Ontario mulls changes to rental rules

Ontario mulls changes to rental rules

The Ontario government said its plans to make it easier for landlords to evict problem tenants will lead to more affordable housing, but tenants’ rights groups blasted the new proposals, saying they give landlords too much power. The suggested changes to the Residential Tenancies Act are contained in an April consultation paper.

CBC News

Crackdown on bad B.C. tenants, landlords in works

B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman says he’s working on legal changes that could give new powers to the government to investigate and fine bad landlords and tenants. Coleman said his ministry is preparing ways to change the Residential Tenancy Act, which would allow the housing branch to compel the presentation of documents and evidence from landlords and tenants.

Victoria Times Colonist

Irrational exuberance in Gastown

Again and again, people make the same kind of investment error. We saw it in Holland during the 1600s, when rampant market speculation drove the prices for the most sought-after tulip bulbs to six times the average annual salary.

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Notorious Montreal landlord’s buildings sold

The family of notorious Montreal landlord Claudio Di Giambattista, who died in December, has sold three of the apartment buildings that were the object of tenant complaints. The sale prices are listed as $885,000, $645,000 and $345,000, respectively. A numbered company is purchaser of two of the buildings, while the company’s majority shareholder and president is listed as purchaser of the third. 

Montreal Gazette

Beedie proposes revised Vancouver development

The Beedie Group is hoping it’s third time lucky with a controversial development proposal for Vancouver’s Chinatown. But it may be a hard sell with Chinatown activists. Beedie’s new submission to the city shows a slightly smaller development with 119 market condos, down from 127 last year and 134 when it was initially submitted in 2014.

Vancouver Sun

Tridel, Great Gulf honoured by BILD

Innovative condominium builder Tridel was the big winner at the annual BILD (Building Industry and Land Development) Awards held Thursday in Vaughan. Great Gulf Homes also took home one of the night’s most prestigious honours at the 36th annual gala celebrating excellence in sales, marketing, design and construction of new homes in the GTA.

Toronto Star – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Taking a peak at Pan Am condos

“Welcome to my home,” says Hanley Koo, grinning widely as he strolls into his new digs at Canary District Condos, a midrise building. It’s Koo’s first time seeing his place. The 491-square-foot suite first served as a home to athletes during last summer’s Pan/Parapan Am Games.

Toronto Star – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

TREB ruling expected to unleash tech innovation

Canadian realtors are closely watching what is expected to be a precedent-setting ruling by the federal Competition Tribunal that could strike a blow to the industry’s tight control over resale housing data. In its ruling, issued Wednesday, the tribunal sided with the Competition Bureau of Canada, which had argued the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) was stifling competition.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – CBC News – Globe and Mail (Subscription Required)

CAPREIT acquires GTA townhome property

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR.UN-T) has completed the acquisition of a residential townhome property in Markham, Ont. The property contains 71 two-, three- and four-bedroom units located in Markham’s upscale and affluent Bayview Avenue and John Street neighbourhood.

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

Vancouverites eye co-housing space within condo tower

We all know that feeling of riding up an elevator in uncomfortable silence with strangers, then walking along a claustrophobic corridor to get to someone’s apartment. It’s only when you’re inside the door that you can really relax. But what if you could live in a building where even the public space was welcoming? Where people hung out?

Globe and Mail

Rise of private surveillance cameras point to legal limbo

Are you ready for your close-up? As more homeowners spread the reach of “Little Brother” by installing security cameras on their property, chances are images of their neighbours’ properties or the neighbours themselves could end up being recorded without their knowledge. And while provincial and federal privacy laws are designed to protect citizens from snooping by governments and businesses, they don’t apply to cameras on individuals’ private property.

Vancouver Sun

Five ways to capitalize on shared space

With rents at all-time highs and cities becoming increasingly dense, people of every generation are utilizing the shared economy. Whether through co-housing, micro units or flexible leases, developers and owners are coming up with new ways to adapt to changing renter preferences and capitalize on opportunities in the shared-space environment.

Multi-Housing News

Berlin bans apartment vacation rentals

Berlin has become the first major city to ban listing apartments on the vacation rental sites such as Airbnb and HomeAway. For building owners, it means less security concerns in their communities – it also rules out the potential for them to make a quick buck off the new business strategy.

Multifamily Executive – IPE Real Estate

Who’s afraid of multi-family?

Liquidity in the U.S. multi-family sector appears to be holding up, continuing to help drive sales of apartment properties, with sales remaining on last year’s record pace. Multi-family deal volume in the first quarter of this year totalled $37 billion, almost in line with Q1 2015, which kicked off a record year for apartment investment at $161 billion.

CoStar Group – National Real Estate Investor – Globest.com

Beijing world’s most expensive city to rent

To determine the world’s most expensive city, Global Cities Business Alliance (GCBA) looked at what it costs to rent versus incomes in a given area. The London-based non-profit looked at how much it cost to rent in 15 cities as a portion of net earnings.>And Beijing took the cake.

Huffington Post

RENX Columnists

Why commercial real estate projects need video

Getting media attention for commercial and industrial real estate developments can be pretty tough these days. In a world of shrinking media and mass layoffs, there are fewer and fewer news outlets that write about real estate in Canada.

