TREB still seeks to ‘protect’ home sales data

TREB still seeks to ‘protect’ home sales data

The Toronto Real Estate Board is studying ways to ensure Greater Toronto Area home sales data is “protected,” even as realtors are rushing to publish the numbers. TREB fought the Competition Bureau to prevent the data’s online release for seven years, citing privacy and copyright concerns. The Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal to hear TREB’s appeal case last week enabled realtors to post the data on password-protected websites.

Winnipeg Free Press – CBC – Ottawa Business Journal

B.C. municipalities ask for changes to speculation tax

Municipalities and regional districts across B.C. are asking the provincial government to leave it up to them to decide whether to opt in or out of the controversial speculation tax, or come up with their own levy on vacant properties. “This is a critical issue for British Columbians — it’s not just a housing issue, it’s directly tied to our economy,” said Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen.

Vancouver Sun

Killam continues to diversify outside Atlantic Canada

Acquisitions of residential properties in Carleton Place, Ont., Calgary and Edmonton are moving Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) closer to its goal of having 50 per cent of annualized net operating income generated from outside of Atlantic Canada. In an interview with RENX, president/CEO Philip Fraser said with the recent transactions, the Halifax-based REIT forecasts approximately 29 per cent of its annualized NOI will be generated from outside of its base.

Property Biz Canada

RioCan, Boardwalk JV on Calgary Brio apartment project

Calgary-based Boardwalk REIT (BEI-UN-T) has partnered with RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) to build a 162-unit multi-residential rental tower in the Brentwood Village shopping centre in Calgary. The mixed-use development joint venture, named Brio, will include a stepped six-, 10- and 12-storey high-rise with about 130,000 square feet of rental housing to be managed by Boardwalk and 10,000 square feet of retail to be managed by RioCan.

Property Biz Canada

Sky-high costs have renters considering exodus from GTA

Toronto renters who hope to one day buy a home are contemplating leaving the city in droves. Some 59 per cent of renters living in the Greater Toronto Area are “seriously” considering moving from the region because there is no chance of affording the kind of home or condominium that would allow them to live comfortably, or raise a family, an Angus Reid Institute study shows.

Toronto Star

New condo sales down, prices up in GTA

The Building Industry and Land Development Association released its Greater Toronto Area new home statistics for July 2018, reporting the typical summer slowdown everyone was expecting. According to BILD’s trusted source for new home market intelligence, Altus Group, there were 1,071 new home sales last month, which is 44% lower than the same period last year and 55% below the 10-year average.

Newinhomes.com – Toronto Star – Canada Newswire

Duplex zoning can make neighbourhoods viable

In 1980, when Eileen Mosca moved to Vancouver, she and her partner bought an old house split into two suites, essentially rendering it a duplex. “It was a seedy pocket of Grandview Woodlands, but it worked for us,” she recalls. “We had three kids and no money.” Gentrification has since changed the demographics; overall, residents are wealthier now. Still, Grandview Woodlands remains a lively mix of renters and homeowners.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Developer’s approach a model for others: Ottawa neighbours

Peter Ferguson and his comrades with the Lowertown Community Association have fought countless battles with developers over infill projects in their downtown neighbourhood.  Sometimes they win, but often they lose. Whatever the outcome, the combatants always seem to emerge bloodied and battered. Imagine Ferguson’s relief when they came up against Chenier Group.

CBC

Apartment developer vexed by city hall hurdles

With the city facing an 18-year low in apartment vacancies, one London developer says he is facing bureaucratic roadblocks to constructing a 110-unit building. Jonathan Leahy, owner of JLC Homes, is planning to build a 14-storey building. Leahy thought it would be easy since the lot he purchased came with a registered development agreement obtained by a previous owner, who built three other buildings nearby.

London Free Press

Vancouver Island building activity up 42 per cent

Construction activity on Vancouver Island climbed to $806.9 million in the first six months of this year, a 42 per cent year-over-year jump. “We’ve had a very busy year so far, which is a sign of economic strength and an upswing in population growth,” said Rory Kulmala, Vancouver Island Construction Association chief executive officer, on Tuesday.

