Urban buildings repurposed for student housing

Urban buildings repurposed for student housing

From the brand-new aquatics centre in Scarborough to the world-class cycling velodrome in Milton, the legacy of the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games can be seen right across the Greater Toronto Area. Chief among the beneficiaries, though, is Toronto’s George Brown College, which gained its first student residence in the process.

Globe and Mail – National Real Estate Investor

Urban Fare brings shopping to residents

There’s a difference between what’s considered walking distance to a grocery store and what residents will have at The Royal. Rather than something several blocks away, everything necessary for dinner will be right downstairs. The skyscraper by Embassy Bosa just off 17th Avenue in Calgary will connect to an Urban Fare super market.

Calgary Herald

Realtors, developers blast B.C. foreign buyers tax handling

B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s surprise announcement to exempt work permit-holders from the six-month-old controversial foreign buyers tax is being welcomed by Vancouver realtors and developers, but they say the government has botched its communications and handling of the policy since it began.

Property Biz Canada – Vancouver Province – Financial Post

All-rental apartment building coming to Vancouver?

The City of Vancouver’s first laneway apartment building may soon be built in the city’s West End. Council has approved four small rental apartment buildings with a total of 37 suites as part of a program to encourage densification, called Laneways 2.0. One project that is awaiting a development permit is on the lane behind 1176 Burnaby.

Vancouver Province

Pre-sold condos hold out hope for speculators

As overall price increases flatline in Vancouver’s more regulated housing market, assignment sales of uncompleted highrise condos – which are exempt from B.C. assignment and foreign-buyer tax regulations – might offer the best hope for speculators in 2017. 

Business In Vancouver

Unveiling Kuma’s first N.A. residential skyscraper

The Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver has been transformed into a microcosm of the Land of the Rising Sun with an opportunity for the public to get to know the work of renowned Japanese master architect Kengo Kuma, whose first residential skyscraper in North America, is to be built near the entrance of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver’s chief housing officer fired

Mukhtar Latif has been fired from his role as the City of Vancouver’s chief housing officer and head of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency, City Manager Sadhu Johnston said Tuesday. Latif had led the city’s housing teams since 2013, steering policy and projects during a housing crisis that has squeezed renters and homeowners alike.

Vancouver Sun – CBC

Mattamy Homes hires sustainability expert

Mattamy Homes, North America’s largest, privately owned home builder, is getting serious about sustainability. The Burlington, Ontario-based developer has installed a leader in green building as its new Vice-President of Sustainable Development. Subhi Alsayed is charged with making North America’s largest, privately-owned home builder top in its field in sustainable practices.

Sustainable Biz Canada

GO expansion could boost GTA property values

The plan to expand the GO train system to 15-minute, all-day two way service could increase some Toronto area property values up to 12 per cent. It could also make housing up to 18 per cent more affordable in some areas of the region, according to a study of 773 communities commissioned by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

Toronto Star

Toronto buyers flock to condos

Priced out of detached houses and other low-rise products, Toronto buyers poured into condominiums units last year to create a 10-year low in inventory, according to a report out Wednesday. Urbanation Inc., said unsold inventory in the market at the end of 2016 was 9,932 units, a 47 per cent decline from 2015.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Globe and Mail

New approach needed for infill homes: Edmonton mayor

Edmonton should look at infill development in some older neighbourhoods in a new way that will make it more affordable, says Mayor Don Iveson. The mayor is proposing what he calls the “missing middle overlay.” This would apply to pre-war areas in the city, where there are already taller houses on narrow and deep lots.

CBC – Edmonton Journal – CBC

Marriott turning rooms into communal apartments

Just as Airbnb has started to take on hotels at their own game, the tables seem to be turning. Recently, Marriott International (MAR-Q) unveiled a concept for a hotel room that could take on short-term rental firms. The most noteworthy was a new kind of suite with four bedrooms, a living room, dining-room furniture and a full kitchen.

The Economist

Connection best amenity for apartment properties

Apartment living is focusing more and more on the world outside the apartment, and developers are providing amenities that help residents connect with their neighbours, their neighborhoods and with services and amenities they need. The lobbies say it all. Some designers now style their apartment lobbies like the entrance to a resort hotel.

National Real Estate Investor

Everyone suddenly worried about U.S. mortgage-bond whale

Almost a decade after it all began, the Federal Reserve is finally talking about unwinding its grand experiment in monetary policy. And when it happens, the knock-on effects in the bond market could pose a threat to the U.S. housing recovery. Just how big is hard to quantify.

Bloomberg

Who will pay for San Fran’s tilting highrise?

Nina Agabian, a retired director of research in global health science at the University of California, bought a 29th-floor apartment in San Francisco’s Millennium Tower in 2010. “It was supposed to be a wonderful building,” she said. “For many of us, who left our business lives to start our older years, this had become a nice, comfortable place.”

Bloomberg – Business Insider

RENX Columnists

What is causing Canadian home prices to rise? – Bob Finnigan, President, CHBA

There’s been a lot of recent media attention lately about foreign home buyers fueling the rise in prices. The B.C. government, believing this to be a very strong factor in increasing prices, introduced legislation that adds a 15 per cent foreign buyers property transfer tax.

