British Columbia continues to be one of the most popular Provinces for Canadian to reside in, and the Lower Mainland in particular is one region of the Province where housing is always in short supply in the face of the number of people who want to own homes there. As a result property values are always going be higher than they really should be, but that is a reflection of market forces that would apply to any consumer good anywhere in the world.
And when you get right down to it, homes are consumer goods even though the nature of what they provide for people may make it difficult to see them that way. It is probably fair to say that realtors have a more natural conceptualization in line with this, but without segueing too far off topic it’s also fair to say there are too many realtors in Vancouver the same way there aren’t enough quality homes to go around. That said, there’s nothing stopping anyone from getting their real estate license and beginning work as a realtor, and there shouldn’t be.
New realtors do need to be prepared for thing to be fairly lean in the beginning though, and again that’s in large part due to just how many agents there are in the city and how competitive it is because of that. But our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads is an excellent way for new realtors to gain a concrete advantage when it comes to generating new clientele in a place and a time when it’s not easy to do that.
Due to rising home values, the B.C. Government is increasing the B.C. Homeowner Grant threshold, and that’s what we will look at briefly with this week’s entry here.
12% Rise Provides the Initiative
The grant threshold has been increased to $2.125 million for 2023 in response to average property values increasing by 12%. The official statement backing this move cites the initiative being the rise and that resetting the threshold from $1.975 million will now mean around 92% of residential properties will be eligible for the grant.
For anyone unfamiliar with how the homeowner grant works, the simple explanation is that it reduces property tax on a principal residence. Something which can be very important given how many homeowners will be spread very thin with finances each month if they own a detached home in Vancouver.
The basic grant for those who live in their homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Capital Regional District is $570 and can be up to $845 for people aged 65+, veterans who have served in Canada’s military or who have a disability. Northern and rural area homeowners will have their basic grant being $770 and then $1,045 for veterans, those with a disability or people 65+.
Big Gains from July 2022
BC Assessment says in a statement the valuations released Tuesday show estimates from July of 2022, with the total value of real estate assessed in the province being $2.27 trillion at that time. The aim here is to soothe concerns for folks who are worried about their taxes going up if they’ve had a large hike in the value of their home. That is very often the primary most important factor in how much the value has changed relative to the average increase of other properties owned in their metro area.
This list is the average assessed values of single-family homes in 2023 for B.C. areas plus the individual percentage change:
- Vancouver, $2.125 million, 7% increase
- Whistler, $2.902 million, 11% increase
- Surrey, $1.609 million, 13% increase
- Victoria, $1.157 million, 8% increase
- Duncan, $591,000, 13% increase
- Tofino, $1.616 million, 20% increase
- Port Alice, $261,000, 1% decrease
- Kelowna, $988,000, 14% increase
- Osoyoos, $685,000, 14% increase
- Merritt, $475,000, 14% increase
- Castlegar, $497,000, 18% increase
- Nelson, $675,000, 5% increase
- New Denver (Village), $361,000, 26% increase
- 100 Mile House, $405,000, 26% increase
- Fort St. John, $343,000, 4% increase
- Fraser Lake, $204,000, 31% increase
- Prince George, $450,000, 31% increase
- Valemount, $345,000, 28% increase
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