Quebec reaches ‘landmark’ deal with Airbnb

Quebec reaches ‘landmark’ deal with Airbnb

The Quebec government has reached an agreement with Airbnb, allowing the home-rental website to collect and remit the tax on lodging on behalf of its hosts. Under the deal, which goes into effect on Oct. 1, Airbnb will automatically collect and remit the 3.5 per cent tax.

CBC – CTV – Montreal Gazette

B.C. universities grapple with long wait lists for student housing

Lower Mainland universities are grappling with long wait lists for student housing, leaving thousands of students in the lurch to find homes off campus in a competitive rental market. The University of British Columbia says ot have reached an all-time high of 6,000 students on the housing wait list, nearly double the number from 2010.

CBC

Milborne-led venture revives Port McNicoll Resort Village

A partnership led by Milborne Group has purchased the Port McNicoll Resort Village property from Skyline Investments and is looking to revive the moribund project. What they’ve acquired is a massive, 1,126-acre track of prime central Ontario resort/vacation land with the potential for up to 1,800 homes and an 1,000-slip marina on Georgian Bay.

Property Biz Canada

B.C. renters to face largest allowable increase in five years

The B.C. Residential Tenancy Branch has set the maximum allowable rent increase for 2018 at four per cent — making it the largest potential rent increase in five years. In 2017, rent increases were capped at 3.7 per cent. The four per cent increase is more pronounced given the low vacancy rates and sky-high rental prices in Vancouver. 

CBC

Probe launched into B.C. landlords’ demands for sensitive info

As competition heats up for rental housing in B.C., landlords are asking potential tenants to provide a raft of inappropriate documentation — everything from SIN numbers to medical data. In response, the province’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has opened an investigation into the information requested by landlords, and how that information is being used.

CBC – Toronto Star

Tofino nixes 27-acre housing project

Despite a demand for affordable housing, the Vancouver Island resort district of Tofino has stopped a major housing development from moving forward. Woodsmere Holdings had planned to build a residential development and hotel on its nearly 27-acre parcel of land. The development consisted of 466 units including 240 apartment/condominium units, 108 townhouse units, 24 duplex/fourplex units, a 48-unit hotel/motel and 16 single family residences.

CBC

New mortgage rules could depress demand by another 10%: TD

Demand for housing could be cut anywhere from five to 10 per cent because of tougher qualification rules being considered by Ottawa, according to a report by Toronto-Dominion Bank out Monday. The report from Beata Caranci, chief economist with the bank and Diana Petramala, also an economist, takes aim at a proposal from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Calgary’s mid-rise developments sharpen design edge

A growing population of downsizers, young professionals and urban families in Calgary’s inner-city neighbourhoods are driving demand for mid-rise developments where the convenience of condo life is coupled with cutting-edge architecture, human scale and a sense of community. “Living downtown wasn’t so much the flavour a few years ago in Calgary, but that’s changed,” says Nyhoff Architecture co-founder Kevin Nyhoff.

Globe and Mail

Edmonton’s tenant demand increases, buyer investment decreases

Edmonton’s rental market continues to stabilize as newer multi-family stock attracts tenants and pushes down the city’s vacancy rate. A new market report from CBRE Limited analyzes the multi-family sector during the first half of 2017 and found the overall rental vacancy rate has decreased from 6.3 per cent in December 2016 to 5.9 per cent in June 2017.

Western Investor

New home sales in GTA plunge: BILD

Despite a dramatic year-over-year drop in sales volumes of newly constructed homes in July, prices in the Toronto region rose, with the industry association saying it expects a record year. There were 85 per cent fewer single-family homes sold in July compared to the same month last year, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – Canada Newswire

	Tropical storm Harvey’s impact on real estate
	The following section of the RENX newsletter is dedicated to news about tropical storm Harvey in the U.S. and its impact on real estate.

 

Worst may be yet to come

Louisiana braced for tropical storm Harvey Tuesday as it headed east from Texas after bringing catastrophic floods and an as-yet unknown death toll. Crews overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history have had little time to search for other potential victims, but officials acknowledge the grim reality fatalities could soar.

CBC – CTV – Global News – Business Insider

Pure Multi REIT apartment community evacuated

Pure Multi-Family REIT‘s (RUF.U-X) Boulevard at Deer Park, a multi-family apartment community comprising 216 residential units located in Deer Park, a suburb southeast of Houston, has been placed under an evacuation order. The REIT does not yet have a preliminary property assessment. Broadstone Walker Commons, consisting of 352 residential units in League City, a southern suburb of Houston, has not been materially impacted. 

Canada Newswire

Agellan REIT’s Houston properties likely damaged

Agellan Commercial REIT (ACR.UN-T) announced  it was advised by property management one of its Houston industrial properties has likely experienced damage. The REIT’s property management is currently unable to assess the full extent of the storm’s impact on its Houston properties, consisting of three office properties and nine industrial properties containing approximately 1.5 million square feet of gross leasable area. 

Business Wire

Toronto detached homes dip below $1M

The average sale price of an existing detached home in Toronto has officially dipped below $1 million again, potentially a major psychological breakthrough but also a practical level that creates more access to housing. Changes instituted in 2014 banned government-backed mortgages on homes sold for more than seven figures – a move essentially aimed at hot Toronto and Vancouver markets.

Financial Post – Reuters – CBC – Toronto Star

Stronger loonie discourages foreign RE investment: Guatieri

A stronger Canadian dollar makes foreign homebuyer taxes in Canada more effective, BMO Senior Economist Sal Guatieri suggests. Coupled with the Metro Vancouver and Greater Golden Horseshoe foreign-homebuyer taxes of 15 per cent, the loonie’s recent ascent could, if prolonged, discourage overseas real estate investors. “A cheaper Canadian dollar would probably encourage foreign investors to thumb their nose at the tax,” Guatieri adds.

