Tag Archives: BC Housing Market

BC Housing presenting the Skaha Lake affordable housing project to Penticton City Council

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Affordable housing proposal

An introduction to the affordable housing project planned for Skaha Lake Road and Green Avenue West will be coming before Penticton City Council on Tuesday, revamping the three motels that were purchased by BC Housing last may.

BC Housing’s Skaha Lake Assembly Redevelopment Project involves the Meadowlark Motel, Sun Valley Motel and Mayfair Motel, all in the 2000 block of Skaha Lake Road, which were bought for $7.9 million, along with Skaha Sunrise Apartments.

According to the presentation, the project is set on building affordable rentals for singles, families, workforce, seniors, and persons with disabilities, living in the Penticton area.

Their project timeline starts with initial engagement with tenants and site neighbours along with the Penticton Indian Band Technical starting now through May.

This spring and summer will see work done on a technical site analysis and concept development.

Public engagement for all residents of Penticton on draft concepts is estimated to go forward in the fall.

The Municipal Public Process will follow in the fall and winter of 2023.

BC Housing shared back in May that the eventual aim for the project was to combine the buildings into 105 homes for people with low incomes.

At this time, the project is presented as an affordable housing project, not a supportive housing project.

City council has had a contentious relationship at times with BC Housing, previously requesting an independent audit of all BC Housing supportive housing facilities currently in town before they approve another.

Penticton city council narrowly approved a building permit application from BC Housing for a locally-operated recovery housing complex at 3240 Skaha Lake Road in November.

BMO: ‘Your House Makes More Than You Do’

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This can’t last.

If you own a home in Montreal, B.C.’s Fraser Valley or just about anywhere in Ontario, there’s a good chance your house is earning more money than you are.

With home sales on a tear across Canada this winter, “house prices are not only rising faster than family income, they are rising more than total annual income,” Bank of Montreal senior economist Sal Guatieri wrote in a client note Wednesday, titled “Your house earns more than you.”

That’s not necessarily true everywhere. If you live in the Prairie provinces, the single-digit price growth there wouldn’t match a median household income, but it’s true for virtually every market in Ontario, while many places in B.C. ― Chilliwack, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley ― came very close.

In the Hamilton-Burlington real estate market southwest of Toronto, the benchmark house price rose by $154,000 in the past year, to $786,600. That’s double the $75,464 median household income for the area, as reported in the 2016 census.

“It’s clearly unsustainable in the long run, as affordability would deteriorate pretty quickly if it continued,” Guatieri wrote in an email to HuffPost Canada.

Still, Guatieri doesn’t see a correction in the cards this year “as demand is simply too strong relative to limited supply, but we do expect sales levels and price growth to moderate as affordability weakens and pent-up demand from teleworkers ebbs.”

One thing that could take some steam out of house prices would be rising mortgage rates, and there is some chance of that in the coming months. Mortgage rates tend to move with the interest paid on government bonds, and those have jumped in recent weeks.

In a client note Wednesday, Capital Economics estimated that the fixed, five-year discount mortgage rate will rise to 2.3 per cent this year, from 1.8 per cent today. If the difference between mortgage rates and government borrowing rates returns to normal ― it’s currently very narrow ― mortgage rates will hit 2.8 per cent, economist Stephen Brown predicted.

“We doubt either scenario would send house prices into reverse,” he wrote in a client note, adding that this would reduce the maximum purchase price by only a few percentage points.

BMO’s Guatieri doesn’t expect much of an increase in mortgage rates for one key reason ― the Bank of Canada won’t allow it.

“Central banks are pretty determined to keep the stimulus taps wide open,” he wrote.

Select cities where houses are making more than households:

Greater Toronto

Benchmark house price: $941,100
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $100,082
Median household income: $78,373

Greater Montreal

Benchmark house price: $434,200
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $62,000
Median household income: $61,790

Fraser Valley, B.C.

Benchmark house price: $911,300
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $75,900
Median household income: $69,289

Ottawa, Ont.

Benchmark house price: $561,000
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $102,000
Median household income: $86,541

Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont.

Benchmark house price: $660,900
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $126,800
Median household income: $94,057

Mississauga, Ont.

Benchmark house price: $988,500
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $107,000
Median household income: $83,018

Simcoe, Ont.

Benchmark house price: $478,800
House price change, Jan. 2020-Jan. 2021: $108,100
Median household income: $76,489 Benchmark house prices from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Household income data from the Canada Census 2016.

Sketching Out the Potential Impact of COVID-19 on the BC Housing Market

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Summary Findings:

  • While it’s unknown how the unfolding COVID-19 outbreak will impact the economy in the long-term, BC is facing a sudden stop in economic activity with little guidance to when things may return to normal.
  • Based on our scenario analysis, BC home sales and prices will likely face declines in the spring and early summer but should recover along with the wider economy in the second half of the year, contingent on the outbreak resolving.
  • The postponed change to the mortgage stress test rate, originally slated for April 6, 2020, will mute the impact of falling interest rates for the BC housing market.

Summer Home Sales Slow to a Simmer

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Vancouver, BC August 13, 2018. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 7,055 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) across the province in July, a 23.9 per cent decrease from the same month last year. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $695,990, down 0.4 per cent from July 2017. Total sales dollar volume was $4.9 billion, a 24.2 per cent decline from July 2017.

The BC housing market continues to grapple with the sharp decline in affordability caused by tough new mortgage qualification rules, said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. ?However, less frenetic housing demand has created more balanced market conditions in many regions, leading to fewer multiple offers and more choice for consumers.?

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was down 18.9 per cent to $37 billion, compared with the same period in 2017. Residential unit sales decreased 20.6 per cent to 50,926 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 2.1 per cent to $725,639.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) is the professional association for about 23,000 REALTORS® in BC, focusing on provincial issues that impact real estate. Working with the province’s 11 real estate boards, BCREA provides continuing professional education, advocacy, economic research and standard forms to help REALTORS® provide value for their clients.

To demonstrate the profession’s commitment to improving Quality of Life in BC communities, BCREA supports policies that help ensure economic vitality, provide housing opportunities, preserve the environment, protect property owners and build better communities with good schools and safe neighbourhoods.

For detailed statistical information, contact your local real estate board. MLS® is a cooperative marketing system used only by Canada’s real estate boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for sale.

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