The future of Vancouver’s rental market

The future of Vancouver’s rental market

Now that young people are expecting to rent for life – if they want to live in Vancouver – developers have woken up to the formerly neglected rental market. Renting has for too long been seen as second to owning, but that attitude will soon have to change in the face of unaffordability and a rental vacancy rate below 1 per cent.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver’s next big real estate debate

As Vancouver embarks on a process that could lead to the preservation of more older homes in the city, Siobhan Murphy says the story of her Commercial Drive bungalow is a warning about taking the notion of “character” too far. “I appreciate the character [of my home] but I’d like the freedom to have a little more livable space,” said Murphy.

CBC

Higher down payments to battle housing risks: CMHC CEO

Canadian regulators should explore raising minimum down payments and imposing additional mortgage-qualifying restrictions in order to ease housing affordability and curb the risks of exceptionally low interest rates, the head of CMHC.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Canada Guaranty CEO warns of further changes to housing rules

Ottawa should wait and see how well recent changes to mortgage regulations have worked to cool the housing market before imposing any new rules says the head of one of the country’s private-sector mortgage insurance companies Andrew Charles, chief executive of Canada Guaranty.

Globe and Mail

B.C.’s call for help through National Housing Strategy survey

British Columbians sent the federal government a powerful cry for help during a four-month public consultation on how to create a National Housing Strategy, according to a $670,000 report to be released Tuesday. B.C. respondents were by far the most active in participating in an online survey.

Vancouver Sun

FINTRAC related deficiencies at B.C. real estate firms

The federal agency mandated to detect and combat money laundering (FINTRAC) examined about 220 real estate companies in B.C. between 2012 and mid-2016, finding 112 companies with “significant” levels of non-compliance and five with “very significant” non-compliance.

The Province

Average Greater Vancouver home sales price declines in October

The average home price was $891,705 across Greater Vancouver in October, down 5.9% compared with $947,334 a year ago, the British Columbia Real Estate Association announced November 15. The total number of units sold in the region plunged 38.5% over the period, with 2,284 units changing hands in the region.

Business in Vancouver

New homes get cheaper in Toronto in October

Toronto-area realtors say October saw a drop in prices in the region driven by an increase in supply but buyers had to settle for semi-detached homes and townhomes instead of detached homes. The average price of a new low-rise home was $937,689 last month, a $54,702 decline from September, based on data from Altus Group.

Financial Post

From dream home to unholy mess

Windmill Development Group partner Alex Speigel said the Union Lofts outcome is the last thing his company wanted or expected when it undertook the tricky conversion of a designated heritage church in 2012. But under refinancing conditions, it has no choice but to resell the project for more money.

Toronto Star

Ottawa developer opens 500 new student apartments

One of Ottawa’s largest homebuilders has added more than 500 new tenants to its growing portfolio of income-generating properties with a new 28-storey student apartment building in Little Italy. Choo Communities, the parent company of Ashcroft and seniors residence Alavida Lifestyle, officially opened Envie Student on Tuesday.

Ottawa Business Journal

Luxury apartments could start a major Edmonton redevelopment

Tenants are moving into the new Mayfair on Jasper, a 10-storey rental building southeast of Jasper Avenue and 109 Street,  the owner hopes will be part of a major redevelopment around downtown Edmonton’s busiest intersection.

Edmonton Journal

Don’t expect a post-Trump surge of Chinese investment

Americans may be motivated to move to Canada by the prospect of President Donald Trump, but property buyers from China appear to be unfazed by the results of the U.S. election. The Web portal Juwai.com connects Chinese buyers with property listings around the world.

Globe and Mail

Apartment demand, rental rates hold steady in U.S.

The U.S. multifamily market continued its historic run in the third quarter as demand for apartment units remained strong, matching a surge in new supply as developers continue to add new units at a record pace. Total net absorption of apartment units for the third quarter held steady at almost 45,000 units.

CoStar Group

U.S. student housing demand looks strong for 2017

Developers of privately-owned, purpose-built student housing won’t flood the market with new buildings in 2017. Developers have already revealed plans to build 45,700 beds of new, purpose-built student housing for the school year starting in the fall 2017. That number of new beds is likely to creep higher as the months pass.

NREI Online

American Campus Communities sells portfolio

Continuing to divest non-core assets, American Campus Communities, Inc. (ACC-N) this week sold a portfolio of 19 student housing properties in nine states totaling 12,083 beds to Los Angeles-based Saban Real Estate for $508 million.

CoStar Group

Market Conditions

Worry about supply in Canada’s overheated property market

In 2006, in the middle of one the hottest years on record for Canadian housing, then Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge sent a testy letter to his counterpart at the country’s mortgage insurer warning about lax standards fueling demand for homes. Today, Dodge has new words of caution: worry more about supply.

Vancouver Sun – Bloomberg

Renting a Toronto condo an increasingly competitive process

Looking to rent a condo in downtown Toronto? Make sure you have your application package when you go to look at the place, advises Toronto realtor Tarik Gidamy. The bidding wars so prevalent in Toronto’s re-sale home market are now affecting condo rentals, said the broker of record for TheRedPin, which is releasing a study of downtown rents.

Toronto Star

Risk and reward in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe

Homeowners and potential buyers in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe are suddenly in uncharted waters. And with that comes risk, economists warn. Home prices are surging in the southwestern Ontario area.

Globe and Mail

Edmonton landlords offer incentives as rental rates nosedive

Average housing rental prices in Edmonton have dropped 12 per cent in the past year, and it’s pushing landlords to offer creative incentives. Everything from free cable to free utilities, or a free month in exchange for signing a one-year lease, are on the table for would-be renters.

CBC

U.S. existing home sales hit more than 9-1/2-year high

U.S. home resales rose in October to their highest level in more than 9-1/2 years amid pent-up demand, offering more evidence of a pickup in economic growth in the fourth quarter, but a recent surge in mortgage rates could slow housing market activity.

Globe and Mail

Mortgage and Finance

Trump’s Impact on the Apartment Sector

It’s far too early to tell what the Trump Presidency will mean for the apartment business—but experts have at least come up with their list of the biggest questions that a Trump White House poses for their business. “The operative word for the commercial real estate sales market for the near future is ‘uncertainty,’” says Jay Parsons, vice president for MPF Research.

NREI Online

Non-bank or ‘private’ lenders feed (or rescue) the debt-addicted

By the time desperate borrowers — and they are always desperate — find Allan Sadler, they have already been turned down by banks and credit unions. Mortgage brokers like North Vancouver-based Sadler deal in the private lending market, sometimes called the shadow lending market, and specialize in arranging loans for borrowers with very poor credit history and little proof of income.

Vancouver Sun

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Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Premier’s landlord linked to Whitecaps owner

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is renting a house from a close associate of the owner of a professional sports team that plays at a provincially owned stadium and practices at a provincially funded training centre, yet her tenancy is not disclosed in published conflict of interest filings.

Business in Vancouver

Buying and Selling

Zoocasa aims to be the Uber of the real estate sector

Zoocasa, resurrected last year by Lauren Haw after it failed against the real estate establishment, now aspires to be the Uber of the Canadian housing market. Haw, now CEO of Toronto-based Zoocasa, contends her team can disrupt the real estate industry by infusing technology into a multibillion-dollar agent-dependent model.

Financial Post

Other

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