Developer plans new condo next to cancelled Vaughan project

Developer plans new condo next to cancelled Vaughan project

Just months after Liberty Development Corp. cancelled a sold-out, three-tower condominium project at Hwy. 7 and Maplecrete Road in Vaughan, stranding 1,100 hopeful buyers, the property development company has applied to build a new two-tower condominium in Vaughan. The new project calls for a 962-unit residential mixed-use development with 33- and 39-storey towers as well as a seven-storey mid-rise building.

Globe and Mail

Qualex-Landmark is Calgary’s ‘King of the Beltline’

Vancouver-based real estate developer Qualex-Landmark discovered Calgary’s inner-city Beltline neighbourhood just over a decade ago and it’s been a love affair ever since. The company launched its first residential condo high-rise in 2006 and it’s become a trendsetter as the unofficial King of the Beltline. Qualex-Landmark has been involved in numerous projects in the trendy, urban area which is situated just outside Calgary’s downtown core.

Property Biz Canada

Réseau Sélection rides a rising tide in seniors’ housing

Réal Bouclin has over the past three decades built a mini-empire of seniors’ housing in Quebec. His company  Réseau Sélection is vying with Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T) for the top spot in the province. He’s also on the cusp of expanding outside Quebec, with projects for Toronto and Ottawa as well as plans for toeholds in British Columbia, the U.S. and even China, in the coming years.

Globe and Mail – Property Biz Canada

Westboro secures committee approval for Ottawa high-rise

The City of Ottawa’s planning committee has endorsed plans for a 166-unit rental apartment steps from a planned light-rail station. The site has seen several proposals – each progressively taller – over the past decade. In 2015, the project proponent, Westboro Point Developments, received site plan approval for a 14-storey building. After initially marketing it as a condo, it introduced plans for a residential rental with ground-floor commercial units.

Ottawa Business Journal – CBC

ReidBuilt homes discounted after entering receivership

More than 125 new home properties in Alberta are being sold, some at deep discounts, after major homebuilder ReidBuilt was forced into receivership in November. ReidBuilt was founded in Edmonton more than 30 years ago and was one of Alberta’s largest homebuilders. When primary lender RBC forced the receivership, ReidBuilt had approximately 500 lots or homes under construction.

Western Investor

Online brokerage TheRedPin closes its doors

Toronto real estate start-up TheRedPin has closed its doors and is now in the hands of a receiver. The small online real estate brokerage had, in the last year, been working on a tech-based re-boot that its most recent CEO Keith McSpurren hoped would, using software and artificial intelligence, transform the real estate transaction for consumers and agents.

Toronto Star – Toronto Star

Who sets new homes prices, the market or developers?

A frequent talking point among southwestern Ontario new condominium and apartment developers this year is the sharp increase in construction costs. Ronnie Mandowsky of Pelican Woodcliff Inc., whose firm offers cost consulting and quantity surveying services, notes that trades with fixed-price contracts are asking for higher prices on delayed projects, especially for metals, drywall, masonry, form-work and mechanical/electrical.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver’s rising land values spurring demolitions

As sky-high housing prices and rents in Vancouver continue to make life miserable for many residents, the idea that the city should rezone areas currently reserved for detached housing has continued to gain traction. It came up repeatedly at a recent Urban Development Institute (UDI) debate, where academic John Rose called it “the biggest supply question” and “the most controversial.”

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

CREA’s May home sales and price report

National home sales via the Canadian Real Estate Associations (CREA) Canadian MLS® Systems remained little changed in May 2018. Having edged 0.1% lower, it marked the lowest level for national sales activity in more than five years. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in May 2018 was just over $496,000, down 6.4% from one year earlier.

Canadian Real Estate Association – Globe and Mail

Decline in Ontario home prices unlikely to persist: CMHC

The recent easing of home prices in Ontario isn’t expected to last long, thanks to solid economic growth projections and rising interest rates. The province will see “moderate” increases in home prices driven by the state of the province’s economy, the lack of ownership affordability and the balance between supply and demand, predicted the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in a report on Ontario’s housing released Thursday.

Globe and Mail

Ontario’s housing market: Separating fact from fiction

OPINION: Much has been written in recent months about the stability of the new homes market in the Greater Toronto Area, with most news media reports confirming a precipitous decline in sale prices, the general bottoming-out of the marketplace and a widespread malaise hanging over the industry.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal luxury real estate sales increase 17% in 2018

Montreal’s luxury real estate sale market is on track to set new records in 2018 as sales over $1 million strengthened in the first five months of the year. From January 1– May 31, 2018, 367 residential properties (condominiums, attached homes and single family homes) sold over $1 million, an increase of 17% compared to the same period in 2017.

Globe Newswire

Montreal borough tightens rules on short-term rentals

Short-term home rentals will be harder to come by in downtown Montreal. The Ville-Marie  borough council voted Tuesday evening in favour of new measures to “substantially reduce” the number of Airbnb-type rental properties allowed to operate in the city centre. Under the new rules, the borough will restrict so-called tourism residences to buildings along Ste-Catherine Street, roughly between Guy and Amherst streets.