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Market Conditions

Winnipeg has too many condos: CMHC

Winnipeg still has too many unsold condominiums, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. In its latest quarterly Housing Market Assessment Report released Wednesday, the federal housing agency said there is still “moderate” evidence of overbuilding on the condo side. That’s particularly true of apartment-style condos.

Winnipeg Free Press

CMHC calls out nine markets for overvaluation

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is coming around to the view there may be some overvaluation and overbuilding in some Canadian cities. CMHC said Wednesday overvaluation can be “detected” in nine of the 15 cities it monitors with overbuilding recorded in seven.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – CBC News – Globe and Mail

Canada’s market ‘inching towards instability’: U.S. bank

A big U.S. bank is warning Canada’s housing market is “inching towards instability” amid low interest rates and a lack of listings. The recent report by Emanuella Enenajor, the North America economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is yet more evidence of the frothy nature of some markets, though she’s not warning of a crash.

Globe and Mail

America’s 20 hottest markets

As the average temperature climbs fast across the U.S., interest from would-be home buyers is rising just as quickly — and that means the number of days homes sit on the market is dwindling, according to the most recent analysis of realtor.com data for April. We’re seeing some new heat emanating from the Midwest.

Realtor.com

Latest reports:

* Calgary, Calgary Real Estate Board, Calgary Herald, CBC News, Financial Post

* Surrey, BCBusiness

* Greater Victoria, Victoria Real Estate Board, Victoria Times Colonist, CTV News

* Boston, Multi-Housing News

* Denver, Apartment Association of Metro Denver, Denver Post

RENX Market Summaries

Mortgage and Finance

Genworth upgraded on improved Alberta housing outlook

Rising oil prices led CIBC World Markets to upgrade its rating on Genworth MI Canada Inc.’s (MIC-T) stock from the equivalent of a sell to hold. The upgrade comes after the company’s stock has rallied more than 25 per cent this year. Genworth had earlier this year taken a hit on fears of its exposure to Alberta’s struggling housing market.

Financial Post

New Developments

Cityzen proposes 49-storey rental tower

In 2007, the architectsAlliance-designed Spire Condos brought a conspicuous new high-rise presence to the Downtown Toronto corner of Church and Adelaide. Now, almost a decade later, the area’s intensification could be continuing with a new Cityzen Development Group tower proposed at 89 Church Street, just north of the 45-storey Spire.

Urban Toronto

Top 10 Toronto developments in April

PHOTO GALLERY: High-rise communities may be having the most obvious impact on Toronto’s urban makeup, but an urban townhome community caught the attention of BuzzBuzzHome users. Minto Longbranch, a 428-unit four-storey project by Minto, features bold-coloured brickwork in a breezy lakeside setting and prices starting in the low $200,000s.

Buzzbuzzhome.com

Deputy city manager let go by City of Regina

It has been less than two months since the city hired a new city manager and on Friday Chris Holden made a major structural change.  After almost a decade of service, Brent Sjoberg was released by the city and his position as deputy city manager and chief operations officer has been eliminated.

Regina Leader-Post

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Shipping containers turned into Phoenix apartments

A stack of shipping containers sitting in a lot in an industrial section of Phoenix has some developers thinking inside the box. The structures usually used to transport cargo have been transformed into eight apartments. Scuff marks, old serial numbers and shipping company logos remain, but a look inside each unit reveals a 740-square-foot modern home.

Windsor Star

Natural Disasters

Heatwave stokes wildfire fears across Alberta

An estimated 500 to 700 Albertans were told they could return to their homes Monday night, after a wildfire threatening the southwest edge of Fort McMurray moved further away. The fire burned about 1,250 hectares and was about 1-1/2 kilometres from the nearest home and Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake lifted a mandatory evacuation order for the Prairie Creek area.

Edmonton Journal

Dam deal to help protect Calgary from flooding

Alberta will pay TransAlta (TA-T) $5.5 million a year for the next five years to use its Ghost River Dam to help protect Calgary from flooding and its Kananaskis dams to guard against drought. The five-year deal extends an arrangement the power company has reached on a one-off basis with the Government of Alberta.

CBC News

Legal Issues

Quebec rental board sides with tenant

Quebec’s rental board has sided with an 82-year-old tenant who was fighting an eviction notice after it was sent to his Little Italy apartment while he was hospitalized and fighting stomach cancer. Pierino di Tonno and his lawyer brought their case before Quebec’s rental board. Di Tonno’s landlord wanted to evict him and another tenant to subdivide their apartments.

Montreal Gazette

Construction

Valleymede custom builder of TO mega-mansions

There’s no doubt Valleymede Homes president Paul Miklas loves what he does. In fact, the dapper builder practically dances along the grand marble hallway of the 34,000-square-foot mansion he’s finishing off in Toronto’s exclusive Bridle Path neighbourhood. He’s clearly smitten by his own creativity and attention to detail, but doesn’t come off as boastful.

National Post

Ontario homeowners rate their builders

Tarion’s 2016 Homeowners’ Choice Awards recipients, as chosen by Ontario’s new home buyers, have just been announced. The awards focus exclusively on customer service and let the buyers decide who should shine.

