BC, Budget, economy, opinion, politics

City proposes 3.4% property tax increase

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89 Comments

You can probably handle paying an extra $49 bucks, but George Affleck points out that over the past 10 years the city budget has grown 30% while population has grown 9%.

The $1.32-billion draft 2017 budget was released late Wednesday afternoon. It includes a 3.4 per cent property tax increase and other increases for utility, recreation and permit fees.

The city says the increases will go towards greater costs for existing services that are in line with inflation and new expenditures in other areas like social housing, security and the arts.

According to the city, the property and utility fee increases will amount to an extra $49 in costs for a median homeowner in Vancouver.

Read the full article over at the CBC.

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Raincity

Whats with HAM and buying Canada Goose jackets at Holts?

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trackback

[…] –Canadians will need 20% more income –BOC rate cut? –Road pricing –Ill equipped to deal with rising costs –Requalification? – […]

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Patiently Waiting

During the Summer, I signed a one-year lease for $1250. Now a unit in the same building with the exact same square footage is being advertised for $1300.

After I signed my lease, the building manager was shocked at how many people would rent at $1250 (there were two apartments that filled immediately with many inquiries). This a very “conservative” property management company, and they know what they’re doing.

So that’s a 4% increase in about six months. Yikes. Thankfully, my lease goes month-to-month after a year rather than just ending.

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bullwhip29

i think mgmt co will be happy getting 1250 out of you every month for the next yr, with the new airbnb rules and vacancy tax coming rents like this will head back down. imho there should be several hundred, if not thousands of units becoming available in the not too distant future. i guess it’s a good thing your agreement reverts back to month to month.

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Patiently Waiting

This isn’t in COV, but we’ll see. There are a few rental buildings not far away that are getting massive renovations (partially empty) so that supply will be back too. Of course, the intention of the renovations is mainly to get higher rents. I wonder how they emptied so many units.

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bullwhip29

fair enough. i guess what it boils down to is if say whole foods was selling an item for the same or less than superstore (where you currently shop) due to an unexpected oversupply, would you change stores? my guess is that many will. there are no fixed boundaries in lower mainland and a disruption in one region will affect others

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Buynow or Getlaidnever

Millions of residents in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region have been ordered to surrender their passports to local police.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/24/asia/china-xinjiang-passports/

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Hyper-mega-Bull

A Gang Of Racist Chinese Kicked a Little UYGHUR Boy in the Head then Broke His Hands in CHINA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woISd6qMoIA

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southseacompany

“Canadians Will Need 20% More Income To Buy That House They Wanted”, Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/11/21/house-prices-canada-new-mortgage-rules_n_13132952.html?utm_hp_ref=canada

“Mortgage site Ratehub has crunched the numbers to see what the federal Liberals’ new mortgage rules will mean for homebuyers.”

“What they found was that, to get an insured mortgage on an average-priced house, you will need at least 20 per cent more income than you did before the rules came into place last month.”

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bullwhip29

the new rules will mean more for homeowners as incomes are certainly not going to be adjusted upwards by 20% meaning buyers will have to settle for 20% less house and/or prices will have to come down by a corresponding amount. perhaps increasing the pool of potential buyers by 50, 60, 70…% will fix this however.

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bullwhip29

edit: potential “foreign” buyers

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would-be buyer

If nothing is done to legitimately curb foreign buyers then all the Liberals have done is make it harder for Canadians to buy houses and build wealth. It will increase income/ wealth inequality and at some point there will be pitchforks in the street. And, then there will be a Canadian Trump elected and politicians will shake their heads confused at why it happened here.

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patriotz

It should be noted that Trump’s support was strongest where RE prices are cheapest. All the most expensive cities in the US are Democrat strongholds.

And I will note again that high RE prices in Canada are only an issue in two metros with large immigrant populations.

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Oracle

Bingo!! but most here don’t get it.

Hence they’ll be on this blog for rest of their lives

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patriotz

“First-time homebuyers in Canada, you’re going to have to scale back your ambitions.”

How about, Sellers, you’re going to have to scale back your ambitions.

