Christy Clark’s Liberal Government got a bright idea. Long debated as unfair to all parties, BC’s Property Transfer Tax of 1% on the first 200,000 and 2% on the balance has been adjusted.
What are they thinking? The new tax is offering relief to those purchasing new housing and penalizing others by adding a full 1% to any property priced over 2 million. In our market that’s all 99% of homes in West Vancouver, many in North Van, and Vancouver West. This new tax was just announced, but takes affect now! There are thousands of buyers having to cough up 10’s of thousands more than they budgeted when they bought their homes months ago, but they haven’t closed as yet.
That doesn’t seem fair.
Neither does the explanation of how this is better for first time home buyers. We see this as huge increase in taxes when the Real Estate Industry has been lobbying for relief of the highest property tax in the country for years.
We know there are many extra costs when buying a house, and it’s best to know your full financial commitment prior to entering into the process. Call us, we can provide a snapshot of the numbers for your situation.
Read about the new tax here
agmarketbrief.wordpress.com 