Condo owners call on city to rein in Airbnb

Condo owners call on city to rein in Airbnb

Tensions are rising in the corridors of Toronto’s condo buildings as some owners look to cash in by listing their units on short-term rental sites like Airbnb, while others are calling on the city to step in and stop them.

CBC – Company defends right to rent condos on Airbnb

No need to hide Airbnb rentals at this condo

Airbnb’s rise to prominence in Canada shows no signs of abating. A report this year, by the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto and HLT Advisory Inc., revealed that the number of Airbnb listings in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary has grown by 140 per cent since early 2015.

Globe and Mail

Premier Suites fills gap in demand for accommodation

With more than 1500 furnished suites in 38 Canadian cities catering to executives looking for accommodations a step above a typical hotel room, Premier Suites has a pretty good handle on the present state of the country’s economy.

Property Biz Canada

Ontario to introduce regulations for home inspections

Ontario said it plans to start licensing home inspectors in the province as part of legislation that could be passed as early as this fall. The government said it also plans to create an independent administrative authority to licence the province’s more than 1,500 home inspectors.

Globe and Mail – Ottawa Business Journal – Toronto Star

Economist proposes capital gains tax on luxury real estate

A Nobel Prize winning economist has a prescription for our real estate market’s high prices – a capital gains tax on luxury homes. The idea put forward by economist Joseph Stiglitz isn’t new.  In the States homeowners get an exemption for the first $500,000 per couple, but if a property is sold for a value increase larger than that, they pay a capital gains tax.

News 1130

Complaints about evictions soar in B.C.

Patty Gazzola had rented her Commercial Drive-area home for 29 years by the time she was evicted in the spring.  The 69-year-old Vancouver woman was told by her landlord that her house had been sold and that the buyer or a close family member of the buyer intended to live in it. She was given two months to get out.

Vancouver Sun

Why Vancouver rents spiked in 2016

Metro reported Wednesday that data compiled from Craigslist listings by Tom Davidoff, an economic professor at the University of British Columbia, showed that Vancouver rents rose a steep 15 per cent between April and August, and were on track to rise 20 per cent this year.

Metronews – Metronews – CBC.ca

‘Mom and pop’ landlords

Online classified sites are filling with posts from pilots, lawyers, construction workers and people doing all kinds of other jobs who have tacked on being a landlord as an extra way to help cover their mortgage costs. With cities such as Vancouver and Toronto struggling to cope with a housing-affordability crisis, many people are choosing to rent out secondary suites.

Globe and Mail

High-rise living a part of GTA’s high-priced housing

High-rise living and sky-high home prices aren’t just for downtowners any more. Toronto is still the hotbed of condo activity, with more than half of sales occurring in the city. But apartments are a hot commodity all over, with sales across the region rising 52 per cent in July compared to the same month last year.

Toronto Star – Typical GTA new low-rise home now exceeds $900,000

CNIB’s new Edmonton tower for all of the senses

Creating unique, visually striking and affordable residential developments is one of the biggest challenges faced by architects. So imagine: a design proposal that includes not only the visual aspects of the building but also touch, acoustics, smell and feel, all of which must combine to create an affordable residential product with mass appeal.

Globe and Mail

Private patio on public space angers condo owners

A downtown Toronto restaurant owner feels he’s “been thrown under the bus” after the city gave him a permit for a patio on a public plaza — and then told him to remove it. A public outcry led Andrew Richmond, the owner of the Mexican restaurant La Carnita, to agree to take down a fenced-in terrace along John St., south of Adelaide St. W.

Toronto Star

CMHC bond sale significantly exceeds goal

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. launched a bond sale Tuesday with a minimum goal of raising $3-billion and ended up raising $5.25-billion on Wednesday from a financing that caught the attention of yield-hungry investors. The CMHC tapped its triple-A rated Canada Mortgage Bond program and sold $2.5-billion of 10-year bonds.

Globe and Mail

Canada’s not alone in grappling with real estate boom

Skyrocketing home prices. Media reports of rampant house-flipping, with speculators reaping six-figure gains reselling ramshackle properties.  The setting could easily be Vancouver. But in this case it is Auckland, New Zealand, where global investors for local real estate has caused house prices to double in the past five years.

