B.C.’s move to tax foreign home buyers applauded

B.C.’s move to tax foreign home buyers applauded

Real estate industry watchers applauded a surprise move by the B.C. government to tax foreign home buyers in the Vancouver region and urged politicians in Canada’s other hot housing market – Toronto – to follow suit.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Financial Post – CBC

B.C. real estate reform: The end of self-regulation

The British Columbia government is in the midst of an overhaul of how the housing market is regulated and taxed, amid growing concerns that foreign ownership, rampant speculation and unscrupulous real estate agents are fuelling an affordability crisis. The province has announced an end to self-regulation for the industry, a tax on vacant homes in the City of Vancouver; and a 15 per cent tax on home purchases involving foreigners.

Globe and Mail

U.S. apartment market explained at Toronto conference

The United States apartment market is ahead of the curve compared to Canada, and two experts from Dallas, Texas conveyed their experiences on June 21 at the North American New Apartment Construction and Mixed-Use Symposium and Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Property Biz Canada

Global destinations that impose tax on foreign buyers

B.C. isn’t the only jurisdiction seeking relief from high home prices blamed on an influx of speculative foreign money.  Hong Kong, Australia, Denmark, Britain, Phillipines, Mexico and Switzerland have similar legislation.

Vancouver Sun

Industry critical of new B.C. tax on foreigners buying homes

Industry reaction to the B.C. government’s plan to tax foreign investors an extra 15% when buying residential real estate in Metro Vancouver has been swift and critical.  The government announced July 25 that foreigners who buy B.C. homes will have to pay the new tax, starting August 2.

Business in Vancouver – Business in Vancouver – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Tax likely to have little effect on condo sales

A 15-per-cent additional property transfer tax payable by foreign buyers will likely have little effect on the sale of condos or apartments because few are sold to foreign buyers, according to local developers and realtors.  And most predict the tax on residential purchases won’t help housing affordability because its tries to limit demand as opposed to increasing supply.

Vancouver Sun

Ontario urged to consider tax on foreign homebuyers: Video

Globe and Mail – Ottawa Business Journal – Globe and Mail

Permit red tape holding up 69,500 housing units

Complex permitting rules are holding up 69,500 housing units in a half-dozen Metro Vancouver cities, homes that the development industry says would help alleviate the region’s housing crunch. Red tape means complying with dozens of government-imposed rules. They can require double-bulb ceiling fixtures, painting steps a certain way and making provisions for a second refrigerator — all of which must be checked by overworked inspectors.

Vancouver Sun

Why the spikes in Ontario electricity prices are so shocking

Bank of Montreal’s chief economist wonders whether the unrelenting spike in Ontario electricity costs is, well, “shocking.” “In Ontario, only three other categories in the [consumer price index] have risen faster than electricity since 2002: water charges, home insurance and cigarettes,” Douglas Porter said.

Globe and Mail

MPAC assessments leaving some Ottawa residents confused

Check your mailbox — you may be in for a surprise about the value of your house. That’s especially true in the wards of Kitchissippi and Rideau-Goulbourn, which have seen the city’s biggest increases in property values.  The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, or MPAC, assessments are starting to arrive. And they’re leaving some people with a lot of questions. 

CBC – Ottawa Business Journal

Short-term Toronto house rentals jump 350% over last year

There is a lot to do in the city this time of year. From music festivals to the Caribbean Carnival to the Toronto International Film Festival, thousands have good reason to flock to Toronto.  Those people all need places to stay, and homeowners are taking advantage of the short-term rental boom.  

CBC.ca

Rural P.E.I. condos aimed at baby boomer market

A Summerside developer is betting that baby boomers would be happy to settle down in one of P.E.I.’s smaller communities. Don Reid, president of Island Condos, has put together a business plan to create three 20 to 30 unit condo buildings in Stanley Bridge, Souris, and in Summerside. He already has interest from potential buyers for half of the Summerside units and 20 per cent of the Stanley Bridge units, but no interest yet for Souris.

CBC

New condo complex for Old Tuxedo

One of the oldest areas of the city — Old Tuxedo — will soon be home to one of the newest condominium developments.  Winnipeg’s Karma Development Corp. plans to built a five-storey, 68-unit condo complex on a 1.9-acre parcel of land on the southwest corner of the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

Winnipeg Free Press

Private buyers lead student housing transactions

Continued low interest rates and demographic tailwinds are bringing an inflow of cross-border capital into the U.S. housing market. Case in point: The $1.3 billion acquisition in June of University Housing Communities Group (UHC) by Chicago-based Scion Group, which partnered with GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, as well as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

MultiFamily Executive

Have Trump condos lost their luster?

At the request of Yahoo! Finance, Redfin built a model that analyzed a sample of sales of Donald Trump-branded condos to similar units, controlling for location, size, number of bedrooms and other factors. We looked at selling success metrics before and after Trump’s presidential campaign began to see whether there was any correlation between his political presence and how well homes in his buildings were selling.

Redfin

RENX Columnists

Floor rates

If you’ve recently discussed a commercial mortgage with a lender, you have likely encountered floor rates. As bond rates have sunk lower, they are becoming a regular and necessary part of lending in Canada.

Read more

Market Conditions

Why Calgary’s real estate prices have barely moved

In the past two years, the price of oil has been cut in half while Calgary’s unemployment rate has nearly doubled. Wages are down. Consumer spending is down. Real estate sales are down. And yet, real estate prices have barely moved.

CBC.ca

Calgary housing vacancy rate spikes to 12 year high

Low energy prices and high unemployment have forced people out of their homes in droves, spiking housing vacancies to levels not seen in well over a decade, census figures show.  Almost a quarter of towers in the city core are vacant, pressuring landlords to offer big incentives like free rent or renovation money to keep tenants.

Financial Post

Increase in U.S. home prices falls short of expectations

U.S. single-family home prices rose less than expected on an annual basis in May, and were down from the prior month.  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 5.2 per cent in May on a year-over-year basis, retreating from the 5.4 per cent climb in the prior month and short of the estimate for a 5.5 per cent increase from a Reuters poll of economists.

Globe and Mail

GTA REALTORS® release Q2 rental market figures

Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that despite a decline in the number of condominium apartments listed for rent on TREB’s MLS® System in the second quarter of 2016, the number of condo apartments rented remained similar on a year-over-year basis – down by only 2.7 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2015.

Marketwired

Mortgage and Finance

How brutal is home-buying for millennials

What we are asking our young people to do in order to afford a home is cruel and unusual.  Buying a home in some cities now requires that you save frantically for as much as a decade or more. This is the message delivered by the new Globe and Mail Down Payment Tool, which was developed by my colleagues Chris Manza, Matt Lundy and me.

Globe and Mail

Condominium Management

Condo board must offer reasons for pet request denial

Q: I am interested in knowing the legal rights of a condominium board for enforcing the pet approval stipulation as noted in my condo bylaws. Are there any specific rules that they must follow when it comes to approving an animal? If the condo board denies my request, what are my rights to appeal the denial?

Edmonton Journal

Buying and Selling

The Competition Tribunal decision: Much ado about nothing?

The long-awaited decision of the Competition Tribunal concerning the dispute between the Competition Bureau and the Toronto Real Estate Board was released early in June. Here’s what you need to know.

REM Online

Other

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