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bullwhip29

exactly. funny how the msm never looks at it from that angle…

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bullwhip29

A Bank of Canada rate cut is more likely than markets think, economists warn
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/a-bank-of-canada-rate-cut-is-more-likely-than-markets-think-economists-warn

>>> imho the loonie is headed to 0.65-0.68 in 18-24 months.

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gorde

And possibly stay there for quite a while.

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bullwhip29

Tent city in DTES moves locations hours before injunction deadline
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dtes-homeless-camp-pacific-centre-1.3867167

>>> so what exactly has been accomplished here?

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gord320

nothing, sadly, nothing

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bullwhip29

Toronto tolls may pave the way for road pricing in Metro Vancouver
http://www.news1130.com/2016/11/25/toronto-tolls-may-pave-way-road-pricing-metro-vancouver/

>>> in time many will consider their decision to move to the outskirts just so they could have the so called home of the dreams a big mistake.

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patriotz

Actually I think road pricing will be speed up the movement of jobs to the suburbs. It’s just one more factor making it more difficult to hire downtown.

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would-be buyer

Just one more thing to add to local outrage. Locals move out of the city because it’s being bought by foreigners, but then get saddled with increased taxes while foreigners pay little to none. Sounds fair.

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bullwhip29

Canada’s public guardians failed Vancouverites: Readers respond
http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/canadas-public-guardians-failed-vancouverites-readers-respond

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Oracle

TI:9215

8K party coming Dec 1st.

Nobody doing anything about the root cause.

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YVR

There was no immigration cut in the UK. Brexit is over 2 years away. If anything immigration has/will increase trying to get in before Brexit.

All bubbles pop. Japan, Spain, US now London and Vancouver. Immigration is irrelevant.

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Oracle

Wrong.

It’s already stated it will go down to 100K per year. Canada’s rate is 6X that per capita.

Smart money exiting.

But you already knew that. What’s the real agenda? Another Patriotz?

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patriotz

Brexit will be a disaster for the financial services industry in London. That’s why RE prices are falling. Everyone knows it.

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Confucius

Let’s deal with the root cause. Somebody buy his sawdust Mcmansion so he stops repeating the same thing over and over.

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bullwhip29

Vancouver Sun: Class-action suit filed over $11.9 million Chinese immigration case Keith Fraser Published on: November 24, 2016 | Last Updated: November 24, 2016 8:01 PM PST http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/class-action-suit-filed-over-11-9-million-chinese-immigration-case A Chinese immigration services company has filed a class-action lawsuit against a company with head offices in Richmond after about 90 people from China who paid a total of $11.9 million were denied entry to Canada. Ningbo Zhelun Overseas Immigration Service Co. Ltd. says in the lawsuit that in 2012 it established a business relationship with USA-Canada International Investment Inc. (UCII) to help “client-investors” from China to come to Canada. The Chinese firm, located in the city of Ningbo south of Shanghai, says that in late 2013 UCII advised them that a program in Yukon to attract skilled international entrepreneurs was an “easy” program through which potential client-investors could immigrate compared to… Read more »

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bullwhip29

GLOBE & MAIL: The murky beginnings of a new Canadian bank
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-murky-beginnings-of-a-new-canadian-bank/article33034258

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Just me

An indictment of Christy and a band of thieves. Vote for her at your own risk.

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patriotz

No risk. You know what you will be getting – more of the same.

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bullwhip29

imho the mickey mouse system in place here will allow her to rig the outcome however she chooses and no one will be able to do anything about it. any memos, emails, news reports and the like will just be deleted. until the election is officially over, she will use every tool available no matter what the cost to taxpayers and say anything she pleases regardless of whether it is based on fact or not. i am also 100% confident that post election the foreign tax will be adjusted downwards (following a sudden and bewildering surge in RE volumes)

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West Coast Woman

It looks like some of the speculators are not finding it terribly easy to sell their new builds. This listing, MLS number R2112562: https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/17436071/2275-MCMULLEN-AVENUE-Vancouver-British-Columbia-V6L2E2 went on the market two days before the BC Government announced the new foreign buyers’ tax. The original asking price was $6,890,000 (probably at least $2 million too much). The property was sold in October 2013 for approximately $2,400,000 to someone living in mainland China, who then hired a Chinese builder here to demolish the old home and put up this new house. In June/July 2016 the owner then hired a staging company furnish the place before it went on the market. The realtors have had numerous private showings, and at least three open houses, but the house has not yet been sold. Two of the open houses were this past weekend, and NO ONE came… Read more »

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Funky monkey

There is a open house at a new build every weekend on 41st near knight. For at least 8 weeks not selling.
(Speculators can’t drop there price, then they do ouch!)

