Capital Gains Inclusion Rate Increase The 2024 Federal Budget tabled earlier this week includes a lot of new government spending. To fund these new initiatives, the Liberals are proposing raising taxes in several ways and one in particular will affect many people who owns rental or investment properties. As of June 25th, 2024, anyone who sells a rental or investment… Read More »
2024 Federal Budget: Two Changes that affect First Time Home Buyers
1. The 30 year amortization is back The 2024 Federal Budget announced last week is bringing back 30 year amortizations for first time buyers using high ratio mortgages to buy a newly built home or condo, effective August 1, 2024 Given the specificity of the program – only first time buyers, only high ratio mortgages and only for newly built… Read More »
Rate Update and Analysis – April 2024
On Wednesday April 10th at their regular policy meeting, the Bank of Canada (BoC) once more decided to keep their Policy Rate at 5 per cent. This means that lenders will hold their consumer Prime Rate steady at 7.20 per cent and there will be no changes to the payment amounts for variable rate mortgages or Lines of Credit. This… Read More »
Rate Update and Analysis – March 2024
On Wednesday March 6th at their regular policy meeting, the Bank of Canada (BoC) once more decided to keep their Policy Rate at 5 per cent. This means that lenders will hold their consumer Prime Rate steady at 7.20 per cent and there will be no changes to the payment amounts for variable rate mortgages or Lines of Credit. This… Read More »
Monopoly March Contest on Facebook
We’re turning March into a month of fun and games! Every weekday, we’re giving away a different Monopoly game, bringing you 20 chances to win! How to play: Head to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mackenziegartsideandassociates/ Winners will be announced on the next day’s post! Get ready for a month full of excitement and the chance to bring the classic Monopoly experience to… Read More »
BC Government 2024 Budget – Mortgage and Property Highlights
The BC government released their 2024 Budget which introduced a number of housing-related initiatives, including changes to property transfer tax exemptions and a new provincial property flipping tax. Transfer Tax Exemptions The threshold for property transfer tax exemption for first-time home buyers has been increased for residential properties from $500,000 to $835,000 as of April 1, 2024. The new rules… Read More »
Rate Update and Analysis – January 2024
On Wednesday January 24th at their regular policy meeting, the Bank of Canada (BoC) again decided to keep their Policy Rate at 5 per cent. This means that lenders will hold their consumer Prime Rate steady at 7.20 per cent and there will be no changes to the payment amounts for variable rate mortgages or Lines of Credit. This is… Read More »
Economic Forecast: Arguing the Case for a Rate Cut Coming this Summer
The Bank of Canada (BoC) will not offer any predictions about future rate cuts, for fear that investors and consumers will take any such talk as a green light to ramp up spending and work against the goal of reducing inflation. But that being said, here is our argument for why you might reasonably expect the BoC will start easing… Read More »
Tiny Desk Christmas Tree Decorating Competition!
This year our team got into the holiday spirit with a Tiny Desk Christmas Tree Decorating Competition! We ran a short contest through our Facebook and Instagram pages where everyone was able to LIKE each tree to vote for a winner. The team member with the most votes won $500, with half going to the local charity of their choice.… Read More »
Grinchmas Contest
This year the theme of our Christmas contest was Grinchmas, and the prize was a fully decorated Grinch Christmas Tree, along with a great collection of other theme decorations and gift cards. We run our giveaway contests through our Facebook and Instagram pages, and we had hundreds of people participate for a chance to win. In the end, the lucky… Read More »
