Homes turns cold
The graceful six-bedroom house in a Vancouver neighborhood flanking one of Canada's top universities and a massive park would usually have been met with a slew of offers above its C$4.5 million (HK$26.51 million) asking price.
That's if its July listing hadn't coincided with the week the government announced a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers intended to cool the market. The grey wood-frame house was soon pulled and relisted for C$100,000 less before finally closing seven weeks later at just over C$4 million.
A 33 percent drop in Vancouverhome sales in September from a year ago signals North America's once- hottest real estate
market -where the average home was appreciating by more than C$1,000 a day - has reached a tipping point.
While the average price of a single-family detached home rose 29 percent to C$1.58 million, sales fell 9.5 percent in September from August, figures out yesterday showed.
On Monday, the federal government unveiled new rules to end a tax break on home sales by owners outside Canada and to tighten mortgage insurance eligibility equirements even for borrowers with large down payments.
That follows the new foreign-buyer levy British Columbia introduced in August and Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson's plan for the city to start taxing vacant homes next year.
So, properties are taking longer to sell, deals are plummeting and in some cases prices are coming down in a city where the cost of housing has doubled in the past decade.
Source: BLOOMBERG