VANCOUVER INCREASING VACANT HOUSE TAX FROM 3% TO 5%. WILL TORONTO FOLLOW? IT USUALLY DOES !!

The Vancouver government has announced that it is raising its empty homes tax in a bid to return vacant properties to the market and boost the region’s housing supply.

The measure to hike the tax from 3% to 5% of a property’s assessed value, along with doubling the volume of annual compliance audits to 20,000, was unanimously backed by the city council. The move would be a “big blow to housing speculators,” said Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Depending on how the market’s housing affordability situation shapes up, further hikes to the tax are possible, Stewart added.