Back to Blog

BC Budget 2018 at a Glance

General Angela Calla 21 Feb

 

On Tuesday Feb. 20th, the NDP government released B.C.’s 2018 budget. Below are some of the highlights as it pertains to housing and real estate industry.

  • Creating a new speculation tax for vacant homes. The tax will be two per cent of the assessed value of properties in 2019.
  • Increasing the foreign buyers tax from 15 to 20 per cent, and expanding the tax to properties in the Fraser Valley, Kamloops, Kelowna and Greater Victoria.
  • Increasing the property transfer tax and the school tax on the wealthiest homeowners who buy or own homes valued higher than $3 million.
  • Strengthening tax administrators’ audit and enforcement powers to help close information gaps and ensure tax compliance
  1. Moving to stop tax evasion in pre-sale condo reassignments.
  2. taking action to end hidden ownership.
  3. strengthen provincial auditing and enforcement powers.

Some other items in the budget include:

  • Introducing a new child care benefit that will reduce child care costs by up to $1,250 per month per child for 86,000 B.C. families per year by 2020/21.
  • Providing up to $350 per month directly to licenced child care providers to reduce fees for an estimated 50,000 families per year by 2020/21.
  • Helping to build 114,000 affordable rental, non-profit, co-op and owner-purchase housing units through partnerships.
  • Eliminating MSP premiums by Jan. 1, 2020, saving individuals up to $900 a year, and families up to $1,800 a year.
  • Freezing fares on all major BC Ferries routes, reducing fares on non-major routes and fully restoring the Monday to Thursday seniors passenger fare discount.

 

Read the details of the budget here:  BC Budget 2018

The Angela Calla Mortgage Team will work with you personally to ensure you get the best mortgage options contact us directly at 604-802-3983 or callateam@dominionlending.ca it’s never too early or too late to start planning to position yourself best in the market.