CIBC economist slams Ont. rent-control rules

CIBC economist slams Ont. rent-control rules

New rent-control rules are “the exact opposite” of what is needed to deal with housing affordability problems in Toronto, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce economist Benjamin Tal says. In a new report Tuesday, Mr. Tal urges the Ontario government not to proceed with “alarming” plans to expand rent-control protections.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

Apartment developers discuss Toronto rental market

Housing and rental prices in Canada, and particularly the Greater Toronto Area, were the focus of the opening panel discussion of CIBC’s 22nd annual real estate conference on March 30. There was a consensus prices will continue to rise as interest rates remain low, supply remains constrained and people want to live in a city gaining in international prominence.

Property Biz Canada – CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Newinhomes.com

Developers fire warning over rent control

Some of the country’s most powerful developers fired a warning shot Thursday at provincial politicians considering rent control to address housing affordability, arguing such measures could make it uneconomical to bring new supply online. Speakers at CIBC’s 22nd Annual Real Estate Conference warned it wouldn’t take much for some developers to pull the plug on key GTA projects.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – CBC

Tenants at two Toronto condos see rent double

Tenants of at least two west-end condo buildings will see their rents double this year, in a move critics say proves change is needed in Ontario’s rent control laws. Kim Zasadny, 25, received a letter from KSV Advisory, a company that restructures insolvent businesses, informing her rent would increase from $1,650 to $3,300, starting July 1.

Toronto Star

Toronto approves new apartment bylaws

City staff will begin inspecting the thousands of apartment buildings in Toronto this summer after council approved a new bylaw aimed at cracking down on bad landlords. Council voted 41-1 in favour of the new regulations, which will require landlords to register each year with the city and develop plans for tracking tenant requests.

CBC – Toronto Star – Global News

Toronto, Ontario eye tax on unoccupied homes

The province and city are eyeing a tax on vacant houses and condos to address Toronto’s soaring real estate prices that are putting the squeeze on home ownership and rental vacancies. The tax would be one way of curbing the property speculation many believe is behind the growing crunch on affordability. It could also open up more rental units.

Toronto Star – CBC – Globe and Mail – CP24 Toronto

Many Toronto homebuyers skipping inspections

In Toronto, some homebuyers are so desperate to win bidding wars they’re rushing to make offers without even getting an inspection. The average price for a detached home jumped to $1.21 million in February, up a third from a year earliee. In the same period, Toronto-based home-inspection firm Carson Dunlop saw a 34 per cent drop in volume.

Bloomberg

Ontario to replace Tarion with new home builder regulator

The Ontario government is taking steps to boost consumer confidence in the industry for newly built homes in the province. The proposed changes to the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act and the Tarion Warranty Corp. were unveiled Tuesday by Minister of Government and Consumer Services Tracy MacCharles, who plans to introduce a bill in the legislature this fall.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Toronto Star – CBC

Canadians turning to Airbnb units to cover their mortgage: Survey

Canadians facing ever increasing house prices — and debt — are turning to short-term rentals to make ends meet, according to a new survey. AltusGroup, which provides real estate research, said its FIRM survey from the summer of 2016 found four per cent of all households had used a short-term rental accommodation service in the past year. The number rises to seven per cent for those with a mortgage.

Financial Post

Vancouver orders Onni to halt short-term rentals

The City of Vancouver has again ordered a developer to stop offering short-term rental properties at a downtown Seymour Street property, threatening to escalate enforcement if it flouts this latest warning. The city warned Onni last week to halt all short-term rentals at the property, said Kaye Krisha, the city’s general manager of development, buildings and licensing.

CBC – Vancouver Sun – 630ched.com

B.C. landlords look to curb legal pot use

With Canada about to legalizing marijuana, B.C. landlords are considering rental agreements with restrictions on growing and smoking in the home to weed out potential fire hazards, odours and liability issues. David Hutniak, Landlord B.C. CEO, said it’s one thing for medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis, “but if it’s legalized for everybody, that’s a different game.” 

Victoria Times Colonist – CBC

Richmond, B.C., puts brakes on mega homes on farmland

Richmond city councillors have addressed a longstanding city issue, voting eight to one in favour of a moratorium on building permit applications for houses on Agricultural Land Reserve. “The time has come. Clearly, there needs to be some kind of restrictions with the permit applications increasing in the last couple of months,” said Mayor Malcom Brodie.

