Condos fuel strongest year in a decade for Canadian builders

Condos fuel strongest year in a decade for Canadian builders

Last year was a blockbuster for Canada’s real estate developers after work began on the most homes in a decade amid soaring demand nationwide. Construction started on 219,675 units, according to 2017 data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. That’s up from 197,916 in 2016 and the most since 2007. Starts on multiple-unit projects such as condos were the highest on record in data going back to 1959.

Bloomberg – Montreal Gazette – Ottawa Business Journal – Winnipeg Free Press

Luxury condos sales drive top-tier market: Sotheby’s

A $20-million penthouse with views of downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario helped luxury condominiums shatter sales records in Canada last year, bucking a cooling trend in the rest of the housing market. The 7,000-square-foot residence was the most expensive condo sold in the country in 2017, according to Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. Sales of condos with a price tag above $1 million surged 59 per cent in Toronto.

Bloomberg – Toronto Star – Montreal Gazette – Globe and Mail

Coquitlam condo’s assessment more than doubles

Katherine Munro knew the assessment on her Coquitlam condo was going to rise but was floored in December to get a warning from B.C. Assessment the increase would be more than 100 per cent. Munro’s building was heavily damaged by a massive fire in February 2015, and is just now in the finishing stages of a $12-million restoration. B.C. Assessment documents show Munro’s 2018 assessment increased to $396,000 from $196,100 a year ago. 

Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail – Vancouver Province – CBC

Ben Myers has a new home, Bullpen Research

Housing industry veteran Ben Myers has launched a boutique residential real estate advisory firm called Bullpen Research & Consulting Inc. “We’ll be concentrating on residential market studies, working with builders, developers, land owners and lenders on underwriting new projects, finding the right mix of units, the appropriate suite sizes, pricing and amenities,” said Myers.

Property Biz Canada – Newinhomes.com

‘Peak millennial’ ready to descend on TO market: Royal LePage CEO

“Peak millennial” refers to the largest cohort of millennials, born between 1987 and 1993, which will be closely watched by realtors in 2018. Royal LePage president and CEO Phil Soper believes the group will be a major player in the Toronto real estate market in 2018. “They’re finally fleeing the nest,” Soper said in an interview with CBC Toronto.

CBC – Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Business In Vancouver

Priced out of urban areas, millennials opt for the cottage

Like many people in their late 20s and early 30s, Heather Payne and her husband, Shawn Konopinsky don’t own the place where they live with their one-year-old baby. Instead, they own a cottage. For the past five years, they have rented their apartment in the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale, joining the 50 per cent of millennials who are still renting by age 30.

Globe and Mail

New homebuyers, developers could be pushed into suburbs

Canada’s new mortgage stress test could push many Metro Vancouver entry-level homebuyers deeper into the suburbs, but it won’t stem an ‘insatiable’ demand, says one local developer. Cressey Development Group vice-president of development Jason Turcotte said the rules that took effect on Jan. 2 would likely “shift” a lot of lower-rung home-buying investment, rather than eliminate it.

Property Biz Canada – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Newinhomes.com

Vancouver prices drive young condo buyers to Kelowna

Construction has begun on a condo tower in downtown Kelowna that, when completed in 2020, not only will be the tallest building between Vancouver and Calgary, it will symbolize a remarkable change in the real estate market dynamics of B.C.’s Lower Mainland. The building known as One Water Street will occupy a site that once was planned as a retirement playground.

Globe and Mail

How deep is Vancouver’s foreign home ownership?

If $45 billion in foreign-owned Metro Vancouver housing represents the “tip of the iceberg” — to use the recent words of one federal official — then Andy Yan is a bit worried about what’s under the water. Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, spent the past three weeks “drilling deep” into gigabytes of raw data on Vancouver property ownership, released last month by Statistics Canada.

Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail – Vancouver Province

Renting a Toronto apartment has become a losing battle

Go ahead, just try to rent an apartment in Toronto. The feat is getting even harder, with supply tight and prices showing no sign of retreating. The vacancy rate in the fourth quarter was among the lowest ever, at 0.3 per cent, according to Urbanation Inc. The average monthly rent for a condominium rose by 9.1 per cent to $2,166 from a year earlier.

Bloomberg – Toronto Star – REMI Network

Toronto has room for more density: Fraser Institute

Slow-moving roads, the subway squish and mushrooming skyscrapers might be the most obviously irksome signs of Toronto’s growing population density. But there’s still plenty of room for more people in The Six before it approaches the top of a list of 30 high-income, international cities, says a new study by the Fraser Institute.

Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – CBC

Van. housing crisis priced Robertson out of mayoral bid: Opinion

The mayor had become unelectable. Despite his best intentions, and a list of worthy accomplishments, Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson – who said on Wednesday he will not stand for re-election – would have gone into the next civic vote dogged by the one issue that will cast a long and ominous shadow over his record: housing. This was his city after all.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Vancouver Province

Vancouver’s empty homes tax prompts audits

The City of Vancouver has launched its empty homes tax audit system meant to ensure residents are complying with the program. The deadline for homeowners to declare if their residence is empty is Feb. 2, but the city says it has already sent out notices requesting some property owners provide evidence to support their declaration.

Victoria Times Colonist

Rise in house fires heats up calls for sprinklers in homes

Burned-out homes and distraught families are often all that’s left in the wake of a new breed of house fire that feeds off flammable furniture and open-concept designs. Those fires, which chew through homes with frightening speed, are prompting firefighters and fire-prevention groups in Canada to push for the installation of sprinkler systems in new homes across the country.

CBC

Hurricane Irma insurance losses top $7B

Estimated insurance losses from Hurricane Irma have reached $7.2 billion, as more than 877,000 claims have been filed since the September storm, according to information released Monday by the state Office of Insurance Regulation. More than 83 per cent of the claims involve residential property, with most in South Florida.

