More than $1T in real estate at risk from Florence

More than $1T in real estate at risk from Florence

Hurricane Florence continues to intensify rapidly as it moves ever closer to the U.S. Atlantic coast, where it could strike somewhere between South Carolina and Virginia on Friday. More than 3.9 million homes that would cost more than a $1 trillion to rebuild are at risk from hurricanes on the U.S. Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida, according to CoreLogic (CLGX-N), a property analytics firm in Irvine, Calif.

Bloomberg – CBC – Reuters

B.C. tenants face largest rent increase since 2004

B.C. renters are bracing for the highest rent increase in more than a decade, with landlords allowed to raise rents by up to 4.5 per cent next year. That’s the largest allowable rent increase since 2004, when the maximum increase was 4.6 per cent. The B.C. Residential Tenancy Branch set the maximum increase at 4.0 per cent for 2018.

Victoria Times Colonist – Vancouver Sun

Brookfield lays out its Niido / Airbnb partner strategy

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has invested $200 million in a joint venture with Niido, Airbnb’s multi-family development partner, and managing director Jonathan Moore revealed more about the deal at the Canadian Apartment Investment Conference on Sept. 5. Brookfield has invested about $8 billion in purpose-built apartment acquisitions and another $3 billion in multi-family development, primarily in the United States, since it became heavily involved in the sector in 2010.

Property Biz Canada

Residential building boom on Halifax Peninsula

The Halifax Peninsula has seen plenty of multi-residential development in recent years, and there’s no sign of any slowdown in the sector. “Over the past 24 months, we’ve seen real growth in people moving back on to the peninsula, and they need places to live,” said Gordon Laing, the president and chief executive officer of Southwest Properties Limited, which builds, owns and manages residential, retail and commercial properties in Halifax.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal market sets new sales record

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board says August home sales in the region were up eight per cent compared with the same month last year, setting a new record. The board says there were 3,224 home sales last month, up from 2,972 a year ago, marking the 41st consecutive month of rising home sales. Condominium sales grew 12 per cent to 1,125, up from 1,004.

Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire – Montreal Gazette

TREB issues warnings to members sharing data

The Toronto Real Estate Board is once again sending threatening legal letters to its members over the online publication of home sale price data just weeks after it lost a long legal fight over its ability to impose restrictions on such data. In the last week a number of brokerages with a strong digital presence have been sent a cease and desist letter.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

Seeking a real estate agent? Nobul has an app for that

Nobul Corporation founder, chief executive officer and chairman Regan McGee has grand plans for his online marketplace which connects real estate agents with homebuyers and sellers. “There’s a full transparency that the public and regulators have been demanding for decades,” said McGee. The platform offers a range of features designed to appeal to buyers, sellers and agents.

Property Biz Canada

‘Vertical city’: True mixed-use condos catch on in Ottawa

Master-planned, mixed-use communities are looking up in Ottawa. Our city is following in the footsteps of other large urban centres such as Toronto and New York, where these neighbourhoods are proving tremendously successful. Building “up” rather than “out” is making great use of precious land in Ontario, especially in major urban areas.

Read more

Vancouver’s short-term rental listings drop by half

The City of Vancouver says the number of short-term rentals listed online has dropped by almost half since new rules came into effect requiring operators to have a business licence.

There are 3,742 active Vancouver listings on sites like Airbnb, compared with about 6,600 in April, when the regulations were introduced, the city said Wednesday.

Calgary Herald

B.C. AG targets foreign capital to ease housing crunch

The housing crisis is the top issue for British Columbians, but incomplete information and exaggerated rhetoric sour its discussion. This is not to say there is nothing to debate in the B.C. NDP’s 30-point plan to ease the devastation of unaffordability, which it inherited from the laissez-faire Liberals’ 16 years in power. But it takes time to put together a complete picture.

Vancouver Sun

Don’t blame foreign buyers for vacant homes in the GTA

There’s been word on the street that the amount of vacant homes in the Greater Toronto Area listed on MLS has increased significantly compared to last year. It’s possible your initial thought was to blame non-resident speculators – not so fast. John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty Brokerage in Toronto, says 28% of GTA properties on MLS are listed as vacant, 17% higher than last year.

Newinhomes.com

How $8B in added mortgage costs will squeeze Canadians

Rising mortgage rates won’t kill us. But, they sure won’t make us stronger. In fact, warns senior economist Royce Mendes of CIBC World Markets, many Canadians are going to feel the “pinch” by 2020, which will bite into an economy driven by consumers and housing. “That doesn’t mean higher interest rates will break consumers’ backs,” Mendes said.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Housing supply affects GTA affordability: BILD

It seems that every month or so, a new poll is released and shows that housing affordability is top of mind for GTA residents. And almost every week, media cover the issue from a variety of angles: residents’ ability to purchase a home, the percentage of income spent on rent, the impact of new government rules, housing availability, and the far-reaching societal consequences.

