Empty Homes Tax

• B.C. expands speculation and vacancy tax in Vancouver Island, Howe Sound

  British Columbia is expanding the tax it created to clamp down on real estate speculation and ensure homes in rental-strapped communities don't sit empty.

  Politics

  May 26
  
• Vancouver council takes heat for vote to refund millions in Empty Homes Tax to developers

  A new exemption to Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax is being applied retroactively, which will see $3.8 million, much of it already collected, returned to property developers.

  Politics

  May 11
  
• Advertisement
• ‘Unintended consequences’: Vancouver council votes to cut empty homes tax back to 3%

  Vancouver city council upped the empty homes tax from three per cent of a property’s value to five per cent in 2022, but now staff is recommending it shift back to three per cent.

  Politics

  May 10
• Advertisement
• Cut Vancouver’s empty homes tax back to 3% for 2023, city staff recommend

  Vancouver's empty homes tax is intended to bring vacant units onto the rental or sale market, and targets properties that are unoccupied for more than half the year.

  Politics

  May 4
• Vancouver to hike empty homes tax to 5% in 2023

  Vancouver city council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve increasing the city's Empty Homes Tax from three per cent to five per cent for the 2023 reference year. 

  Economy

  Apr 27, 2022
• Vancouver council votes to explore controversial empty storefront tax

  A majority of Vancouver city council voted Wednesday to ask the province to explore the measure, in an effort to target property speculators. 

  Economy

  Apr 27, 2022
• Vancouver mayor proposes hiking empty homes tax to 5%

  Vancouver's empty homes tax first took effect in 2017 at one per cent of a home's assessed value, was tripled to three per cent in the 2021 tax year.

  Politics

  Apr 13, 2022
• Canada’s luxury real estate market is on fire. Can the foreign homebuyers’ tax cool it?

  It was mostly domestic buyers driving sales of Canada's multi-million dollar homes during the past year, says Sotheby’s International Realty Canada CEO Don Kottick.

  Money

  Jul 12, 2021
• Advertisement
• How Canada’s federal budget affects benefits, taxes, and the minimum wage

  From COVID-19 benefit extensions through a new luxury tax to a bump in OAS benefits and a minimum-wage hike, this is how the budget may impact your bottom line.

  Money

  Apr 19, 2021
• Advertisement
• Federal budget delivers big promises on childcare, tamer housing measures

  The Trudeau government’s 2021 budget provides young families with a bold pledge on childcare but more timid measures to tame the housing crisis.

  Canada

  Apr 19, 2021