Ottawa eyes ‘risk-sharing’ option for lenders

Ottawa eyes ‘risk-sharing’ option for lenders

Ottawa is reviving a proposal that would force lenders to shoulder more risk in Canada’s heated housing market. Federal finance department officials say they are studying an option to introduce “risk-sharing” for lenders, a move that would likely mean a deductible payable by the banks on the mortgage insurance provided by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) and its private-sector competitors.

Globe and Mail

Frazzled by home prices, remote cities want you

Vancouver was showing its best self on a sunny afternoon earlier this summer, even on the bus.  The No. 9 was making its way along Broadway through pricey Kitsilano, a neighbourhood of $1.5-million and $2-million-plus homes (make that, -plus -plus). Everyone looked contented on the bus, with that Vancouver vibe, but overhead there was an ad bidding everyone to move up to equally contented and far cheaper Prince George.

Globe and Mail

Losani capitalizing on housing boom west of GTA

With better GO train service and an improved transportation network, the Hamilton/Niagara region is increasingly becoming an attractive option for homebuyers priced out of Toronto. The area around Hamilton already saw a price increase of 9.7 per cent in 2015 compared to the year before, so some buyers are migrating further west — to properties in Beamsville, Brantford and even Paris — where prices are 15 per cent lower than those in Hamilton and 65 per cent lower than Toronto.

Property Biz Canada

Developers sitting on land in Toronto’s heated housing market

Housing prices continue to rise in the Greater Toronto Area because of land shortages that are at least partially being driven by builders sitting on real estate in hopes of a rising market, says a new report. CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal said provincial legislation which has created scarcity of land around the Toronto region has developers feeling confident that prices have nowhere else to go but up.

Financial Post

Denser housing policies at odds with millennial dreams: Study

In the vertical city, it’s still the expansive house and yard that dominate the home ownership dreams of the important millennial demographic — and most other market segments. But it’s the government’s Smart Growth land use policies, which encourage denser housing, that are driving up prices in the face of the continuing demand for traditional detached, single-family homes, says a study from Ryerson University released on Monday.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail

Should air conditioning be required during heat waves

In Canada, many city bylaws require buildings to be heated during the winter months, and many utility companies are not allowed to turn off a home’s heat in winter, even if a bill goes unpaid. But there are no such bylaws in place to protect people when the temperature gets extremely hot.

CBC

Canadian home sales post third consecutive decline in July

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales declined for a third consecutive month in July 2016. The number of homes trading hands via Canadian MLS® Systems fell by 1.3 percent month-over-month in July 2016. With similar monthly declines having been posted in May and June, national sales activity in July came in 3.9 percent below the record set in April 2016.

Canada Newswire – Montreal Gazette

Alberta renters will continue enjoying incentives, lower rents

Canada’s biggest residential landlord said Friday vacancies at its apartments in Alberta are on the rise as it lowers rents and offers incentives to attract tenants — and it doesn’t expect conditions will improve much for the rest of the year. Calgary-based Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (BEI.UN-T) which owns 33,000 rental units in four provinces, said there are signs of weakness in Alberta’s rental market.

Calgary Herald

Will UBC’s massive foreign-student complex be ready by September?

Will UBC’s two new 18-storey residential towers for foreign students, plus lecture halls and classrooms, be finished by September. Construction crews are working late into the evenings this month to finish the massive new complex, which started out exclusively for foreign students but now may allow some others.

The Province

Vancouver to build 400 new affordable homes to stem housing ‘crisis’

The City of Vancouver plans to build 400 new affordable homes — from SROS to three-bedroom family units — in four city-owned lots, in a bid to help stem the housing “crisis” gripping the city. Mayor Gregor Robertson said the sites, worth $50 million, are the first four of 20 sites offered to senior levels of government to construct affordable homes.

The Province

We’ve seen the Vancouver housing movie before

Real estate peddlers in Canada’s hottest housing markets chalked up another remarkable month in July, as prices surged in Vancouver and Toronto and some nearby communities. Vancouver home prices climbed for the 18th month in a row, with increases topping 2 per cent in each of the past six months, according to the latest Teranet-National Bank house price index.

The Globe and Mail

Data collected by B.C. likely overstate role of foreign buyers: economist

The chief economist in charge of tracking B.C. housing prices for the province’s real estate industry, Cameron Muir at the B.C. Real Estate Association says he is still not persuaded foreign buyers play a significant role in Metro Vancouver’s real estate market, despite the newly collected provincial data that called into question that assessment.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver’s new foreign-buyer tax: Beware of unintended consequences

Last week, a new tax introduced by the B.C. government came into effect with the goal of slowing down the unrelenting increases in Vancouver-area house prices. The additional 15-per-cent transfer tax specifically targets foreign nationals looking to buy real estate. We must ask whether it will meet its stated objective and what are its unintended consequences?

Globe and Mail – Financial Post

Chinese envoy challenges Vancouver home tax

China’s top envoy in British Columbia challenged the Canadian province’s new 15 percent tax on foreign home buyers, questioning the justification behind the hastily imposed measure. “Why a 15 percent tax? Why now? Why this rate? What’s the purpose? Will it work?” Liu Fei, China’s consul general in Vancouver.

Bloomberg – Globe and Mail

Luxury apartments in major U.S. cities remain empty

Apartment building owners are struggling to rent many of the luxury units that have flooded downtowns across the U.S. in recent years even as a relative shortage of multi-family homes in the suburbs has driven up rents.  Since 2012, the nation’s supply of apartments has swelled 16.6 per cent in central business districts and 13.5 per cent in “secondary core” areas surrounding the downtowns.

Toronto Star

Market Conditions

How a young couple retired by not owning a home

Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung are a 30-something couple who retired last year with more than a million bucks in the bank. Now they travel the world. Their secret? They say they’re only living the dream because they rejected that dream we’re all told to strive for: home ownership.

CBC

Toronto’s red-hot condo market

As temperatures once again rise into red-hot territory, so does Toronto’s mid-summer condo market. Stories abound from real estate agents in the trenches, of multiple offers and bidding wars, particularly on larger units. Ralph Fox and his partner are both savvy Toronto real estate agents. When it came time to sell the parents’ condo recently, they were in for a pleasant shock.

Metro News

B.C. home sales skid, high prices persist: real estate association

The British Columbia Real Estate Association says home sales have come off the boil in many regions of B.C., but for now, prices continue to soar. The real estate association says the Multiple Listing Service recorded 9,900 residential units changed hands in July, a 3.4 per cent decline compared with 2015.

CTV News

US home construction climbed to a 6-month high in July

Apartment construction in the Northeast fueled a jump in home building in July as the pace of housing starts nationwide reached the strongest pace in six months. The rate of overall construction rose 2.1 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million from 1.19 million in June, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Winnipeg Free Press

Taxes and Utilities

Beanfield wins access to Toronto condos after CRTC ruling

A ruling from Canada’s telecom regulator has paved the way for residents of three Toronto condo buildings to get services from Beanfield Metroconnect Inc. The Toronto-based independent telecom provider went to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for help last December after it was unable to negotiate access to a trio of buildings at 65, 75 and 85 East Liberty St.

Globe and Mail

Other

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