With an agreement reached between the BC Greens and NDP, a lot of people across BC might be curious as to what it could mean for housing in the province.
My Prince George NOW spoke to BC Real Estate Association Chief Economist Cameron Muir on the subject.
HOW COULD AN NDP/GREEN GOVERNMENT AFFECT BC’S HOUSING SUPPLY?
“One part of their agreement suggests that they’re going to put an emphasis on affordable housing to increase the supply. I think that’s a good thing I think the supply is the most critical issue right now and housing markets in most of the province. They also talk about speculation and fraud.”
IS FRAUD AND SPECULATION AN ISSUE WITHIN BC’S HOUSING SECTOR?
“While fraud is a serious issue I don’t think that’s driving any housing market in the province and on the speculation side we have to look at what does it mean by speculation? Any kind of policy I would look to see what kind of unintended consequences there would be for regular British Columbians who are buying a home for example and then life changes and then they have to sell it would there be a tag with any kind of speculation tax or policy. Those would be the kind of things I would look at.”
DID HOUSING SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL UNDER THE LIBERALS?
“Both the Liberals and new government don’t have a lot to do with the underlying fundamentals. We have to understand that the BC economy has had three consecutive years of 3% GDP growth, we’re expecting more of that this year, which has led to very strong job and population growth from migration of other provinces and of course we have the Millennials who are entering their home-buying years which are about as large a group as the boomers were.”
Liberal plans to address housing affordability and first time home buyers are now up in the air following May’s BC Election.
Something going on in the Bulkley Valley Lakes District you think people should know about?
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