Building & Industry News
Greater Victoria Housing Starts Decline 3%
Greater Victoria’s year-to-date housing starts are down 3% according to CMHC. From January to September, housing starts were 3,066 vs 3,153 during the same period last year. The decline in British Columbia is 8% at 29,585 new homes this year vs 32,054 last year. This...
Govt Says Renovate to Demolish or Pay $1.3 Million
A developer has gone to court over a $1.3 million vacancy tax charged because they did not renovate two toxic, rat-infested homes scheduled for demolition in Vancouver. This underlines the absurdity, unfairness and rising costs of building homes in British Columbia....
BC’s Alarming Erosion of Housing Affordability and Property Rights
The Canadian Real Estate Association reports BC has the highest average home price at $939,972 which is $290,876 more than the average price in Canada. The BC government charges a Property Transfer Tax (PTT) of $16,795 to do a simple land title transfer on the...
2024 CARE Awards Celebrate Projects and People
VRBA announced the Gold winners for our 33rd annual Construction Achievements and Renovations of Excellence (CARE) Awards of Vancouver Island. Fifty-seven awards were presented at the Fairmont Empress Hotel attended by 280 builders, designers, trades and suppliers -...
2024 CARE AWARDS SHOWCASE GOLD-WINNING PROJECTS
VICTORIA – The Victoria Residential Builders Association announced the Gold winners at the 2024 Construction Achievements and Renovations of Excellence (CARE) Awards of Vancouver Island held Friday, September 27th at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. (The news release is...
CMHC: Housing Starts Down 8% in Greater Victoria
Greater Victoria’s year-to-date housing starts are down 8% according to CMHC. From January to August, housing starts were 2,706 vs 2,937 during the same period last year. The decline in British Columbia is 9% at 23,141 new homes this year vs 25,448 last year. This is...
Anti-Growth Should Also Pay for Growth
The Victoria Residential Builders Association and industry partners recently met with the CRD to discuss proposed Development Cost Charges (DCCs) up to $9,045 per new home, to pay for a a large water supply project. The province enables municipalities to charge DCCs...
Vote for Your Favourite CARE Awards Finalist
The Victoria Residential Builders Association announced the Finalists for the 2024 CARE Awards and you can vote for the popular Peoples’ Choice Award. From September 2 to September 15, view these outstanding homes at Hillside Centre and careawards.ca and vote for your...
How Politics Created the Housing Crisis
On the Brian Crombie Hour podcast (Mississauga Ontario), Casey Edge, Executive Director of VRBA discusses the current housing crisis in Canada, highlighting how city development fees, housing taxes, zoning issues, red tape & regulations obstruct supply and...
Housing Starts Down 1% in Greater Victoria
Greater Victoria’s year-to-date housing starts are down 1% according to CMHC. From January to July, housing starts were 2,259 vs 2,273 during the same period last year. The numbers were up 20% from January to May, but declined to a 5% increase from January to June....