WINNIPEGREALTORS is stepping up its campaign to pressure the provincial government into changing its

controversial land transfer tax.

The association has set up a website (www.2muchltt.com) where homebuyers and other Manitobans can learn more about the tax and the changes it has requested from the government. It also provides a link for Manitobans to call or email their MLA to express any concerns they have about the tax.

The land transfer tax is a provincial tax homebuyers must pay before the title to their new home can be transferred to their name and they can take possession. Because it's a graduated tax based on the selling price of a property, the higher selling prices rise, the more tax revenue the province takes in. For example, in 2007 it collected $38.2 million, and by 2009 that figure had jumped to $49.6 million.

The tax rate is 0.5 per cent for the portion of the selling price between $30,000 and $90,000, one per cent between $90,000 and $150,000, 1.5 per cent between $150,000 and $200,000 and two per cent on anything above $200,000. So someone who buys a home for $300,000, for example, pays $3,650 in land transfer taxes.

The WINNIPEGREALTORS wants Manitoba to follow the lead of other provinces and exempt first-time buyers from having to pay the tax. It also wants it to reduce the burden on other buyers by either indexing the tax rates or adjusting the brackets on which they are applied. The only change the province has made in the 22 years since it introduced the tax as a way of offsetting the cost of registering land transfers was to boost the maximum rate to two per cent in 2004 from 1.5 per cent. Yet during that same period, the average selling price of a home in

Winnipeg has soared by 300 per cent to nearly $230,000.

Signs of spring are all around you. Real estate signs that is, as the Winnipeg real estate market got a head start on spring with listings, sales, and dollar volume all warming up to busier market conditions in March. Dollar volume continues its upward trajectory with $200 million easily surpassed for the first time in March. MLS® sales rivaled the best March ever in 2007 with over 1,100 and you have to go back to 2000 to find a better market for new listings.

Quite simply put, March 2010 is a vast improvement over a poor March 2009 and head and shoulders above any other March in terms of dollar volume. Another indicator of a more active market to close off the first quarter is the fact three out of five homes sold at or above list price. REALTORS® also were instrumental in selling 50% of homes in March for above list price. It seems that more urgency has crept into our market in terms of people wanting to take advantage of more favourable financial conditions before rates start heading up.

For residential-detached sales, the most active price ranges were the $200,000 to $249,000 and the $150,000 to $199,999. They represented 21 and 19% respectively of total sales. Not far behind was the $250,000 to $299,999 price range at 16%. The average days on market of sales of residential-detached listings was 26 days, 3 days faster than last month and 4 days less than March 2009.

I am available at anytime to discuss the Real Estate market. Get the FACTS. Whether buying, selling or if you just have questions, call me. I would be pleased to assist you, your friends or your family with your Real Estate needs.