What are the Down Payment Requirements?

The amount of your down payment will determine whether you'll have a conventional mortgage or a high-ratio mortgage, which must be insured.

What's the difference?

• Conventional mortgage: means your down payment is 20% of the purchase price or more.
• High-ratio mortgage: means your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price.

Effective February 15, 2016, the minimum down payment for new mortgages have been modified. The new breakdown is as follows:

• For homes with a purchase price less than or equal to $500,000 the minimum down payment is 5%
• For homes with a purchase price greater than $500,000 and less than $1 million, the minimum down payment is 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the remaining balance
• For homes with a purchase price of $1 million or more, the minimum down payment is 20%

High ratio mortgages must be insured by a mortgage insurer such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Genworth Financial Canada or Canada Guaranty. You will be required to pay the premium for this insurance.

The insurance premium:

• Will depend on the amount you are borrowing and the percentage of your down payment. Usually, mortgage default insurance premiums range between 0.5% and 2.75% of the mortgage amount
• Can be paid at the time of purchase, or added to the principal amount of your mortgage.The insurance premium may be subject to provincial sales tax, which cannot be added to mortgage amount.

SURREY BOARD OF TRADE FEDERAL BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

TRANSIT INVESTMENT
“The Public Transit Infrastructure Fund will provide needed federal support for Surrey’s proposed construction of the Light Rail project,” said Huberman. “The federal funding for accelerated design, implementation and construction work for new large-scale projects, such as new light rail transit lines in Surrey and Metro Vancouver coupled with the new innovative direction to get projects moving quickly by having the Federal Government fund up to 50% of eligible costs for projects could prove well for Surrey’s Light Rail Transit vision.”

Total infrastructure investment includes:

• $11.9 billion over five years to modernize and upgrade infrastructure systems, including transit and water
• $3.4 billion over three years to upgrade and improve public transit systems across Canada
• $5.0 billion over five years for investments in water, wastewater and green infrastructure projects across Canada
• $3.4 billion over five years for social infrastructure, including affordable housing, early learning and child care, cultural and recreational infrastructure, and community health care facilities on reserve

The Surrey Board of Trade noted that Funding under the program will be allocated to municipalities based on ridership with B.C. at 13.63% (share of national public transit ridership) equaling $460,490,000.
“The Surrey Board of Trade looks to the provincial government’s decision to work with the Mayor’s Council on how to move needed transit and transportation projects forward. The full 27km vision for Surrey’s Light Rail Transit line is what Surrey needs to build and connect our communities – and attract business.”

INNOVATION, APPRENCTICESHIPS, SKILLS & UNIVERSITIES
Skills are the number one challenge for Canadian business, including Surrey businesses. The Surrey Board of Trade appreciates the additional investments of $125 million for Labour Market Development Agreements, alongside $50 million for the Canada Job Fund Agreements. These provide a range of training and employment programs.

Budget 2016 will also provide $85.4 million over five years to support union-based apprenticeship training. In addition, it will strengthen co-op and on-the-job opportunities for young people. “However, the Surrey Board of Trade needs industry to commit to partner to train apprentices.”

In the 2016 budget, there is $2.26 billion of funding announced, almost all of it destined to Canadian universities via the strategic infrastructure investment fund. This is welcome; however, Canada's public sector expenditure on research and development is already among the highest in the OECD. The trouble is that Canada lags in commercialization, in venture capital and in growing technology businesses beyond a certain size. The government's support for private sector innovation was modest, with additional support for incubators and an extra $50 million for the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program.

In 2016, the government will launch its Innovation Agenda, a "bold new plan" that will redesign and redefine how it supports innovation and growth. We cannot wait.

SMALL BUSINESS TAXES
The deferral of further reductions on small business taxes and reductions in EI premiums is understandable but we would encourage the government to establish a timeline for when further reductions can be achieved to allow small business to assist in the growth required to make this budget successful over the long term. The Employment Insurance premium rate will decrease from the current 1.88 to 1.61, instead of the previously planned 1.49, due to the deteriorating economy and additional costs in the expansion of EI eligibility.

The Surrey Board of Trade noted that a push back on the small business tax and increasing CPP, as businesses struggle, could slow down job creation and investment.

The previous budget legislated that the Small Business Tax rate would fall by 0.5% per year from 11% to 9% in 2019. The rate is currently at 10.5%, and the government has deferred the decreases that were coming in future years. There was no date or estimate given for the duration of the deferral. This means that small businesses across the country will pay over $1 billion more than expected.

The government has also tightened the rules so that investment income is no longer eligible for the small business rate. Also, the budget announces new rules so that partnerships and corporate structures cannot be used to separate businesses into smaller entities that qualify for the lower rates.

ADDITIONAL REVENUE
The Surrey Board of Trade noted that the government clearly thinks that there is massive tax evasion going on. The budget will spend $444 million over five years to crack down on it, and the government expects to raise $2.6 billion. The government is so confident in the amount it can collect that the budget includes it as revenue.