Victoria Times Colonist

Even Vancouver, Toronto homeowners want prices to fall: Poll

A survey of residents in two of Canada’s hottest housing markets suggest that even some homeowners in Toronto and Vancouver think housing has become too unaffordable and prices should drop. The Angus Reid Institute’s “Pain Index” scores people’s answers to questions about housing and transportation. While responses in each city differ somewhat, the majority of respondents in both saw housing as the paramount concern residents are facing. 

CBC – Vancouver Province – Bloomberg

Tory or Keesmaat: Who will improve housing affordability?

I don’t know who should be mayor of Toronto. With regards to housing affordability, transit, and general livability, has Toronto improved over the last few years? I was a fan of John Tory’s SmartTrack plans, but as Jennifer Keesmaat has pointed out, it’s not quite panning out as proposed. The 22 new proposed stations are now six new stations added to existing GO lines.

Newinhomes.com

A Vancouver expat experiences Hong Kong rental shock

After I told people I was moving to Hong Kong for work, those who’d lived in the city before mentioned two certainties. One: The heat, where the humidity gets trapped in between the high-rise buildings, would be a difficult adjustment. Two: I should get used to paying an exorbitant amount of money for rent. After two months in the city, I can say both have proven true.

Globe and Mail – Bloomberg

U.S. home builders accuse lumber mills of running ‘cartel’

As the chief advocate for America’s home builders, Jerry Howard smells a rat. The tariffs his government imposed on Canadian softwood lumber imports in May 2017 were bad enough, he says. However, the response to the duties by lumber producers on both sides of the border has been worse, reminiscent of how OPEC artificially pumped up the price of oil four decades ago, Howard charges.

National Post

Undersupply of apartments drives L.A. market

Los Angeles and Southern California’s apartment markets are soaring, taking advantage of tireless demand and the difficulty developers have building in the U.S. city with the highest percentage of renters. Unlike many other regions where strong rental markets have set off building booms that have dragged down rent growth and increased vacancy rates, Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County are seeing tight occupancy and steadily rising rents.

CoStar Group

Market Conditions

New mortgage stress test continues to hamper home sales

Actual sales (not seasonally adjusted) on Canadian MLS Systems were down 1.3 per cent in July 2018 from July last year, says the monthly report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). This reflects fewer sales in major urban centres in British Columbia and an offsetting improvement in activity in the GTA.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix – Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Foreclosure starts up In 44 per cent of U.S. markets

ATTOM Data Solutions‘ July 2018 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows that foreclosure starts increased from a year ago in 96 of the 219 metropolitan statistical areas (44 per cent) analyzed in the report. A total of 30,187 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process for the first time in July, up one per cent from the previous month and up less than one per cent from a year ago.

PR Newswire – Reuters

Mortgage and Finance

CIBC’s mortgage slowdown predictions come true

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s prediction of a mortgage slowdown has come true. Mortgage balances rose 2.5 per cent to $208.5 billion in the fiscal third quarter from a year earlier, the Toronto-based bank said Thursday in announcing earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. That’s the slowest in more than four years and about one-fifth the pace of a year ago. 

Bloomberg

New Developments

One-time B.C. ecovillage for sale

Michael Poole jabs a claw-headed garden tool deep into a matrix of roots on his 17.5-acre property in Tofino, B.C. Surrounded by moss, the 66-year-old crawls on all fours with a furrowed brow, puncturing the ground over and over. He’s looking for a jar containing $3,000 that he buried two years ago. Like a squirrel hiding its bounty, Poole stashes his money and “earth medicines” beneath the forest.

Globe and Mail

Construction begins on 260 townhouses in Vaudreuil-Dorion

A new project now under construction in Vaudreuil-Dorion will boast not only a clubhouse and pool, but also a private park with a playground — features designed to bring neighbours together. Developer Robert Cohen said with Linq, a 260-unit townhouse project between Cité-des-Jeunes Boulevard and Jean-Béliveau Street, he aims to offer affordable, family-oriented housing that entices residents to spend time within the complex and the surrounding neighbourhood.

Montreal Gazette

Natural Disasters

B.C. communities rebuild after 2017 wildfires

They say time heals all. And it’s almost true. It’s been more than a year since a massive wildfire ripped through several rural communities in B.C.’s interior west of Kamloops. The flames destroyed 215 buildings in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and forced nearly 50,000 people to flee their homes. Ester Spye from the Ashcroft Indian Band was one of them

CBC

Overland flood insurance available in Sask., N.W.T., Yukon

Comprehensive Water, which includes overland flood damage coverage, is now available to homeowners in Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Yukon. The Cooperators Comprehensive Water insurance is the only product of its kind in Canada that provides protection from storm surge, overflowing lakes, rivers and creeks, and sewer or septic backup.

