INVESTMENT
Foreign buyers drive luxury real estate in Vancouver
Excerpt from National Post Published: Friday,
February 12, 2010
Foreign buyers are the primary force behind luxury real estate.
In fact, the rate of Metro Vancouver luxury home sales in the second
half of 2009 was almost double that of 2008, the Greater Vancouver Real
Estate Board says. In Victoria, 12 homes over $3-million sold in 2009,
up from seven in 2008.
Vancouver's luxury buyers are from the U.S., Europe, Australia and
Russia, but mainly Asia - increasingly, mainland China.
This attests to Vancouver real estate as being an excellent investment
for international as well as local investors.
Falling US buck has little impact on Canadian real
estate market
Monday, October 29 - 08:46:03 PM
Claudia Kwan (NEWS1130)
VANCOUVER - The loonie-greenback exchange rate seems to be tipping
more and more in favour of Canadians every day, and that could be scaring
American real estate investors away from the Lower Mainland. But it
looks like that isn't going to provide any relief when it comes to prices.
BC Real Estate Association Chief Economist Cameron Muir said like with
many other markets, real estate prices do come down to supply and demand,
but American investors probably make up less than 5 per cent of buyers
here.
"There's probably about 65,000 units trading hands this year.
That amount of activity is being driven by people who live, and raise
their families, and work in the local communities."
That means even if the US buyers are backing off for now, it's not
in significant enough numbers to hold prices where they are now, or
to have them go down. Muir said investors from other international destinations
are also stepping into the gap, since Vancouver is a relative bargain
compared to other cities around the world. He said the only place you
might notice the US dollar exchange effect on housing prices is in Whistler,
traditionally quite popular with our neighbours from down south.
Housing can help improve Canadian productivity
CREA says private investment can expand rental-housing stock
The Canadian Real Estate Association has told the Standing Committee
on Finance that a change in tax rules to allow for investment in real
rental properties would help improve Canada's international competitiveness.
“The Minister has spoken about a pro-growth strategy. He has talked
about liberating the forces of investment as a key to economic competitiveness.
Our proposal is a natural component of such a strategy.” CREA CEO
Pierre Beauchamp explained in his presentation to the Committee on October
18th. “It has the potential to help revitalize our communities
and contribute to wider economic prosperity.”
The specific CREA proposal presented to the Standing Committee involves
the deferral of capital gains tax when an investment property is sold
and the proceeds of the sale are reinvested in another property within
one year.
“Households can move their furniture and belongings, including
their stocks and bonds – but not their real estate investments
without substantial tax consequences” Pierre Beauchamp added.
The CREA CEO said Canada is not leveraging its wealth to maintain its
capital advantage. “Our proposal responds to those issues. Reinvestment
in income property is an effective means to leverage some of this wealth
to provide the quality environments that are required to sustain economic
prosperity.”
The CREA CEO told the Committee members that the only major criticism
of the rollover concept has focused on the potential losses the federal
treasury may report because of deferred tax revenues. “But please
note - this is a deferral and not foregone revenue,” Mr. Beauchamp
added.
In making the annual pre-budget submission to the Finance Committee,
CREA also called for an adjustment to the successful Home Buyers Plan
to reflect market realities. “We are asking this Committee to recommend
a maximum loan amount be raised from $20,000 to $25,000 to account for
inflation,” Pierre Beauchamp said. “These limits were set
back in 1992 and should be adjusted every five years,” he added.
According to CREA statistics, the Home Buyers Plan has helped more
than 1.5 million Canadians finance the down payment for a first home
since it was created in 1992.
The Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance
can reviewed here. (CREA 10/24/2006)
N.B. Please note that CityVancouverHomes.com
and Hazel Tan neither bear responsibility nor approve the content of
these articles. The copyrights belong to the respective authors. Readers
are advised to use their discretion and verify the reliability of the
information.
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