Juwai, Tencent to sell U.S. & Canadian real estate

Juwai, Tencent to sell U.S. & Canadian real estate

Just when you thought foreign buying was starting to subside, two Chinese behemoths partner to ramp it up. Juwai, China’s largest foreign real estate platform, and Tencent have created a partnership to expand the reach of Chinese buyers in international markets. The deal is expected to grow the reach of both companies, but they might have a hard time growing the industry.

Better Dwelling

Vancouver the most expensive Canadian city to move to

Vancouver got more lousy news last week concerning its affordability and ability to recruit workers and, therefore, employers. Movinga, which bills itself as “Europe’s leading online provider of moving services,” announced in its 2017 Relocation Price Index Vancouver is the most expensive city in Canada to move to, and the 15th most expensive city in the world.

Vancouver Province – Business In Vancouver – Toronto Star

Vancouver landlords are being persuaded to sell

Bob Wilson was an old-school landlord, the kind who’d rather learn how to fix a clogged drain himself than call in a plumber. The retired firefighter owned and meticulously managed the character three-storey on leafy Barclay Street in Vancouver’s West End for 40 years, until he sold it last year for an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver apartment costs 60% more than in Toronto

Vancouver had Canada’s highest average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in January, with Toronto in a very distant second place according to Padmapper. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver increased 4% to $3,150 in the month. This is almost 60% higher than the average rent for this home type in Toronto, which grew 3.7% to $1,970 in the month.

Business in Vancouver

Toronto’s hot housing market driving up regional prices

Canada’s largest city just keeps getting bigger — at least in terms of what constitutes “Toronto” real estate. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday it is seeing a so-called spillover effect as far  away as the St. Catharines-Niagara region after already witnessing the impact in places like Guelph, Hamilton and Barrie.

Financial Post – Marketwired

Montreal landlords to crack down on pot use by tenants

A lobby group representing Montreal landlords wants to crack down on tenants who smoke pot in their apartments. In a statement released Friday, the Association des propriétaires d’appartements du grand Montréal (APAGM) encouraged landlords to add a new clause to the leases they sign with tenants: one that forbids them from lighting a joint in their dwelling.

Montreal Gazette

Online alternative lender Mogo puts on mortgage broker hat

Mogo Finance Technology Inc. has taken a step into the world of mortgages, registering as a broker in three provinces and launching an online and mobile interface where users can compare rates, apply for a mortgage and track their payment progress. The Vancouver-based fintech company, which also offers online personal loans, unveiled MogoMortgage this week.

Financial Post

Twelve-storey student residence proposed for Bronson and Carling

A student residence developer is proposing a 12-storey, 172-unit tower a kilometre north of Carleton University, near the intersection of Bronson and Carling avenues. If approved, it would be the the latest in a growing line of student housing projects constructed by private developers, who analysts say stand to make more money on student residences than traditional apartments.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Citizen

Developer moving ahead with Edmonton luxury high rise

Toronto developer Brad Lamb says Alberta’s economy is on the mend and he’s moving ahead this year with two downtown Edmonton residential towers. Construction will start this summer or fall on Jasper House, a 37-storey luxury building slated for what has been parking lots along 106 Street north of Jasper Avenue, the president and owner of Lamb Development Corp. said.

Edmonton Journal

Victoria pushes for Vancouver-style real estate taxes

B.C.’s capital region is looking to follow in Metro Vancouver’s footsteps taxing foreign buyers and vacant homes. Victoria City Councillor and member of the 13 Municipalities Regional Board Ben Isitt says new regulations on the other side of the Georgia Straight have left the capital behind.

newstalk770

Assessments hammer B.C. landlords

The low-rise apartment building on Burnaby Street in Vancouver’s West End was assessed at $15.1 million in 2016, but BC Assessment valued it at $25.4 million for 2017, a 68 per cent lift in value. This is  representative of the higher assessments – and property taxes – Metro’s multi-family landlords are facing this year.

Business In Vancouver

Multifamily execs in the U.S. see market retreating

For the second consecutive  quarter, apartment conditions as measured by the National Multifamily Housing Council’s quarterly survey showed signs of ebbing. All four indexes in the survey remained below the break-even level of 50, and two of those indexes retreated considerably from the previous quarter.

Globest.com

Canadian property searches up after Trump elected

The election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency has created a surge in Americans eyeballing Canadian property. But don’t expect an influx of U.S. real estate buyers north of the border, said Phil Soper, CEO of Royal LePage.  There may be more interest in Canada, he said, but “who knows how educated American real estate researchers are in the steps necessary to actually relocate on a permanent basis? It certainly is easy to look.”

