Realtors want threshold for two-per-cent levy raised to $300,000
Bruce Constantineau
Sun
B.C. realtors are urging the provincial government to reduce or eliminate the Property Transfer Tax to make housing more affordable throughout the province.
“If they won’t eliminate it altogether, which would be ideal, they could at least raise the threshold, which would help,” British Columbia Real Estate Association president Dave Barclay said in an interview.
The PTT amounts to one per cent of the first $200,000 of a property’s value and two per cent beyond that amount. Barclay thinks the two-per-cent levy should not kick in until the $300,000 mark.
He said overflowing PTT revenues have helped the provincial government balance four successive budgets, noting that $432 million of PTT revenue was forecast for the 2004-2005 fiscal year but the government actually took in $604 million due to surging real estate sales. Barclay said future surpluses should be used to help people find appropriate purchase or rental housing solutions.
“We’d like to sit down and brainstorm with the government as to how that money could best be put to use,” he said.
The average price of a residential property sold in British Columbia last month was about $383,600 — a 20-per-cent increase in the past year.
Barclay said realtors also want the province to push the federal government for more tax incentives for builders, which would result in the construction of more housing units.
He also said federal changes allowing capital gains rollovers for small-scale investors could result in rental apartment sellers re-investing their profits into new rental housing units.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006