Vancouver tables 10-year plan to address housing crisis

Vancouver tables 10-year plan to address housing crisis

Vancouver is proposing a 10-year plan that focuses on building 10s of thousands of rental apartments, suppressing speculation and matching the units built to income levels, an effort to address anger over a housing crisis in the city. A multi-faceted report released on Thursday, which was set to be voted on at city council later today, is aimed at tackling a huge range of issues.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

National Housing Strategy comes up short: Industry reps

The federal government’s National Housing Strategy doesn’t go far enough to meet the needs of a large group of Canadians finding it increasingly difficult to become homeowners, says the Canadian Home Builders Association. On Wednesday, the government announced the 10-year, $40 billion plan to reduce homelessness and improve the availability and quality of housing for Canadians in need.

Property Biz Canada – Toronto Star – CBC – Maclean’s

Condo developers capitalize on rise of remote entrepreneurs

Being tied to a desk and chair isn’t for Andrew Tischler. So the 41-year-old Toronto-based entrepreneur spends his days working in restaurants, hosting client meetings and retreating to his condo if he needs a bit more quiet. “I like the energy of the space,” says Tischler, whose recent startup happens to be an app, OOT (Out-of-office Thinker).

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Toronto Storeys

Chard’s below-market rate condos proving popular

Chard Development has 1,500 Victoria residents registered and interested in its plans for a $50-million condo project — the  20-storey Vivid at the Yates, a partnership with B.C. Housing — that will see all 135 units sold at eight per cent below the market value of the units. The project is being funded by B.C. Housing at a below-market rate, with the savings being passed onto the buyers. Buyers need to qualify for the project.

Victoria Times Colonist – Property Biz Canada

First Port Moody rental building in decades closer to reality

Port Moody’s first new rental building in more than 30 years is a step closer to getting built. The project, to be constructed by developer Woodbridge Properties, would comprise 142 units in a six-storey building; five of those would be three-bedroom apartments, 72 would be two-bedroom-plus-den units up to 928.6 square feet, 59 would be one bedroom plus a den, and six would be studio apartments.

Tri-City News

B.C. property-transfer tax forms to indicate seller’s residency

The B.C. government will soon require sellers to disclose their residency during a real-estate transaction so that information can be shared with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Observers say it’s a much-needed change that replaces an honour system open to abuse by speculators seeking to avoid paying capital-gains tax on properties they don’t live in.

Globe and Mail

Sales brisk, Broccolini set to build luxury Montreal condos

Now that it is more than 80 per cent sold, Broccolini is slated to begin construction next year on its $150-million 628 St. Jacques luxury condo project across from Victoria Square in Old Montreal. Most of the 258 units in the 35-storey condo sold within a few weeks after the project opened to the public last month. The building is to be completed in 2021.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Victoria moves ahead on curbing vacation rentals

Victoria councillors have agreed to move ahead with new regulations restricting short-term vacation rentals despite strong push back from many homeowners who rent their secondary suites through platforms such as Airbnb. “We have a housing crisis.” said Coun. Ben Isitt. “We also have a lack of fairness between this unregulated body of the transient accommodation sector and the more conventional hotels and motels, and bed and breakfasts.”

Victoria Times Colonist – Victoria Times Colonist – CBC

Smart apartment could change future of aging in Canada

It looks like a typical one-bedroom seniors apartment, but hidden inside are a series of sensors that could change the future of aging in Canada. The apartment, located inside Ottawa’s Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, is a living laboratory that comes equipped with technology that gathers information to help identify memory and mobility issues.

Ottawa Citizen – Globe Newswire

Ottawa to consider ambitious plans for neighbourhood revitalization

Sprucing up parks, creating new programs for teenagers, women and newcomers, and widening sidewalks and bike lanes are neighbourhood revitalization plans up for discussion among Ottawa’s planning committee. Building Better Revitalized Neighbourhoods is a term-of-council initiative to  recognize priority neighbourhoods.

Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Citizen – CBC

House correction puts some Canadians under water

A drop in Canadian home prices has put some recent buyers under water, particularly in Toronto, just as rising interest rates and record levels of household debt have put the squeeze on borrowers. With homeowners’ equity falling in Toronto and lenders tightening credit, the ability of people to borrow against the value of their home is shrinking.

Reuters – Bbloomberg – Financial Post

Toronto new condo sales set record in October

The Building Industry and Land Development Association says the Greater Toronto Area’s supply of newly constructed condos last month hit its highest level since it began tracking that data about 15 years ago. The group says of the 5,377 new homes sold in the GTA in October, about 91 per cent of the units were multi-family homes, condo apartments in high-rise and mid-rise buildings and stacked townhomes.

