Recently it was reported that our new Premier, Christy Clark, is interested in eliminating the Property Transfer Tax. It seems as though not everyone is in agreement as refuted by Minister Rich Coleman.

What is Property Transfer Tax? Implemented in BC back in 1988, PTT is a fee charged when you make changes to the certificate of title on a given property. This includes simply adding or deleting a name to title along with actually changing title when you sell or purchase a piece of property. In BC, the fee is 1% up to the first $200,000 plus 2% on the balance beyond $200,000. With benchmark housing prices in Vancouver at $622,991 as reported by the GVREB for April, one would pay $2,000 + $4,229.91 = $6,229.91. First time homebuyers do get a bit of a break as they are exempt from PTT up to $425,000.

The proposal of eliminating the PTT has been circulating for decades. Anytime you make purchasing a home more affordable whether it be through interest rates or tax changes it helps to allow new people into the market or allow for existing owners to move-up with less difficulty. The implementation of the PTT was an easy target for the government to increase tax revenue but the administration cost to change title is hardly comparable to the PTT fees we see today. With the cost of housing consistently a topic of discussion in the city it is surprising that the idea of eliminating the PTT has not come up more often. Unfortunately, with balanced budgets a pipedream at the moment it seems unlikely to expect the PTT to disappear anytime soon. I guess we’ll have to settle for a reduced HST percentage in the meantime.

You can learn more about PTT here.

Suzana Goncalves