New rules could drive consumers into volatile mortgages

New rules could drive consumers into volatile mortgages

Proposed changes to mortgage rules may force some consumers to consider more volatile variable rate mortgages in order to qualify under a strict stress test proposed by Canada’s banking regulator. Guidelines published by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in July, which the agency is now receiving feedback on, would change the qualifying rules for uninsured mortgages in Canada.

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

Tax avoidance behind Vancouver’s housing, income disconnect?

After census figures last  week revealed alarming gaps between housing costs and average incomes in Metro Vancouver, veteran real-estate analyst Richard Wozny is preparing a speech for B.C. politicians that blames the disparity in part on tax avoidance. A reason why residents with expensive housing tend to report lower incomes than people in less-costly municipalities is that many of the former avoid declaring their total wealth, said Wozny.

Vancouver Province – Vancouver Sun

Residential leaders share multi-family investment strategies

Do different types of investors have different approaches to the multi-family asset class? Representatives from private equity funds, a real estate investment trust and a privately owned firm revealed their strategies and talked about their properties at the Sept. 6 Canadian Apartment Investment Conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Property Biz Canada

Foreign buyers retreat from Ontario in wake of new tax

Purchases of Toronto homes by foreign buyers dropped over the summer after a new tax in Ontario began targeting foreign property investment, falling from 7.2 per cent of sales in the spring to 5.6 per cent of homes sold over the three months ending in August.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star – CBC

CAIC panel tackles best practices for older buildings

Older apartment buildings need to be treated differently from new properties when it comes to buying, selling and maintaining them, and a panel of key players discussed their strategies at the Sept. 6 Canadian Apartment Investment Conference in Toronto. More than 80 per cent of apartment buildings in Canada are considered older assets, according to Colliers International managing director Karl Innanen.

Property Biz Canada

UDI pushes for less single-family zoning in Vancouver

Metro Vancouver municipalities’ failure to convert single-family zoned neighbourhoods into areas where developers can build multi-family homes is being criticized by the Urban Development Institute Pacific Region (UDI). UDI CEO Anne McMullin pointed to her organization’s State of the Market 2017 Research Report, which revealed the supply of completed new condominiums and town homes has fallen substantially during the past five years.

Business In Vancouver – Globe and Mail

High costs could snuff out Vancouver’s rental mini-boom

A developer better known for condos and townhouses is banking on the huge demand for rental apartment buildings to become a bigger part of its business. Mosaic Homes is launching its first rental apartment building in Port Coquitlam in the Fremont neighbourhood this fall. Geoff Duyker, Mosaic’s senior vice-president of marketing, says the units are a far more affordable alternative to those found in Vancouver.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun – CTV

Vancouver urged to make Airbnb comply with new rental rules

It’s currently illegal to rent out your home on sites like Airbnb in Vancouver unless you have a hotel or licensed bed and breakfast. But as anyone who has perused the site knows, thousands of people are skirting the rules. Fairbnb, a national organization comprised of hospitality unions and other groups, is releasing a plan to crack down on illegal use of the site. 

CBC – Globe and Mail – Vancouver Province

Large-scale farm created amid Vancouver poverty

Michael Ableman has achieved something many thought impossible: creating thriving urban farms on pavement and contaminated soil in one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods. Sole Food Street Farms in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is an area almost entirely inhabited by folks who are dealing with long-term addiction, mental illness and poverty, says Ableman.

Victoria Ttimes Colonist

Greatwise giving Ottawa housing a Fresh look

Ottawa’s West End is undergoing a wave of development which will bring the area a new style of contemporary housing. Fresh Towns is a project by the Toronto-based Greatwise Developments which hopes to appeal to first-time home buyers and families. It’s part of the company’s 4,000-unit pipeline in Ottawa and Toronto, in various stages of planning and development.

Property Biz Canada

The top five Toronto intersections for condo resales

When it comes to resale condos, some of Toronto’s key downtown intersections appear to be cornering the market with prices up to 23 per cent higher than the city-wide average, according to a Tuesday report from TheRedPin, which looked at 25 key intersections in the core.

Toronto Star – Better Dwelling – BNN

	U.S. hurricanes’ impact on real estate
	The following section of the RENX newsletter is dedicated to news about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the U.S. and its impact on real estate.

