Calgary’s condo surplus tough on investors

Calgary’s condo surplus tough on investors

The downturn is making it much more difficult for Calgary condo owners to find renters for their investment properties. Brehn Eichel bought a two-bedroom luxury condo in a highrise near the Stampede grounds two years ago. He listed it as an executive furnished rental in December for $3,600 per month when he relocated to Ottawa.

CBC News

Metro Vancouver explores affordable housing on school sites

Metro Vancouver is exploring the idea of co-developing school sites across the region with rental housing and daycare centres, saying it would provide denser communities and more affordable options to low-income families. The move, which could see social housing units built on a corner of an existing school lot or combined as part of a school being seismically upgraded.

Vancouver Sun – Victoria Times Colonist

An anti-anti-development rant

I’ll start with a warning that anyone who doesn’t like exclamation marks should stop reading right now. This story makes me angry. It is the inspiration for this anti-anti-development rant and and I know my natural tendency towards overusing the e-point.

Read more

Multi-storey wood buildings taking root in Toronto

Toronto is catching up to the rest of Ontario as two six-storey wood-framed condos are set to rise in the city. Ans David Moses, of Moses Structural Engineers, who is working on both projects, says it’s only a matter time before there will be pressure to extend the height of wood structures to at least double the current limit.

Daily Commercial News

Condo development Form brings sharp design

Across Asia, Europe and the Americas, architects are using concrete or metal fins to enliven the façades of new sports arenas, festival halls and residential structures. Toronto architect Heather Rolleston’s much-finned façades will likely come across rhythmically subtle at Form, the 14-storey condominium stack she has designed for Tridel.

Globe and Mail

Apartment rentals up in Toronto

Toronto Real Estate Board president Mark McLean announced 6,458 condominium apartment rental transactions reported through TREB’s MLS System during the first quarter of 2016. This result represented a year-over-year increase of 6.5 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2015. The average one-bedroom apartment rent was $1,662 in the first quarter – up 4.8 per cent compared to Q1 2015.

Marketwired

GTA condominium sales soar in Q1

Toronto Real Estate Board president Mark McLean announced Greater Toronto Area REALTORS reported 5,974 condominium apartment sales through TREB’s MLS System during the first quarter of 2016 – an increase of 21.2 per centover Q1 2015. Approximately 70 per cent (4,131 sales) of first-quarter 2016 transactions occurred in the City of Toronto.

Marketwired

Chartwell acquires Ottawa retirement residence

A month after adding the Duke of Devonshire to its portfolio, Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN-T) announced Thursday a $68.4-million deal to acquire the Lord Lansdowne from Dymon Healthcare Corporation. “We are pleased to add this excellent residence to our portfolio. The Lord Lansdowne strengthens our presence in the Ottawa market . . .,” Chartwell’s CFO/CIO Vlad Volodarski said.

Ottawa Business Journal – Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

Lanesborough REIT sells Beck Court

Lanesborough Real Estate Investment Trust (LRT.UN-T) has agreed to sell a 120-suite apartment property located in Yellowknife, known as Beck Court, for $23 million, subject to the customary closing adjustments.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

U of A administration, students clash over residences

Students at Edmonton’s University of Alberta are asking for an independent inquiry into how campus residences are run, contending long-running complaints about harsh punishments for students in residence, unfair residence staff and poor maintenance of living spaces need to be thoroughly investigated.

Globe and Mail

Analysts give student housing REITs a stellar grade

The student housing REIT market is making the grade for investors, even as the other silos of the REIT sector falter, thanks to stable demand and steady growth, and two companies in the space – American Campus Communities (ACC-N) and EdR Collegiate Housing (EDR-N) – are expected to have positive outcomes when they report earnings.

The Street – National Real Estate Investor

Value-add investing keys rise in apartment sales

U.S. apartments have been a preferred property buy of late, thanks in no small part to a recent surge in value-add deals. Last year, sales of multi-family properties topped all other property types according to CoStar Group data. A total of $159 billion in U.S. multi-family property sales closed in 2015, eclipsing the $156 billion for sales of office properties.

CoStar Group

Has apartment market hit inflection point?

For the last few years, the U.S. multi-family asset class has been the top performer of all property types, delivering a per-unit revenue (market rent x occupancy) growth rate of 4.8 per cent in 2015. But there is much concern developers have been adding too much inventory, flooding some markets with new supply.

National Real Estate Investor – Multifamily Executive – CoStar Group

U.S. CAPREIT buys 1,000-unit Virginia portfolio

CAPREIT has acquired a five-community, 978-unit portfolio of income-restricted properties in the Richmond, Va., area for $68.5 million US. The Rockville, Md.-based private firm now owns nearly 14,000 units, split almost evenly between market-rate and affordable housing communities. CAPREIT plans to add another $3 million in renovations to the five communities.