BNN – Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – Mortgage Broker News

Airbnb buying startup for disabled travellers

Airbnb said on Thursday it acquired London startup Accomable to expand home-renting opportunities for people with disabilities, the latest expansion as Airbnb grows its global travel business. The deal includes adding to the Airbnb website Accomable’s roughly 1,100 house and apartment listings that can accommodate guests with physical disabilities, the companies said.

Fortune – Forbes – Business Insider

Mattamy Homes one of Canada’s most Admired Corporate Cultures

Mattamy Homes, North America’s largest privately owned homebuilder, is proud to have been named as one of Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2017. The honour recognizes organizations for having cultures that help sustain performance and are the benchmark for success.  his national program, run by Waterstone Human Capital, is in its 14th year of recognizing best-in-class organizations that have empowering cultures.

Canada Newswire

Shatner seeks charitable donation to settle Television City dispute

William Shatner says he would like Toronto developer Brad Lamb to make a donation to his charity to settle a dispute over the use of his name and image to promote the upcoming Television City project in Hamilton. The issue arose last week when the Montreal-born actor objected to the use of his name and likeness to help promote a million-dollar two-bedroom penthouse.

CTV – CBC – Hamilton Spectator – Property Biz Canada

Market Conditions

Kelowna rental vacancy rate to rise for first time in five years

The Kelowna rental vacancy rate expected to rise for the first time in five years this year, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Fall 2017 Housing Market Outlook report. The apartment vacancy rate in Kelowna is forecast to double from 0.6 per cent in 2016 to 1.2 per cent in 2017. An impressive increase in multi-family housing starts in 2016 and 2017 will add considerable rental supply over the next few years.

Western Investor

What U.S. apartment renters want

The most attractive features of an apartment unit to renters turn out to be good management, good cell phone reception and a rent that feels reasonable, according to the just released “2017 NMHC/Kingsley Renter Preferences Report” by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC). It shows, through the results of a survey of 269,000 renters, the factors that guide their decisions of where they want to live.

National Real Estate Investor

U.S. existing home sales increase more than expected

U.S. home sales increased more than expected in October as hurricane-related disruptions dissipated, but a chronic shortage of houses which is pushing prices beyond the reach of some first-time buyers remains an obstacle. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday existing home sales rose 2.0 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million units last month.

Reuters – MarketWatch

Foreign buyers expected to spike soon

Foreign buying numbers for Toronto and Vancouver real estate are going to spike soon. The registry will likely be hammered with higher numbers, and climb at a rapid rate. This will look like the non-resident speculator tax, and China’s capital controls are starting to fail, but that’s likely not the case. Most of these units about to hit the registry were bought months, and possibly years ago. 

Business Insider

Mortgage and Finance

U.S. 30-year mortgage rate falls to 3.92 per cent

The rate on benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate U.S. mortgages slipped this week to 3.92 per cent from 3.95 per cent last week. But the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage, popular among homeowners seeking to refinance, blipped up to 3.32 per cent from 3.31 per cent. A year ago, the 30-year stood at 4.03 and the 15-year at 3.25 per cent. The five-year adjustable mortgage rate rose to 3.22 per cent from 3.21 per cent last week and 3.12 per cent a year ago.

Montreal Gazette

Mortgage sticker shock in the works

A Canadian credit rating agency fears homeowners could be in for a “substantial” shock when they go to renew their mortgages. “Mortgage borrowers in Canada could be shocked at their five-year renewal to find their mortgage payments are going up as rates begin to rise,” DBRS Ltd. warned in a report on the mortgage market.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Edmonton Journal

New Developments

Work underway on Edmonton’s Central Tower

Work has begun on an 18-storey apartment tower at Century Park in South Edmonton, the developer says. The building will feature 176 premium residential rental units. “Central Tower marks the beginning of a new chapter in the development of Century Park into an environmentally conscious urban neighbourhood,” ProCura Real Estate Services president & CEO George Schluessel said in a release.

CBC

Fonds, Gestion Beau Toit inaugurate multi-residential project

Gestion Beau Toit and the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ officially launched Phase II of the Faubourg Saint-Constant multi-residential project in Montreal. The two 60-unit side-by-side buildings are situated on a 54,000-square-foot lot. The timber-frame buildings feature three above-ground storeys consisting of 30 units in Phase I and 30 units in Phase II; 4½ open-concept, condo-style units; underground parking, storage space and bike racks.

