KingSett buying Saskatchewan apartments

KingSett buying Saskatchewan apartments

Nearly 1,300 apartments in Saskatchewan are about to be sold out from under financially troubled landlord Block 1 Management Ltd., which went into creditor protection last year. At least five of the group’s 15 properties will be sold — the price is the assumption of debt owing on the buildings — to Toronto-based KingSett Mortgage Corp. in the coming weeks.

Regina Leader-Post

Campus Suites proposes Calgary student tower

Calgary could soon receive its first privately developed student accommodation tower. Toronto-based developer Campus Suites has applied to transform the northwest Calgary site into a 28-storey residence, aimed primarily at undergraduates, and it hopes to break ground by the end of 2017. The site is within walking distance of both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).

Globe and Mail

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family buys properties, completes IPO

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family has purchased three American properties for two of its funds, and completed the Initial Public Offering for its Value-Add No. 1 fund. Two of the purchases, made for the Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 1) Value-Add Fund, are in Round Rock, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona. They include 943 multi-family residential suites for a total purchase price of US$154.8 million.

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

Apartment towers planned for London

London’s hot housing market is helping fuel demand for a new residential complex in the southwest corner of the city. Old Oak Properties plans to construct buildings of 14 storeys and 12 storeys along with 14 townhouse units. Both towers will be apartment rentals with 161 units in the 14-storey building and 113 in the 12-storey building.

London Free Press

Hamilton’s Television City brings new downtown condos

A $360-million, large-scale condo project planned for downtown Hamilton is promising a major boost to the city’s urban renewal efforts. Television City, a residential and retail community to be built on a one-acre site in downtown Hamilton — home to CHCH TV station — is the project of Toronto’s Lamb Development Corp., in partnership with Movengo Developments.

Toronto Star

Shrinking condos could become even more popular

There really isn’t much builders can do to shrink condominium units to make them more affordable since some are already as small as 280 square feet. Peter Clewes, a principal at ArchitectsAlliance which designed Smart House said it’s really not possible to design anything smaller than that popular project’s units.

Financial Post

Condo flipping on the rise in Vancouver: Realtor

With Vancouver’s real estate squeeze driving condo prices to new highs, one Vancouver realtor says speculation is heating up. Steve Saretsky with Sutton West Coast Realty teamed up with UBC economist Tom Davidoff to crunch the numbers and found nearly five per cent of condos sold in 2017 had been flipped after less than a year of ownership.

Global News

Down payment loans driving up Van. condo prices: Economist

A B.C. government program aimed at helping first-time homebuyers with their down payment has loaned out more than $13 million in its first six months. But UBC economist Thomas Davidoff says the big payout by the BC Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program appears to be one of the factors fueling the region’s newly soaring condo market.

Global News – Globe and Mail

Applying Vancouver’s empty home tax may be costly

With the July 1 deadline approaching for Vancouver dwellings to be rented out or be hit with the country’s first vacancy tax, it appears the cost of implementing the tax will be $2.7 million more than anticipated. One city councillor asked last week whether the whole experiment would turn into “a money pit.”

Vancouver Sun

TO vacant homes tax could be hard to enforce: Officials

Mayor John Tory says he recognizes imposing a tax on vacant homes in Toronto – as Vancouver has done – could turn out to be more trouble than it’s worth. But he still wants city bureaucrats to study the idea and come up with a proposal for a tax that could encourage speculators to free up empty units.

Globe and Mail

Foreign homebuyers surge in Montreal

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the number of foreign buyers in the Montreal area surged by 37 per cent in the first four months of the year. The 236 purchases by foreigners accounted for 1.8 per cent of all real estate transactions from January to April, up from 172 deals representing 1.3 per cent of total sales from January to April 2016.

CTV – Newinhomes.com – Globe and Mail – Marketwired

New rules having little impact on TO builders

Toronto builders maintain they have been unaffected by Ontario measures to cool the market and say the average selling price of an available new townhouse in the Greater Toronto Area crossed $1 million for the first time at the end of May. The Building Industry and Land Development Association said that marked a 40 per cent increase from a year ago.

Financial Post

Laneway housing could ease TO RE woes: Tuckey

With the ongoing housing crunch in the GTA, laneway housing deserves a look as a potential way to help increase supply and provide much-needed rental units. Last week, the Toronto and East York Community Council reviewed and authorized staff to move forward with a number of recommendations for laneway housing.

Toronto Star – Toronto Star

Record-setting Vancouver estate for sale

Vancouver may be Canada’s most expensive real estate market, but even that B.C. city has never seen a listing like this one. Billionaire Joseph Segal and his wife Rosalie have placed Belmont Estate, a 21,977-square-foot home, on the market for $63 million. The listing sets a “record for real estate in Greater Vancouver’s history,” according to Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.

Global News – Marketwired – Globe and Mail

Grenfell Tower fire raises alarms on global fire codes

The deaths of 79 people in a London apartment tower have triggered emergency inspections, evacuations and soul searching among British officials who failed to prevent the tragedy. But fire-safety experts say governments and builders around the world should take notice, because the fire at Grenfell Tower is just the latest in a string of deadly blazes.