CBC

Fintrac cut reference to ‘ethnic communities’ in warning to RE industry

Canada’s money-laundering watchdog drafted a document warning the real estate sector to be on guard for “specific ethnic communities” dealing with terrorism and war, before removing the reference at the behest of an industry association, documents show. Correspondence between Fintrac and the Canadian Real Estate Association was obtained by The Canadian Press through an Access to Information request.

CBC

Vancouver transit-oriented communities see limited success

Transit-oriented communities are often called the future for Metro Vancouver, with condo towers and townhouses clustered around stores and amenities like theatres along major public transit lines. But figures from the latest census are raising questions about that appearance of success, according to some researchers.

Vancouver Sun

U.S. apartment sector has an undersupply problem

Is the U.S. multi-family sector getting ahead of itself? It’s a question posed by a fair number of industry members lately. However, on a national level it’s not a view PGIM Real Estate Finance’s Michael McRoberts would share, although he does advocate keeping a weather eye on certain metrics.

GlobeSt.com – Business Insider – GlobeSt.com – Bloomberg

Market Conditions

How to cool a red-hot housing market

Toronto and Vancouver are by far the country’s most heated housing markets, but other cities are showing signs of strain, too. The latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey pegs Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Kelowna and Hamilton as “seriously unaffordable” (the report generally blames “urban containment” policies for affordability issues, and favours more development).

Maclean’s – Newinhomes.com

New condo sales picking up in Calgary

Sales are on the rise for new apartment-style condos and townhomes in Calgary, according to Urban Analytics. Total multi-family sales through Calgary’s new home market increased 11 per cent between Dec. 1, 2016, and the end of this past February, compared to the same period a year ago, say

Calgary Herald – 660 News

How is price of owning vs. renting affecting U.S. multi-family?

Most dream of owning their own home to gain equity in an asset that usually grows in value. Still others prefer the flexibility of renting a home that eases the risk should the housing market crash or a neighbourhood lose value. The truth is most people do not get to choose when they can buy a home. 

National Real Estate Investor – GlobeSt.com

Mortgage and Finance

Online database protects Canadians getting mortgages

A new online database, developed by the Mortgage Broker Regulators’ Council of Canada (MBRCC), helps consumers find out if mortgage brokers have broken the rules that govern their profession. Consumers can enter a mortgage broker’s name or company into the search-friendly database and see disciplinary actions taken against a broker by their provincial mortgage regulator and other Canadian regulators.

Canada Newswire

Seasonal Homes

Quebec vacation property market to continue growth: QFREB

According to the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards’ (QFREB) just-published study, 3,435 vacation properties were sold in Québec in 2016, an 11 per cent increase over 2015. “2016 was a prolific year for the vacation property market,” said Paul Cardinal, Market Analysis Department manager. “This market segment should continue to grow in 2017, but at a slower pace than the previous two years.”

Canada Newswire

Leaving the cottage to children will cost you – or them

Imagine a fairly wealthy elderly couple with a beautiful vacation home. The couple and their children remember decades of summers on the beach. Now the unhappy truth: Second homes, cottages and other vacation properties are taxable assets. Unlike a primary residence, the increase in value of a second home is taxed, so the son will receive a major tax hit.

Globe and Mail

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Radon gas exceeds safe levels in one in eight Calgary homes: Study

An invisible killer is lurking inside one in every eight Calgary homes, an alarming University of Calgary study has found. The research, published in Wednesday’s CMAJ Open journal, tested radon levels in 2,382 homes in Calgary and its surrounding communities, finding the radioactive gas to be above acceptable levels in 12.4 per cent of the homes. 

Calgary Herald – CBC

Taxes and Utilities

N.B. accused of deliberately overcharging homeowners

An internal Service New Brunswick email obtained by CBC News shows senior provincial government assessment officials invented renovation amounts for 2,048 homeowners with large assessment increases this spring, allowing the province to evade a legal 10 per cent cap on the homes’ property tax bills.

CBC – CBC – CBC – CBC

How to ensure non-residents pay tax on Canadian real-estate profits

It should be easy to ensure offshore property speculators pay capital gains taxes on their Canadian sales, but the B.C. government has given no sign it’s prepared to make the fix. Immigration lawyers and Opposition politicians are pressing the province to start an information-sharing system that would make it much harder for house sellers to evade capital gains taxes.