 

Irma insurance claims already near $2 billion

With 335,000 insurance claims representing $1.9 billion in property losses, Hurricane Irma has already exceeded the claims and losses from the two hurricanes that pummeled Florida last year, the state Office of Insurance Regulation reported Monday. Calculated through Sunday afternoon, Irma’s losses easily exceeded the 119,000 claims and $1.2 billion in losses for Hurricane Matthew and the 19,700 claims and $139 million in losses from Hurricane Hermine.

Daily Commercial News

Hit to mortgages could be much worse than predicted

As homeowners in Houston struggle to dry out and rebuild, they may also struggle to make payments on their mortgages.  New estimates from Black Knight Financial Services suggest as many as 300,000 borrowers could become delinquent on their loans and 160,000 could become seriously delinquent, that is, more than 90 days past due, when banks initiate foreclosure proceedings.

CNBC – CNBC – Building Design & Construction

Condo builds putting more thought into lifestyle choices

While Shamil Jiwani was perusing condo properties, one definitely caught his eye as a potential first-time buy. “I was trying to figure out how to balance my lifestyle and work,” says the 24-year old investment banking professional. “I wanted something that would offer the things I care about in life.” The project in question was CentreCourt’s up and coming Zen King West development.

National Post – Forbes

Demand for student housing slowing down in U.S.

Student housing properties leased up more slowly this year, though they still started the academic year fully-occupied on average, according to several industry sources. “The student housing market moderated this year,” says Taylor Gunn, student housing analytics lead for data firm Axiometrics, a RealPage company. “This was anticipated to occur at some point after several consecutive years of record performance.”

National Real Estate Investor

Deal adds millions of renters to CoStar network

CoStar Group announced an agreement to acquire ForRent from Virginia-based Dominion Enterprises as it continues to expand its Apartments.com online apartment rental platform with the goal of listing every single apartment unit available for rent in the U.S. CoStar will acquire the operator of four multi-family rental websites for $350 million in cash and $35 million in CoStar Group stock. 

CoStar Group

Top 95 U.S. multi-family architecture firms

LIST: Humphreys & Partners Architects, Perkins Eastman, and CallisonRTKL top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest multi-family sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.

BDC Network

RENX Columnists

What happens when insurers say, ‘Enough’?

On the West Coast, where it’s only a matter of time before the Big One, or more than one, hits and swamps the Pacific Rim with a tsunami, most people choose not to purchase earthquake insurance. Is there a lesson here for the rest of us facing record annual flooding and other severe weather?

Read more

Market Conditions

Montreal emerging as luxury ‘hot spot’: Sotheby’s

Montreal is emerging as a luxury real estate “hot spot,” while Vancouver and Toronto sales should pick up this fall after somewhat sluggish times, according to a new report. Sotheby’s International Realty Canada‘s rosy outlook comes despite a slew of policy changes. However, Canada’s strong economic performance will boost the market in the coming months, says the real estate sales and marketing company.

CTV – Calgary Herald – Toronto Star

Moody’s predicts five years of glacial growth in Canadian market

Single-family house prices may be overvalued by as much as 60 per cent in Toronto, but cooling measures may take a bigger bite out of markets away from the country’s largest metro area. Moody’s Analytics maintains the brakes are being put on the housing market across the country and Canadians need to prepare for “several years of retrenchment.”

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

CREA cuts 2017-’18 outlook for Canadian home sales

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has cut its forecast for home sales in Canada in 2017 and 2018 as a result of slowing activity in major Ontario cities, including Toronto. The number of houses sold in Canada is expected to drop 5.3 per cent this year after posting a 6.4-per-cent increase last year. CREA says the trend will continue in 2018 with 2.3 per cent fewer houses expected to change hands.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

BCREA predict slowdown in home sales

The association representing realtors in British Columbia says home sales remained healthy across the province in August, but it expects to see a change over the coming months. The B.C. Real Estate Association says 9,162 residential properties were sold in August. That’s a 2.4 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

CTV

Seniors Housing

Focus Equities has deal for B .C. seniors residence

The next piece in Victoria’s Bayview Place puzzle will soon be with a seniors residence on the 20-acre site. Bayview has reached a deal with Vancouver-based Element Lifestyle Retirement for nearly two acres of land below the Bayview One residential tower that will be used to establish a 153,000-square-foot seniors facility. The master developer is Focus Equities.

