National housing strategy could be set by end of year

National housing strategy could be set by end of year

On the eve of inter-governmental housing talks, federal cabinet minister Jean-Yves Duclos said a national housing strategy could be in place before the end of the year. “Our objective is to have one designed by the end of the fall – so it can be a very important input into budget 2017, which is going to set the agenda for our collaboration over the next many years,” Mr. Duclos told reporters.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

China’s CITIC Bank tries to seize real estate assets in Canada

China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd has launched a Canadian lawsuit to try to seize the assets of a Chinese citizen the bank claims took out a multimillion-dollar loan in China then fled to Canada, the lender’s Vancouver-based lawyer said on Monday. The bank is looking to seize numerous Vancouver-area homes.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – National Post – CBC

Canada can learn from U.S. student housing experience

Off-campus, purpose-built student apartments have been much slower to catch on in Canada than the United States, and three Americans provided tips on June 21 at the North American New Apartment Construction and Mixed-Use Annual North American New Apartment ConstructionSymposium and Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Property Biz Canada

B.C. panel to urge tougher real estate oversight

B.C.’s private real estate boards should no longer be able to smooth over or bury complaints from the public, a panel examining unscrupulous practices within the real estate industry will recommend in its final report on Tuesday. Instead, the panel will urge that any case alleging harm to the public should be handled by the Real Estate Council of British Columbia.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Taking 30 years to pay off mortgage is becoming new norm

They are exactly the type of mortgages the government banned for about half of the borrowing Canadian public, but loans with 30-year amortizations, as opposed to 25 years, are slowly becoming the norm for consumers with a down payment of 20 per cent or more. To get a real sense of what’s on offer in the median segment of Vancouver, we combed the listings and toured properties in late May.

Financial Post

Generation X is squeezing baby boomers out of cottage country

A new survey out Thursday suggests baby boomers are being shoved aside by generation X when it comes to cottages, as the younger generation scoops up property with an eye on retirement. Over the last month, real estate firm Royal LePage did a cross-Canada survey of 49 its real estate advisers who specialize in recreational property sales to get a sense of who is buying those properties.

Financial Post – Canada Newswire – Toronto Star – The Province

Foreign buyers represent 10% or less of cottage purchases

Fully 95 per cent of recreational real estate experts across Canada agree that foreign nationals account for only 10 per cent or less of cottage purchases in the country, according to the latest survey by Royal LePage.

Mortgage Broker News

	RENX is taking a summer break
	Every year RENX shuts down for the first week of July so all our staff can have a summer break.  This year because Canada Day is on a Friday we are taking an extra day.  RENX will resume publishing on July 11, 2016.

 

Montreal faces uphill battle against squalid housing

It’s been two years since the City of Montreal launched an action plan to force delinquent landlords to repair their buildings. However, the city’s own data for 2015 shows the number of repairs not being taken care of within a reasonable amount of time has actually gone up – from 18 per cent in 2014 to 20 per cent in 2015.

CBC

Unique partnership unveils new Weston community development

Mayor John Tory joined a coalition of partners and Weston community members to break ground on a vibrant new community development in Toronto’s Weston neighbourhood currently the site of a Green P parking lot and an adjacent high-rise between King and John Streets.

Canada Newswire

Adi builds case study for mobility hub policy

The latest housing development from Adi Developments in Burlington, Ont. is a textbook example of how Ontario’s mobility hub policies can be translated into reality, says the developer. Metrolinx’s Big Move regional transportation plan  supports high-density development built around access points to a regional transportation system.

Daily Commercial News

The Passive House Institute US help builders with multifamily designs

Reporting growing interest in Passive House multifamily projects, the Passive House Institute US has launched The PHIUS Multifamily Resource Center an online resource to help developers with design, financing, and construction details that meet the requirements of the PHIUS+ 2015 building standard.

Fine Home Building

Proposed rental highrise at Uptown goes to public hearing

A proposed 11-storey rental building, the final phase of the Uptown shopping centre development, was unanimously approved to go to public hearing by Saanich council.  Councillors voted 9-0 to bring the proposed 134-unit development to a public hearing.

Times Colonist

Edmonton city councillors support basement suites for duplex infill homes

A rental suite in the basement helped Angela Mao buy her Forest Heights home seven years ago.  That $900 a month in rent was critical for her family’s $1,500 monthly mortgage payments.

