Vancouver to slap tax on empty homes

Vancouver to slap tax on empty homes

Want to keep your million-dollar luxury pad in Vancouver empty? Get ready to pay $10,000 annually in extra taxes. Lie about it? That’ll be $10,000 a day in fines. Canada’s most-expensive property market, suffering from a near-zero supply of rental homes, announced the details of a new tax aimed at prodding absentee landlords into making their properties available for lease.

Financial Post – CBC – Vancouver Sun

RBC raises its discounted mortgage rates

Another major Canadian bank is raising its borrowing rates, citing market conditions for the increase. Royal Bank of Canada said it is raising its rates for amortizations 25 years or under, effective Nov. 17, a move that follows a decision by Toronto-Dominion Bank earlier this month to raise its prime rate from 2.7 per cent to 2.85 per cent for variable rate mortgage customers.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Average Canadian home sold in October for $481,994

October was another record month for Canadian real estate, even as the average price increased by a relatively modest 5.9 per cent. The Canadian Real Estate Association said Tuesday that the average selling price of a Canadian home sold last month was $481,994.

CBC

Ontario offers 1st-time homebuyers bigger tax break

The Ontario government is moving to double the maximum tax rebate offered to first-time homebuyers while boosting the land-transfer tax on house purchases above $2 million. The changes are to take effect on Jan.1, 2017.

CBC – Globe and Mail

CAPREIT cuts rents on its Alberta portfolio

A prominent Canadian landlord has lowered the rent in its Alberta multi-family properties to hold and attract tenants as the vacancy rate soars to the highest level in 25 years. Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR.UN-T) has reduced rents across its entire Alberta apartment portfolio“in order to increase occupancies and reduce turnovers,” according to the company.

Western Investor

Crime-prevention program includes 300 multi-res buildings

A program that aims to keep criminal activity out of multi-family residences hit a milestone in Edmonton recently by registering its 300th building. “The program’s longevity and success are due in large part to the co-operation and support of the property managers and residents,” said acting Sgt. Amanda Trenchard of the Edmonton police.

CBC

TCH to review security at troubled apartment building

Broken doors, squatters living in stairwells and sleepy security guards are commonplace at 200 Wellesley St. E., residents say. One year ago, a man was stabbed to death in his second-floor unit.  While Toronto Community Housing (TCH) recently made some security improvements at the 719-unit building, many residents still don’t feel safe.

CBC

Vancouver’s waterfront — let the bidding begin

It’s a once in a lifetime chance to buy 6.2 acres of land on Vancouver’s waterfront, but the real estate opportunity to build a marina comes in a market that is witnessing falling sales and prices in the residential sector. Unique Properties Group, part of Colliers International, told the Financial Post that the property in Vancouver’s Inner Harbour will hit the market Tuesday.

Financial Post

Airbnb removes 130 Vancouver listings from its site

Airbnb has sent a letter to Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson saying it’s removed 130 listings from its site. Airbnb’s Canadian public policy director Alex Dagg says the listings were removed because it’s believed they belong to commercial operators and don’t meet standards, nor the guest experience Airbnb seeks to provide.

Vancouver Sun

Loophole in Vancouver bylaws leaves renters at risk of eviction

The tenants in a house in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood had seen their new landlord attempt to evict them twice already in the past year. The first time, they mounted a public campaign and posted signs around the building, and the building owner abandoned that attempt.

Globe and Mail

The Passive House boom is underway

Passive House building is booming in North America, ushering in a new era in residential construction. In the last year the number of Passive House units in North America has quadrupled from 500 to over 2,000 units, notes a new report titled Accelerating Market Transformation for High-Performance Building Enclosures from the Pembina Institute.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Greystar CEO Bob Faith predicts U.S. multifamily market

In an interview with CoStar, Bob Faith, CEO of Charleston, S.C.–based multifamily owner–operator Greystar Real Estate Partners, shares some of the business strategies that have enabled him to grow Greystar into the largest property management firm in the U.S., with over 400,000 units under management.

Multifamily Executive

Next big bet for apartment rentals: Mexico City

As the boom in U.S. luxury rental apartments wanes, investors are starting to eye Mexico City as an untapped market with growing demand for high-end apartments. Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the U.S., has about 3,000 apartments under development or planned in Mexico City.