Victoria Times Colonist

Legal Issues

Ontario regulator charges three realtors in condo presale probe

The organization that regulates real estate agents in Ontario has laid charges against three realtors for allegedly accepting money from prospective homebuyers in exchange for preferential access to preconstruction condo units. The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) launched investigations after receiving five complaints about condo presale practices in recent months and has notified the police about its findings.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Ex-Saskatoon landlord faces lawsuits over unpaid invoices

Unpaid invoices are at the centre of two lawsuits seeking damages totalling $1.29 million from a once-prominent Saskatoon landlord that went into creditor protection late last year after telling a British Columbia court that it could not continue operating and pay its debts.  The landlord is a group of 45 closely-related companies represented in Saskatchewan by Block 1 Management Ltd., which is not named as a defendant.

The StarPhoenix

West Van. realtor denies he demanded $75k bonus

A prominent West Vancouver realtor denied he unethically demanded a $75,000 bonus from a client in a $2.7-million property sale, a Real Estate Council of B.C. disciplinary panel heard on Thursday. Shahin Behroyan faces seven allegations. The council alleges that in November 2014, Behroyan indicated to Hamid Gamini, his client, a $75,000 bonus “was required by the representative of” a couple who wanted to buy Gamini’s property.

Vancouver Sun

Woman loses deposit after backing out of Trump Tower condo deal

A West Vancouver woman who changed her mind about buying a $2.75 million condo in Vancouver’s Trump Tower after signing the contract has been told by a judge she won’t be getting her deposit back. Lydia May Chen sued the developer, West Georgia Development Ltd. Partnership, after the company refused to hand back her deposit of more than $275,000.

Business In Vancouver

Affordable Housing

Edmonton’s Londonderry new model for affordable housing

A $72-million affordable housing development designed to allow residents to grow in place, even as their financial situation changes, has received unanimous approval from the City of Edmonton and will break ground this fall. Londonderry is a 240-unit redevelopment which replaces an 80-unit affordable housing development of the same name which was demolished to make way for the new project.

Globe and Mail

Across half of UK, houses more affordable now than in 2007

Homes across half of the UK are more affordable than before the financial crisis, with Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds among the places where the gap between earnings and house prices has fallen, a study has found. Yorkshire Building Society research shows that with a continuing affordability crisis in London, popular destinations for people leaving the capital have become increasingly affordable.

The Guardian

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Edmonton blocks Beaumont’s growth on disputed lands

Edmonton successfully blocked Beaumont’s plan to develop new neighbourhoods and businesses on its disputed northern lands Thursday. The vote was a foregone conclusion since Edmonton holds a population-based veto at the Capital Region Board. Mayor Don Iveson successfully drew five other municipalities to his side and really ticked off many others.

Edmonton Journal – CBC

Ottawa eyes new rules to sideline problematic infill developers

A flurry of complaints have pushed Ottawa city councillor Jeff Leiper to call for an industry-backed solution to what he says is “beyond disrespectful” behaviour from infill builders in the city. Coun. Leiper wrote in his ward blog that “enough is enough” when it comes to contractors’ inconsiderate practices and attitudes towards neighbouring Kitchissippi residents.

Ottawa Business Journal

Buying and Selling

Asking prices for London homes record biggest falls this decade

Asking prices for homes in London have recorded their biggest annual fall so far this decade and have dropped on average by £18,000 ($30,000 Cdn) in the space of just a month, the property site Rightmove said on Monday. However, this headline finding masks much larger falls in some of the capital’s most expensive boroughs.

The Guardian

Time to buy a home in Brantford before everyone else does

With home prices continuing to rise in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), many buyers are looking to other nearby markets for a wider selection of affordable options. Over the last couple years, we’ve noticed a gradual shift to Brantford. To get a clearer picture of what’s going on in Brantford, we chatted with Eleven Eleven Realty’s co-owner Michael Klassen.

Newinhomes

Other

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