Toronto Star – The Chronicle Herald – CBC – Global News

Wealthy locals, American billionaire among Trump condo owners

No residential tower in recent memory has been scrutinized as much as the new Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver. To see who bought what were reported as the highest price-per-square-foot for condos in Canada at the time they were sold, Postmedia News did a search of records.

Vancouver Sun

Will Trump end crackdown on dirty cash in luxury real estate?

Just a month after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a federal anti-money laundering program that targets luxury real estate is set to expire. The dragnet monitors pricey home deals for signs of dirty cash, helping detect criminals who launder money through real estate. Manhattan and Miami-Dade County were the first markets scrutinized by the feds. 

Miami Herald

Market Conditions

Developers shift annual forecast to rental housing

The development industry focused its annual forecast on how to build more rental housing as well as the impact of government zoning and transit on affordability. For many years, the Urban Development Insitute’s January luncheon has been a go-to event for developers, agents and brokers looking to hear what is next.

Vancouver Province

A history of Toronto real estate peaks and crashes

Greater Toronto Area real estate has seen a number of boom-and-bust cycles over the years, and a local realtor has charted half a century’s worth. Using historical figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board, Marisha Robinsky, a long-time agent currently with Bosley Real Estate, shows the peaks and valleys of GTA price growth dating back to 1953.

Buzzbuzzhome.com

New Developments

Residential development has companies, people on the move

Landa Global Properties Ltd.’s purchase of 3594 Main Street in September 2015 for $11.4 million is helping reconfigure the retail landscape of the city. Construction of 45 apartments will begin at the site this summer. While coffee continues to flow at Bean Around the World on the corner, Burritt Bros. relocated its flooring business in August.

Business in Vancouver

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

The screening process

The old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” can – and should – be applied to many things. In architecture however, it’s difficult, since our collective experience is often of the façade alone. That’s why Heritage Conservation Districts strive to preserve only the public faces of buildings.

Globe and Mail

Calgary mom frightened, frustrated after sudden asbestos vacate notice

Karise Letourneau says she didn’t think much about a letter left on her door in late December that said her housing co-op needed to do air quality tests — especially because the letter said, “there is nothing to worry about.”​ But she was shocked on Monday when the co-op office called to say the air tested positive for asbestos and she “needed to vacate the house immediately.”

CBC

Legal Issues

First strata wind-up without unanimous vote goes to court

British Columbia Supreme Court is considering approving the first petition to wind up a strata corporation since B.C. passed a law making it easier for condominium owners to sell their complexes without achieving a unanimous vote of all owners.

Business In Vancouver

Condominium Management

Looking at Ontario’s General condo licence

In this series of blog, we explore the various condo management licences that will be granted under the new Condominium Management Services Act, once this legislation comes into force. In this post, we summarize the nature and requirements of the Condo Manager General Licence. This post also addresses grandfathering provisions of this new legislation.

Lexology

Construction

Sam Mizrahi’s Ottawa condo sales office opens

The development of 1451 Wellington West is briskly moving forward with its $1.5 million sales gallery scheduled to open in February this year is being developed by Mizrahi Developments, a private real estate development founded and led by Sam Mizrahi that is committed to building landmark mid- to high-rise buildings that enhance the street landscapes of Canada.

Canada Newswire

Prefab homes may help reduce Alberta’s construction waste

Alberta is thought to have one of the biggest construction and demolition waste problems in Canada, but so little actual data exists that the real size of the problem is still unknown. Alberta consistently produces the highest volume of waste per capita in the country, ranks third in total waste production (behind Ontario and Manitoba) and has lower diversion rates compared with other provinces.

Globe and Mail

Affordable Housing

Cities should be more realistic about homelessness: report

Cities around the world that have made bold promises to eradicate homelessness should instead be setting more realistic goals that acknowledge the problem is too complex to be solved quickly, a new report from researchers at the University of Calgary says. The report suggests cities adopt an approach to homelessness called “functional zero” where homelessness is brief.

Globe and Mail

Big city mayors to demand cash for social housing

The country’s big city mayors, including John Tory, are demanding cash now to protect crumbling social housing as their most pressing priority as they meet in Ottawa Friday. As the Big City Mayors’ Caucus is expected to share concerns with federal officials that anything but an immediate cash commitment will put vital housing stock for cities’ most vulnerable populations in jeopardy.

Toronto Star

Winnipeg seniors housing made affordable

The Fred Douglas Society Inc. plans to build 28 new life-lease rental apartments in north Winnipeg to help ease an ongoing shortage of affordable seniors housing units in the city. The four-storey, 55-plus, Fred Douglas Gardens complex will be built on property the society owns.

Winnipeg Free Press

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Montreal to opt for less intense LED lighting

The city of Montreal has backtracked on its plan to install high-intensity LED-lighting on its 132,000 street lamps over fears the bluish-white light can cause health problems and increases light pollution. 

Montreal Gazette

Other

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