Vancouver Sun

Saskatoon landlords stuck with tenants’ unpaid water bills

Landlords in Saskatoon want city council to put a stop to tenants racking up big water bills then sticking them with the tab. A provincial law allows the city to transfer water utility arrears onto the tax accounts of property owners. The problem comes when the property is rented out, and city utilities are in the tenant’s name.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Fort Mac homeowners receive property tax relief

Fort McMurray residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged beyond repair in May’s wildfire won’t have to pay their municipal property taxes. In a unanimous vote, the Wood Buffalo municipal council approved the tax relief for homes that have not been rebuilt. Wood Buffalo will also ask the province to waive its share of the tax on affected homeowners.

CBC – CBC

Natural Disasters

Worst flood in decades threatens Manitoba properties: Mayor

The south-central Manitoba town of Carman is dealing with its worst flood in over three decades, with hundreds of properties at risk, a bridge closed due to ice damage, and residents being warned to limit how much water they use. As many as 300 properties in the town of about 3,000 are at risk of flood damage, says Mayor Bob Mitchell.

CBC – Global News – CTV – CBC

Failing slopes foil Fort Mac rebuilding efforts

Grigory Litvinov and his wife bought their first home ever in Fort McMurray in 2016. Thirty-three days later it burned to the ground. “I still had boxes in the garage,” Litvinov said, standing in his muddy lot. Now, 11 months later Litvinov has learned he cannot begin rebuilding because with all the trees gone, the slope behind his lot is failing.

CBC

Legal Issues

Ottawa condo owners suing builder

An Ottawa woman has launched a $3-million class action on behalf of more than 100 condo owners, claiming builder Theberge Developments Ltd. failed to deliver on its promises and blindsided purchasers with hidden costs. Sabrina Heyde, 31, alleges the builder “tricked” her into signing an agreement to rent her forced air heating system.

CBC – CBC

Construction

Edmonton tickets neighbourhood homebuilders

Edmonton’s new infill police made surprise visits on 416 residential building sites in their first year of operations and community leagues say it’s starting to make a difference. The compliance team found 815 infractions, gave 493 verbal warnings, 205 written notices, 114 tickets and three stop work orders. The city expects some of those to be fought in court.

Edmonton Journal

U.S. construction spending nears 11-year high

U.S. developers ramped up construction spending in February to the largest amount in nearly 11 years, led by more building of homes, highways and schools. Construction spending rose 0.8 per cent in February to the highest level since April 2006, after two months of declines, the Commerce Department said. Builders are rapidly building more homes in response to strong demand.

Winnipeg Free Press – GlobeSt.com

Affordable Housing

Calgary housing suddenly affordable

The Calgary housing market is “likely to get more attention,” predicts an RBC report on housing affordability released Thursday. That Calgary homes have become relatively cheap hasn’t really made headlines over the past year — and unsurprisingly so. After all, low prices or not, few Canadians would want to buy a house in a recession-stricken economy.

Global News – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Business In Vancouver

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Cochrane, Alta., resists city designation despite population jump

It’s a town and it’s fighting to stay that way. Despite luring people away from large cities in droves — including nearby Calgary — Cochrane, is resisting the “city” designation, preferring to be a friendly town where people say hi to each other on the street. Jennifer Foy says she hears that sentiment a lot.

CBC

Vancouver tenants frustrated by slum conditions

The B.C. government and the City of Vancouver are good at talking the talk about homelessness and tenants’ rights, but not so good about doing the walk. With affordable rental accommodation a local will-o’-the-wisp, neither the municipality nor the Residency Tenancy Branch appears to be protecting the most-vulnerable.

Vancouver Sun

Buying and Selling

For sale: Five acres and more than 340 vintage cars

A real estate listing in Tappen, B.C., for a five-acre property near Shuswap Lake comes with more than 340 vintage cars. “If you can sell a condo in Vancouver for a couple million bucks, you can come up here and get five acres and a lifetime worth of work if you really enjoy working on cars,” said seller Michael Hall.

CBC

Toronto’s landmark cube home for sale

The end could be nigh for Toronto’s cube cluster landmark nestled just north of the Distillery District. The curious three-cube structure standing on a pie shaped slice of real estate has been up for sale for months, but so far no one has snapped it up. It’s unusual in a red-hot market.

Toronto Star – CBC

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