BC Business
Changes to the Real Estate Services Act come into force September 30
B.C. has a new superintendent of real estate. Effective October 19, Micheal Noseworthy will take over supervision of the real estate industry from the Real Estate Council of B.C—an independent advisory group concluded last June that the industry had failed to effectively regulate itself. Noseworthy most recently served as Yukon’s superintendent of real estate, previously served as Yukon’s director of residential tenancies and employment standards and has received the Premier’s Award of Excellence for his work as part of the team that developed Yukon’s first-ever Housing Action Plan. (Government of B.C.)
The City of Vancouver looks to restrict short-term rentals. City staff will likely recommend restricting short-term rentals to people renting out their own homes and with some kind of yearly cap on nights allowed, writes Frances Bula. “All indications are that Vancouver, as have several other cities, will aim to discourage operators who acquire or convert homes and run them like businesses strictly as short-term rentals.” (The Globe and Mail)
Dozens of Metro Vancouverites gathered downtown Saturday to demand government action on the region’s housing affordability crisis, calling for a crackdown on money laundering. The rally was organized by Housing Action for Local Taxpayers (HALT), a grassroots group founded by Justin Fung. Fung spoke at the rally along with Christine Duhaime, a lawyer who specializes in money laundering and is calling on the federal government to investigate money that could be entering the housing market illegally. (CTV)
More Canadians expect real estate values to drop. The share of Canadians who expect the value of real estate in their neighborhood to drop over the next six months rose to 24.6 per cent, the highest score since 2009, according to the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index. The biggest decline in confidence was in B.C., where the provincial sentiment index tumbled to 54.2 last week from 65.2 four weeks earlier. (Bloomberg)
Blame the low loonie for attracting foreign home buyers. “Homes are cheaper on both a U.S. dollar adjusted and Chinese renminbi basis than in 2010-2014,” according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research. “Despite the high rates of home price appreciation, the continued appeal of Canadian real estate is reflected when adjusting home prices for the substantially weaker Canadian dollar.” (Huffington Post)