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YVR

And if they can’t sell this one or end up selling at a loss they don’t buy the next one. Death spiral.

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would-be buyer

You see this same house reproduced all over the west side, with the faux stone siding and usually marble flooring inside. Very cold. It’s built to the taste of Mainland Chinese buyers who think they are buying luxury. If they don’t buy these homes, what local will buy this? To my west coast sensibilities, these homes are an eye sore. Maybe I’m wrong.

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bullwhip29

every other house in Rmd looks exactly like this. under the stone facade is the same shoddy, slapped together workmanship we are used to seeing in this neck of the woods. while these homes might have some neat bells and whistles, they are poorly constructed and cost and arm and a leg to maintain, heat etc.

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MarKoz

The murky beginnings of a new Canadian bank

The founder and a chief investor of a new Canadian bank aimed at Chinese Canadians was fined for mishandling client insurance claims and faced allegations he duped Chinese immigrants into buying expensive policies they could not afford.

Another principal investor in Wealth One Bank of Canada misrepresented his credentials on the bank’s website, claiming he was a senior ranking member of China’s legislature and an advisory body to that country’s leaders.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-murky-beginnings-of-a-new-canadian-bank/article33034258/

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Combat roach

Business as usual, how else it could be with crooked fucks but to follow their regulations?

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D Trump

what colour of the people who give the go ahead to this bank. Yellow or white?
Same shit, just diff colour. don’t kid yourself.

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Combat roach

Of course, any game needs two.

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Oh oh

Chipman average sold reduction 5.79% it’s sawtoothing towards 10% . Spring starts in 6 week’s. ..seller’s with weak stomach will taste their own barf

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Funky monkey

Interest rates will probably be higher in the spring.

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Shut It Down Already

http://www.robchipman.net/2014/11/24/november-24-2014-vancouver-real-estate-sales-statistics/

Almost the same as 2014 then?

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Oh NO

show me 2015 girly boy

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Oracle

Thats a misleading stat.

Thats not how that works. It doesn’t mean sold price/list price of same property.

Totally wasting your time if you’re looking at that

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Oh NO

Your wasting time here, seller wasting time to/ waiting for spring 2016 prices to magically re-appear, down 20% another 20% to go. no big deal unless you bought in the last 12 months

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paulb

New
97
Price Change
43
Sold
115

TI:9215

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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Just me

This is bad. Are they back?

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Combat roach

They never left, hiding and reorganizing, falsifying documents, strategizing, negotiating, bribing, exploring and here and there buying to test waters…

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oh la la

thanks Paul.
Can you share some historical data with us? I mean you have followed these numbers for a several years now and I can’t seem to find any data from your web site.

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oh la la

thanks Newcomer

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vangrl

4248 Slocan Street

Original list -1.359M
Reduced – $1.199M
Sold – $800K

http://www.rew.ca/properties/R2097515/4248-slocan-street-vancouver

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Oracle

600K probably exchanged hands overseas. If a foreigner bought, 15% tax only on $800K. So buyer saves 90K. Enough for a 2 yr foreign student program to get PR.

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vangrl

That crossed my mind, but I think maybe $200K may have changed hands privately, definitely not $600K. Guess we’ll never know.

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Boombust

I think it’s more “a sign of things to come”.

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Boombust

AND, it sets a new comp for da ‘hood!

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Best place on meth

Damn! chinese driving DOWN prices!

Now I’ve seen it all.

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Boombust

You sure do like to spin things, don’t you?