Multifamily Executive

U.S. apartment background checks may be illegal

Apartment building managers may be breaking the law if they deny housing to all prospective residents who fail a background check, according to the latest guidance from federal officials. “A policy or practice that denies housing to anyone with a prior arrest or any kind of criminal conviction cannot be justified,” according to guidance issued by HUD‘s Helen Kanovsky.

National Real Estate Investor

RENX Columnists

Title insurance — a matter of opinion

“What more am I getting?” This is one of the first questions people ask when their lawyer suggests purchasing title insurance on a transaction. Traditionally, when a real estate deal closed, the purchaser and lender relied on a lawyer’s opinion letter.

Read more

Market Conditions

Nunavut votes whether to let residents own land

Nunavut is considering changing one of the most basic facts of economic life for its households and businesses by allowing them to buy the land their homes and buildings sit on. On May 9, the territory will hold a binding plebiscite on whether municipalities should be able to release land for fee-simple ownership of the kind almost all Canadians in non-aboriginal communities take for granted.

CTV News

Canadians cashing out of U.S. market

Canadians who collected Sunbelt bargains during the housing crash have shifted from buying to selling. They’re locking in gains from years of soaring values and the soaring American dollar. Meanwhile, the contentious U.S. election, marked by the nativist rhetoric of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, is holding back some

Bloomberg

Prices not pushing millennials out of Vancouver: BCREA

Millennials are not abandoning Vancouver in droves due to the high cost of housing, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA). The population of millennials in the City of Vancouver grew by 15,800 individuals, or 9.5%, between 2005 and 2015.

Business In Vancouver – Financial Post – Vancouver Province

House price surge largest in eight years

Canada’s home prices jumped by 0.8 per cent in March — the largest rise for that month in eight years. According to new data from the House Price Index, Vancouver was the main driver for the hike. “For those living in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Hamilton, the housing boom continues,” said National Bank’s Marc Pinsonneault. 

Globe and Mail

New Sotheby’s CEO sees no slowdown

The Canadian economy may be a tad lacklustre at the moment, but a recent report from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada suggests the luxury real estate market is on fire, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto. Many people believe the astronomical price gains seen in top-tier housing markets are a house of cards, poised for a spectacular tumble.

REMonline.com

GTA new detached homes reach milestone

Housing in Canada’s largest city continues to be a seven-figure proposition for even an average home, sending more and more people into satellite cities in search of better deals. The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) said Thursday the average new detached home in the Greater Toronto Area reached $1.049 million at the end of March, up 15 per cent from a year earlier. 

Financial Post – Newinhomes.com – Canada Newswire

Vancouver, TO revitalizing surrounding areas: RE/MAX

“The ripple effect on the housing markets outside of Toronto and Vancouver is quite significant when you look at the Canadian housing market overall,” said RE/MAX of Western Canada’s Elton Ash. “As a result, when you remove Toronto and Vancouver< from the equation, the national average house price still rose approximately 10 per cent in the last year.”

Canada Newswire

Latest reports:

* Markham, Globe and Mail

* Toronto, Toronto Star

* Winnipeg, Manitoba Home Builders’ Association, Winnipeg Free Press

* Vancouver, Globe and Mail

* Fraser Valley, Re/max spring market report, BCBusiness

RENX Market Summaries

Mortgage and Finance

How to negotiate your mortgage

You’ve slowly filled up your piggy bank and perhaps even held your hat out to mom and dad. You’ve saved up enough for a down payment and are ready to buy a house. Almost. You just have to borrow the other 80 per cent (or so). You need a mortgage. But how to ensure you get the best deal?

Financial Post

New Developments

Luxury waterfront project set for South Stormont

Long Sault’s beautiful waterfront will soon be revitalized with a big development — Bentley’s Boardwalk, a pair of seven-storey buildings containing a total of 72 condominium suites. The project is by Cornwall developer JC Godard, at the site of the former Long Sault Marina. It’s a huge project for Godard — double the size of Knox City Centre in downtown Cornwall.

Cornwall Standard-Freeholder

Taxes and Utilities

Loophole lets wealthy buyers save millions

B.C.’s roaring real estate market is helping the province balance the budget – but some wealthy buyers are using a loophole to avoid paying up to millions of dollars on the property transfer tax. But there’s a catch: some property owners are using bare trusts to avoid paying the tax.

CTV News

Natural Disasters

Edmonton won’t release neighbourhood flood predictions

Edmonton now has more than 100 neighbourhood maps that predict, within inches, where water will pool and which basements will likely flood when the city is hit by the storm of the century. But good luck getting a copy. The maps are part of an estimated $2.4-billion project to protect all of Edmonton’s vulnerable neighbourhoods against a one-in-100-year flood.

Edmonton Journal

Construction

Amazon bets on connected home

Every few years, the biggest names in the consumer electronics industry try to predict what the Next Big Thing will be. The latest such prediction is the Connected Home, essentially a regular home in which everything that runs on electricity has become sentient. In the Connected Home, the thermostat knows to lower the heat when you leave the house.