Canada Newswire

B.C. wildfire season moves to second-largest on record

British Columbia’s 2018 wildfire season is now the second largest on record, ranking below only last year’s catastrophic summer. Across the province, more than 945,000 hectares of land has burned since the beginning of the wildfire season on April 1, according to government statistics. In comparison, a total of 1.2-million hectares were destroyed last year.

Globe and Mail – CBC

Legal Issues

Richmond home owner fined $2,000 for running illegal hotel

The owner of a busy, illegal hotel has been fined $2,000 by the City of Richmond and told to close shop. The house is listed as a “Sports Home Hotel” on travel booking websites such as Booking.com, BedandBreakfast.eu and Agoda, which all cater to European travellers. The posts show the “hotel” has four different room types and can accommodate two to four guests in each room, with prices from $120 per night.

Business In Vancouver

Affordable Housing

Edmonton’s 16 per cent affordable housing goal gets OK

Aspen Gardens, Blue Quill and York residents will notice some changes in coming years after city council agreed 16 per cent of each Edmonton neighbourhood should have affordable housing. These neighbourhoods currently have between zero and five per cent affordable housing, while Abbotsfield and Belvedere have 10 to 16 and McCauley and Kildare have more than 30 per cent. Currently, the majority of neighbourhoods in Edmonton have less than 10 per cent.

CBC

Loans offered to create affordable housing units in K-W

Kitchener-Waterloo homeowners can borrow up to $25,000 from the region to create affordable secondary apartments in their homes. The secondary suites program offers the funding in a loan, and the hope is it will create more affordable housing in the region, said Jeff Schumacher, supervisor of the Housing Programs Initiatives.

CBC

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Petition started to ban smoking in all B.C. multi-unit dwellings

A Langley mother of a three-month-old girl has started a petition to convince the provincial government to ban smoking in all condominiums and apartment buildings. Naomi Baker said cigarette smoke is rising into her third-floor home from the suite below. Despite attempts by both the strata council and Baker to deal with the second-hand smoke, it has continued to plague her family for the past two years.

Vancouver Sun

Legal secondary suites expanded across Edmonton

Edmonton city council is paving the way for more homeowners to rent out secondary suites. Council agreed Monday to update a zoning bylaw to allow owners of semi-detached houses, duplexes and row houses to legally rent out self-contained suites. Under the existing bylaw, only single detached homes were allowed to contain the secondary units.

CBC

Ottawa homeowners locked in battle with builder

Residents of a suburban housing development in Ottawa’s east end say they’re worried their new homes are unsafe after discovering major construction defects soon after they moved in. The City of Ottawa confirmed building code violations were discovered in at least nine homes in the Cardinal Creek neighbourhood after the owners moved in, meaning the new homes didn’t meet the minimum standard for health and safety.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Burned-down house in Vancouver listed for nearly $4M

Vancouver real estate agent Hunt Tse is not worried the $3.9-million lot with a burnt-down home on it will sell, even though he describes it as a “pile of rubbish.” “I don’t think it would take that long because it’s a good location,” Tse said of the lot in Vancouver’s popular Kitsilano neighbourhood.

CBC – CTV

Vancouver’s ‘cube house’ sells for $7.65 million

A cube-shaped house on Vancouver’s tony Point Grey Road which had raised some eyebrows due to its ultra-modern design has been sold. The 3,709-square-foot house sold last month for $7.65 million — about a year after it went on the market and down from its original list price of $14 million. Despite taking a year to sell, there was no lack of interest from potential buyers, said realtor Loren Dunsworth.

Vancouver Sun

Other

Smart market share to reach US$53.45B by 2022

A new Zion Market Research report indicates the global smart home market was valued at around US$24.1 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach approximately US$53.45 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 14.5 per cent between 2017 and 2022. The advanced technology has enabled various devices to be connected and controlled by one device and this technology is used by smart homes.

Globe Newswire

	RENX has surpassed 10,510 Twitter followers
	Recent follower Macdonald Commercial  is a British Columbia commercial real estate services provider offering sales & leasing, property management.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.