Vaughan condo cancelled, leaving 1,100 buyers in limbo

Vaughan condo cancelled, leaving 1,100 buyers in limbo

A sold-out three-tower high-rise condominium project that promised to deliver units to the new Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is the latest in a string of cancelled condo projects, leaving more than 1,100 hopeful buyers in limbo. Cosmos Condominiums was announced by Liberty Development Corporation in 2013, began pre-selling condo contracts in 2016 and was supposed to start delivering units in 2019.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star – Global News – Canada Newswire

TO condo investors risk rent not covering expenses

Nearly half of all investors who bought condominiums completed in the Toronto area last year aren’t making enough rent to cover their holding costs, despite chalking up exceptional gains on the value of their properties, a new study by CIBC and Urbanation finds. No less than 44 per cent of investors who took possession of new units in 2017 were in negative cash flow.

Financial Post – CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Toronto Star

Starlight buys four Vancouver apartment buildings

Starlight Investments announced Thursday afternoon it has acquired four “landmark” concrete high-rise apartment buildings comprising a total of 456 units in downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver. The acquisition lifts Starlight’s Victoria and Vancouver portfolio to approximately 1,700 units in 18 concrete high-rise towers and mid-rise multi-residential buildings. Financial terms were not disclosed in a release issued by Starlight.

Property Biz Canada

20 years after leaky condo inquiry, it’s still buyer beware

James Balderson was thrilled when he purchased his Vancouver townhouse in 1991 — until the rain started to fall and drip through the lights in the ceiling. Balderson had purchased his new home in the Fairview Slopes neighbourhood — for $533,000 and change — before the words “leaky condo crisis” had been uttered in the province.

CBC

Toronto staff move to pause Yonge-Eglinton development

Amid concerns the Yonge-Eglinton area could be reaching water and sewer capacity, staff say a proposed two-tower condo development should be put on hold until a review is completed. A report from staff headed to Toronto and East York community council on Wednesday comes after city planning staff identified growing concerns development in the midtown neighbourhood was outpacing the available infrastructure, like pipes, schools and parks.

Toronto Star

Toronto home prices see biggest drop in nearly 30 years

The high-end of Toronto’s housing market is bearing the brunt of declines from last year’s dizzying growth, with prices falling and unit sales slumping by almost half. Sales of detached homes in the GTA fell 46 per cent year-over-year in March, while the average price fell 17 per cent to $1.01 million, according to data released Wednesday by the Toronto Real Estate Board.

Bloomberg – Toronto Star – Globe and Mail – CBC

Oakville homebuyers face financial ruin

A group of Oakville homebuyers, struggling to finance the pre-construction houses they bought in February 2017 at the height of last year’s real estate frenzy, are blaming “reckless” provincial housing policy and new mortgage rules for putting them on the brink of financial ruin. The desperate buyers say they have been trapped in a unique period in the Toronto-area housing market.

Toronto Star

Most Canadians unaware of stress tests: RBC survey

Many Canadian homebuyers are in for a shock and not from the price. It’s because so many aren’t aware of the new mortgage qualification guidelines that came into effect in January. A Royal Bank of Canada survey indicates 61 per cent of Canadians don’t know about the new stress tests for uninsured mortgages put in place by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Canada Newswire

B.C. builder sees hope in new tax laws

Since B.C. introduced the foreign buyer tax almost two years ago, Kenny Wong’s custom home construction business has been booming. The foreign buyer tax, which was just recently increased to 20 per cent, is largely credited for the big drop in house sales in the high-end neighbourhoods. But Wong says he’s seen a serious appetite for new home construction on the east side.

Globe and Mail

Kamloops officials welcome city’s escape from two taxes

Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian says his city doesn’t have any issue being the odd man out of the BC NDP’s foreign-buyer and speculation taxes, and he thinks it will be good for business. “We have a market advantage being left out,” he said. “Particularly when Kelowna is in, and we’re out, that’s even better because the opportunities for, particularly, Albertans going up to the Sun Peaks area . . .”