Toronto Star – Financial Post

Minto Capital tops off 39 Niagara in Toronto

Minto Capital Management Inc. recently held a topping off event at 39 Niagara, a purpose-built rental tower under construction in Toronto. “This rental residence will consist of 501 rental units, 54,210 square feet of retail space, and more than 25,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor amenities,” said Paul Baron, VP of Asset Management for Minto Capital.

Canada Newswire

Redevelopment keeps Vancouver apartment market strong

Critically low apartment vacancy rates and investors hungry for redevelopment potential have the apartment building investment market remaining strong as other parts of the Metro Vancouver residential property market begin to soften, insiders say. In the first half of 2018, there were 89 apartment building sales worth about $1.45 billion, according to the Goodman Report’s mid-year apartment building review.

Vancouver Sun

Market Conditions

Vancouver pre-sale condo market slows, prices flatten

Downsizers, investors and first-time buyers are all showing less urgency when it comes to the once, fire-hot, pre-sale condo market. The Metro Vancouver pre-sale condo market, which had been seeing double-digit percentage price gains of between 30 to 60 per cent, with each new project seemingly selling out and setting ever higher prices, is showing signs of slowing.

Vancouver Province – Financial Post

The hunt for Ottawa bargains moves to the periphery

Perhaps it was the heat and humidity, but momentum slowed in Ottawa’s housing market in August. The average price for residential properties sold through the Multiple Listing Service climbed a relatively modest 3.1 per cent year-over-year to $433,700 while condominiums fetched an average of $276,700, up 2.2 per cent from August 2017, according to a survey of realtors by the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

Ottawa Citizen

GTA resale housing up year-over-year

Toronto Real Estate Board president Garry Bhaura announced sales and price increases on a year-over-year basis in August. Greater Toronto Area REALTORS reported 6,839 sales through TREB’s MLS System in August 2018 – an 8.5 per cent increase over August 2017. Both the average selling price, at $765,270, and the MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark for August 2018 were up compared to the same month in 2017, by 4.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Globe Newswire – Newinhomes.com

Record-setting U.S. rent growth continues

U.S. multi-family rents in August maintained the year’s torrid pace, adding $2 to July’s record high. The $1,412 nationwide average for the month represented a three per cent year-over-year increase and was the seventh consecutive all-time high, according to a survey of 127 markets by Yardi Matrix. Multi-family rents have grown steadily throughout 2018, buoyed by the strong economy and continued healthy demand.

Canada Newswire

New Developments

Trio floats idea of building homes on Nova Scotia waters

Three business partners in Dartmouth want to bring the concept of floating houses to Nova Scotia. Lynn and Scott Brogan, along with Igor Yushchenko, have built a micro home on a floating dock along Lake Micmac in Dartmouth to test out the idea. “If it works on the West Coast, why shouldn’t it work on the East Coast?” asks Yushchenko.

CBC

Legal Issues

B.C. Supreme Court affirms power of superintendent

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has affirmed the powers of the provincial real-estate superintendent to compel the industry regulator to reopen investigations into alleged agent misconduct, a ruling that underscores the new oversight of a sector that lost the ability to police itself two years ago. The decision stated the superintendent has the power to force the Real Estate Council of British Columbia to hold a new disciplinary hearing.

Globe and Mail

Construction

Housing starts trend decreases in August

The trend in housing starts was 214,598 units in August, compared to 219,656 units in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. “The national trend in housing starts continued to decline in August from the historical peak that was recorded in March 2018,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.

Canada Newswire

Affordable Housing

Victoria proposes 15 per cent affordable rentals

Victoria city staff are pushing for all new strata developments to include a portion of affordable rental units. In a proposal that was approved at council last week, 15 per cent of condos downtown and 10 per cent of developments in others part of the city would be set aside as affordable units.

CBC

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Toronto says it learned from 2010 apartment fire

Hundreds of people forced out of their apartments in downtown Toronto after a terrible fire. Forced to stay in hotels or makeshift shelters, and not sure when they’ll see their homes again.  That was the story in 2010 when a fire broke out on the 24th floor of a TCHC building at 200 Wellesley St. East, displacing 1,700 residents. It was an emergency the city was supposed to learn from.

Toronto Star – Toronto Star

Redevelopment threatens mobile home parks in Metro Vancouver

Despite assurances that her home is safe from redevelopment, Tina Craig doesn’t believe it. Craig has lived in Breakaway Bays Retirement Community in south Surrey  for 25 years. It’s called a manufactured home park in B.C. law, though many people know of them as mobile home parks or even trailer parks. But the homes don’t have wheels and they’re no more mobile than any other single-family house.

Vancouver Sun

Other

	RENX has surpassed 10,530 Twitter followers
	Recent follower Fitwel is a leading building certification optimizing buildings to support health. Fitwel is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.