A local broker says B.C. home renters could have a way out of renting and a way into the housing marketing with the new BC Home Partnership plan.
The BC Home Partnership plan is for first-time home buyers and provides buyers with five per cent of the down payment from the government.
The province will match a down payment of up to five per cent or a maximum of $37,500.
The first five years of the loan is interest-free.
Myrna Parks say this is a great deal for first-time home buyers, but it could be difficult to find a home in Kelowna for that first-time buyers' price range.
"This is the best way that young people can get established. It's the best way that anybody can have financial security their whole life, if they can just own their own home," said Myrna Park, owner and managing broker of Century 21 Assurance Realty Ltd.
As long as the buyer can come up with the their share of the down payment, then it is going to help them get ahead, says Park.
"For the most part, their mortgage payments are going to be less than their rent payments and they will be money ahead," said Park.
Parks added that with the market going up, and the mortgage going down, residents will spend less of their disposable income every month on housing.
The only problem in Kelowna is that the options for first-time home buyers are slim, said Park.
"No they're getting slim and that's going to be a hard part. Then they have to go a bit further afield or they may have to settle for a condo or a townhouse," she said.
Here are a few condos in downtown Kelowna for about $400,000:
1327 St. Paul Street, Kelowna.
One-bedroom condos here go for $389,000 and that includes access to a pool and gym.
This hip, new two bedroom pad will be ready in 2018.
According to the Province, more than 1,000 British Columbians have applied to the BC Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program and 831 have been approved.
In the Central Okanagan, 53 out of 58 applications have been approved, 19 of 21 approved in the North Okanagan and 15 of 17 in the Okanagan-Similkameen area.
Applications opened on January 16th.
The Province plans to invest more than $700 million over the next three years to help an about 42,000 British Columbians enter the market.
The Ministry of Natural Gas Development and Responsible for Housing announced the BC Home Partnership plan on March 25th.
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