Author: Leo S

123

The non-permanent residents

Much has been written about the surge in population growth in recent years, and indeed year over year growth in B.C. has spiked to levels that we have not seen in many decades. Many have...

267

The rates tailwind

From 1981 to 1991, interest rates dropped by 43%. From 1991 to 2001, interest rates dropped by 42%. From 2001 to 2011, interest rates dropped by 54%. From 2011 to 2021, interest rates dropped by...

159

Book Review: Our Crumbling Foundation

A while back Gregor Craigie (local CBC radio host and author) reached out to discuss my take on some of the root causes of the housing crisis.  We’d discussed some aspects before on his show...

168

Property tax breaks and new inventory arrives

It’s election season and that means the vote-buying goodies are starting to flow.  First time buyers have long been able to get a break on the property transfer tax, but the purchase price limit of...

373

January: Teetering

January was in some ways fairly unremarkable, with market conditions coming in essentially identical to this time a year ago.  With 6.3 months of inventory (for all property types) we are in a balanced market,...

256

How often do owners move?

There was an interesting article in the Globe & Mail recently trying to back the claim that Canadians move approximately every 7 years.  They do some digging into where that figure came from and test...

341

Checking on the AirBnB situation

A few months ago I looked at the potential impact of the province’s AirBnB restrictions, especially the removal of grandfathering that previously allowed owners in a couple dozen buildings downtown to legally operate short term...