Despite concerns following the banking turmoil that higher borrowing rates could make matters worse, the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter point on Wednesday. Any talk of rate increases has now turned to talk about rate…
The long-anticipated ChatGPT and Whisper APIs were released on March 1, 2023, giving developers access to cutting-edge language and speech-to-text capabilities: “Through a series of system-wide optimizations, we’ve achieved 90% cost reduction for ChatGPT since December; we’re now passing through…
For the first time, the Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP) published data on investors and the residential properties they owned in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia for 2020. The proportion of investors in British Columbia came…
Introducing 2030 BARCLAY at Stanley Park—by renowned Canadian architect Richard Henriquez and interiors by Alda Pereira Design. I’ve always had a special connection to the West End, having lived and invested there for over 12 years. Back in the day…
The Bank of Canada made its first rate hike of the year, increasing its key policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.5%, sending the prime rate to 6.70%—the highest since March 2001. Adjustable-rate mortgage payments will jump about…
Despite the plethora of new regulatory policies focused on the demand side of the transaction, buyer activity has been picking up over the last couple of weeks. Homes that have been sitting on the market are suddenly going into multiple…
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit symbolizing peace and prosperity, while 2022 was all about the three ‘i’s—inflation, interest rates, and inventory constraints. Never in history has there been a rate move like we saw on a percentage basis, with the prime…
With the passing of Bill 44, there are officially no more rental restrictions for any strata building in British Columbia. Short-term rental bylaws that prohibit services like Airbnb are however still in effect. Only age restriction bylaws of 55+ are…
Zonda Urban, a real estate analytics company, reported that new home sales (i.e. pre-sales) were down 72% on a year-over-year basis. The decrease in sales is partially explained by a decrease in project launches. Langley/Cloverdale sub-markets had the highest number…
As covered in last week’s market update, the sales slump continues as we head into the winter months, with a decline of 45% in Greater Vancouver. Sales are also flat in the Fraser Valley where only 901 properties exchanged hands—a…
