Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential sales in the province are expected to edge back 6.3 per cent to 96,100 units in 2016. Home sales surpassed the 100,000 unit threshold for only the third time on record last year, as strong market fundamentals and elevated consumer confidence charged demand. While fewer home sales are expected this year, economic conditions remain robust and will support relatively high levels of housing demand. Strengthening economic conditions at home and abroad are expected to bolster housing consumption activity in 2017. BC MLS® residential sales are forecast...

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) latest Housing Market Assessment (HMA) 2016 Q1 reports moderate evidence of overvaluation in housing markets across the country. Broken down across the 15 centres covered by the HMA, overvaluation and overbuilding are the most prevalent problematic conditions with overvaluation detected in eight centres and overbuilding in seven centres.

“The evidence of overbuilding has increased since the previous assessment in Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Ottawa due to either higher vacancy rates, high inventory of new and unsold units,...

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1/2 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 3/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 1/4 per cent.

Inflation in Canada is evolving broadly as expected. Total CPI inflation remains near the bottom of the Bank’s target range as the disinflationary effects of economic slack and low consumer energy prices are only partially offset by the inflationary impact of the lower Canadian dollar on the prices of imported goods. As all of these factors dissipate, the Bank expects inflation will rise to about 2 per...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record number of home sales were recorded in the province for the month of December. A total of 6,590 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) last month, up 29.8 per cent from the same month the previous year. Total sales dollar volume hit a record $4.62 billion for the month of December, up 55.4 per cent compared to the previous year.

The average MLS® residential price in the province climbed above the $700,000 threshold for the first time in BC last month, rising 19.7 from December...

Frances Bula

Special to The Globe and Mail

PublishedFriday, Jan. 15, 2016 4:47PM EST

Amber and Rob Stefanson didn’t plan to become condo investors. Or landlords. Or renters who are condo investors.

But somehow they have become all three, as they – like many younger people trying to grapple with Vancouver’s increasingly hostile real-estate market – try to figure out a way to accumulate some equity but also live in a place that meshes with their work and family situation.

They thought, when they bought their two-bedroom condo in New Westminster in 2007 for $250,000...

The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 203,502 units in December compared to 208,204 in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“A decrease in both the multiple and single starts segments drove the December trend lower,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC Chief Economist. “Starts increased in 2015 compared to 2014, largely driven by the condominium market in Toronto. Had the Toronto condominium starts remained stable in 2015, national starts...

In a year when the number of homes listed for sale was below historical averages, actual home sales in Metro Vancouver set a new record.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that 2015 home sales were the highest annual total in REBGV history. This was powered early in the year by four straight months with more than 4,000 sales a month from March to June, another first for REBGV.

Sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2015 reached 42,326, a 27.8 per cent increase from the 33,116 sales recorded in 2014, and a 48.4 per cent increase over the 28,524 residential...