Happy Friday the 13th!
It’s time for another Friday Free-for-all, our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.
Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:
–CRA targets more presale buyers
–Santa Claus may not be coming to town
–international students leave after grad
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments section and have a magnificent weekend!
It’s that time of the week again, time for another Friday Free-for-all!
This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend, here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:
–what happening with housing policy?
–what could be done for housing?
–
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an amazing weekend!
It’s the end of another glorious work week and that means it’s time for another glorious Friday Free-for-all!
This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.
Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:
–Where politicians fear success
–Best neighborhoods
–Smart or lucky?
–Foreign money problem
–Squamish?
–Cracks in the market?
–
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
CTV looked at how much rising real estate prices added to the personal wealth of the BC Cabinet – $2.3 million this year alone.
Surging real estate values added $2.3 million to B.C. cabinet ministers’ personal wealth this year alone, as the government says coming measures to ease housing affordability won’t include any that lower prices.
One minister saw her four properties jump $765,000, more than five times a minister’s salary. Another saw gains on a portfolio of eight homes. On average, ministers made $103,000 – more than an MLA’s salary, according to a review of public records by CTV News.
It’s natural for those ministers to welcome their own wealth boost, but they have to realize how their eye-popping gains translate into tremendous hardship for young people trying to get into the notorious Vancouver property market, said UBC professor Paul Kershaw.
Read the full article here.
As YVR points out, maybe it’s not just wealthy foreigners who are to blame for rising prices:
Funny thing is HAM is supposed to be buying all the property. Susan Anton owns 4 houses in Vancouver and DeJong owns 8 properties in Abbotsford.
Could that be the problem? Locals owning multiple properties? That is 12 properties between 2 people. Both are white and locals.
Harper has announced an interesting goal: 700,000 new home owners by 2020.
Harper says home ownership provides Canadians with financial stability and strengthens communities.
According to information provided by the party, the target would raise Canada’s home ownership rate to approximately 72.5 per cent. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., citing information from Statistics Canada’s National Household Survey, says the home ownership rate was 69.0 per cent as of 2011, the most current data available.
Meanwhile in the Metro area home ownership rates have moved from 56% in 1986 to 65% in 2011.