Canada’s top neighbourhoods in which to buy real estate

Canada’s top neighbourhoods in which to buy real estate

Guelph has topped the list as the city with the most attractive real estate for buyers in Canada, according to the 2017 MoneySense Where to Buy Now ranking. In doing so, it bumps Thunder Bay from the perch it had held for two consecutive years, knocking that city down to fourth spot.

MoneySense – Ottawa Citizen – Money Sense – Money Sense

Ontario downplays developers’ policy complaints

The Ontario government is dismissing suggestions anti-sprawl policies are contributing to housing supply shortage and soaring home prices in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Developers argue easing restrictions on construction of detached homes and townhouses on “greenfield” land — areas set aside by municipalities for development as part of Ontario’s growth plan — could help boost supply.

Winnipeg Free Press

Biddwell, Rentberry apps concern housing advocates

Advocates for both Vancouver’s housing tenants and the city’s landlords are worried about how new online rental home bidding apps like Vancouver-based Biddwell and American-made Rentberry will impact the already-overheated housing market.

Property Biz Canada

Ont. pushing ahead with rent controls, despite opposition

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she isn’t buying the argument stricter rent control will do more harm than good for renters in the province. Developers and economists have warned a new rent control law – which the Ontario government has said it’s developing – will discourage the construction of new rental properties, squeezing the already tight supply of rental homes.

CTV – CBC

Metro Vancouver rental apartment buildings sales weaken

Record-shattering sales of rental apartment buildings have slowed in Metro Vancouver, but analysts say the slowdown could be more a sign of fewer properties available than of flagging demand. Apartment building sales, totalled 89 transactions in 2016’s first half in Metro Vancouver but fell to 51 sales in the second half.

Business In Vancouver

Metro Vancouver says property tax system antiquated

The regional government of Metro Vancouver is calling on B.C.’s political parties to make substantial changes to the way homeowners are taxed. The group commissioned an independent report to look at the region’s property taxation compared to the rest of the province.

CBC

More developers set their sights on Vancouver townhomes

When community members met to discuss the future of the East Fraser Lands in the southeast corner of Vancouver in 2005, urban density was very much on their minds. “There was a conversation about density and the amenities that the community wanted,” said Beau Jarvis, senior vice-president with Wesgroup Properties LP.

Business In Vancouver – Financial Post

Vancouver’s vacant home surge moves to Toronto suburbs

It’s a 2,000-square-foot home with four bedrooms, a huge yard, patio and two-car garage in a sought-after district of southeast Oakville, Ont. In 1999, the house sold for $245,000 and in 2007 for $545,000. It sold again in 2011 for $631,000. By 2016, its selling price had skyrocketed to more than $1.2 million. Now, it’s empty.

Globe and Mail

Condos drive quickest housing starts pace since 2007

Canadian housing starts surged to the fastest pace in a decade, led by apartments and condominiums. Housing starts soared 18 per cent to an annualized 253,720 units in March, from 214,253 units in February, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said in a statement Monday from Ottawa.

Bloomberg – Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Newinhomes.com

Housing market could drag down national economy: RBC

Royal Bank of Canada’s (RY-T) chief executive Dave McKay says the  Toronto and Vancouver housing markets are at the “point of strain . . . and we believe that if this issue goes unchecked, it could drag on consumer spending, locking up too much capital unproductively, and potentially becoming an inhibitor to Canada’s future economic growth.,” 

Financial Post – CBC – Globe and Mail – Bloomberg

Tory puts real estate industry on notice

Toronto Mayor John Tory is keeping a close eye on the the real estate industry. “I would hope we would have our provincial government partners . . . ensure that their practices are not encouraging an even more frenzied marketplace that makes it harder for people to acquire homes at any kind of cost that is reasonable at all,” Tory said..

BNN – Globe and Mail – Bloomberg

Foreign buyers tax a bad idea: CHBA oresident

“There is no supporting statistical evidence to support the idea that foreign buyers (true offshore investors) make up enough of a significant percentage of the overall housing market to affect the numbers in a large way,” Canadian Home Builders Association president Bob Finnigan said. “It simply becomes a tax grab – at whatever percentage of sales foreign buyers are.”