Wall St. Journal

‘Trumpflation’ could ripple through Canada’s housing market

As if there isn’t enough going on with Canada’s housing market already, now comes “Trumpflation.”  The impact on Canadian housing could happen in a roundabout way, and there are different scenarios for how it could play out. But we’re already seeing the ripple effect in bond markets.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

TheRedPin.com sets up resources for American neighbors

Canadian real estate brokerage TheRedPin is funneling the pandemonium and shock from the U.S. presidential election results into real answers for Americans looking for expert advice on Canadian real estate. The tech-focused real estate brokerage has set up dedicated phone lines and assigned in-house real estate representatives to answer questions.

MarketWired

Market Conditions

Saskatoon condo, apartment market favours buyers, renters

Anyone looking for a new apartment to rent or condominium to buy could benefit from high inventory levels and sluggish absorption rates driving prices down over the next several months, according to a veteran real estate agent.  Saskatoon has more than 810 completed and unsold multi-family units, up more than 145 per cent from the 330 ready-to-sell units recorded in October 2015.

The Star Phoenix

Ottawa homebuilders shying away from launching new condo

The number of condominiums under construction in Ottawa has dramatically slowed this year as developers work to sell off the hundreds of completed new units already on the market, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday. 

Ottawa Business Journal

Making seniors housing affordable for more seniors

Questioning the trend toward luxury developments and how to make seniors housing more accessible to and affordable for more seniors. In the previous article, Brian Kimmel, a foremost authority in seniors housing financing in Canada, provided an overview of key trends shaping the market’s evolution. In this second article, Kimmel delves into the affordability issue.

First National Financial

Housing prices in Vancouver, Toronto all about supply and demand

High prices also mean the dream of home ownership is a challenge facing millennials as they move into family life, says Bob Finnigan of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association

Financial Post

Toronto rules home markets as prices climb, Vancouver slumps

Toronto now rules the roost among Canada’s housing markets by a wide margin, with home prices surging in October. And while Vancouver prices are up sharply on an annual basis, they slipped 0.6 per cent last month to mark the first decline in almost two years, according to the latest reading of the Teranet-National Bank home price index.

Globe and Mail

Mortgage and Finance

Canada’s public guardians have failed Vancouverites

Canada’s public guardians have failed to protect Metro Vancouver residents from forms of rule-bending and law-breaking that have been significant contributors to city housing becoming gravely unaffordable. Two of the government departments that have let down city dwellers, basically by not doing their jobs, are Immigration Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency.

Vancouver Sun

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New Developments

Fort McMurray wildfire recovery to spur investment in 2019

A new report says Alberta will see $5.3 billion injected into the economy through the end of 2019 from rebuilding efforts after the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire in May. The Conference Board of Canada report says the increased spending will boost the province’s GDP by 0.4 per cent or $1.1 billion next year, 0.2 per cent in 2018 and 0.1 per cent in 2019.

Calgary Herald

Restrictive covenant dashes laneway retirement house dreams

It was such a good plan: rezone our property to accommodate a secondary suite—a laneway house. Eventually, we would retire in a new, cosy home, with an attractive design and modern finishes. It would improve our property while bringing some needed renewal to Richmond Road. We’d be cutting-edge urbanists, living on-trend while “aging in place.”

Calgary Herald

Legal Issues

Unethical dealings in real estate under the microscope

Who are the unscrupulous players in Toronto’s real estate market? It all depends on who you’re asking. Some real estate agents engage in unethical behaviour, industry veterans acknowledge. But so do buyers and sellers. The machinations of Toronto’s blazingly hot market are receiving a lot of scrutiny these days.

Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Heritage neighbourhoods also belong families

I owe you an apology. I made fun of you this summer when your NIMBY-esque residents protested the planting of menacing trees in a city park. But here in the City of Champions, we now have you beat. Because why stop at hating trees if you could hate children? Why stop at fighting park renewal if you could fight a neighbourhood daycare, all the way to Alberta’s highest court? 

Edmonton Journal

Buying and Selling

Ditching the commute for the inner-city lifestyle

Joshua Smith is the quintessential downtown, urban millennial. He thrives on the inner-city vibe — the restaurants, the shopping, the coffee shops, the buzz and hum of people on the move.  He’d been looking for the perfect place for several years, quietly shopping, noting the finishes, details and floor plan configurations that most resonated.

Calgary Herald

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