One last gasp for Canadian residential market

One last gasp for Canadian residential market

Veteran mortgage broker Vince Gaetano figures the residential housing market this Christmas might be the busiest holiday season ever as people make one last push to squeeze into the housing market before tighter mortgage restrictions come into effect. But it could also be the last gasp for the resale market. Changes are coming from the federal banking regulator on Jan. 1.

Financial Post – CBC – Maclean’s

Canada’s housing market ‘highly vulnerable’: CMHC

Canadian housing markets are highly vulnerable and at risk of being hit by overbuilding, overvaluation and too-quick price appreciation, the national housing agency said Thursday. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation singled out housing markets in Toronto, Hamilton, Vancouver, Victoria and Saskatoon for being “highly vulnerable” for a combination of factors.

CBC – Newinhomes.co – Global News – Better Dwelling

Scarborough church building seniors condominiums

“We’re not just building a building, we’re building a community,” Trinity Ravine Towers CEO Kern Kalideen said of Global Kingdom Ministries’ adult lifestyle condominium development which had its ceremonial groundbreaking on Oct. 19. The Toronto development is aimed at those aged 55 and up and will feature two towers built on 2.5 acres that were rezoned for residential use in 2013 and had been used for a church parking lot.

Property Biz Canada

Edmonton apartment market riding out the storm

The numbers for Edmonton’s apartment market looked relatively grim entering 2017: vacancy rate at a 20-year high and slumping rental rates. The city was struggling with an oil-price-crash recession and unemployment woes. Despite all that, market watchers are positive about the city’s rental market, a sector known for its stability.

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

Massive condo complex planned for Langford, B.C.

The district of Langford, which has hummed along under the din of constant construction for the past several years, will add a little more noise to the mix this fall as an 869-unit complex starts to come out of the ground. Toronto-based Liberty Ridge Homes is about to start work on the first phase of its four-phase Aqua project at the western edge of Langford Lake.

Victoria Times Colonist

TO condo signs landmark agreement to regulate Airbnb

Airbnb says a Toronto condo building is the first in Canada to sign an agreement with the short-term vacation rental company.  Neptune condominiums, located near the city’s waterfront, is also the first outside the U.S. to sign on to the Friendly Buildings program in an effort to regulate short-term rentals. The agreement between Neptune and Airbnb takes effect Wednesday.

CBC – CBC – Toronto Star

CRE property tax more than double residential

Commercial property tax rates were at least double those of residential rates in eight of the 10 Canadian cities surveyed in the new Altus Group Canadian Property Tax Rate Benchmark Report 2017. The average commercial-to-residential property tax ratio for the 10 cities in the report produced in partnership with the Real Property Association of Canada (REALPAC) was 2.85. 

Property Biz Canada – Winnipeg Free Press

Home ownership rates drop as young Canadians opt to rent

Not everyone wants to own a home these days, Evan Siddall concedes — not even his own millennial-age son. For the head of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., that’s really saying something. But Siddall’s experience is far from uncommon, the latest census figures show: 30-year-old Canadians are less likely to own a home today than their baby boomer parents did at the same age.

CTV – Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – Better Dwelling

1.9 million Canadian households live in condos

According to data from the 2016 census released Wednesday, 13.3 per cent of Canadian households live in a condominium — a ratio that has increased by 1.2 percentage points from the last census five years ago. Statistics Canada says almost 1.9 million Canadian households were living in condominiums as of 2016. Among that group, just over two-thirds were owners, while 616,570 Canadians rented them.

CBC – Toronto Star – Toronto Star

TO condo prices up 22.7 per cent year-over-year

Toronto Real Estate Board president Tim Syrianos reported continued average price growth on a year-over-year basis for condominium apartments listed and sold through TREB’s MLS System by Greater Toronto Area Realtors.  The average selling price was $510,206 in Q3 2017 – up by 22.7 per cent compared to the average of $415,894 reported in Q3 2016.