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YVR

Nope $800K is the new price for an east van crack shack. If you want to sell now you can take 40% off peak price. This is what a crash looks like. Going forward every buyer will want a lower price than this sold for. Next month the sellers will look smart by taking the $800k when the house down the street sells for $600K.

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Polozi Scheme

$200k cash to reduce the foreign taxed 15% to $800k.

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oh la la

wahahah this is really funny. Worth less than 2bed 2bath condo at marine drive? Probably the buyer offered 10kg of gold bar to the seller back home overseas.

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No Money Down

Total Value $875,100 Assessed as of July 1st, 2015

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Newcomer

Yup. So there we go, the first under-assessed.

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oh la la

OK. It is frigging 3,000sqft lot with 30ft frontage. This is a parking lot.

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chilled

Once again, the completely moronic BC electorate get played for the fools they truly are. Just like ICBC proposing a high rate increase and eventually settling for one much lower, the City of Van plays the same game, knowing an eventual property tax increase about 2% will be overwhelmingly accepted by the idiots, saying “at least it wasn’t 3.4%!!” Fuck, you people are stupid.

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Oracle

That’s why defending the notion of community is a dying cause. Just look out for yourselves and screw thy neighbours. That’s where we are heading. Just like the 3rd world.

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Oracle

In other words, screw the people. Try to get ahead yourselves.

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patriotz

“over the past 10 years the city budget has grown 30% while population has grown 9%.”

But very little of the CoV budget goes to direct services to residents (e.g the City does not pay for the schools). Most of it goes to services to property or others like policing which aren’t per capita services and have a regionally based component.

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Whoracle

3% a year increase in the cities costs….
Inflation is around 2% plus an additional 1% population increase each year… sounds about on par.

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Oracle

Your dumb math skills are showing. Why would a 1% increase in population increase per capita property taxes by 1%. You’re out of your league here son.

Damn internet. Everyone thinks they know it all.

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history

“most of it goes to services”

got that right…. the Snivel service

cmon Donald, make the call, roll the elephant onto that rat infested Ottawa bath house.

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Oracle

Right away, the 400,000 British Columbians living in Hong Kong/China will have an immediate influence on BC politics. Expect BC Liberals to win big in next elections.

BC and Canada have been sold out.

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Oracle

I wish i had rights like this. Then I can pick the riding I “live in” and sway the vote. Wow. Local voters don’t have this option.

The silent majority needs to mobilize and mobilize quickly.

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Whoracle

Wrong.

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Oracle

Troll

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Oracle

Trudeau just gave voting rights to the 2 million Canadians who live permanently overseas.

Still no protests in the street. Wow.

If i lived overseas, i would vote for policies that crush the Canadian dollar, lower wages, and provide benefits like OAS/GIS and medical care for people living overseas.

Wow. The only first world country doing this.

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Whoracle

Again wrong.

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wwww

Government grants voting rights for citizens living abroad longer than 5 years

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-liberals-voting-rules-1.3863896

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Patiently Waiting

Didn’t Harper take the vote away from ex-pats? So this would be just reversing a recent change. Hardly the end of the world.

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wwww

Put a call out to Chinese-Canadian citizens living in the Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong regions, showing them how to vote from outside of Canada;

http://www.richmond-news.com/news/richmond-organization-urges-more-chinese-canadians-to-vote-1.1972170

HAM, not a big deal… until it is. Birth tourism, not a big deal… until it is. etc, etc.

We are in the current situation because ‘it’s not a big deal’.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

City of Vancouver interested in rat surveillance program

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-rat-surveillance-1.3863371

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Best place on meth

Best way to conduct this program is to begin at YVR arrivals and follow their trail as they purchase houses and Land Rovers.

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West Coast Woman

Good. They should start looking in the Quilchena area where many of the mainland Chinese investor immigrants bought property over the past 5-6 years to redevelop and flip for big (mostly tax-free) profits, so there’s constantly at least 10 homes under construction as well as many other empty homes.

I have trapped and killed 27 rats on our property in Quilchena so far this year in order to save some of the fruits and vegetables we grow in our garden. We never had any problems with rats prior to 2010.

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