Business In Vancouver

Vancouver seeks house size limits on agricultural land

Metro Vancouver has recommended B.C. restrict house sizes and residential footprints on agricultural land, in an effort to protect the region’s dwindling supply of farm land. The regional district has drafted a list of guiding principles and priority actions that, pending board of directors approval, will be sent to an advisory committee looking at how to revitalize the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and Agricultural Land Commission (ALC).

Vancouver Province

Will the LPAT be everything the OMB failed to be?

Making way for the new Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), the controversial Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) folded up shop last week. Unlike the quasi-judicial OMB, the scaled-down LPAT won’t make decisions on arguments made by both sides, but rather decide whether the proposal meets the standards for the city’s planning rules and return matters to municipal council if the answer is no.

Newinhomes.com

Housing walkability slowly making inroads in Alberta

Granite counters, a fifth bedroom or a three-stall garage were not the features that swayed the buyer toward Edmonton realtor Sara Kalke’s most expensive listing in 2017. Instead, it was the property’s walkability. Kalke says she’s tied into a growing trend in Canada’s most car-crazy province – house hunters looking for homes where the need to drive is minimal.

Globe and Mail

Albertans would be hardest hit by interest rate hikes: RBC

Households in Alberta will feel the most pressure from rising interest rates because residents in the province carry the highest debt loads in the country, according to a new report from the Royal Bank of Canada. Alberta residents would see the biggest increase in debt-service payments in Canada — more than $1,200 a year on average — if interest rates rose by one percentage point.

CBC – Calgary Herald – Financial Post

Fully automated, accessible apartment building a first for Calgary

After two years of construction, Calgary’s first fully automated assisted living apartment building is ready for residents to move in. Inclusio is located at 1129 23rd Avenue N.W. in Calgary’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood, where it overlooks Confederation Park. The building will be home to 45 low-income Calgarians with limited mobility.

CBC

Market Conditions

Chinese firms boost apartment rentals

Major Chinese real estate companies are renting more of the apartments they develop as they respond to President Xi Jinping’s demand that China should produce homes to live in not to speculate on. However, currying favour with authorities who want to provide affordable housing to maintain stability in the property sector comes at a cost as the developers will make little, if any, initial return from renting.

Reuters

Major price chasm between West Coast and Eastern Canada

It’s more than 4,000 kilometres from Vancouver to New Brunswick, but as far as house prices ago it is light years in distance. The benchmark price for a Canadian home was $609,700 in February, reports the Canadian Real Estate Association, but the data shows there is a cavernous west-east price gap in the country. Benchmark urban home prices now range from a low of $174,800 in Moncton to $1.07 million in Metro Vancouver.

Business In Vancouver

Metro Vancouver home sales down nearly 30 per cent

Home sales were down nearly 30 per cent in March in Metro Vancouver, as the region marked its lowest first-quarter sales in five years. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales in the region totalled 2,517 in March 2018, a 29.7 per cent decrease from the 3,579 sales recorded in the same month last year

Vancouver Sun – Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver

Lower Mainland condo prices soar

Prices for condos are on a tear across the Lower Mainland but there are signs of an emerging peak at the top end of the market. The $1-million figure has earned a place in Vancouver real estate vernacular for being when observers give up on any semblance of prices being affordable. It’s been mostly reserved for describing detached homes, but that’s changing.

Vancouver Sun

Single-family home prices hit new high in Victoria region

The benchmark price in the B.C. area that includes Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt and View Royal moved to a new high of $859,400 during March, up from $840,300 in February. Prices climbed as the provincial government announced new taxes to try to make homes more affordable. The full impact of the measures will be felt next year and as homeowners understand how they will be applied.

Victoria Times Colonist

Mortgage and Finance

Banks face challenges from housing market slowdown

Canada’s banking industry is facing increased competition from financial technology firms and weakening demand for mortgages and other consumer debt as interest rates continue to rise. Despite these challenges, pre-tax profits in Canada’s banking sector continue to trend upward and are expected to climb to more than $95 billion this year, according to The Conference Board of Canada’s latest Canadian Industrial Outlook: Banking.