Edmonton Journal

New US CMBS multifamily supply increasing risks of overbuilding

A report released last week from Fitch Ratings says the risk of Class A overbuilding is rising in some submarkets. Overall, the ratings agency says the concentration of high-end construction in 12 metro areas is intensifying and new supply in the student housing sector continues to break records.

Multifamily Executive

Will the UK’s real estate survive Brexit?

The unthinkable has happened. Despite forecasts to the contrary, the United Kingdom has chosen to leave the European Union. The pound immediately took a nosedive as markets opened on the morning of Friday, June 24, and the economic outlook for the country is now more uncertain than ever. But how will Brexit affect the British real estate market?

Forbes

RENX Columnists

A ‘tsunami of inheritances’ more likely to be a recipe for disaster

Surging home prices and soaring consumer debt are not problems you can solve simply by throwing money at them, even if some leading economists seem to think so. I read with interest a story recently that suggested a “tsunami of inheritances” could ease the challenges young Canadians face.

Read more

Market Conditions

Renovation spending expected to rise in 2016

Housing gridlock — that’s what realtors call it. Affordability issues leave you stuck in your existing home, but looking for a better living space. About the only move left for Canadians demanding a better home has been to renovate the one they have, which has led to record levels of spending on home improvement.

Financial Post

‘Startling’ sales at furniture stores in Vancouver

Vancouver’s furniture stores appear to be reaping the benefits of the area’s housing boom.  Retail sales at Vancouver furniture stores have jumped a “startling” 43 per cent since January of 2014, BMO economist Sal Guatieri said in a note.

Globe and Mail

Ontario rent goes up amid record housing prices

The 2017 rent increase has been released for Ontario — and it’s only 1.5 per cent. That means if you rent in Ontario, your rent can only be raised by 1.5 per cent in 2017. Some years have been higher, some lower. This is a relatively low rental increase.

Huffington Post

U.S. apartment volume falls in May, cap rates decline

Apartment volume fell for the fourth straight month in May—dropping 27% year over year, to $8.4 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics.  All property segments are slowing down.

MultiFamily Executive

Mortgage and Finance

A warning on mortgage insurance restrictions

Canada’s private-sector mortgage insurers are urging Ottawa to curb risks in the housing market, but warn that targeting first-time home buyers will do little to slow prices in Toronto and Vancouver. Since 2008, the federal government has introduced several rounds of changes to rules around mortgage insurance in order to reduce risks in the housing market.

Globe and Mail

Is real estate the best bet for this millennial?

Like many big-city millennials, Daisy has embarked on a promising professional career and now is looking to buy a condo to rent out. She earns $65,000 a year at her day job and another $7,500 a year working part time. Daisy lives with her boyfriend, who owns his own home, her living costs are low and she is able to save money.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

Masked anti-gentrification activists disrupt Try Hamilton real estate tour

A real estate investment tour called Try Hamilton was disrupted by around twenty disguised anti-gentrification activists who shot spoiled beverages from water guns and held up signs equating real estate developers to predators.  One of the activists, whose identity is unknown, is being sought by police.

CBC

To support affordable housing, look at Toronto’s land-use planning regime

The land-use planning regime applied in the region around Toronto doesn’t pay enough attention to economic and ground-related housing affordability issues. Since the mid-2000s, the Ontario government has elevated environmental issues to the top of the land-use planning-goals hierarchy, advancing them through edicts such as the Greenbelt Plan and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Globe and Mail

Condominium Management

Condos must accommodate owners’ disabilities: Condo Law

How would a court address a situation involving an elderly unit owner who fails to maintain his or her unit to the degree it results in offensive smells that permeate other units in the building? One would expect the court to order the owner to properly maintain the unit — which is the owner’s obligation under the Condominium Act.

Toronto Star

Construction

House-in-the-round keeps ocean views, shelters garden

It was something like -31C one February in Winnipeg, when Holly McNally picked up the National Post and flipped to the travel section. A full-page story raved about Sidney Island, part of the Gulf Islands off the coast of Victoria and just south of Vancouver. Everything about it seemed to fit with Holly and her husband, Paul. 

National Post

Affordable Housing

Co-founder of Richmond seniors’ housing society denies fraud

Alan Lau, director and co-founder of the Canadian Low Income Seniors Affordable Housing Society, committed fraud when he persuaded a society volunteer to give him $50,000 for a purported investment in the society, the securities commission found in a ruling issued last Wednesday.

Vancouver Sun

Other

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