Speculation in Toronto condos mitigated by presales

Speculation in Toronto condos mitigated by presales

Most Toronto condominium projects do not begin construction until 70 per cent of units are sold, curbing the risk of speculation, Canada’s housing agency said on Tuesday in a report that suggested overbuilding fears may be overdone. A prolonged Canadian housing market boom, particularly in the two major markets of Toronto and Vancouver, has sparked fears of a bubble.

Globe and Mail – Marketwired – Financial Post

Urbancorp leaves hopeful homeowners in limbo

Three years ago, Loraine Adal-Salmon, who works in hospital administration, and her husband Anthony Salmon, a medical technologist, pooled their savings and put an $82,000 deposit on a three-storey semi-detached house with a finished basement and back yard that Urbancorp Inc. agreed to build them at the site of a decommissioned public school in midtown Toronto.

Financial Post – Moves Smartly

Adi Development’s Burlington project draws young buyers

Adi Development Group has launched a handful of condominiums in Burlington, Ont. over the past few years and its latest, StationWest, seems to be especially appealing to young people.  The appeal to many of these millennials is the development’s location in a mobility hub on 13 acres of reclaimed brownfield land adjacent to Metrolinx’s Aldershot GO station.

Property Biz Canada

CRA crackdown on B.C. real estate tax cheats heats debate

A federal crackdown on tax cheats in Vancouver’s sizzling housing market has critics calling on B.C. to demand Ottawa do more to help combat the “out-of-control” real estate market. A Chinese daily newspaper reported that a CRA employee leaked a slideshow outlining a planned crackdown on high-end homeowners with minimal incomes.

CBC.ca – SCMP – Globe and Mail

The murky legal waters of an urban empty homes tax

Using taxation as an instrument of social policy is hardly new. In fact, the intent of a lot of taxes is to achieve the happy result (for government anyway) of both raising revenue and influencing behaviour. And so it is with the current proposal to tax empty homes. Taxing empty homes seems to be uncharted territory in Canada.

Business in Vancouver – Financial Post

Your idea of a teardown is my idea of a home

In an overheated real estate market, diplomacy is the first thing to go.  We received yet another “Dear Homeowner” letter the other day, penned by an agent working with “several developers” who are anxious to acquire multiple properties in our neighbourhood.

Globe and Mail

Average Canadian house price up 11.2% from year ago

The average price for a Canadian home was $503,301 last month, a figure that has increased by 11.2 per cent in the past year.  The Canadian Real Estate Association said that hot markets in Toronto and Vancouver continue to skew the national average higher. If those two cities are stripped out, the average house cost would be $374,760.

CBC.ca – Financial Post

Soon you’ll need $1-million to buy a home in New Zealand

Auckland’s average house price has just topped $975,000 and it’s still rising. With high investor demand, low interest rates, and record high immigration it’s projected to crack a million dollars later this year. Yep, you’ll soon need upwards of a $1 million to get a bog standard house in a bog standard neighbourhood.

VICE.com

West Vancouver property developers caught in lawsuit

A wealthy West Vancouver real estate developer faces an unusual lawsuit involving a $10 million loan which was advanced in China with the key term that it must be repaid in B.C.  The suit was filed in B.C. Supreme Court on June 1 against Qiang Wang (also known as Edison Washington) by a Chinese businesswoman who claims he defaulted on the loan after making an initial interest payment.

The Province

Economists go to battle over foreign investors

One economist calls in complete nonsense while another wonders how anyone can suggest foreign investors are not having an influence on the market. Without naming anyone, Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter has called out a report from Wednesday which suggested it was “complete nonsense” that price gains in Toronto were justified based on foreign buying, among other issues.

Financial Post

TREB requests a stay Competition Tribunal order

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has filed an application with the Federal Court of Appeal to stay the Competition Tribunal’s June 3 order, which requires TREB to, in part, stop its “anti-competitive practices” and not exclude sold and other disputed data from its virtual office website feed.