BuzzBuzzNews – BuzzBuzzNews

Rule-breaking realtors should face stiffer penalties: OREA

Fines for rule-breaking realtors should be double what they are now so the potential penalties keep pace with the province’s rising housing market, says the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA). Last year, realtors found guilty of violating the code of ethics faced an average fine of less than $6,000 from the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), the industry regulator.

Toronto Star – CBC

The lure of smart apartments

Smart apartments can help make residents’ lives easier and apartment access and control simpler. Such hands-off control over the basic functions of an apartment, from lights to temperature control to keyless entry, has increased demand and made properties with that technology more attractive and competitive.

Forbes – Newinhomes.com

Market Conditions

B.C’s tight supply discouraging upward market movement

The BC Real Estate Association’s (BCREA) latest monthly analysis of provincial real estate sales flags the potential for a return to more balanced market conditions by the end of the year, even as a lack of supply continues to drive home prices higher. BCREA chief economist Cameron Muir said home sale volumes are moderating, while more buyers are listing properties. 

Business In Vancouver

Economists worried by B.C.’s financial reliance on real estate

Economic experts are raising concerns over the province’s financial reliance on B.C.’s booming real estate market and the new government’s promise to try and cool the market down. The 2016-’17 public accounts recorded a $2.7-billion surplus. Real estate revenue accounted for a big part of that high number, largely due to a 32 per cent growth in Property Transfer Tax revenue.

CBC – Mortgage Broker News

Saint John recovering from market drought

Mired in a years-long slump, recent figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association suggest the Saint John housing market is on the rebound. Numbers show homes in the Saint John region, stretching from St. Stephen to Sussex, are moving on average within 63 days — a six year high. Another good sign, according to officials, is seeing multiple offers coming in on homes.

Global News

Mortgage and Finance

CIBC expects ‘moderation’ in new mortgages

Soaring home prices have been a boon to mortgage businesses, but recent government efforts to cool the housing market could impact lenders if the economy falters, CIBC said Thursday. While Canada’s economy is pumping out jobs and growing at a steady pace, a potential shock could put borrowers at risk of foreclosure, said the bank’s chief risk officer.

Ottawa Business Journal

New Developments

Proposed Saskatoon skyscraper dealt major blow

A Saskatoon man’s plan to build a residential skyscraper on top of a historic downtown church has been dealt a major setback. A committee of the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation has recommended to city councillors that the Third Avenue United Church building on Third Avenue be protected as a municipal heritage building. That’s despite an appeal against that status by John Orr, who had plans to build a residential highrise, including parking, directly on top of the more-than-century-old English Gothic church.

CBC

Kanata condo complex gets OK to add units

The City of Ottawa’s planning committee has approved a developer’s request to increase the number of units in a low-rise condo building in Kanata, despite concerns from neighbours and a petition with more than 240 signatures opposing the proposal. Brigil, the developer behind the condo complex, applied to lift a restriction that limits the number of units in the building to 100.

CBC – Ottawa Business Journal

Taxes and Utilities

The tax hassles of owning and selling a cottage or second home

Given the recent tax changes to the principal residence exemption, which now require you to report the disposition of your vacation home in the year of sale, transfer or gift, it becomes more important than ever to understand the tax issues surrounding owning a second home.

Financial Post

Legal Issues

What are tenants’ rights under proposed marijuana laws?

With the federal government’s plan to legalize recreational marijuana by July 2018, landlords across Canada have been raising concerns about marijuana use in rental units. Many landlords want to prohibit tenants from growing and smoking marijuana on their properties, but Bob Aaron, a Toronto-based real estate lawyer, says it may not be so easy. 

CTV

Affordable Housing

Pine Creek makes history with private help on affordable housing

Edmonton’s affordable housing crisis has grown so quickly it’s now impossible for governments to deal with on their own, said one developer who is standing up to help. “There’s nothing like walk the talk,” said Curtis Way, president of RMS Group, which is including 35 units of subsidized housing in a new 174-unit four-storey walk-up project it is building.

Edmonton Journal

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

For the solution to B.C.’s vacant-housing situation, look to Paris

There was a story making the rounds on social media recently about how dire the affordable-housing situation is in San Francisco, including the lack of rental stock. The reporter found a woman who commutes 260 kilometres, round trip, daily to her job in the Bay area. She wakes up shortly after two in the morning each day, and leaves for work around four.

Globe and Mail

Rent in the city, own in small towns

With prices sky-high in some of Canada’s largest cities and real estate markets softening across the country, many city dwellers are choosing to rent the home where they live and buy properties — especially in smaller towns — as an investment.

Global News

Buying and Selling

GTA sellers face a refresher course in economics

Real estate agent Shawn Lackie sees sellers who are deluded about the current real estate mood in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding towns. They’re pushing for lofty sale prices that are no longer realistic. Lackie, with Coldwell Banker – R.M.R. Real Estate, Brokerage, says homeowners need a constant reminder of one edict: the market determines value.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Portal Point2 Homes sets new record

Real estate marketplace Point2 Homes continues to set records in terms of traffic. The stats for July 2017 show significant growth for the portal once again. The new record of 4.12 million visits indicates a 20 per cent year-over-year increase, leading to 23.3 million pageviews and an additional 2.4 million new visitors.

Canada Newswire

Vancouver house hunting a wild ride

A family from England’s Midlands region arrived in Vancouver last July. The professional couple came here for work and set about looking for a house to purchase for their family of four. After viewing a series of overpriced properties on the city’s east side, they plan to give it three more months. If they still can’t find anything, they consider Ontario.

Globe and Mail

Other

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