Vancouver Holds On in World’s Top 3 Most Liveable Cities

Despite its points sliding slightly, Vancouver has held onto its third-place ranking for the seventh consecutive year in what is arguably the most-respected global liveable cities chart.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) placed Vancouver third under Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria. Toronto came in fourth place, just a hair behind Vancouver in points, whereas in previous years Vancouver enjoyed a bigger lead over Toronto. Calgary was in joint fifth place with Adelaide, Australia.

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B.C. tenants are about to get hit with the largest rent increases allowed in five years

Every year, the B.C. Residential Tenancy Branch sets the maximum allowable percentage by which landlords are legally permitted to increase rents.

Because there is an acute housing shortage in Vancouver, it means that that percentage is the exact amount by which most landlords do raise rents.

Yesterday (August 23), the Residential Tenancy Branch revealed this number for the year ahead, and it’s a big one.

In 2018, landlords are permitted to increase rents in B.C. by four percent.

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Chinese buyers prefer Montreal over Vancouver

Data from a Chinese real estate website has revealed that Montreal will eclipse Vancouver as the top destination for Chinese investors.

Montreal will surpass Vancouver this year as the Canadian destination for mainland China-based real estate investors, according to China’s largest foreign-market real estate portal.

The data is based on 2017 property searches on Juwai.com, the No. 1 Chinese international property portal with more than two million monthly visitors from China. The survey revealed that the United States remains the top market for Chinese investors, with Canada in fourth place, ahead of the United Kingdom but behind Australia and Hong Kong.

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Vancouver’s benchmark house price cracks $1M

VANCOUVER – The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says the typical price of a home in Metro Vancouver has surpassed $1 million.

The board says the composite benchmark price for all residential properties in the area is currently $1,019,400, up 8.7 per cent from July 2016.

The benchmark price for detached properties in the area is about $1.612 million, for attached properties $763,700 and for apartments $616,600.

While home prices jumped, there were more listings and fewer sales in Metro Vancouver last month.

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