Sizzling housing market boosts budget surplus in Canadian province

Canada's western province of British Columbia posted a budget surplus of more than double the original forecast during the last fiscal year, mainly thanks to the thriving real estate market, the province's Finance Minister Mike de Jong said on Thursday.

The final public accounting for fiscal 2015-2016 reveals a budget surplus of 730 million CAD (554 million U.S. dollars) and economic growth of three percent.

De Jong had projected a surplus of 284 million CAD (215 million U.S. dollars) in the annual budget released in February, 2015.

Revenues had increased by 1.5 billion CAD (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) over the year, largely due to the surge in revenues from the property transfer tax, which the government charges on residential and commercial real estate deals, de Jong said at a press conference.

"This is clearly a significant part of the budget and has generated significant revenue, but the economy is performing well almost across the fold," the minister said.

"It' s clear that property transfer tax revenues are up. It is clear from the report I have just given you, I have indicated that the trend is continuing," he said, adding that a further financial update will be made in September.

British Columbia' s real estate market is booming in recent years due to low interest rates and large sum of foreign capital.

The total value of commercial and residential real estate sold in the province in 2015-2016 so far stands at 93.67 billion CAD (71.18 billion U.S. dollars). Endi