The Guardian – National Post

Market Conditions

Is it time to invest in Yellowknife’s condo market?

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Northern Housing Report may spur some speculators to invest in Yellowknife’s condo market. Strong economic conditions in Yellowknife and Whitehorse will improve housing demand, the CMHC report indicates. In Iqaluit, the housing is primarily non-market, but construction of additional social housing should be kicking off in 2018.

Newinhomes.com

Toronto market sees shift away from frenzy

Some calm seems to be returning to the Toronto area’s real estate market after a turbulent few weeks. The Toronto Real Estate Board says new listings jumped by 22 per cent in the first half of the month compared with the same period in June 2016.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Financial Post

U.S. view: ‘Sleepy’ Victoria a bargain

The Wall Street Journal put its magnifying glass over Victoria’s real estate market to describe it as a “comparative bargain.” In comparison with Vancouver’s prices, that is. Victoria is a picturesque “sleepy” place with wooded roads, a laid-back lifestyle, lively harbour and a small-town vibe, the paper said recently.

Victoria Times Colonist

Rent costs in America’s fastest-growing cities

The U.S. Census‘ list of fastest-growing cities by percentage released last month comprised primarily suburbs in high-growth metro areas. The mass of people flocking to these cities will be happy to know in most cases, the average apartment rent falls in line with that of the market in which they are located.

Forbes

Elevated demand for U.S. apartments expected to continue

Separate studies issued last week by the National Apartment Association (NAA) and the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University conclude demand for rental apartments and other housing options will stay at elevated levels largely due to continued robust household formation and limited affordable housing options, especially for detached single-family houses.

CoStar Group – Reuters

New Developments

Edmonton high-rise gets a thumbs-down from city staff

The City of Edmonton’s sustainable development department is recommending against a proposed high-rise apartment in the Oliver neighbourhood, saying the building’s design does not fit with the neighbourhood’s characteristics. The proposed site is currently zoned to allow apartments up to four storeys. Westrich Pacific Corp.’s 165-unit high-rise would climb 30 storeys if it goes forward.

Edmonton Journal – Global News

Taxes and Utilities

More hydro relief coming: Ontario Energy Board

Hydro prices for households and small business will drop on July 1, fulfilling a promise of the Fair Hydro Act introduced by the Liberal government in March. The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) says the decrease for the average user will be about 25 per cent from last summer.

CBC

Natural Disasters

Elie tornado miracle on the Prairies

Ten years ago this week, Lynn Kauppila and her husband Les were in the basement, huddling under a mattress, while the strongest tornado ever to touch down in Canada ripped their Elie, Man., house off its foundation and threw it into the farmer’s field across the road. 

Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press – CBC

Affordable Housing

Co-living apartments look to fill affordability gaps

The latest co-living phenomenon has spawned its share of startup businesses, all looking to cash in on the demand among younger workers for relatively inexpensive living quarters in urban job centers where affordable housing is scarce-to-nonexistent. In The New York Times article “The Elusive $1,500 rental,” the newspaper noted the median rent for a Manhattan apartment was $3,475.

Building Design & Construction

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

West Van. council threatens to demolish home

The District of West Vancouver is threatening to tear down a multi-million dollar home after dealing with a four-year dispute over building permits. According to a staff report, the home was built without building permits, proper inspections or adherence to district bylaws. “The best option I think would be to take the house down,” Mayor Michael Smith said.

CBC

Will millennials put an end to NIMBYism?

The oft-maligned millennials may be the generation that puts an end to NIMBYism for good. The “not in my backyard” attitude that has historically hampered development in some of Toronto’s most desirable neighbourhoods doesn’t sit well with the younger set, according to EN Consulting Group managing partner Edward Nixon.

Newinhomes.com

Buying and Selling

The 11 most expensive homes for sale in Alberta

Still hunting for that perfect house to buy, but everything on the market seems to lack one of those must-have amenities … like a hockey rink, or servant’s quarters large enough for your staff? This list should help. Point2Homes rounded up the 11 most expensive properties on the market in Alberta right now:

CBC

Ontarians putting off first home purchase

First-time home buyers appear to be delaying their purchases in the wake of the province’s new policies intended to cool the housing market. Ipsos research for the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) showed in May, first time purchasers comprised only 40 per cent of those who plan to buy a home this year.

Toronto Star

A peek inside Vancouver’s polarizing cube house

It doesn’t look like anything else in the neighbourhood. The Point Grey home — a 2,280-square-foot, four-level house — is a cube of galvanized steel atop a glassed-in ground floor area described as “unneighbourly” by some and “ghastly” by others during construction last year. The home is hitting the market with an asking price of $14 million.

Vancouver Sun

Agentology the referral network for agents

Real estate has been rather slow on the uptake of technology. The shift to online browsing and transactions was bound to take longer than other sectors. Brokers, too, have grown accustomed to their ways and are usually hesitant to use technology to upgrade their processes. Agentology hopes to change all that.

TechCrunch

Other

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