Foreign ownership of TO, Vancouver housing below five per cent

Foreign ownership of TO, Vancouver housing below five per cent

Foreign ownership of housing in Canada’s two largest markets, Toronto and Vancouver, is below five per cent, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday in a report that suggests foreign investors are not the biggest factor driving up home prices in Canada. The new data showed non-residents owned 3.4 per cent of all residential properties in Toronto, while the value of the properties was 3.0 per cent of housing stock.

Reuters – Toronto Star – CBC – Canada Newswire

Killam acquires Halifax, London properties

Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) Monday announced $60.7 million of acquisitions. On Friday, Killam purchased Valhalla Apartments, a 106-unit building in Halifax, for $13.0 million ($122,000 per unit) and Fairview Terrace, an eight-building, 106-unit complex, in London, Ont., for $8.5 million ($80,200 per unit).

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Mainstreet buys 641 Regina apartments from Boardwalk

Mainstreet Equity Corporation continued bulking up its apartment portfolio with the acquisition of 641 units in Regina for $71.65 million from Boardwalk REIT (BEI-UN-T) . The portfolio consists of 49 properties which are known as Boardwalk Estates, and includes two acres of residual land as well as a warehouse. The buildings contain as many as 35 apartments, but most range from four to 24 units. 

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Timbercreek builds resort-style apartments in South Ottawa

A South Ottawa neighbourhood is about to see a serious intensification as a result of Timbercreek’s revitalization of its extensive portfolio in the area. Construction is underway as Timbercreek replaces 80 older townhomes – now demolished – with three, six-storey multi-residential buildings in its Herongate apartment complex.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Builders incorporate family-friendly ideas, but price a roadblock

When Elad Canada began marketing the latest phases of its nine-tower, 3,000-unit Emerald City master planned community near Sheppard and Don Mills in Toronto’s North York earlier this year, the firm decided to eliminate bachelors and significantly boost the number of larger (800-1,000 square foot) two- and three-bedroom condos on offer. In fact, one tower, The Point, will have three-bedroom apartments on each of 10 upper floors.

Globe and Mail

Toronto-area builders point again to land shortage

Developers say new studies point to a worsening shortage of buildable land in and around the Greater Toronto Area. A report by Altus Group showed that, of 5,377 new homes sold in October, 2017 in the GTA, “about 91 per cent of them (4,884 units) were multi-family homes, and only nine per cent (493) were low-rise single-family homes such as detached and semi-detached houses and townhomes.”

Globe and Mail – Newinhomes.com

Salefish more than just real estate transaction software

Salefish Software received the Global Innovation Award from the National Association of Home Builders last year, when one in every six low-rise homes in the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Golden Horseshoe were sold using its software. And the company’s quest for what co-founder Rob Nicolucci half-jokingly refers to as “global domination” is just beginning.

Property Biz Canada

High-tech, energy-efficient homes in Eden Park, east of Toronto

Fourteen Estates’ Eden Park subdivision in Newtonville, Ont., will be comprised of 28 energy-efficient homes built with BONE Structure’s patented steel structure construction system. “We’re definitely pushing the envelope on the modern design side and with the technology and efficiency of these homes,” said Mark Wadden, president and chief executive officer of Blue Elephant Group Inc., which is overseeing marketing and sales for Eden Park.

Property Biz Canada

Calgary takes ‘tremendous step forward’ on secondary suites

After years of attempts at reform, and countless hours spent debating individual applications at Calgary city council, secondary suites are one significant step closer to being allowed city-wide. A majority of councillors — 10 to 5 — voted to allow suites as a discretionary use in all areas of Calgary, meaning applicants will no longer have to plead their case directly to councillors and the mayor.

CBC – Calgary Herald

Have Vancouver’s policies hindered rental housing?

Vancouver’s stratospheric housing costs have driven the city to groundbreaking interventions to make more rentals available. That has included Canada’s first sin tax for homes left vacant and a radical new housing policy emphasizing creating purpose-built apartments geared to rates local residents can afford. But some developers and housing advocates say the city has actually obstructed efforts.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Ottawa condo sector on a roll

After their two sons had gone away to university, Dean and Hilary Flett decided it was time to downsize from their renovated bungalow in Westboro, one of Ottawa’s trendiest neighbourhoods and mere minutes from the city’s downtown core. They bought a two-bedroom condo this summer – part of a growing segment of Ottawa buyers who are choosing the condo life.