REM Online

Royal LePage warns against house-flipping

Amid mounting concerns over the Vancouver and Toronto housing market comes a warning and a forecast from Royal LePage on two key issues:  The warning: Speculating on real estate is unwise. The forecast: Expect more foreign buyers to jump into those hot cities.

Globe and Mail

Dangerous real-estate document a path to court

The Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS) continues to be the single most dangerous document in current use in the real estate market. Since 1997, when the form first came into use, there have been 94 reported Ontario court cases centred on the document. Across the country, the total exceeds 250. Many more have been settled or are unreported.

Toronto Star

A unique design for the new condominium project

With its recent success in Villeray related to the condominiums project Castelnau, DevMcGill and TMSA announce the beginning of designing the development plans for the new condominium project Ateliers Castelnau: a project of approximately 310 units, this time in the heart of Mile-Ex. It will be an invest­ment of nearly 100 million dollars.

Canada Newswire

Halifax mansions to be demolished for 11-home project

Another mansion on Halifax’s Young Avenue is set to be demolished as a developer hopes to create a subdivision in the midst of a street known for its history. The Cleveland Estate, at 851 Young Ave., used to be surrounded by lush greens. Now it’s a barren, fenced-in pile of dirt.

The Chronicle Herald

Market Conditions

Homebuilders struggle to keep up with Canadian boom

The housing boom in Canada’s hottest cities has spilled over into the suburbs, where builders say they are working as fast as they can to meet soaring demand and get homes to market before a much-feared housing bust.  Existing home inventory is at a six-year low and the average price up 11.2 per cent from a year ago. New developments have become the next frontier in a what some fear is a housing bubble.

Globe and Mail

‘Irrational’ 10-year home price spike transforms Vancouver

The proportion of million-dollar detached homes in Vancouver jumped from just 11 per cent a decade ago to more than 90 per cent last year – a dramatic increase that experts warn is “irrational” and could soon come to an end.

Globe and Mail – Huffington Post

Foreign investors small part of Montreal market: CMHC

A report by CMHC says the number of foreign investors in the Montreal area real estate market is small and concentrated in condominiums in the city’s downtown. The report by the federal agency found that 1.3 per cent of condominiums in the greater Montreal area were owned by foreigners last year, but that rose to 4.9 per cent in the city’s downtown.

Global News

Luxury condo sales sets record in Calgary

Sotheby’s International Realty Canada today announced two noteworthy sales, setting new records for the highest sold price for condominiums sold in Calgary on MLS over the past three years. The 5,000 square foot and 3,000 square foot condominiums sold for $8,389,500 and $5,145,000 respectively. Both are part of THE RIVER.

Marketwired

New Developments

Contractor says he’ll take treehouse dispute to OMB

A nautical-themed treehouse built by Toronto contractor John Alpeza won’t necessarily be demolished following a Committee of Adjustment hearing.  However, observing all zoning bylaws would transform the $30,000 structure from a kids’ playhouse into a garden shed that once dreamed it was a boat.

Daily Commercial News

Edmonton seeks new direction on contentious infill policy

Expect a shift in the infill debate. Edmonton’s focus on increasing density one duplex or skinny house at a time has left it with angry neighbours and an infill target that seems way out of reach. Its new focus is on transit nodes and corridors, says chief city planner Peter Ohm.

Edmonton Journal

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Preventing urban heat islands

For the last 100 years, scientists have been exploring the reason why temperatures are so much warmer in the city compared to the rural areas surrounding them. This phenomenon, called an urban heat island, is a direct result of our activities. Unfortunately, with global warming, this increased heat continues to go up in areas with lots of stone and concrete.

The Chronicle Herald

Taxes and Utilities

Why you might appeal your property assessment: Mayers

The downside of the GTA’s housing boom has been landing in mail boxes across the province for the past two months. It’s a warning of higher property taxes to come in the form of notices from the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) of the new assessed value of your home. This value is used to set your property taxes.

Toronto Star

Other

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