The B.C. government is expecting to collect a whopping $3 billion in property transfer taxes by the end of this fiscal year, as the provincial housing market remains red hot.

That’s on top of another $3 billion it expects to collect in property taxes.

Prior to this fiscal year starting, the B.C. government’s economic forecast actually expected property transfer tax revenues to drop this year, from $2 billion to $1.97 billion. Instead of dropping by 1.5 per cent, the new forecast says those revenues will actually rise 33 per cent by year’s end.

Finance Minister Selina Robinson says the housing market has been through the roof this year which has become a challenge for homebuyers.

“We continue to need to make sure we have the right kind of supply. And that’s work being undertaken, both with the Housing Minister but also the Minister of Municipal Affairs, to make sure local governments continue to do the things they need to do to deliver the right kind of supply,” she says.

“The pandemic really pushed housing sales in a way no one had anticipated, for sure, and that that’s created additional challenges, especially for consumers… This is still a concern for our government, housing affordability is top of mind for most British Columbians. And we’re going to work to address that particular challenge.”

Housing prices have risen substantially in essentially all of B.C. during the pandemic.

In Kamloops, the average price of a single-family home has risen by 37 per cent in the past 21 months, according to monthly data provided by the Kamloops and District Real Estate Association.

Robinson says there are now expected to be 46,000 new housing starts in B.C. this fiscal year which is about one-third more than expected. Still, realtors say demand is widely outstripping supply in Kamloops and area real estate.