Globe and Mail

Surrey faces expensive problem of too many parking spaces

Surrey’s City Centre area is dealing with a problem that many communities in Metro Vancouver would love to have —  too much parking. A new survey of more than 50 residential buildings in the area has found there are far more stalls than cars.

CBC

Canada’s housing risks move to the shadows

Mortgage broker Samantha Brookes is trying to figure out how to get one of her clients out of a housing-fuelled debt hole. The couple, a 59-year-old Toronto city worker and her husband, 58, have so much debt that they stopped making payments on the $410,000 mortgage for their suburban home. 

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Shut out of the housing market, Gen Y is killing it on debt reduction

Not owning a house can do wonders for your personal finances. Over the past two decades, the only segment of the population with any momentum in becoming debt-free is the young adult under age 35. Prohibitively expensive housing is a big part of the story. No house = less debt.

Globe and Mail

LPAT aims to improve land-use planning appeal process

The Build Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act, 2017, is set to replace the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). LPAT will act as an independent tribunal at arm’s length from the government with hopes of making the land-use planning appeal process faster, fairer, and more affordable.

Newinhomes.com

Market Conditions

U.S. homebuilder sentiment hits 18-year high

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders jumped in December to the highest level since July 1999, exceeding all analyst estimates, as a growing economy boosts housing demand, according to data Monday from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.

Bloomberg

Manhattan luxury condo sales skew apartment prices: survey

A boom in newly built luxury apartments in Manhattan has skewed prices for the overall residential real estate market in the borough and masked a sharp drop in transaction volume over the past five years, a property report on Wednesday showed.

Reuters

New Developments

Downtown Charlottetown apartment development faces another hurdle

A Prince Edward Island developer is standing his ground after Charlottetown condo owners appealed the approval of his plan to build an apartment complex in the city’s downtown to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission. The appeal was issued Friday by a lawyer on behalf of the condo corporation at Rochford Condominiums to APM Group CEO Tim Banks.

CBC

New York meets Toronto at the Brownstones of Forest Hill Village

In an unprecedented move, AB8 Group is targeting sophisticated urban dwellers — an untapped segment of the Toronto housing market — for its two, four-storey, 12,000-plus-square-foot  Forest Hill brownstones, each valued at $25 million. The high-end builder, well-known for extraordinary attention to detail, recently unveiled the project located at 469 Spadina Rd.

Canada Newswire

Taxes and Utilities

Why it’s time to rethink our property tax regimes

Owners of more expensive homes pay higher property taxes. But in return, those paying higher property taxes do not necessarily receive more or better local services than those neighbours who pay less. That is one of several shortcomings in the way property taxes are devised, imposed and collected that contribute to a frequent sense of discontent among taxpayers.

Financial Post

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Hamilton doesn’t need real estate bargain-hunting Torontonians

If you visit Hamilton and spend some time looking around, you may come across some faded stickers that read: “Go Back To Toronto.” Do Hamiltonians generally share this sentiment? Well, it’s complicated. What started off as a mean-spirited joke years ago with the early influx of Torontonians moving to Hamilton has now turned into hurt feelings and a panic about Hamilton’s future.

Globe and Mail

Buying and Selling

Tiny bungalow in Alberta’s Foothills costs $2.9M

A 704-square-foot home in southern Alberta is listed for an astounding $2.9 million. Tucked away in the Foothills 90 kilometres west of Calgary lies a one-bedroom, 1.5-bath bungalow designed by the world-famous architect James Cutler, who designed Bill Gates’ home.

CBC

Other

Jayman, Hopewell on top for Readers’ Choice Awards

Jayman Built landed top honours in two builder categories and a community by Hopewell Residential extended its winning streak in a recent set of awards based on survey results. The Readers’ Choice Awards through the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun cover a range of segments, including Food and Drink, Arts and Entertainment, Automative, Education/Career, Shopping and Services, Health, Fitness and Leisure, along with with Home Improvement and Communities. 

Calgary Herald

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