Legislation could prompt stratas to disband, sell

Legislation could prompt stratas to disband, sell

Some two dozen stratas across Metro Vancouver are positioning themselves to dissolve and sell their entire buildings to developers, according to Tony Gioventu, executive director for the Condominium Home Owners’ Association of B.C.  “In the next months, stratas will be starting to act,” he said.

Vancouver Sun

Ontario’s younger generations plan home purchases

More of Ontario’s younger generations are likely to buy a home in the next two years, shows new research from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA). According to OREA’s Ontario Home Ownership Index, one in four (24%) generation Ys said they are likely to purchase a home in the next two years while 18% of generation X said the same.

Marketwired – Financial Post

Heathwood looking east of Toronto to build homes

The population of Ontario’s Durham Region — anchored by Ajax, Pickering, Whitby and Oshawa — grew by 33 per cent between 2004 and 2014 and is becoming home to a lot of Torontonians who can’t afford to buy a house there. “The demand is there,” said Heathwood Homes president Hugh Heron, who has overseen the construction of tens of thousands of homes in hundreds of Ontario locations over five decades.

Property Biz Canada

Legal risks mount from Vancouver’s foreign property buyer tax

British Columbia’s decision to impose a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers to cool Vancouver’s scorching housing market is poised to derail more than 400 deals worth millions of dollars and may prompt calls for legal action. Anecdotal tales of offshore buyers walking away from deals in Metro Vancouver are being heard across real estate offices.

Financial Post – CBC

Reality of B.C.’s foreign buyers tax begins to bit

Realtors and lawyers desperate to get in under the deadline filed a record-setting 15,000 property transfer applications on Thursday and Friday, the last business days before B.C.’s punishing new 15-per-cent tax on foreign property buyers went into effect. More than 9,200 transactions were filed on Friday, breaking the 2007-2008 record of more than 8,400 in a single day, according to the B.C. Land Title and Survey Authority.

Financial Post

Vancouver condo marketer denies he knew about foreign-buyer tax

Vancouver’s most prominent condo marketer says he is willing to step down as chief fundraiser for the BC Liberals if asked to by the ruling party. Bob Rennie’s relationship with the Liberals has come under increasing scrutiny in the debate over the Vancouver region’s housing affordability crisis.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post

Vancouver’s real estate prices fastest growing of 37 cities

Vancouver’s surge in house prices of 36 per cent over the past year was by far the highest in the world, but the new 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers is expected to slow the growth, according to a group that tracks housing prices in 37 cities. Vancouver topped the ranking for the fifth consecutive quarter of the Prime Global Cities Index released by Knight Frank on Friday.

Vancouver Sun

How Vancouver’s tax on foreigners could cost homeowners

As of August 2nd, B.C.’s new 15 per cent transfer tax on residential property purchases takes effect for non-Canadians and non-residents buying houses in Metro Vancouver. By curtailing foreign demand, the government hopes to take the wind out of soaring housing prices. Instead, the government may be blundering big time, distorting labour and housing markets while hurting homeowners.

Financial Post

Two-thirds of Vancouver renters unhappy with their living situation

In the apparently endless discussions related to the issue of real estate in Metro Vancouver, the true voice of renters has been conspicuously absent. Consequently, Insights West took a look at the actual landscape of renters in Metro Vancouver, and found a public that is mostly young, disappointed and dissatisfied with their position.

Vancouver Sun

New rules for landlords sound good to tenant of much-lamented building

For Geri Stevens, a longtime tenant advocate who resides in the most-complained-about apartment building in Toronto, changes to how the city polices bad landlords can’t come soon enough. She lives at 500 Dawes Rd., where there were 453 complaints lodged with the city between 2010 and 2015.

Toronto Star

Shipping container homes having a moment in Edmonton

Laneway housing is a relatively new concept in Edmonton, but changes to the city’s bylaws have sparked a mini-boom in these structures and prompted one local start-up to bring shipping container suites to the city for the first time. Mr. Engelman and Mr. Siebenga met around the time Edmonton was changing it’s bylaws covering laneway housing.

Globe and Mail

Statscan fails to keep pace with seniors’ living arrangements

In the wake of the 2016 census, researchers say they’re increasingly worried about limited data on a key segment of Canada’s booming senior population. For the latest census distributed in May, Statistics Canada allowed administrators of nursing and retirement homes to complete a short-form census on behalf of residents.

Globe and Mail

Canada’s housing starts fall in July from June: CMHC

Canadian housing starts fell in July from June, as construction of multiple units – typically condos – fell 13.3 per cent after an unexpectedly large gain in June, data from the national housing agency showed on Tuesday.   The report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp showed the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts declined to 198,395 in July.

Globe and Mail

Intensification contributes to upswing in Toronto’s detached housing

Intensification within Toronto proper has served to further bolster price appreciation as builders and end users compete for a limited number of single-detached properties listed for sale, according to a report released today by RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd. The overall average price of a detached home in the 416 area code is up 16.4 per cent in the first six months of 2016.

Canada Newswire

Calgary home sales drop to 1996 levels

Calgary’s housing market is bracing for more pain as persistently weak oil prices, mounting layoffs and slowing population growth continue to keep buyers on the sidelines. Home resales in the city fell 12.6 per cent in July from the same time last year, the Calgary Real Estate Board reported.

Globe and Mail – CBC

RENX Columnists

Interview with Cathy Grant on boomers

For my book, The Stackable Boomer, we asked Cathy Grant, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Intracorp Projects Ltd for her thoughts on baby boomers.

Read more

Market Conditions

Canadian building permits tumble unexpectedly in June

The value of Canadian building permits unexpectedly sank in June, hurt by a drop in construction intentions for apartment and condominium buildings in Ontario and British Columbia, data from Statistics Canada showed on Monday.

Financial Post

Victoria real estate market continues to sizzle

A total of 972 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this July, an increase of 22 per cent compared to the 796 properties sold in July last year. Inventory levels remain lower than last year, with 2,161 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service® at the end of July 2016, 45 per cent fewer than the 3,942 active listings at the end of July 2015.

Marketwired

Could Montreal’s real estate market next for foreign investors?

A new tax on foreign buyers in Vancouver has real estate agents predicting a spillover effect into other Canadian markets. But it’s unclear if Montreal, often an outlier when it comes to real estate trends, will be among them.

CBC

RENX Market Summaries

Renewed confidence buoys residential housing in Ottawa in Q2

A renewed sense of confidence within the civil service sector, following last year’s federal election, combined with more affordable housing options throughout Ottawa and the surrounding areas, have contributed to an upswing in residential resale home buying activity according to RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Group.

Canada Newswire

Buying and Selling

Realtors mix business with condolences

A 73-year-old man who lost his wife less than three weeks earlier was crushed to get a pitch for his business attached to a sympathy card from two Metro Vancouver real estate agents, his outraged daughter says. “It absolutely devastated him,” Launi Smith Bowie said. “It’s absolutely disgusting and misguided in the worst way.”

Vancouver Sun

Other

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