Canada Newswire

Oak Bay councillors reject luxury condo development

Oak Bay councillors have given a unanimous thumbs down to a 14-unit condo development on Oak Bay Avenue aimed at the “high-end” market. The four-storey building, named The Quest, was proposed for 2326 Oak Bay Ave. The site is now occupied by single-family house sandwiched between two multi-storey buildings.

Victoria Times Colonist

Taxes and Utilities

CRA targeting Canada’s richest neighbourhoods to nab cheats

Canada’s tax agency has launched a project to hit Canada’s wealthiest citizens where they live. The Canada Revenue Agency’s Postal Code Project is targeting the wealthiest neighbourhoods in all regions of the country and auditors will pore through the tax filings of every well-heeled resident. They’re looking for undeclared wealth, signs a taxpayer is actually richer than their income tax filings suggest.

CBC

Legal Issues

Ottawa woman in condo ad wins precedent-setting privacy fight

An Ottawa lawyer says his client has set a precedent in Ontario by successfully arguing in court her privacy was violated after footage of her jogging in public was used for commercial purposes. Condo developer Colonnade BridgePort had contracted media production company Waterbridge Creative Media Inc. to film the Westboro neighbourhood in the summer of 2014 for a marketing video to promote an upcoming residential condo project.

CBC

Hamilton landlord fought fire department safety orders for years

A Hamilton landlord fought a fire department order to install proper ‘life safety” fire protections in his student house for three years while continuing to rent it out. The owner of the house rented to multiple students near McMaster University pleaded guilty in provincial offences court last week and was fined after failing to provide proper fire-safety measures for tenants.

CBC

Homebuyer who balked at foreign buyer tax loses $180,000 deposit

A judge has found a woman who had agreed to purchase a home in North Vancouver but failed to complete the sale after the foreign buyer tax went into effect had breached her contract. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lisa Warren also ordered Kyeonga Jeong, who has been living in Canada for a number of years, to give up her $180,000 deposit on the home.

Vancouver Sun

Affordable Housing

Millennials’ demand for affordability driving housing agenda

Millennials are quickly  becoming a “political powerhouse” and affordable housing, in all its forms, is high on their agenda. This was the message from generational change consultant David Coletto at Calgary’s Opening Doors conference, held last week by the city’s affordable-housing community to mark National Housing Day.

Globe and Mail

Four ways to build more affordable housing

According to a recent report from CIBC, the GTA housing market is expected to become even less affordable in the coming years. The Building Industry and Land Development (BILD) recently said in a blog post the GTA is in danger of becoming a London, Hong Kong, or New York – unaffordable for most.  Here are four ways the GTA could be building more affordable housing:

Newinhomes.com – Multifamily Executive

B.C. union’s affordable plan proposes taxes targeting speculators

One of British Columbia’s largest unions has developed a plan it says could help combat a lack of affordable housing in the province. The plan from the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) recommends several tax changes the union says would assist in easing the stresses put on Metro Vancouver’s housing market. The detailed housing strategy was released last week.

CBC – MetroNews

Small houses

Tiny Toronto house transformed into efficient living space

In 2005, architect Meika McCunn walked in the door of a tiny house for sale on Craven Road in East Toronto and walked right back out. McCunn, an associate with KPMB Architects, saw no potential in the dark and dilapidated one-bedroom cottage. “For me, it was definitely a scary house,” she recalls. It was her contractor who changed her mind.

Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Ottawa able to ban charging visitors for apartment parking

City council can stop apartment landlords from charging visitors to park on the property, staff say. Some political offices at Ottawa City Hall have received complaints about landlords implementing visitor parking fees at apartment complexes. In one case, a group of angry tenants were hauling a landlord to the Landlord and Tenant Board over paid visitor parking at several rental buildings owned by Minto Group.

Ottawa Citizen

Tenants of evacuated apartments likely won’t be compensated

Occupants of a seven-storey apartment building in Calgary’s Kensington neighbourhood, that was hastily evacuated Thursday, likely will not be compensated through renter’s insurance, says an expert, even though there’s no set date for them to return to their homes. The 125-resident building needs fixes for a structural problem affecting every floor, the city says, and it’s not yet known if residents will ever be able to move back in.

CBC – CBC – Calgary Herald – CBC

Buying and Selling

On The Block completes TO’s first online RE auction

Toronto has seen its first online real estate auction conclude – and it was a success. On The Block, an innovative GTA based real estate company, conducted the auction on its online platform at www.getontheblock.com on Tuesday evening. The preconstruction condo near Yonge/Eglinton had been listed for a couple of weeks before bidding was opened to the public. 

Globe Newswire

Two Duncan apartment buildings sell for over $9.5M

Western Investor

Other

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