Changes to Canadian Immigration Rules

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Bob Sethi (RE/MAX Westcoast)

Posted in 2011, agricultural land reserve, ALR, apartments, April, attached, BC, bc hydro, BC Real Estate, benchmark price, Bridgeport RI, Brighouse, Brighouse South, Broadmoor, Burnaby East Real Estate, buyers, buying selling investing mortgage home equity loan loan to value ratio, change, cmhc, CMHC Goverment of Canada Line of Credit mortgage insurance amortization loan, detached, Downtown VW, East Burnaby, East Cambie, East Vancouver Burnaby, energy, families, first time homebuyer, fortis bc, Garden City, grants, Greater Vancouver, Greater Vancover, gst, gvhba vancouver real estate peter simpson cmhc bob rennie bob ransford u.s. mainland china tsawwassen nimby banana nope delta lo, Hamilton RI, harmonized tax, high density housing, home owner grant, house prices, Housing Price Index, HPI, hst, Immigration, investment, Ironwood, Kevin Falcon, Mainland China, McLennan, McLennan North, McNair, Metro Vancouver, Minister, MLS, mortgage rules 2011 cmhc goverment of canada mortgage insurance housing market bank of canada income borrowing, MV RGS, N. Delta Real Estate, New Westminster, New Westminster Real Estate, North Shore, North Surrey, North Surrey Real Estate, owners, problem solvers, property, Province, Provincial Government, PST, PTT, Queen Mary Park Surrey, Queensborough, RE/MAX, RE/MAX Housing Barometer Report 2010, Real Estate, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Realtors, rebates, REBGV, reduce, Regional Growth Strategy, rental, Richmond, Richmond condo strata development project six storey wood frame, Richmond Real Estate, Riverdale RI, Saunders, Schools, solar, South Arm, Steveston North, Steveston South, Sunshine Hills Woods, Surrey, Surrey City Centre, Surrey Real Estate, tax deferment, taxes, terasen, towhomes, vancouver, vancouver real estate rebgv statistics buying selling average prices market conditions, Vancouver West, water meter, West Cambie, West Newton, Whalley, WHL hockey RE/MAX

Changes to Canadian Immigration Rules

On June 24, the federal government instituted rule changes related to new applications under the Federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP), the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW) and the Federal Entrepreneur Program. The changes are as follows:

Federal Entrepreneur Program: A temporary moratorium on new applications.
Federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP): A cap of 700 new IIP applications will be considered for processing each year.
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW): A cap of 10,000 new FSW applications, without an offer of arranged employment, will be considered for processing each year. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 new applications per occupation will be considered each year.

BC, and Vancouver in particular, has been one of the primary recipients of immigrants under the IIP, accounting for half of total Canadian investor class immigration. From 2005 to 2010, over 30,000 investor class immigrants have located in BC, an average of about 5,000 per year. This number relates to roughly 2,000 households per year.

Implications

The Government's stated reason for instituting the application cap is to reduce a backlog in applications and to shorten wait times. In 2010 there were 3,223 applications approved under the IIP and the government has indicated that it has received applications well in excess of that number in recent years, creating a large backlog of applications. It has not indicated that it wishes to lower the number of immigrants processed under the IIP, but simply to reduce the current backlog.

Therefore, as old applications are still being processed, the implementation of the new rules may not have an impact on the number of immigrants entering under the IIP and therefore may not have a material impact on BC housing markets.

To view Citizenship and Immigration Canada's (CIC) press release, visit:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2011/2011-06-24a.asp.

For more information about the Federal Immigrant Investor Program, visit:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/investors/index.asp.

For more information about the Federal Entrepreneur Program, visit:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/entrepreneurs/index.asp.

For more information about the Skilled Worker Program, visit:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp.

To view CIC's Frequently Asked Questions, visit:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/immigrate/business/index.asp.

All information subject to verification by independent legal advice.

Read

Greater Vancouver housing market sees typical spring activity in April

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Bob Sethi (RE/MAX Westcoast)

Posted in 2011, April, attached, benchmark price, detached, Greater Vancover, Housing Price Index, HPI, MLS, RE/MAX, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, REBGV

Greater Vancouver housing market sees typical spring activity in April

Greater Vancouver saw a typical, solid month of residential home sales on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in April, in contrast to the near record pace witnessed in the two preceding months.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver reached 3,225 in April 2011, an 8.2 per cent decrease compared to the 3,512 sales in April 2010 and a 21 per cent decline compared to the 4,080 sales in March 2011.

Looking back further, last month’s residential sales represent an 8.8 per cent increase over the 2,963 residential sales in April 2009, relatively unchanged compared to April 2008, and a 4.8 per cent decline compared to the 3,387 sales in April 2007.

“While it continues to be a seller’s market in Greater Vancouver, last month’s activity brought greater balance between supply and demand in the overall marketplace,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said. “The year-over-year decline in April sales can be attributed to a less active condominium market on our MLS®, as there were more detached and townhome sales this April compared to last year.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 5,847 in April 2011. This represents a 23.5 per cent decline compared to April 2010 when 7,648 properties were listed for sale on the MLS®, which was an all-time record for April. Compared to March 2011, last month’s new listings total registered a 14 per cent decline.

At 14,187, the total number of residential property listings on the MLS® increased 8.2 per cent in April compared to last month and declined 10 per cent from this time last year.

“There’s considerable variation in activity within the communities in our region. This is causing home price trends to differ depending on the area,” Setticasi said. “Your local REALTOR® is a valuable resource for obtaining the most accurate, up-to-date market evaluation.”

The MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 5 per cent to $622,991 in April 2011 from $593,419 in April 2010.

Sales of detached properties on the MLS® in April 2011 reached 1,402, an increase of 2.3 per cent from the 1,370 detached sales recorded in April 2010, and a 17.8 per cent increase from the 1,190 units sold in April 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 7.4 per cent from April 2010 to $879,039.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,201 in April 2011, a 21.3 per cent decrease compared to the 1,526 sales in April 2010, and an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to the 1,179 sales in April 2009. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 2.9 per cent from April 2010 to $409,242.

Attached property sales in April 2011 totalled 622, a 1 per cent increase compared to the 616 sales in April 2010, and a 4.7 per cent increase from the 594 attached properties sold in April 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 2.4 per cent between April 2010 and 2011 to $514,670.

May 3, 2011

Read

Bob Sethi, B.Comm | 604.273.2828