At a glance (2 minute read)

  • There’s not much for home buyers and owners in this year’s BC Budget.
  • Funding for climate change, infrastructure, and rental supplements are key parts of the budget.

Property Transfer Tax (PTT)

There’s no change to the PTT which is expected to bring in $3.25 billion in revenue this year which is $1.275 billion more than originally forecast.

Affordable housing

Budget 2022 continues with the implementation of Homes for BC 10-year housing plan to deliver 114,000 affordable homes in BC. This includes:

  • $100 million in 2022/23 to non-profit housing providers to accelerate the construction of mixed-income housing through the Community Housing Fund; and
  • Additional funding for the HousingHub at BC Housing to keep up with the growing demand for the $2 billion in low-cost financing announced in Budget 2021.

Renters

A new $600 a month rent supplement for more than 3,000 residents over the next three years.

Homelessness

$633 million to expand services and shift the approach to homelessness in the province from reactive to proactive through prevention through new complex care housing, rent supplements with integrated supports, and extending support for youth aging out of care until age 27.

Climate change

More than $1 billion in new funding for CleanBC and a roadmap to 2030 which includes funds through the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund, Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy, and support for local communities facing climate-related disasters to build back vital infrastructure, emergency management, and disaster recovery costs.

Infrastructure

Funding for building/rebuilding more resilient infrastructure including the Broadway Subway, Fraser River tunnel, Pattullo Bridge, and the planning stage of the Surrey-Langley Skytrain.

Speculation and Vacancy Tax

The exemption for strata accommodation properties is now permanent and applies to a residential property that’s defined in the Assessment Act as a strata accommodation property. The exemption was set to expire at the end of the 2021 tax year but is now permanent. 

Clean Buildings Tax Credit introduced

Effective February 23, 2022, there’s a new temporary tax credit for retrofits that improve the energy efficiency of multi-unit residential buildings with four or more dwellings and some commercial buildings. It expires April 1, 2025.

PST Exemption

A new exemption on heat pumps, paired with an increase to the PST on fossil fuel heating equipment to 12 per cent, is effective April 1, 2022. 

The PST has been removed on Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV), exempting more ZEVs from the luxury tax. 

Read the BC Government news release on BC Budget 2022

Read Budget BC 2022 Highlights

Visit the BC Budget 2022 website

Read BC Budget 2022 (Opens 194-page pdf)