Globe and Mail

Affordable Housing

Softening prices put ownership within reach of more Albertans

Aamina Adham and her family moved to Calgary from Pakistan about a year ago. Adham’s family couldn’t afford a home then, but now, with a down payment ready, they’re among those trying to take advantage of softening home prices in Alberta.

Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Regina’s first co-housing community in works

Dave Lareau can see the home of his dreams taking shape. And by design, it wasn’t something he envisioned alone. Lareau is part of a group of people working on Prairie Spruce Commons, Regina’s first co-housing community.

CBC.ca

Toronto orders family to remove boat-treehouse

John Alpeza built a boat to get away from all the distractions that come with living in Toronto. But the city has ordered him to dismantle the boat, saying it violates zoning bylaws.  At the heart of the dispute is where he decided to build it: in a tree in his backyard.

CBC.ca

London has super-prime housing crisis

I recently took part in a gloomy debate about London’s housing crisis with the celebrated modernist architect Kate Macintosh. All the previous speakers had referred despairingly to the demolition of dozens of the city’s housing estates – a process described by the group Architects for Social Housing (ASH) as “the London clearances.”

The Guardian

Buying and Selling

Vancouver firm’s owner steps aside in wake of investigations

A Vancouver-area real estate brokerage firm says its owner has stepped aside from daily operations as the company faces at least two investigations following reports in The Globe and Mail about its business practices. New Coast Realty is already under a series of restrictions from regulators, including that an approved managing broker take over operations.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Buy a condo, get a private jet

Once upon a time, rooftop pools, climbing walls, pet-washing stations, and golf simulation rooms were amenities that would genuinely help sell a high-end condo. But as the luxury market expanded after the financial crisis, developers bent over backwards to up the ante, hawking screening rooms, wine cellars, bocce courts, and concierges until so many buildings had them that they seemed like one big blur of luxury add-ons.

Bloomberg

How Zillow became real estate data hub

If you’re buying a home or looking for an apartment in the U.S., most likely Zillow.com will come to mind first. Today the Zillow Group is a public company with $645 million in revenue that also operates websites for mortgage and real estate professionals – and completed the acquisition of its nearest competitor, Trulia, last year.

InfoWorld

Yongle Technologies takes real estate market online

Vancouver-based Yongle Technologies aims to make purchasing real estate as simple as buying a car. Prospective pre-sale buyers log in online, choose a custom-built suite, and can even make an offer – all with the click of a mouse. The website is the brainchild of lawyer Richard Bell, whose idea for Yongle Technologies was sparked by a simple question.

CTV News

May 3 best day to list GTA home

According to data analysis by online real estate brokerage TheRedPin.com, homeowners selling their homes can expect to net an average of $17,000 more if they play their cards right and list on May 3 this year. Sellers can also expect to sell 18 per cent faster if they list any time during the month of May.

Marketwired

Thousands of Canadians buying in Ecuador

Canadian developer and real estate company HolaEcuador has been helping to make home-in-the-sun dreams come true for thousands of Canadians since 2010. HolaEcuador is working on a brand new seaside village on Ecuador’s Pacific coast consisting of 1,700 properties on which purchasers can build homes.

National Post

Big Fat Deal: Point Grey posh pied-à-terre

Address: 3293 Point Grey Road, Vancouver
Price: $10,980,000
MLS: R2047030
The skinny: Three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2544-square-feet waterfront house on a 4,410-square-foot lot.
The bling: If you can live with the fact that at $11 million your piece of Point Grey Road really is at the entry level, both in price and size, you can probably live with the fact your neighbours are more likely to invite you to be their home help, than to attend their chi-chi cocktail parties.

BCBusiness

Canada’s 10 most expensive homes

The 10 priciest properties in our country listed on MLS are all in B.C., with the exception of a lone estate in Toronto. Not surprisingly, the high-priced homes are concentrated in the Lower Mainland area, with three in Vancouver, three in West Vancouver, two in Surrey and one in Victoria. Combined, B.C.’s palaces are listed at a whopping $301,175,000.

Calgary Herald – Vancouver Sun

Other

SAM Awards night rewards excellence in home building

Broadview Homes and Avi Urban are the new reigning top single-family and multi-family builders in the Calgary area. Broadview, part of Qualico Group of Companies, was crowned Builder of the Year, and Avi Urban won the Multi-Family Builder of the Year title at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association-Urban Development Institute Calgary Region Association SAM (Sales and Marketing) Awards.

Calgary Herald

B.C. realtor sent imposter to take exam

The Real Estate Council of B.C. has suspended the licence of a Langley realtor who admitted an imposter wrote his real estate licensing exam. Ryan Rana admitted he didn’t take the test himself after he was confronted with a discrepancy between a passport photo shown at the exam and the photograph on his website.

CBC News