CBC

Banff, Lloydminster ban smoking, vaping weed in public

More municipalities around Alberta are crafting bylaws to deal with the issue of smoking and vaping marijuana in public places once recreational cannabis becomes legal later this year. On Monday, the Town of Banff banned vaping and smoking pot in all public places once cannabis becomes legal, and the City of Lloydminster went one step further, banning the smoking or vaping of all substances in public.

CBC

Aussie developer to Include Alexa in every new unit

Australian real estate developer Caydon Property Group has signed a deal with Amazon to include the e-commerce giant’s Alexa virtual assistant in all of its condominium units. Caydon will provide the top-of-the-range Amazon Echo Plus in each of the 1,205 apartments in the Hall St and Margaret St buildings in the Mason Square precinct of Melbourne. 

CoStar Group

Market Conditions

Household debt ratio creeps lower to 168 per cent

The amount Canadians owe relative to their income posted its largest decline on record in the first quarter as mortgage borrowing slowed along with a cooler housing market. Statistics Canada said Thursday household credit market debt was equal to 168 per cent of household disposable income in the quarter, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2016.

Montreal Gazette

Demographics key for apartment operators

Deeming them nearly as important as development constraints and rising prices, experts at the National Apartment Association’s Apartmentalize conference in San Diego pointed to demographic and generational shifts as key supply-and-demand drivers in the U.S. multifamily industry.  Those factors play major roles in when consumers decide to rent, how long they stay in their apartments, and when or if they leave apartment life to buy homes.

CoStar Group

New condo projects boost multi-family construction starts

New construction on apartment-style condos in May was the highest tally in a single month for the Calgary area in three years. This surge helped boost total new construction on multi-family development in the Calgary area by 54 per cent from the same time in 2017.

Calgary Herald

Prospective millennial homeowners frustrated

Although house prices have soared in many places, we still tell ourselves home ownership is doable if you save and have a decent job. It’s kind of a lie in some cities. A recent poll indicated 40 per cent of 18- to 37-year-olds believe their generation is mostly or much worse off than their parents, and 54 per cent said the economic system in Canada benefits other generations over theirs.

Globe and Mail

Seniors Housing

Are we ready for the “grey wave?”

When it’s time to sell the family home and downsize, most seniors will want to look for a place that ticks all the boxes. They will probably want a smaller place, but with a big quality of life. A place where it’s easy to walk out the door to be active or meet a friend. Somewhere close to family and friends, probably near the same community where they have put down roots.

Montreal Gazette

Vacancy in Ottawa seniors residences rises to 14.8%: CMHC

As developers rush to construct new residences aimed at seniors to meet the demand of a greying population, the vacancy rate in Ottawa’s retirement residences is inching upwards, bucking a provincial trend, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported this week. The vacancy rates in Ottawa’s retirement residences rose from 12.2 per cent in 2017 to 14.8 per cent this year.

Ottawa Business Journal

Affordable Housing

If you can’t afford to buy a house, print one

VIDEO: House prices getting you down? As North America’s real estate prices soar, some people have been seeking alternative options. More affordable solutions have emerged, such as yurts and shipping containers. But an even more novel alternative is a 3D-printed house. A U.S. robotics company has unveiled the prototype of a 800-square-foot home that can be 3D-printed in about six hours and would cost around US$10,000.

Windsor Star

Opinion: Mixed-use developments worsen housing affordability

Mixed-use developments that combine residential and commercial land uses have long been a favourite policy intervention for urban planners. But while such developments are known to promote sustainable modes of transportation, they may also have an adverse impact on housing affordability. Housing affordability in mixed-use neighbourhoods is worse than in other parts of a city.

Financial Post

Buying and Selling

Dual agency rules in B.C. to bring frustration, confusion

New rules prohibiting real estate agents from working with both the buyer and seller of a property came into effect on June 15. There is still worry from some in the industry that they will lead to frustration and confusion. The new rules were first announced in November 2017 by the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate following cases of misconduct in Metro Vancouver.

Edmonton Journal – CBC

Just how many foreign home buyers are in Metro Vancouver?

If you ask what’s to blame for Vancouver’s hot housing market, many people will point to foreign buyers. It’s tempting to blame the real estate debacle on foreign buyers, but the facts don’t necessarily support this. Partially, that’s because there isn’t good data to support this. Statistics Canada has only recently started tracking non-resident buyers in Canada.

CBC

Bill 141 amends Quebec’s brokerage act

After a long process, Bill 141 amending the Real Estate Brokerage Act was adopted by Quebec’s National Assembly on Wednesday. As a regulator of real estate and mortgage brokerage, the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec (OACIQ), appreciates some of the changes made, such as the increase of disciplinary fines, but regrets consumers not benefiting from the protections offered by the Real Estate Brokerage Act when dealing with for-sale-by-owner companies.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire