Abbotsford Real Estate

Govt. of Canada changed some mortgage rules today to make it a little harder to get a new mortgage or refinance an existing mortgage. There are 3 changes in rules aimed at home buyers, investors and borrowers who may be planning to refinance. Home buyers will need to meet qualifying criteria for a five-year fixed rate mortgage even if they opt ...

Canadian Govt is considering plans to make it harder for Canadian to buy a home. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says that conservatives in Ottawa may tighten mortgage eligibility rules to avert a possible housing bubble. The government and Bank of Canada are worried that when interest rates rise upto 10% homeowners may not be able to keep up with ...

Owners of leaky condominiums in British Columbia built poorly during the building boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s would no longer be eligible for government funded interest free loans to repair their buildings. The B.C. government has put an end to a leaky condo loan program, saying a levy on new residential projects that funded it has ...

The BC government announced on July 23, 2009 that effective July 1, 2010, BC will adopt the HST, combining BC's seven per cent PST with the five per cent federal GST for a single "harmonized sales tax" of 12 per cent. Starting next July, we'll be paying a combined 12 per cent on most purchases. The biggest problem with the ...

Abbotsford neighbourhoods scored #8 on the list of hottest neighborhoods in lower mainland in a recent study. This study conducted for real estate firm Century 21 Canada was focused on finding the 21 hottest neighborhoods in Canada for realizing real estate price increases in the past year. Abbotsford neighborhoods that showed real estate price ...

The Bank of Canada kept its key lending rate at a historic low. The decision to leave borrowing rates unchanged came as no surprise because the central bank said in April it would leave the overnight rate at 0.25 per cent until the middle of next year, unless there is a sudden surge in inflation. The central bank reaffirmed its pledge to hold ...

The Bank of Canada cut its key lending rate to another record low today. The target rate for overnight loans between commercial banks is reduced to 0.25 percent, the lowest since Canada's central bank was founded in 1934 and the lowest it can go. Bank of CANADA also signalled that it would keep the interest rate at this level until the end of ...

The federal budget released for 2009 contains a few items of interest to homeowners and people who are thinking about buying a home. Here are some highlights: RRSP Home Buyers' Plan: Starting from January 28, 2009, first-time home buyers can withdraw $25,000 from a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to purchase or build a home, ...

The Bank of Canada has cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point to one per cent - lower than in 1958, when the most-watched policy rate was 1.12 per cent. This cut brings key interest rate to the lowest level in Canadian history. Shortly after the central bank cut its rate, the big commercial banks reduced their prime lending rates ...

"Experts" were wrong. Prime rate is down at 4%. TD Canada Trust was the first of big Canadian banks to move on interest rates this afternoon when it announced that it has lowered its prime lending rate by 35 basis points to 4%, effective Oct. 22, 2008. Two weeks ago, TD lagged other Canadian banks when they all made two reductions in ...