CANADA PENSION PLAN
On the Canada Pension Plan, which could bring about a significant increase in payroll taxes, the government will launch consultations with Canadians in the coming months. The government maintains its goal of coming to a collective decision with the provinces and territories on enhancing the CPP by the end of 2016.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
The budget deficit will reach $29 billion this year and next, before gradually declining to $14 billion in 2020. At 1.5% of GDP, Canada's deficit compares favourably to Europe (3.3%) or the U.S. (3.9%), but a significant deterioration from the $3.4 billion back in November.

The arguments for increased spending do resonate: borrowing costs are cheap in this low interest rate environment, and austerity in the midst of economic weakness can be self-defeating. But if we suddenly withdraw the need for caution, we’ll go down the path of too much spending as we have before.

We should point out that if the government can achieve its deficit targets then the overall debt-to- GDP ratio will fall from 2017-2020 simply because the economy will be growing faster than the debt. But this will take tremendous discipline.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The government said that Phase 2 of the infrastructure plan, which will contain the fast, efficient trade corridors allowing Canadian exporters to benefit fully from international trade and measures to modernize the economy, will be announced in the next year.

ENVIRONMENT
$1 billion in funding over the next four years will be allocated to support clean technology in the forestry, fisheries, mining, energy, and agriculture sectors. Also included for environment, is $2 billion over two years to establish the Low Carbon Economy Fund, which will assist provinces and territories with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance rates will be expanded for a variety of clean energy technologies, including electrical energy storage and electric vehicle charging.

The government is proposing $14.2 million to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency as well as $16.5 million to the National Energy Board and Natural Resources Canada to improve consultations and environmental assessment processes.

TOURISM
Every community in Canada can benefit from tourism. Surrey is a sports destination city. The government’s announcement of an additional $50 million investment in Destination Canada over the next two years to improve the marketing of Canada as a tourist destination is quite welcome.

ARTS & CULTURE
The Government of Canada confirmed today that it plans to allocate additional funding to the National Film Board in the amount of $13.5 million for the next 5 years, $1.5 million in 2016‒2017 and $3 million in subsequent years. The NFB’s total annual budget will be $61.5 million (2016‒2017) and $63 million in the years following.

This announcement, made as part of the 2016‒2017 Federal Budget, confirms that culture and creativity are a priority for the government. The CBC also had renewed funding.

“And so for cultural industries locally and nationally we are going to see a renewed commitment to our creative and innovative arts and culture work which will enhance our presence and the impact of our works on the Canadian public and the entire world.”

CONCLUSION
Canada’s economy is facing huge challenges. Weak energy and commodity prices are likely to persist at least through 2017. Canadian consumers are among the most highly indebted in the world and the housing market is overvalued in many communities especially in Metro Vancouver. Canada can no longer rely on the traditional sources of growth—natural resources and consumer spending—that powered the Canadian economy over the past decade.

To continue to grow and to improve our standard of living, the Canadian economy must succeed in exporting, in creating new businesses, and in commercializing the technologies of tomorrow. Our number one priority in Surrey, and as it should be for Canada, has to be the improvement of productivity and innovation. The Federal Budget’s stimulus is positive, however, we need to ensure that job creation, business sustainability, business attraction, and more innovation occur at the same time. A flourishing business sector will get more Canadians into high paying, highly skilled jobs and provide the tax revenues to pay for the social programs we need. The economy and our social programs go hand in hand.

On a cautionary note, the Surrey Board of Trade, though agreeable on short-term spending, also urges the federal government to balance the budget soon—at least in the 3^rd or 4^th year of the new government’s term.

For the full Federal Budget document go to: http://www.budget.gc.ca/2016/home-accueil-en.html?utm_source=CanCa&utm_medium=Carousel&utm_content=BCover&utm_campaign=CAbdgt16

Buyers hoping to get into home ownership may soon have a more difficult time qualifying for their purchase, according to one leading economist.

Past bids to cool hot housing markets through mortgage rule tweaking hasn’t worked, according to one economist who suggests the government may look to further tighten the rules.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Keep in mind they started this process in July of 2012 and that was the first change,” Michael Campbell, economist for mortgage network Verico. “So now we have this change here and yet it hasn’t started to slow down the hot markets at all.”

Campbell is referencing the latest mortgage tweak to high ratio mortgages that went into effect February 15.

The minimum down payment for new insured mortgages increased from 5% to 10% for the portion of the house price above $500,000.

The changes were meant to reduce taxpayer exposure while supporting long-term stability of the housing market, according to the ministry.

And while many predicted the change would impact the hot Vancouver and Toronto markets, Campbell argues it hasn’t.

“We didn’t see any change in the market; the market just completely exploded after that,” Campbell said. “In Vancouver, in Victoria, in Toronto – the hot markets stayed hot.”

Because of this, the government may look to implement even further tightening. But would that be the right move? After all, real estate has been a major driver of – what is, at this point a struggling – economy.