Canada Newswire – CBC

U.S. Apartment Investment Market Index dips on mortgage rates

Significant increases in mortgage rates have driven declines in the Freddie Mac (FMCC) Multifamily Apartment Investment Market Index (AIMI) across most markets in Q4 and over the course of 2017. In Q4, AIMI experienced a decrease in 12 of the 13 markets it tracks. At the national level, AIMI declined approximately 3.57%. Seattle (-7.75%) and Boston (-7.15%) experienced the sharpest declines, while Houston (2.49%) saw an increase, largely driven by the impact of the 2017 hurricanes.

Globe Newswire

New Developments

Timbercreek’s Ottawa plans continue amid mass eviction memories

Fears of gentrification and residents being pushed out of their homes were front of mind Saturday as a property owner pushes forward with the redevelopment process for Ottawa’s Heron Gate neighbourhood. Around 50 gathered at the Heron Road Community Centre Saturday morning for the second visioning workshop in the last few months for a 16-hectare parcel of land owned by Timbercreek Asset Management.

CBC

Winnipeg rejects Gem Equities’ plan for housing

The City of Winnipeg has rejected a plan to build homes and residential towers on the Parker lands, claiming the proposal by developer Andrew Marquess contravenes city guidelines for housing near rapid-transit stations. Marquess’s company, Gem Equities, wants to build 1,740 housing units on a triangle of Fort Garry land.

CBC – CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Review supports demolition of Lester B. Pearson’s former home

An independent engineer the City of Ottawa hired to take another look at the home where former prime minister Lester B. Pearson lived when he received the Nobel Peace Prize has come to the same conclusion as the building’s owner: it should be torn down. The building, owned by the Ugandan government and used as its high commission since the 1980s, is in a dilapidated state.

CBC

Unfinished seniors’ home to get new life as rental housing

A five-storey building that has sat unfinished in Richmond, Ont., for years now may finally get its finishing touches, but not all its neighbours love the revised plan. Originally meant to be a retirement community, construction on the Perth Street complex fell by the wayside when the developer, Hyde Park Residences Inc., went bankrupt, said Scott Moffat, the Ottawa city councillor for the area.

CBC

Legal Issues

B.C. to strengthen protections for trailer park residents

B.C. wants to make it harder to evict trailer park residents and give them more protection from redevelopment under proposed legislative changes. The government also wants to strengthen protections for owners of manufactured homes by increasing the compensation they would receive if their trailer park closes or they are forced out. Landlords would have to compensate former residents if they are displaced by a planned redevelopment that doesn’t proceed.

Globe and Mail

Condominium Management

Toronto condo wants to charge dog owners $15 a month

A new rule forcing condo residents to pay a monthly fee for each dog they own to offset cleaning costs has some people crying foul. “It’s just unconscionable,” said Gina Giorgetti, a dog-walker whose clients live in the building. “Are we going to make them pay for children as well?” A notice in Quad Lofts says the $15 fee will go into effect on May 2.

CBC

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

New homes, new hope for Cloverdale in Surrey, B.C.

At first glance, the condo and townhouse developments sprouting up near 176 Street and Highway 10 in the Cloverdale area of Surrey, B.C. look a little out of place.

This, after all, is the historic district — the home of antique shops, not high density housing.

Take a closer look, however, and you’ll notice this is a neighbourhood in transition.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Ministers endorse new housing partnership framework

Federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for housing met Monday to endorse a multilateral housing partnership framework, further advancing the National Housing Strategy (NHS), and setting the foundation for federal, provincial and territorial governments to work together toward achieving a long-term shared vision for housing.

Canada Newswire

OREA calls for stronger protections against marijuana grow ops

Ontario’s real estate agents want stronger rules to protect homebuyers from purchasing a former marijuana grow-op – a situation they say will increase once cannabis is legalized this year. The Ontario Real Estate Association, which represents the province’s 70,000 realtors, has proposed a series of changes it says can act as a “regulatory shield” and protect home buyers from health and safety risks linked to grow-ops. 

Global News

Other

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