Read more

Market Conditions

Toronto market booms, Vancouver falls

Real estate sales figures in January are reinforcing suggestions Canada’s two most widely watched housing markets will take divergent paths this year, with Toronto set to continue its boom while Vancouver faces a possible correction. Sales in the Greater Toronto Area picked up last month where 2016 left off, with 5,188 transactions compared to 4,460 in January 2016, an increase of 11.8 per cent, the Toronto Real Estate Board said Friday.

Vancouver Sun – Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Calgary Herald

Beijing’s currency curbs could affect Vancouver

Beijing’s tight new currency rules designed to make it more difficult for overseas property purchases have Metro Vancouver real estate wondering if the effect will be a further slowdown of the local housing market. The new edict demands a written pledge yuan converted into U.S. dollars will not be used to buy property overseas.

Vancouver Province

Victoria’s for-sale inventory at record low

The lack of homes listed for sale is driving up competition — and prices — on Greater Victoria’s real estate scene. According to the Victoria Real Estate Board, there were 478 properties sold last month.  The number of active listings hit the lowest point on record in January, with 1,516 properties for sale, a 38 per cent drop from January 2016.

Victoria Times Colonist

CREB tempers January home sales spike

A sharp jump in local home sales last month does not signal a sudden market turnaround, the Calgary Real Estate Board cautioned Wednesday as it released January data. It said 947 total units sold last month, a 24 per cent improvement from a year earlier but still 21 per cent below long-term January averages.

Calgary Herald – CBC – Calgary Herald

‘Trump risk’ hangs over Canadian market

What is the “Trump risk” to Canada’s economy and the lofty real estate markets in many big Canadian cities? Royce Mendes, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM-T), is one of many Bay Street players grappling with the question.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

Victoria seniors care facility set to open in 2019

Once complete in spring 2019, Victoria’s new Summit seniors facility will house 320 residents, offering complex residential and dementia care and replace the Oak Bay Lodge and Mount Tolmie Hospital. Its novel design connects two X shapes to create an enclosed courtyard in the centre. The Capital Regional Hospital District is using its own project manager as a general contractor.

Victoria Times Colonist

Four floors being added to Saskatoon condo project

A Saskatoon condominium project is growing taller before it’s even constructed. On Friday, the Meewasin Valley Authority approved an application to increase the number of floors for the River Landing condo building that will be developed at Parcel Y, just east of the Remai Modern Art Gallery.

CBC – Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Taxes and Utilities

Victoria wants ability to impose taxes on vacant, derelict properties

Victoria council wants the province to give all B.C. municipalities authority to impose extra taxes on vacant and derelict properties to help increase housing affordability. Councillors agreed Thursday with Ben Isitt’s and Jeremy Loveday’s motion that Victoria send the idea to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities and the Union of B.C. Municipalities for support. 

Victoria Times Colonist

Natural Disasters

High River estate homes going cheap

Assessed at nearly $1 million prior to the 2013 flood, a High River estate home could be yours for as little as a few thousand dollars. The two-storey, red brick home at 1577 Gascony Lane is one of 26 houses being auctioned off by the province with no reserve bid in place, as it tries to unload several properties salvaged from the devastating deluge.

Calgary Herald

Disaster relief program established to help ice storm victims

The New Brunswick government is setting up a disaster relief program to help people recover financially from losses caused by the ice storm last week. It is also giving $100,000 to food banks in regions hardest hit by the storm.

CBC

Affordable Housing

Better transit could improve GTA housing affordability

To help alleviate housing affordability issues plaguing the Greater Toronto Area, governments should focus on building out the region’s transit network, suggests a real estate analyst. “I’ve always pointed to additional transit spending,” Ben Myers, senior vice president of market research and analytics for Fortress Real Developments, said on BuzzTV. 

BuzzBuzzHome.com

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Hydro rates wreak havoc on municipal budgets

Skyrocketing electricity costs in Kingsville, Ont., are showing up on property tax bills in unprecedented ways. The town is trying to pare down a proposed property tax increase of about 4.8 per cent this year. But it takes electricity to treat sewage, power streetlights and keep ice at the arena, said the town’s mayor.

Windsor Star

Buying and Selling

Canadians raiding RRSPs to buy a house

A new survey suggests Canadians are dipping into their registered retirement savings plans like never before and the high cost of housing may be driving those decisions. The study released Tuesday and conducted by Pollara for Bank of Montreal from Dec. 14-19 asked 1,500 adult Canadians how much they had withdrawn from the RRSP during the year.

Financial Post

Thinking about buying your first home?

You want to be the king or queen of your own castle. But how do you conquer this daunting feat, given that in big cities, so-called starter castles can cost more than $1 million? To help you navigate one of the largest purchases you’ll ever make in your life, here are some answers to commonly asked questions for first-time home buyers.

Financial Post

Toronto agent CENTURY 21’s world best

Ken Young of CENTURY 21 Leading Edge Realty in Toronto was named No. 1 producer by units sold in the world for 2016. As well, on the 2016 Global21 rankings. Canada had five companies, 10 offices, seven teams and three individuals ranking in the top 21 in the world, marking a clear indication of just how important and active the real estate market is in Canada in a global context.

Marketwired

Other

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