Globe Newswire – Newinhomes.com

Ontario, B.C. mull presale condo registry

B.C. and Ontario’s finance ministers say they are open to the idea of a registry of pre-construction condominium sales as the Canada Revenue Agency ramps up efforts to find tax evaders who earn money flipping condos still being built. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa says the government wants the CRA to enforce disclosure of so-called assignment sales or shadow flipping.

Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – CBC

Temporary foreign residents tighten Van. rental market

Metro Vancouver’s tight rental market is undergoing extra pressure from a tide of temporary residents, particularly international students and foreign workers. Statistics Canada data reveals the number of temporary residents in Canada, known as “non-permanent residents,” has doubled in more than a decade, coming close to one million — with roughly 140,000 residing in Metro Vancouver.

Vancouver Sun

Western market attracting auction houses

Canada’s luxury real estate market is attracting the attention of high-end auction houses, eager to provide a fast sale for multimillion dollar homeowners struggling to sell in the conventional way. And Alberta’s depressed housing market, paired with a landscape rich in custom-built megamansions, is already proving successful under the gavel.

Globe and Mail – Globe Newswire

Greater deposit protection coming for Ontario’s new-home buyers

The company that administers Ontario’s home warranty program says buyers of new homes will soon have greater deposit protection with a new policy and regulation expected to come into force next year. Tarion Warranty Corp. is proposing to increase deposit protection for houses from the current $40,000 to 10 per cent of the purchase price, from a minimum of $60,000 to a maximum of $100,000.

CTV

Toronto the only Canadian city that never sleeps

They are the cities that almost never sleep, or get only about six hours of shut-eye. In the report published Thursday, PricewaterhouseCoopers says Toronto is the only Canadian city that can count itself among global players such as London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Tokyo and New York as so-called cities that never sleep.

Financial Post – Bloomberg – Toronto Star

Market Conditions

Ontario hydro bills to rise over next 10 years

In 10 years, Ontario’s electricity ratepayers can expect to pay an average of $181 a month — $54 more than the current provincial average. The projected rates were released Thursday as part of Ontario’s latest long-term energy plan, which forecasts prices until the mid-2030s. The updated rate predictions are lower across the board compared to the long-term energy plan released by the province in 2013.

CBC – Toronto Star – Financial Post

Pre-sales of new Toronto low-rises plummet: BILD

Preconstruction sales of new low-rise homes fell 73 per cent in the Toronto area in September compared with a year earlier as the home-building sector faces major headwinds from the region’s housing-market downturn. The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) said builders in the Greater Toronto Area presold just 352 low-rise homes in September.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – Canada Newswire

Price per sq. ft. for Saskatoon homes nearly tripled since 1997

Home sale prices per square foot in Saskatoon have nearly tripled over the last two decades, and Regina was close behind, according to a new survey. Saskatoon is far from Canada’s most expensive city, ranking 31st nationwide according to the survey, but the price per square foot of an average detached home in the city has more than doubled since the beginning of the resource boom in 2006.

Saskatoon Star Phoenix

New Developments

Decision on Vancouver Chinatown condos postponed

Vancouver developer Beedie Living is hoping fifth time’s the charm for its controversial 105 Keefer project, which went before the city’s development permit board on Monday.  But opponents of the mixed-use residential tower in the heart of Chinatown say the latest iteration still fails to meet the needs of the community. The development permit board deferred its decision to Nov. 6. 

Vancouver Sun

A sneak peek at highrise living in Stantec Tower

Condominiums just went on sale in a downtown Edmonton high-rise slated to be the tallest building in Western Canada. The SKY Residences will start on the 30th floor of the Ice District’s 66-storey Stantec Tower said Glen Scott, president of Katz Group Real Estate.

Edmonton Journal

Taxpayers to help developers build Kanata homes

Taxpayers are on the hook for $10 million more than planned after the cost for two projects to help developers build homes in the city’s west end has shot up in the last decade. The escalating price tags for the Kanata West sewage pumping station and the Carp River restoration — projects shared between the city and local developers — have received little to no public scrutiny, despite overshooting their original budgets by millions.​

CBC

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

‘Stealth’ bunkhouse sneaking into Ottawa: Councillor

Jordan Tannis, a builder in Old Ottawa South, got approval to expand a six-unit apartment building by making assurances it would have only 12 bedrooms, but months later, the number of bedrooms suddenly ballooned to 27. And David Chernushenko, the councillor for the area, says he’s powerless to stop what he calls an “over-development by stealth.” 

