Blogs

Respect for the land and what it sustains is key to the work of the Real Estate Foundation of BC.

Canada’s annual inflation dropped to 1.7 per cent in August from 1.8 per cent in July.

The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.1 per cent in August on seasonally adjusted monthly basis. The mortgage interest cost index was down by 3.8 per cent in August following a 4.2 per cent fall in July.

A professional home inspection protects a home buyer against disappointment and unexpected expense after a home has been purchased.  A pre-purchase inspection tells what major and minor flaws exist in a home, what difficulties are apt to occur later (the replacement of equipment, etc.), and what it will cost to eliminate problems.  In general, an inspection covers:

Housing Market Down

Canada's resale market has out-priced new housing over the past decade.

Between 2000 and the first half of 2010 the average cost of a new home increased by about 50 percent while the average price of a resale home more than doubled, according to a report released Tuesday by Scotiabank. 

The bank attributes the robust resale numbers to a multitude of factors including the tight supply of resale homes, low interest rates and mortgage market innovation.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts reached 189,200 units in July, according to new data from CMHC.

"Housing starts moved lower in July, largely due to a decrease in urban single starts and a reduction in rural starts," said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Centre. "Multiple starts partially offset this moderation."

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts rose 1.9 percent to 169,300 units in July while rural starts hit an estimated 19,900 units.