Newinhomes.com

Seniors, millennials buy into Calgary’s first parking-free condo

Developer Joe Starkman thought Calgary’s first condo without a single stall for tenants’ automobiles would attract millennials. “Generally, it’s a younger group moving in,” said Starkman, with Knightsbridge Homes. “But the other anomaly we had is we ended up with a whole bunch of seniors.”

Calgary Herald

Canadians ready to cash in on their property: Poll

A new poll finds 41 per cent of Canadian with plans to sell their property are doing so to cash in and make a profit. But the problem, according to the survey released Monday by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM-T), is 62 per cent say the cost of buying another house is making them “reluctant to sell.”

Vancouver Sun – CBC – BuzzBuzzNews

HomeShare pairs luxury condo-seeking roommates

HomeShare is the startup determined to place prospective residents into condo luxury. Operational in Los Angeles and now San Francisco, the company offers a streamlined approach for transplants to easily assimilate into some of the most beautiful neighbourhoods on the West Coast. 

BuzzBuzzNews

Market Conditions

Canadian companies profiting from U.S. housing recovery

Canadian firms beyond lumber producers are expanding their reach in the United States to capitalize on the ongoing housing recovery. The head of Richelieu Hardware says the Montreal-based firm has completed a series of acquisitions over the past few years to position itself as among the leaders in a market that is creeping back from the 2008 housing crash

Winnipeg Free Press – Canada Newswire – GlobeSt.com

Montreal market celebrates best March in five years

The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board’s (GMREB) most recent residential real estate market statistics for the Montréal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) showed 5,159 residential sales were concluded in March. That is a 10 per cent increase compared to March 2016 and the most active March since 2012. 

Canada Newswire – MoneySense

New listings tumble in Vancouver housing market

The number of new residential property listings hit the lowest level last month in eight years, said the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. New listings were down 24 per cent and sales were down 30.8 per cent from a record-breaking level recorded in March 2016, the board said in a news release.

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

Sales of pricey Edmonton properties at five-year high

More million-dollar Edmonton homes have sold in the first quarter of 2017 than in the same period over the past four years, showing a glimpse the province’s economy might be feeling less sluggish. In the first three months of this year, 33 properties sold for $1 million or more in the city and the surrounding area, the Realtors Association of Edmonton reported.

Edmonton Journal – MoneySense

New Developments

Streetside launches no-condo fee development

A seasoned multi-family builder in Calgary is bringing on its first townhome development that doesn’t require condo fees. Pre-construction sales opened at the Townes of Redstone by Streetside Developments on Saturday.

Calgary Herald

Toronto condo development fails

About 200 people who bought condo units in an Etobicoke high-rise project may lose their homes after the development was placed into court-ordered receivership due to massive financial problems. The project, still only about 15 per cent complete six years after it was first marketed to potential buyers, will now be sold off by the receiver in a bidding process.

CBC

Seasonal Homes

Summer cottage rental boom may be due to ‘Trump Slump’

Spring may have only just begun, but some rental property owners in St. Martins, N.B., say their summer bookings are almost full and one thinks President Donald Trump is the reason behind the boom. In the decade she’s been renting a cottage on her West Quaco Road property, Kathi Dunphi said she’s never seen demand quite like this.

CBC

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Historic Vancouver market transformation begins

As tens of thousands descend on Vancouver’s Punjabi Market for the annual Vaisakhi parade next weekend, this year, there will be a noticeable difference on the iconic corner of Main street and 49th Avenue. What has long been the home of All India Sweets and Restaurant, is now an empty lot — soon to be a new rental housing complex.

CBC

Taxes and Utilities

Calgary seeks homeowner help to improve assessments

The city is asking Calgary homeowners to do their part in ensuring its annual property assessments are more accurate. It recently mailed out a letter to 80 thousand property owners in wards 8 and 12, asking them to verify that the details the city has on their houses are as accurate as possible.

CBC

Canadians now need to report home sales on taxes

When Ottawa unveiled a tightening of mortgage lending rules last fall, it also implemented a small but important change. For the first time, Canadians who sold their homes in 2016 will have to report it to the Canada Revenue Agency, even though any gains remain tax-free if they’ve lived in the properties as long as they’ve owned them.

