since 2008, and the Bank’s most aggressive position since the 1990s.
On February 28 this year, just eight months ago, the interest rate was 0.25 per cent. The next day, it was doubled to 0.5 per cent...