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Nevertheless, “things started to gain momentum as the weather improved,” said Royal LePage’s Port Moody-based broker Randy Ryalls.

He added that there have been some large sales increases in certain areas such as Burnaby, where the number of detached sales went from 47 in February to 100 in March and apartment sales increased from 137 to 220.

“It is definitely true that, outside of the top, things are very hot again,” said University of B.C. real estate finance professor Tom Davidoff, adding that aside from some initial numbers, he is also hearing chatter on the street that is reminiscent of frothier times. “I was walking around in Kits the other day and overheard a conversation: ‘it was $100K over ask, with no contingency and we still didn’t get it.'”

In Vancouver, “the decline in the number of homes changing hands has slowed, as the lagged effects of the 15 per cent tax on foreign purchases seem to be dissipating. Many suggest that the Vancouver housing market has bottomed,” wrote Sherry Cooper, chief economist at national mortgage company Dominion Lending Centres on Tuesday.

Signs of this uptick are emerging as there is still some debate over the long-term effect of B.C.’s foreign buyer tax at a time when the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Green party have unveiled housing plans that call for greater government intervention in the real estate market.

The B.C. NDP proposed to close “loopholes that let speculators dodge taxes and hide their identities, and (charge) a yearly two per cent absentee speculators’ tax to crack down on empty homes.”