Windsor Star

Natural Disasters

Mudslide destroys two Shuswap, B.C., homes

A mudslide has destroyed two houses in the small Shuswap community of Tappen and caused the evacuations of four more. Fire chief Kyle Schneider said one of the houses on Sunnybrae-Canoe Point Road was cut in half by tumbling trees and boulders. Two ambulances took two people with minor injuries to hospital in Salmon Arm.

CBC – Global News – CBC

Vancouver appoints first chief resilience officer

A fortune built on oil money will pay for a new position at Vancouver City Hall aimed at preparing for potential disasters. The city has joined 100 Resilient Cities, a network funded by the U.S. Rockefeller Foundation. “It really helps us to think, not just about earthquakes in a silo,” said new chief resilience officer Katie McPherson.

Vancouver Sun

Legal Issues

Alberta judge, husband sued over sale of West Vancouver home

Chief Justice Catherine Fraser of the Albert Court of Appeal and her husband, Richard Clarence Fraser, are being sued over an allegation they breached a multiple listing contract involving the sale of a home in West Vancouver and owe a commission of $111,000 to a local real estate brokerage firm.

Vancouver Sun

Construction

Engineer disciplined over condos with structural issues

The regulatory body for professional engineers in Manitoba took away an engineer’s ability to practise structural engineering and reprimanded him, but didn’t inform the public of the discipline at the time. The decision involving George Pratt came after the City of Winnipeg submitted information about Pratt to Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba, said Michael Gregoire, the association’s director of professional standards.

CBC – CBC

Affordable Housing

Housing affordability measures coming ‘very soon’​: Wynne

A package of housing affordability measures that could have a swift impact on the hot Toronto-area housing market will be introduced “very soon,” Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Monday. Wynne wouldn’t provide further details on those measures, but she acknowledged the need for immediate relief.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Vancouver affordability eases for first time in three years: RBC

In Canada’s former hottest housing market, housing affordability improved slightly in 2016’s last quarter but it remains incredibly challenging for first-time buyers in Vancouver to enter the market. Despite the city still having the most expensive housing market in Canada, for the first time in three years its housing affordability has eased, according to RBC’s fourth-quarter report.

BuzzBuzzhNews – Vancouver Province

Rent subsidies improve quality of life: Study

It’s no surprise rent subsidies can help people with lower incomes in their homes, but a study out of Wilfrid Laurier University has found subsidies can also significantly improve a person’s quality of life. The study was conducted in the summer of 2014 when the Region of Waterloo receiving funding to help house 40 people who experienced persistent homelessness.

CBC

Horizon adds to affordable housing legacy

Opposed at the time by some neighbours, Horizon Housing Society opened its first stand-alone home for residents with mental health challenges in 1978. Forty years on, the organization will open a new facility on its Elbow Valley lands above Glenmore Trail on 45^th Street S.W., but this time with the welcome mat out from the Glamorgan community.

Calgary Herald

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Toronto schools bracing for wave of high-rise neighbours

The clash between the holy grail of urban density and schools that anchor Toronto neighbourhoods is about to get worse. It’s been at the heart of an escalating battle in North Toronto, where a 35-storey tower is soon to be erected next to John Fisher Public School, throwing families into uncertainty over the 500 students.

Toronto Star

Calgary’s population doubles in 32 years

VIDEOS: Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Billy Idol, Duran Duran and Madonna were on the radio. Ghostbusters, E.T. and Gremlins were on the big screen and the Flames had been the Calgary Flames for four years, after relocating from Atlanta. It was 1984 and Calgary had a population of 619,814. By 2016, the city had doubled its population reaching 1,239,220.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Number of Victoria agents nearly matches listings

The number of listings in Greater Victoria’s hot property market has dropped to the point where there is almost one real estate agent for every listing. At the end of March, there were 1,556 active listings and 1,353 licensed agents, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board.

Victoria Times Colonist

Other

Ontario Association of Architects honours its best

The winners of the 2017 OAA Awards were recently announced. The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) unveiled the winners of the Design Excellence category, as well as the winners for Best Emerging Practice, Concept, Landmark Designation, G. Randy Roberts Service Award, and the Order of da Vinci.

Newinhomes.com