Daily Commercial News

Market Conditions

Housing slowdown could be exacerbated by interest-rate hike

Canada’s real-estate market will hit a slow patch in 2018 as tighter mortgage stress tests apply pressure and the impact could be exacerbated if an expected interest-rate hike drives buyers to put off their home purchases, economists said Monday. The Bank of Canada will make its first interest rate announcement of the year Wednesday. Many observers predict it will boost the benchmark rate by 25 points to 1.25 per cent.

Toronto Star – Business In Vancouver – Regina Leader-Post – Globe and Mail

Residential sales in Québec set a record in 2017

The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB) has just released its results for the province’s 2017 residential real estate market, based on the real estate brokers’ Centris provincial database. In total, 82,639 residential sales were concluded in 2017, a six per cent increase compared to 2016. It marked the third consecutive annual increase in sales, as well as a new sales record.

Canada Newswire – Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire

Atlantic Canadians hardest hit by housing, living costs

Housecats Bear and Teddy, pet rats Jasper, Tanner and Dimitri, hamsters Lola and Rover, and a guinea pig affectionately dubbed Whiney all share Evan Folland’s tiny bachelor apartment in Summerside, P.E.I. Her two dogs? Well, there’s just not enough room for them. The border collies, Hank and Martha, are staying with a friend, at least for now.

Halifax ChronicleHerald

U.S. rental market is at peak concessions

It wasn’t only the weather in December that was frigid. The rental market was facing all kinds of headwinds as the year came to an end. The share of rentals offering concessions set records in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, according to a report from Douglas Elliman, even accounting for seasonality.

The Real Deal – MarketWatch – Business Insider

Mortgage and Finance

More than 3,000 first-time homebuyers apply for B.C. gov’t loan

In January 2017, the government of B.C. started offering 25-year loans for first-time homebuyers applying for mortgages. The B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity (HOME) Partnership program will meet the buyer’s contribution up to five per cent of the home’s purchase price, to a maximum of $37,500. The loans are interest- and payment-free for the first five years.

BCBusiness

Taxes and Utilities

Montreal’s property tax rates are going up

The average residential property tax rate in Montreal is going up 3.3 per cent this year, a striking increase to previous years. The increase was made higher because of a hike in the water tax rate for the first time since 2013.

CBC

CRA targeting Lower Mainland neighbourhood

Residents of some of the most exclusive neighbourhoods on the North Shore may be targeted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) if their reported income does not appear to support their affluent lifestyles. The CRA’s Postal Code Project is targeting five wealthy neighbourhoods across the country – including one in the Lower Mainland – to start taking a closer look at residents’ tax filings.

Business In Vancouver

Natural Disasters

Future floods will be in mind as California town rebuilds

After power and drinking water return, and cleanup crews haul away the last of the boulders and muck that splintered homes like a battering ram, the wealthy seaside hideaway of Montecito, Calif.,, will start rebuilding with the possibility of another catastrophic flood in mind. Though parts of the town of about 9,000 were spared, the debris flows levelled entire blocks as they killed at least 20 people last week.

Winnipeg Free Press

Legal Issues

B.C.’s real estate watchdog sues Real Estate Council

A power struggle is brewing between a B.C. government-appointed regulator and the real estate industry council the regulator is supposed to oversee. They disagree over how to deal with complaints about a real estate agent and, unable to sort it out, will be sparring in court. The superintendent of real estate, Mike Noseworthy, has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court.

Vancouver Sun – CBC – Globe and Mail

Small houses

Tiny homes, tremendous opportunity? N.L. town hopes so

The town of Stephenville on the west coast of Newfoundland is banking on a tiny trend to grow the community. It’s amending a bylaw to shrink the minimum dwelling size to make way for a subdivision of small — very small — homes. Mayor Tom Rose said the town was approached by a developer interested in capitalizing on the growing popularity of tiny homes.

CBC

Tiny houses could be next affordable housing wave in Edmonton

We’ve seen monster homes. We’ve seen skinny homes. It looks like tiny homes could be next. Coun. Andrew Knack is among the advocates for this newest form of affordable housing in Edmonton. “It’s a huge gap, a huge opportunity for seniors and more affordable housing (for anyone),” said Knack, who plans to introduce a motion to include tiny homes in the next infill revisions when staff return with an update this year.

Edmonton Journal

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Housing crunch squeezes students in Kamloops, B.C.

The 1.2 per cent vacancy rate in Kamloops has created a housing shortage for students at Thompson Rivers University (TRU). Glenn Read, the university’s director of ancillary services, said TRU’s on-campus residences are full, and administrators are aware some students are staying in nearby hotels. He added the university – B.C.’s fifth-largest, with an enrolment of 25,754 students – expects demand for an additional 104 beds by 2021.

Business In Vancouver

Buying and Selling

Victoria seller seeks buyer with bitcoin

A vacant lot in an upscale Victoria neighbourhood is for sale for $2.5 million — or the equivalent in bitcoin. Hugo Donais’s 20,000 square-foot lot sits on Midland Road in the Uplands subdivision. The listing describes the lot as the perfect spot to build a dream home — on a country lane and walking distance from the golf course and yacht club.

CBC – Globe and Mail

$750,000 Toronto listing not pretty

With how expensive housing in Toronto is, $750,000 for a house downtown sounds pretty decent, right? Well, when they say something’s too good to be true, it probably is.  This two-bedroom row house might sound like a good deal based on location alone — it’s near Trinity Bellwoods Park and many great amenities. It doesn’t look bad on the outside. Nice and red.

HuffPost Canada

Other

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