CRA launches review of B.C. real estate speculators

CRA launches review of B.C. real estate speculators

The Canada Revenue Agency has launched a review into the actions of B.C. real estate speculators that uncovered possible tax evasion and fraud. On the weekend, the B.C. government urged the CRA to track down tax cheats and toughen up its rules after a Globe investigation showed a network of speculators flips homes for a profit and evades taxes by classifying them as principal residences.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Globe and Mail

Real estate board is landlord of alleged real estate speculator

A real estate speculator who was alleged in a national media report to have used loopholes to avoid paying taxes is a tenant of the association for Vancouver’s real estate agents. Provincial company records show Jun Gang “Kenny” Gu is the only director and officer of 2013-incorporated Gukan Construction Ltd. located in the same office building as the headquarters of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Business in Vancouver

Airbnb must play by rules when it comes to rentals

While Airbnb and other short-term rental accommodation agencies aren’t popular with most building owners and others impacted by them, enforced regulations may allow the two sides to co-exist somewhat peacefully.

Property Biz Canada

CMHC head warns of shortage of funds for housing strategy

The head of Canada’s housing agency is warning there simply will not be enough money available to meet the public’s expectations when it comes to tackling the problems in the housing market. Evan Siddall, the president and CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation cautioned that demands for new spending clearly exceed what will likely be available in the 2017 federal budget.

Globe and Mail

Equitable Bank assumes issuer rights loans from CMHC

Equitable Bank, a subsidiary of Equitable Group Inc., has entered into an agreement with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to become the successor issuer on $3.1 billion of outstanding National Housing Act, Mortgage Backed Security pools originally issued by Maple Bank GmbH’s Toronto branch.

Canada Newswire

Online service ignites concerns over rental bidding wars

A Vancouver-based online service that helps landlords rent suites through sealed bids from tenants is strongly opposed by LandlordBC because they fear it’s going to encourage bidding wars and make it even tougher for renters. Biddwell.com, launched four weeks ago, lists local apartments for rent for prospective tenants to bid on within a prescribed time period in the same way shoppers use eBay.

Vancouver Sun

Landlord licensing coming to Toronto

Toronto is moving closer to joining other North American cities by licensing landlords in an effort to eliminate slumlords that don’t properly maintain their buildings. The City of Toronto is looking at introducing a $12 to $15 annual licensing fee per unit for landlords of buildings with three or more floors and 10 or more units in order to recover costs for annual inspections of common areas, boilers, elevators and electrical systems for all such buildings.

Property Biz Canada

Developer buys houses next to McMaster, wants to build student residence

A developer is buying up a row of houses in the leafy, residential neighbourhood to the east of McMaster University, with plans to build a mixed-use, multi-storey student residence.  The developer started talking with the city more than a year ago about the project and a plan to request rezoning for as many as 15 “contiguous lots” at the corner of Main Street West and Forsyth Avenue South.

CBC

Hamilton developments mix the old with the new

Character is the name of the game when it comes to downtown residential and commercial developments in Hamilton. When Steve Kulakowsky and his partner David Sauve bought the old McIlwraith Public School for $750,000 in 2011, they wouldn’t put their condo sales centre on the site.

Toronto Star

A close look at that assessment notice could be worth tens of $1,000s to your bottom line

If you operate a business in Ontario you pay property taxes. Mark Oct. 18 on your calendar.

Read more

Victoria urged to ditch minimum unit sizes for condos

Micro-suites of less than 355 square feet would be allowed in many areas of Victoria if a proposal being recommended by city staff is approved. To improve affordability, city staff are recommending removing the minimum unit size in all 22 multi-unit residential zoning areas of the city. Currently, only the downtown core has no minimum unit size.

Times Colonist

Court says Ottawa condo board can block parking bid

Living in the ByWard Market has its benefits: ready access to bars and eateries, proximity to the National Gallery of Canada, living a short stroll from Parliament Hill. But it also comes with a higher-than-usual crime rate and a large transient population, which tends to make residents more security conscious than most.

Ottawa Citizen

Why the steady buzz of complaints about condo living?

Several people my wife and I know live happily in high-rise condos. But in my job, I hear a steady buzz of complaints about condos. That’s why this blog post caught my eye. It’s a diatribe about how crummy condos can be. Their tininess, their weird layouts, their unsuitability for families. In summary, condos are described as glorified hotel rooms.

Globe and Mail

No compensation, Toronto Hydro tells condo after 4th outage

Toronto Hydro won’t be offering compensation to its customers at CityPlace condo buildings, even after residents there lost power Wednesday for the fourth time in two weeks. The utility says it isn’t required to do so unless negligence was a cause. Buchan told CBC News both power feeding cables in the area have failed over the past 10 days, something he called “an extraordinary circumstance.”

CBC.ca

Dark windows illuminate problems in Vancouver’s real estate market

When the lights go on in the City of Vancouver, it is the dark windows that tend to catch the eye. On any given night, there are a lot of condo towers in the downtown area, particularly along the waterfront in Coal Harbour, where the unlit rooms indicate nobody is at home. The problem of vacant properties has long been a hot topic in Vancouver.

Globe and Mail

RENX Columnists

Market Conditions

Toronto home sales up 23.5 per cent in August

Toronto realtors say an extra two working days in August created a major boost for sales of existing homes in the month even in the face of a continued shortage of listings. The Toronto Real Estate Board said Wednesday there were 9,813 sales through the Multiple Listing Service last month, a 23.5 per cent increase from a year ago.