“You have to ask why you want to cool the market first,” Campbell said. “Every homeowner is pretty happy right now, but there are other things too; the renovation industry is thrilled, the furniture selling industry is thrilled, painters are thrilled.” 

my2cents - the worst thing we could do is allow the government to implement an other tax to homeownership – the PPT is bad enough, more tax makes it even harder for young people to get into the market.

Brian White

Fine Homes & Estates since 1990

I am so tired about the miss information being reported in the papers and on the evening news I felt compleled to give some FACTS.

VANCOUVER WEST as of 11:27 am Friday Feb 26, 2016

Fact 1: 559 properties are listed

Fact 2: 429 sold in the last 90 days (typical listing period)

Fact 3: 272 properties did not sell over the same time period

NOT EVERYTHING IS SELLING! The fact is 27.5% of the homes did not sell during the same 90 day listing period. Why do people never read that stat in the papers?

Some perspective needs to be reported by mainstream media and stop reporting ones that are put on the market purposely undervalued to start a frenzy, get the headlines and ultimately free publicity. 

Brian J White

Professional Realtor

604-961-4104

Fine Homes & Estates Since 1990

Bay Realty Ltd.   604-531-4000

www.brianwhite.ca

info@brianwhite.ca

National Zero Waste Council
Workshop at GLOBE 201

How waste prevention can boost the bottom line and drive circular economy innovation

DATE: Friday March 4 2016, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
LOCATION: Vancouver Convention Center East, Room 11 (meeting room level)

Preventing waste is one of humanity’s most urgent issues, but also a powerful lever for change – with significant benefits for businesses, governments and citizens striving to boost sustainability and achieve ambitious climate goals. By convening coalitions of problem-solvers – policy-makers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors and designers – and rethinking our products and processes with waste prevention in mind, we can scale up innovative solutions in pursuit of a circular economy where materials and resources are kept in use for as long as possible and concepts such as durability, disassembly and sharing really count.

Moderated by Dagmar Timmer, Managing Director, On Earth and Co-Host, The Sustainable Region and Metro Vancouver Close Up and featuring Dr. Ilse Truernicht of MaRS Discovery District, Nicole Hagerman-Miller of Biomimicry 3.8, Nadine Gudz of Interface and Mayor Malcolm Brodie, the Chair of the National Zero Waste Council and Chair of the Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Committee, this interactive session will explore how waste prevention can power innovation and a reinvigorated economy in Canada and beyond. What are the opportunities and challenges? What innovations are needed to design waste out of our system? How can we support a culture of zero waste innovation and entrepreunership in Canada?

Join Canada's National Zero Waste Council to hear how waste prevention can power innovation and a reinvigorated economy in Canada and beyond.

(Registration to the Globe Conference is not required to attend this workshop.)

CLI Signals Steady Economic Climate for Commercial Real Estate

Vancouver, BC – February 25, 2016.  

The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) broke a string of two consecutive declines, eking out a 0.1 point increase to an index value of 120.0 in the fourth quarter of 2015. On a year-over-year basis, the CLI was 0.4 per cent higher than in 2014.

“Uncertainty in the global economy roiled financial and commodity markets in the second quarter,” said BCREA Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “However, BC’s nation leading economic growth should help to sustain commercial real estate activity through the end of the year.”

“Financial market jitters offset solid gains from a strong BC economy,” said BCREA economist Brendon Ogmundson. “We expect that the economic environment will remain supportive of steady growth in the commercial real estate market.”

The CLI was virtually flat to end the year, which in combination with a falling index through the spring and summer has produced a flattening of trend underlying the index. That trend suggests that growth in commercial real estate activity will neither accelerate nor decelerate over the next two to four quarters. 

If you ave any questions or need more information, email me or let's meet for a coffee.

Sometimes it only takes someone saying just the right thing, at just the right moment, to change a person's life forever.

A few weeks ago I was in a retail store talking to the salesman about an ATV. The conversation got around to real estate and the price of owning a home in BC. If you believe the news and all the papers or the on line rants about the crazy price of housing in BC, you are not getting the true story. Both Alex (the salesman) and his girl friend (Mollie) thought they had to give up the idea of owning their own house, after all everything they have heard and read said so. After a brief conversation of their current living situation, I told him I could help, that the whole story or the truth about home ownership in Vancouver or the Fraser valley is not being reported accurately. If it is sensational it reads, it gets the views, I don't blame the reporters, (I kinda do) it’s just the nature of reporting.

In literally under 2 minutes I found them a house, in their area, after work they drove by, loved it, called me that night. They put in an offer, got the house and it will be less expensive per month including taxes and utilities than they currently pay for rent. In fact it will be over $500.00 less when they factor in the savings in fuel and commuting costs.

I am pleased to say, Alex and Mollie will be moving into their new home on the 5^th of March 2016. I hope this story will give the reader just enough of a push to help them find the courage to make home ownership a reality, pay yourself first.

If you want to know more of how I can ‘make this happen’ for you get in touch with me now!