Real Estate News Headlines // July 28th 2016

Jethro Seymour, one of the Top Toronto Real Estate Brokers, provides you with Canadian real estate news headlines

The B.C. government took steps Monday to reduce some of the pressure in Metro Vancouver’s overheated real estate market, introducing legislation that would add a 15 per cent property transfer tax for foreign nationals buying real estate there.
The new rules take effect Aug. 2 and only apply to home purchases in Metro Vancouver, excluding the treaty lands of the Tsawwassen First Nation.
Provincial Finance Minister Mike de Jong unveiled the tax as part of legislation aimed at addressing low vacancy rates and high real estate prices in southern B.C.

Canada’s banking regulator is requiring certain financial institutions to stress-test a 50 per cent decline in house prices in Greater Vancouver, and a 40 per cent dive in Greater Toronto, the two hottest markets in the country.
A 30 per cent decline in house prices must be tested across the rest of Canada, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in a notice Tuesday to the country’s “standardized” banks.

One of Bay Street’s most outspoken economists has a warning for Ontario: it’s time to take a “long look” at following British Columbia’s lead on taxing foreign homebuyers.