Synergy Mortgage, Author at Synergy Mortgage

25May

Opinion: When is the best time to buy in a down market?

[January 14, 2019 - Vancouver Courier] Many first-time buyers are taking a wait-and-see approach, in case home prices drop further - is that the best strategy? Recently I was asked to guest live on CityTV’s BT Vancouver morning news show to recap a range of industry predictions for real estate in 2019. During the interview, I was asked what strategy first-time buyers should adopt if they’re hoping to get into the market but are waiting to see what will happen. This question, [...]

Vancouver Real Estate

10May

More choice, lower prices: Why now may be a good time to buy real estate in Vancouver

But new CMHC report also notes Metro Vancouver housing market is still vulnerable [May 2nd, 2019 - CBC News] According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, prices on homes in Metro Vancouver are down seven or eight per cent since June, 2018. A new quarterly report on the Metro Vancouver housing market says there's a high degree of vulnerability in the market, but prices are down, and inventory is up, which means buyers will find some advantage. According to the Canada Mortgage and [...]

Vancouver Real Estate

30Mar

B.C. Real Estate Association forecasts lower mortgage rates in 2019

[Source: Georgia Straight - March 28, 2019] That's according to the latest mortgage rate forecast from the B.C. Real Estate Association. The cost of borrowing for a home is predicted to get a little cheaper this year. "The average contract rate for 5-year mortgages has declined about 30 basis points from its peak in 2018, reaching 3.44 per cent in March," the BCREA states in a two-page report. "Unfortunately, this still means a stress test rate of 5.44 per cent, even for [...]

British Columbia, Canada, Economic Outlook

20Mar

First-time home buyers big winners in budget, but will incentives work in B.C.?

[Vancouver Sun - March 19, 2019] The federal budget offers incentives aimed at making housing more affordable for first-time buyers, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll work in the overheated B.C. housing market. “We’ll want to look at the details, we’ll want to take a look at whether it will assist people in communities where unaffordability really is a crisis and housing prices are very high,” said B.C. Finance Minister Carole James. “I think that will continue to be a challenge.” The [...]

Canada, Economic Outlook

15Mar

Foreign ‘bottom feeders’ fuel West Vancouver recovery

[BIV - March 14, 2019] China-based realty portal, local agents say rush of foreign bargain hunters points to sudden sales recovery after three-year slide Fuelled by a sudden spike in China-based buyers, the West Vancouver luxury housing market is bouncing off the bottom, according to China’s largest real estate portal and West Vancouver agents. This month a West Vancouver “cabin” sold for $3.4 million - $600,000 over its assessed value – to a Beijing buyer, and the largest Chinese real estate search [...]

Vancouver Real Estate

13Mar

Canada’s Housing Market Is Breaking Some Alarming Records Right Now

[MSN - March 11, 2019] It's quiet out there. Maybe too quiet. Canada's residential real estate market has slowed considerably over the past year, a fact the industry chalks up to a tough new mortgage stress test and rising interest rates. This is having an impact on the broader economy. Canada's GDP growth slowed to a snail's pace of 0.4 per cent annualized in the fourth quarter of 2018, dragged down in part by falling residential investment, which has slid 7.5 per [...]

International Influence

13Mar

Who owns these multimillion-dollar properties in Vancouver? With this new registry, the public could soon find out

[Star Vancouver - March 10, 2019] VANCOUVER—Perched on the top of a glass tower in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour neighbourhood, the 6,459-square-foot condo is a glittering glass mansion in the sky, featuring two-storey-high windows with stunning views of the North Shore mountains, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a walk-in closet as big as some studio apartments. Penthouse 1, at the top of the Fairmont Pacific Rim on Cordova St., is worth $28-million, making it the third most expensive condo in Vancouver. Who [...]

International Influence

12Mar

Metro Vancouver real estate not alone as prices slide across prime global cities

London, Sydney, Hong Kong and more seeing price declines over past year, reports The Economist – a correlation that could herald a global recession [Vancouver Courier - March 8, 2019] It’s easy to think of Metro Vancouver real estate prices as being particularly hard-hit in the past couple of years, by a combination of provincial taxation measures and the federal stress test. But a report published this week by The Economist shows that, in global terms, we are far from alone in seeing [...]

Economic Outlook

09Mar

Home sales drop by a third in Vancouver — where the average price is still over a million

[Financial Post - March 4, 2019] VANCOUVER — The local real estate board says the benchmark price of a detached home in Metro Vancouver fell nearly 10 per cent year over year as more sellers listed properties, but house hunters continued to take their time in February. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says nearly 28 per cent fewer detached properties sold last month compared with February 2018, and the benchmark price dropped 9.7 per cent to $1,443,100. Across all residential [...]

Vancouver Real Estate

09Mar

Bank of Canada holds interest rate steady but some suggest a rate cut could be back on the table

[CTV - March 6, 2019] Canada's central bank has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate at 1.75 per cent, and says the timing of possible future hikes has become increasingly uncertain. The Bank of Canada says the economic slowdown that began at the end of last year is a bit worse than it was expecting, including a sharper-than-anticipated slowdown in Canada's oil patch. The bank also singled out softness in the housing market and consumer spending as reasons for a gloomier [...]

Bank of Canada announcements