Dr. Frederick Kwong applauds those who have the discipline, tenacity and patience to invest in properties for their future
If we follow the logic of Douglas Todd, no taxpaying lawmaker should have a role in making decisions relating to taxation because self interest comes into play. This tempest in a teacup is bordering on absurdity.
I vehemently disagree with this obsession to put property owners — and that includes politicians and lawmakers — in a bad light. This intentional blurring of the difference between investors and speculators is inexcusable.
Why is real estate a reasonable asset class for saving for one’s future? Because you can use leverage with reasonable risk. I applaud those who have the discipline, tenacity and patience to invest in properties for their future.
Dr. Frederick Kwong, Vancouver
Thank you Dan Fumano for an excellent article on our homelessness and housing crisis. I especially commend you for calling out our leadership for their multiple duplicate announcements of the same housing projects, same beds, over and over again. These announcements leave the public with the terribly inaccurate impression that the problem is being adequately addressed. That encourages us to sigh a sigh of relief and let any sense of guilt slip away, while people with addictions and mental illness challenges still suffer horrendous conditions.
That misinformation and intentionally using the lack of data to mask the issue is reprehensible. Fumano’s column in conjunction with Gordon McIntyre’s article on the Redfish Centre highlight the connectivity of these issues and the need for one comprehensive, provincewide plan of attack. Provincial state of emergency?
B.C. has lost over 11,000 people to overdoses since the emergency declaration. That is equivalent to one-quarter of all Canada’s losses during the Second World War.
Provincial state of emergency? Give me a break. Where is the plan that deals with prevention, harm reduction, detox, treatment, housing, mental health and enforcement along with who is accountable for its implementation and what are the means for measuring success and how it is going to be reported publicly? It’s long overdue.
Congratulations on your retirement, Ian. Thank you for your humanity, humour, insights, ‘wonder words’ and perspectives. We, your readers, send you a “wealth of memories — and gratitude.
Kathy Anderson, Vancouver
Water metering encourages conservation
Re: “For Metro’s water supply, crunch time has arrived”
As Daphne Bramham points out, the ever tightening water use restrictions in the Lower Mainland are evidence of the impact of a changing climate on our water supply. She asserted that “the only Plan B available is further restrictions.”
I suggest that an effective Plan B to encourage behaviour change for conservation in water use is to expand water metering to all homes on the GVWD network.
Water meters would add fairness into this municipal utility bill too.
Metro Vancouver should implement an incentive program targeted to have water meters in all residential homes within ten years.
Derek Wilson, P.Eng. [ret’d.], Port Moody
I recently noted in the paper today that the PNE is planning to build an amphitheatre. Great. Cool, in every sense of the word.
Now that this has been planned, and I guess you have money for, can you please build the appropriate number of new bathroom facilities to accommodate all of us that will visit this venue?
The current lot of bathrooms throughout the entire PNE are probably circa 1950, pokey and pretty much appalling.
Cathy Griffin, Burnaby
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TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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