CBC

Taxes and Utilities

Seniors’ group pans proposed property tax deferral

A Saskatchewan seniors’ advocacy group says the provincial government’s decision to make good on a campaign promise by allowing some seniors to defer the education portion of their property taxes is “almost an embarrassment.” The deferral won’t come close to making up for new and increased costs for seniors living on fixed incomes handed down in the 2017-18 provincial budget, said Saskatchewan Seniors Association Inc. board member Mike Kaminski.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Natural Disasters

Ottawa flooding damages at least 175 homes

Record-breaking rainfall in Ottawa on Monday flooded homes and forced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take an ATV for part of his commute. Floodwaters rose so high inside the Pebb Building off Bank Street frefighters had to carry one trapped woman to safety. At least 175 homes were flooded, according to the city.

CTV – CBC – Ottawa Citizen

California wildfires fuel house price appreciation

Clear Capital’s monthly Home Data Index report shows consistent quarter-over-quarter home price growth for the West, but with a decrease in quarter-over-quarter home price appreciation for Las Vegas and Seattle. The October HDI data revealed California holds five of the top 15 highest performing major metro markets. Wildfires in northern California have led to the destruction of about 5,700 structures, including homes and businesses.

Marketwired

Legal Issues

West Van. seeks court order to demolish $2.9M home

The District of West Vancouver wants a house demolished after it was allegedly built without proper permits or inspections. The home on 733 20th Street was rebuilt in violation of numerous city bylaws and without proper inspections, according to court documents and council reports from the district.

CBC

Condominium Management

New rules to impact condo board oversight

New legislation regulating condominiums that began rolling out in September will impact how condo boards are run by imposing disclosure obligations on directors and is geared at providing condo owners with more information. The move is aimed at protecting the consumer and is a long time coming, says Laura McKeen, a partner with Cohen Highley LLP in London, Ont.

Law Times

Affordable Housing

Affordable housing units ready at Dockside Green

A Catalyst building that heralds a new chapter in the life of Victoria’s Dockside Green has been completed. Construction started in the summer of 2016 on the Madrona  49-unit affordable-housing project and was completed this week, bringing below-market rental housing to the Vic West neighbourhood. Families are expected to move into the units in November.

Victoria Times Colonist

Small houses

Developer pitching mini-apartments in London, Ont.

Teeny, tiny apartments, now illegal in London, could finally be coming to the city, just like in Toronto and Vancouver where white-hot housing prices have shrunk living spaces for many. The city’s first so-called “micro-suite” building is being pitched for the historic Woodfield neighbourhood by Marigold Homes Inc., owned by the Lansink family.

London Free Press

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Shock, fury over Winnipeg expropriation plan

A consulting firm is being blamed for alarming Winnipeggers their homes had been targeted for expropriation and demolition to make way for a massive extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway. The residents said they were caught by surprise when informed earlier this month about the proposed east-west corridor.

Winnipeg Free Press

Buying and Selling

High-end buyers take advantage of dip in TO prices

Some homeowners appear to be taking advantage of a dip in Toronto-area house prices to trade up to a more desirable address. Hoggs Hollow, Lytton Park and Deer Park are some of the pockets seeing a spate of buying in the $4-million-and-up range. People realize their existing property has likely slipped in value, says Andre Kutyan, a real estate agent with Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Brokerage’s purchase of Chinese listing site crumbles

A Vancouver-based real estate brokerage’s multi-million-dollar plan to purchase a controversial Chinese-language website that markets properties overseas has fallen apart. Vanfun.com, a Shanghai-based company that provides information on B.C. property listings to Chinese buyers, announced last December it had been purchased by Metro Edge Realty, a relatively new but fast-growing brokerage in the Vancouver area, for $8-million.

Globe and Mail

Other

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