Globe and Mail

U.S. new home sales race to near nine-year high

New U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly rose in July, reaching their highest level in nearly nine years as demand increased broadly. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday new home sales surged 12.4 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000 units last month, the highest level since October 2007.

Globe and Mail

U.S. multifamily construction increasingly in select CBDs

The apartment construction boom in downtown districts, far from abating, is still gaining momentum, but largely focused in certain U.S. markets as developers continue to roll out new projects from downtown L.A. to Nashville’s booming West End, in spite of slower leasing at some new luxury properties.

CoStar Group

RENX Columnists

Interview with Diane Delves on Boomers

For my latest book, The Stackable Boomer, we asked Diane Delves, President and CEO of Quantum Properties Inc. for her thoughts on baby boomers relocating from the suburbs to multi-family housing in urban centres.

Read more

Market Conditions

Forget the ‘Canadian’ housing Mmarket – It doesn’t exist

A few months ago, we wrote about why 2016 was a good year to buy a home in the Canadian market. Now, here we are in August… is that still the case? The latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) may lead you to believe otherwise. The headline of CREA’s release this week read Canadian home sales post third consecutive decline in July.

Huffington Post

Canada’s a real estate nation, just waiting for a crash

A year ago, when Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz cut interest rates for the second time in six months, we knew we’d have to take the bad with the good. Slashing the bank’s overnight rate in half to 0.5 per cent would surely further inflate regional real estate bubbles.

Globe and Mail

Investors fret over Canada’s fiery housing markets

Royal Bank of Canada says it’s fielding an increasing number of inquiries from investors fretting over Canada’s housing markets. This comes in the wake of warnings from several groups, including the Bank of Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the Conference Board of Canada, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Monetary Fund.

Globe and Mail

Housing crisis an issue at meeting of B.C. municipalities

B.C.’s housing crisis – from homelessness to the price of houses soaring past the million-dollar mark – will be the burning topic when the province’s local politicians gather next month for their annual convention. “Those issues are affecting everybody and are having a ripple effect throughout the province,” said Surrey Councillor Bruce Hayne.

Globe and Mail

Mortgage and Finance

A housing downturn could hit hard for Canada’s big banks

Canada’s largest banks are often seen as insulated from a potential housing downturn because about half the $1.6 trillion in total mortgage debt in this country is supported by government-backed insurance.  But the big banks would not be immune to a steep drop in prices, something that seems within the realm of possibility given early indications of cooling in Vancouver’s red hot market.

Financial Post

CMHC gave Maple Bank green light before it seized assets

Canada’s national housing agency gave Maple Bank GmbH’s Canadian branch the green light during a financial review, just one month before the federal banking watchdog seized the company’s assets amid a German tax investigation, documents show.

Globe and Mail

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Surrey residents forced from their homes by apartment fire

Residents of a Surrey strata-title apartment complex fear their building may have to be demolished after a fire swept through, leaving 101 people homeless. The top floor of the Celeste apartment complex at 121 A Street and 82 Avenue in Surrey has extensive damage with the roof on many of the units destroyed from the Saturday night fire.

The Province

Construction

Minto, Reid’s, Tridel top builder award finalists

Minto Communities, Reid’s Heritage Homes and Tridel have been announced as finalists for the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) 2016 Ontario Home Builder of the Year award. The nominations were announced Aug. 12 as the OHBA unveiled all finalists for its 2016 Awards of Distinction.

Daily Commercial News

Buying and Selling

TREB and BDAR Enter Into MLS® Services Partnership

The Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® (BDAR) and the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) have entered into an MLS® services partnership to provide members with more extensive MLS® services and greater resources. On August 11, 2016, the official agreement between the two boards was signed at a BDAR Special Board Meeting, held at the Kempenfelt Centre in Innisfil.

Marketwired

B.C. real estate firm under investigation is sued by former agent

A realtor who worked at a firm under investigation by the Real Estate Council of B.C. has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, alleging New Coast Realty pressed her to engage in the “blatantly unethical” practice now known as shadow flipping and then withheld more than $240,000 in commissions after she refused.

Globe and Mail

Other

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