Arnold Shuchat PREC Real Estate Blog

Think back to when you were growing up.  Can you remember any of your friends moving? Moving more than once? Moving more than once in a two year period?

Things are different now.  A recent review that I conducted in Richmond over a two year period from 2014-2015 inclusive revealed that out of 160 single family properties described as having lots greater than 7000 sq ft, frontages greater than 60 feet and homes on the land older than 34 years, 42 of them, or around 25% were sold and relisted at least once during that two year period, often within a few months.

Here's the problem.  They are houses. Houses may qualify for the principal residence exemption and therefore afford a tax free gain on the price increase since purchase. If a person bought a property and sold it, they would only be required to file taxes on it by April of the following year.  That is, if they account for the gain at all.  Being that it is a house, its sale is likely to not even be reported. ...

I have always advocated that Canadians need to be involved and interacting with their governments in between elections instead of during elections.

I am happy to say that any time I did write my elected officials, I not only received a response but I more often than not woke up one day to find that a suggested policy was actually enacted.

I am pleased that our current Liberal government through its Finance Minister finally made a policy decision regarding limiting the availability of the Principal Residency Exemption that was desperately needed and which I personally have been advocating for over the last two years, both in this blog forum of my web page, in local and national newspapers, and most recently in meetings with senior Canada Revenue Agency real estate auditing staff.

A principal problem as I explained it was that non-residents could purchase a real property and sell it shortly thereafter, regardless of whether they lived in it or not as there was no real mechanism in place to enforce...

A few years ago, the bears were on the sidelines predicting the implosion of a huge real estate bubble. Now, not having been successful in that endeavour, they are trying to manufacture one politically. No doubt, we can't have it both ways: retire with a huge cash out for our homes, but be able to afford to help our children buy property in that same expensive market. I doubt that the rally described below will be attended predominantly by property owners. The reply from City Hall, "Let them have condos", will not solve the supply problem if the housing market continues to be open and free to non-residents for investment and/or speculative purposes. Therefore empty properties should be the first target of government and a strategy in that direction...