Canada Newswire

Affordable Housing

Edmonton rec centres could include affordable housing

Future Edmonton recreation centres and other city buildings could soon include affordable housing units, if the province allows the idea. Mayor Don Iveson said the proposal is being floated as a more efficient way to build up the city’s stock of affordable housing. Currently, housing is not allowed on municipal reserve land.

CBC News – Edmonton Journal

The affordable housing dilemma: Wood or concrete?

One of the arguments for more highrise towers in Vancouver is it would provide more affordable housing. However, concrete highrises are much more expensive to build than low-rises made out of wood. So building any concrete highrise might make it unaffordable. “. . . usually a 40 per cent increase (with concrete) is a safe bet,” said UBC’s Patrick Condon.

Vancouver Sun

Small houses

Modular micro units take Manhattan

New York City’s first micro-unit development is shaking up the area’s rental market. Located in the Kips Bay neighbourhood on the East Side of Manhattan, Carmel Place’s 55 units — some as small as 250 square feet —feel light and airy thanks to 9-foot-8 ceilings, oversized windows, and Juliet balconies.

Builderonline – Tech Insider

Brooklyn ‘tool shed’ on the market

Micro living may be all the rage in New York, but a 312-square-foot dwelling listed for $499,000 in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighbourhood takes the craze to a whole new level. Touted as “better than a condo” in its listing on Trulia.com, the unit has been panned by The New York Post as a “glorified tool shed.”

Buzzbuzzhome.com

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Metro Vancouver pet owners feeling snubbed

Dale O’Reilly has been trying for six months to move out of the Surrey townhouse he rents with a roommate. But it’s difficult finding an affordable rental in Metro Vancouver that will accept not only him, but his 3½-year-old pug JLo. The tight housing market has made it increasingly harder for tenants to secure pet-friendly rentals.

Vancouver Province

Vancouver seeks public opinion on empty homes

Vancouver residents are invited to participate in a public survey on potential government actions aimed at discouraging empty homes across the city. The potential suggestions include taxing short-term investors, prohibiting strata restrictions on rentals and boosting property taxes for unoccupied homes.

Vancouver Sun

Toronto could take a page from NYC: Author

With some political courage, Toronto could turn its city streets into friendlier spaces for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, says the former transportation commissioner who brought rapid street change to New York City. Janette Sadik-Khan, author of a newly published book, Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, said the potential exists in Toronto for a new streetscape.

CBC News – Ottawa Business Journal

Buying and Selling

Calgary sales rep Century 21’s worldwide No. 1

If you have a dream, call Wasim. That would be Century 21 Bravo Realty’s Wasim Elafech, the franchiser’s No. 1 worldwide salesperson in 2015, whose slogan couldn’t be any more appropriate. The Calgary-based sales rep beat out 100,000 other agents around the world to earn the mantle, with 270 transactions. “I didn’t expect it. It’s a career changer,” he says.

REMonline.com

Big Fat Deal: A Kerrisdale hodge-podge

Address: 6398 Carnarvon Street, Vancouver
Price: $6,199,000
MLS: R2032183
The skinny: Seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 7,890-square-foot Kerrisdale house on a 14,123-square-foot lot.
The bling: You know when you were a kid and you drew a house, but it started off too small, and so you added a room for everyone, a bathroom, then a music room and a gym, and . . . 

BCBusiness

Will home buyers pay more for technology?

Technology has permeated just about every aspect of our lives including the home. In addition to Wi-Fi and solar panels, a whole host of technology is now available to be incorporated in today’s new homes — and buyers are willing to pay extra to have it, according to a survey by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Globest.com

Urbancorp woes shouldn’t scare condo investors

If you’ve bought an Urbancorp property, you might be feeling anxious. Urbancorp recently initiated restructuring proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.  The developer’s current projects include luxury townhomes at Ravines on Lawrence, Homes of St. Clair West condos on Queen West and The Ravine Homes of Buttonville, a suburban enclave of linked singles.

Newinhomes.com

Keller Williams Ottawa Realty shifts to RE/MAX

The Ottawa real estate landscape shifted dramatically Thursday as Jeff and Margie Hooper announced their Keller Williams Ottawa Realty, and its nearly 300 agents, will now operate under the RE/MAX banner. Hallmark Realty Group will see the former Keller Williams team merge with RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd., a Toronto-based operation with more than 700 realtors.

Ottawa Business Journal

Buying real estate with a little help from friends

When Jeremy Campbell purchased a house in Ladner, B.C., with his sister and her husband in 2010, it was meant to be a temporary arrangement. But with home prices in the Lower Mainland market soaring, Campbell says they’re thinking of staying put. Experts say an increasing number of first-time homebuyers are contemplating arrangements like Campbell’s.

CBC News

Other

Cheating scandal claims mortgage broker

A real estate scandal has widened with the suspension of the mortgage broker who allegedly posed as Langley realtor Ryan Rana for his licensing exam. The CBC has also learned Rana has been placed on administrative leave from his other job — as a provincial special constable at B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.

CBC News – Globe and Mail