BC Home Partnership Program – How It Works

The BC Home Partnership program was designed to help first-time homebuyers by providing a repayable loan that will form part of the down payment. Applications for this program will be considered starting January 16, 2017 and can fund no earlier than February 15, 2017. Mortgages must fund before March 2020, at which point the program will be terminated.

Are You Eligible?

• You must be a Canadian Citizen or a permanent resident for at least five years and have lived in BC for at least one year
• You are considered a first-time home buyer
• You intend to purchase a home for a maximum price of $750,000
• You have at least 50% of the down payment required
• Your total household income doesn’t exceed $150,000
• The home purchase will be your principal residence (not a rental)

How Do You Apply?

1. Get pre-approved from an approved lender
2. Apply with your pre-approved letter for the BC Home Partnership program (5 day turnaround)
3. Find a home and make an offer, subject to financing
4. Provide the BC Home loan commitment to your broker/lender (1 day turnaround)
5. Get a final approval for an insured mortgage from your broker/lender
6. Move into your home and fund your mortgage (Requires minimum 14 calendar days)

Other Things You Need To Know About The BC Home Partnership

• Max loan contribution from the BC government is $37,500
• Your deal has to be CMHC insured
• The first 5 years is both interest and payment free
• For years 6-10, the interest rate will be set at the time of purchase and will be equal to the Prime Rate + 0.5% amortized over 20 years (today that equals 3.2%) – the interest rate will be reset at the Prime Rate plus 0.5% at each of the 10th, 15th and 20th anniversary dates
• If you move out of the property during the first 5 years, the loan becomes immediately repayable
• The loan will be registered as a 2nd mortgage
• Everyone on title must be eligible for the BC Home Partnership program

This post was provided by Spin Mortgage: For more information on the approval process and to see if you are eligible you can go to their website to get pre-approved for your mortgage. 

You can also visit BC Housing to see if you are eligible for the loan, and apply online if you are already pre-approved for a mortgage!

In 2016 we saw 10,622 properties sell in the Victoria Real Estate Board region, which exceeded our previous high of 9,241 sales in 1991! The MLS® Home Price Index for a single family home in the Victoria Core also increased by 23.6% from $613,600 in December of 2015, to $758,500 in December of 2016. With inventory still low, there is high demand for properties and many homes still selling over the asking price as we enter 2017. For the full article from the Victoria Real Estate Board see below: 

"We expect sales to continue to be strong but we don't expect to see the phenomenal activity we saw in 2016 for 2017. Inventory continues to be low," adds President Nugent. "You can't sell something that isn't there. There is certainly an ongoing demand for properties. This is reflected in the fact that 25 per cent of sales this month sold over their asking price. The majority of these properties were in the up to $750,000 price point, so your average buyer will face a competitive market."