Financial Post – Marketwired

Borrowers could face payment shock if interest rates rise

More than 700,000 Canadian borrowers could be facing payment shock on their debt obligations if interest rates rise by a quarter point, and that rises to as many as one million people should rates go up by 1 per cent, says a study by credit monitoring firm TransUnion. In a one-quarter-point increase scenario, 718,000 consumers would see a $50 or greater hike in their monthly payments.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver condo presales figures breaking records

Presales of brand new condos in Vancouver have never been stronger, even as recent figures show a slump in real estate sales in the wake of B.C.’s new 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers. Almost all of the presale units in projects under construction downtown are spoken for and sales so far this year have broken records.

Vancouver Sun

Vancouver housing sales slow as ‘fear of missing out’ fades

Consumers no longer feel rushed to snap up homes in the Vancouver region since a new tax was imposed on foreign buyers.  A slowdown in sales, especially for high-end detached houses, reflects how people’s moods have shifted away from the “fear of missing out” phenomenon, real estate experts say.

Globe and Mail

Millennials and boomers: A merger of equals?

Housing’s supply and demand conundrum in 25 words or less. “We could sell entry-level homes as fast as we could make them, all day long. It’s building them that’s the hard part.” That’s the ceo of a top 15 home building enterprise in our Builder 100 speaking the other day.

Multifamily Executive

Mortgage and Finance

The principal-residence exemption is a fixable piece of the housing puzzle

The principal-residence exemption may be the best-loved feature of our country’s income-tax system. It allows owner-occupied condos and houses to be sold without paying any tax on the capital gain. It’s a key reason why buying a house can be a great financial investment, along with the security of tenure, social status and psychic benefits that draw many people to home ownership.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

Residential land sits empty across the Greater Vancouver

The crux of the Lower Mainland housing crisis supposedly hinges on the lack of supply and an insatiable demand for land that can be developed.  Municipalities insist they are hung up on a way to boost the supply of affordable housing, in part, because Metro Vancouver is so hemmed in by water, mountains and land designated for agricultural use.

Vancouver Sun

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Calgary’s Chinatown hopes to attract more business

Business owners in Calgary’s Chinatown are welcoming the official opening of a Business Revitalization Zone office. A dragon dance blessed the opening of the office in Dragon City Mall on Thursday evening.  Calgary seeks new direction for Chinatown after 30 years.

CBC

Taxes and Utilities

Regina’s Frontenac apartments in line for $400K tax holiday

The city of Regina is looking at providing a $400,000 tax break for renovations at an apartment building with a heritage connection. The four-storey Frontenac Apartments, located at 2022 Lorne Street, southwest of Victoria Park, is undergoing about $2 million worth of renovations.

CBC

Energy conservation monitors pay for themselves

When it comes to reducing out your home’s energy use, progress is measured in pennies. My home never uses less than 300 watts, worth about three cents per hour. I could probably battle down that so-called “vampire load” a little by shutting down a couple of computers at night, unplugging the entertainment unit and television (standby mode is your enemy). But the savings would be only pennies a month.

Vancouver Sun

Legal Issues

Condo lawsuit alleges balconies pose ‘serious safety risk’

Owners of units in a four-year-old condominium complex near St. Anne’s Road and Warde Avenue in Winnipeg have launched a lawsuit alleging multiple defects in their building, some of which they say pose safety risks. Winnipeg condominium corporation number 807 names multiple parties in the lawsuit, including developer Odyssey Holdings Inc., engineering firm Hanuschak Consultants and architect Otto Cheng.

CBC

Construction

Historic Rafter Six Ranch demolished by new owners

The former co-owner of the historic Rafter Six Ranch near Exshaw, Alta., watched in horror as demolition on the lodge proceeded Monday. CBC News asked Gloria Cowley how she was feeling after being involved with the property for decades.

CBC

Affordable Housing

Is it a housing problem or an income problem?

The spring 2016 federal budget allocated $2.3-billion to doing something about housing affordability, mostly through expanding existing federal-provincial and on-reserve programs. That sounds a little dull. The budget went on, therefore, threatening to develop a National Housing Strategy.

Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

City to weigh apartment-to-condo conversion trend

Some city councillors think a trend of turning apartments into condominiums costs the city in taxes and rental property — and that perhaps tax rates should be adjusted. The city’s planning committee on Monday night endorsed the conversion of the three-storey, 16-unit apartment building at 1805 Riverside Dr. W. into a condo building — given the CMHC rules allow it.

Windsor Star

Calgary’s ‘ridiculous’ secondary suite process must be fixed, Mayor says

Calgary’s mayor is calling on voters to turn up the heat on their councillors to fix the way the city deals with secondary suite applications. City council heard 38 applications at Monday’s meeting, approving all but four of them. During the public hearings, a couple of the applicants cried as they relayed personal stories of their need for a legal secondary suite.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Toronto Real Estate Board cease and desist letter shuts down site

Canada’s largest real estate board is still waging battle over control of its listings, as it readies to appeal a Competition Tribunal ruling that would make those listings far more public. The Toronto Real Estate Board issued a cease and desist letter to a popular online service that sends out emails blasts to consumers about homes sold, tailoring the service to their local area.

Financial Post

Other

	RENX has surpassed 9,295 Twitter followers
	Follower Homes by Dream believes in building better homes throughout Calgary and surrounding areas for people to live and grow.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.