B.C. to fund construction of rental units

B.C. to fund construction of rental units

The B.C. government says it will spend $500 million to provide affordable rental housing that will be paid for by record revenues from the real estate sector. The investment will provide nearly 3,000 rental units, and will be funded in part by proceeds from the 15 per cent foreign-buyers tax.

CBC – National Post – Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun

One man’s mission to rehabilitate renting

If nothing else Alex Avery, for the last dozen years a real estate analyst at CIBC World Markets, knows his thesis has been rejected by about 70 per cent of the country — the part of the population that prefers to buy their accommodation rather than rent. Avery, a homeowner, has just completed writing The Wealthy Renter: How to choose housing that will make you rich.

Financial Post

Apartment rental survey reveals valuable information

Fifty-two per cent of renters took less than one month to find their space, according to a new rental preference survey co-sponsored by Avison Young, Informa Canada and Rentlogic to try and better understand tenant profiles and desires. The survey was completed online by 1,860 people. Sixty per cent were from Toronto, 25 per cent were from Vancouver and the rest were spread out across Canada.

Property Biz Canada

Troubled developer Urbancorp sells projects to homebuilders

Urbancorp, the Canadian residential developer that sought bankruptcy protection this year after defaulting on its Israeli debt, sold six of its properties to buyers ranging from local residential developers to a closely held company. Beset by creditors in Israel and Canada, Urbancorp has filed for protection for some of its properties under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Vancouver mayor to roll out plans for vacant home tax

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is promising to roll out his plan to increase the supply of rental housing in the city by taxing vacant or empty homes. Robertson is scheduled to reveal details this morning at city hall with Kathleen Llewellyn-Thomas, the general manager of community services for the City of Vancouver.

CBC – Globe and Mail

Fintrac found ‘significant’ deficiencies in real estate firms: data

Canada’s anti-money laundering agency conducted on-site examinations of more than 800 real estate companies over four-and-a-half years and found “significant” or “very significant” deficiencies during 60 per cent of those visits, new data shows. The Canadian Press through an Access to Information request shows that Fintrac conducted 823 examinations of companies in the real estate sector between 2012 and mid June of this year.

Globe and Mail

Canadian banks’ mortgage guidelines favour foreign home buyers

Canadian banks allow foreign clients with no credit history, including students, to qualify for uninsured mortgages without proving the sources of their income – a practice that exempts non-Canadians who have money in the bank from the scrutiny domestic borrowers face when buying a home or an investment property. Those exceptions to the regular rules are outlined in internal documents from Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal reviewed by The Globe and Mail.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Mixed-use wood building scheduled for Dartmouth

Atlantic Canada’s first six-storey wood building is currently in the planning stages and will be the first mid-rise project in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, under its Reinventing Main Street program. Garden View will assist to transform that section of Dartmouth from a suburban strip mall shopping district into a compact, mixed-use community.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Toronto developer proposes to replace Halifax church with student housing

The planned demolition of a south end church for a two-tower student residence project has a Halifax developer and community association worried. Scott McCrea, of Armour Group, and the Park to Park Community Association are opposing Toronto-based Ashcroft Homes’ bid to build on a university-zoned piece of property.

Halifax Herald

Century-old office building to be converted into apartments

The Winnipeg firm that’s converting a century-old Portage Avenue office building into rental apartments plans to offer “affordable” rents that include all the utilities, free Internet and on-site bicycle storage. Bryk and Sunrex vice-president Phil McAmmond said to keep rents as low as possible, the 50 to 57 one-bedroom apartments will be modest in size with rents ranging from $850 to $1,100.

Winnipeg Free Press

Smaller market opportunities for apartment buildings

Smaller markets are an intriguing and profitable option for some apartment building investors as land and building prices in many major Canadian cities become too expensive. “There’s a certain amount of infrastructure that exists in those towns that we found worked for us, and we avoided going to the markets and having to use institutional money,” said Skyline’s chief executive officer Jason Castellan.

Property Biz Canada

Canada’s most sustainable buildings honoured

A redesigned century home, a new library and an urban high-rise that acts as a safe shelter for women fleeing abusive relationships are among the nine buildings cited as the most sustainable in Canada. Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine (SABMag) announced the winners of its annual Canadian Green Building Awards in late August.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Heating a condo with just a hairdryer

Tenants in Edmonton’s new downtown Artists Quarters won’t need more than the electricity used by a hairdryer to heat their units, say building designers. The new tower – pitched as affordable housing and studio space for artists – is being built to a passive house standard, likely a first for a condo tower in Edmonton’s more extreme climate.

Edmonton Journal

Muskoka property owners launch class-action against Ontario

Unhappy with flood damages this spring, a group of Muskoka property owners has launched a class-action suit against the Ontario government, underlining long-held complaints by area residents about the way the province operates water-control structures in the region. The plaintiffs are seeking $900-million in damages, alleging the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources failed to adequately control the water levels of Lake Joseph, Lake Muskoka and Lake Rosseau.

Globe and Mail

Sale of Canadian cultural landmark: The Integral House

Sotheby’s International Realty Canada announced the sale of Integral House in Toronto, deemed “one of the most important private houses built in North America” by Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and regarded as one of Canada’s most significant, privately owned homes created around the performing arts.

Marketwired

RENX Columnists

Attract and retain millennials to a CRE career

As a senior executive of a brokerage firm I felt a real frustration not being able to understand the motivation of millennials. I’m not new to the millennial’s, I’ve worked with them throughout my career

Read more

Market Conditions

Canadian home sales drop 3%, Vancouver abrupt slowdown

The Canadian Real Estate Association says national home sales dropped 3.1 per cent in August from July for the fourth straight monthly decline, as some markets have started to slow dramatically. The association said Thursday that much of the downward movement reflects the slowing activity in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland where there has been an 18.6-per-cent drop in activity from a month earlier.

Vancouver Sun

Canadians feel it is a bad time to invest in their homes

As housing prices continue to climb, an increasing number of Canadians don’t think now is a good time to invest in their homes, according to a semi-annual survey of investors’ view on a range of asset classes. The Manulife Investor Sentiment Index now in its sixteenth year, revealed that “investing in your own home as an asset class” dropped four points in the last six months.

Canada Newswire

Ottawa making housing fix a top priority, minister says

The minister responsible for drawing up a national housing strategy says he and other senior cabinet members are having extensive discussions about how Ottawa should act to bring Canada’s housing market under control. Jean-Yves Duclos said he is “in direct and intense contact over those issues” with Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier as the government prepares for Monday’s return of Parliament.

Globe and Mail

Accountants caution non-residents selling Canadian real estate

Mew + Company, a team of chartered professional accountants in Vancouver, has some helpful advice for non-residents selling Canadian property. The CRA requires that purchasers withhold 25% of the gross sale amount from a non-resident. To avoid being short-changed in property sales, non-Canadians need to plan ahead.

Marketwired – Mew Co. Blog

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Mortgage and Finance

Variable mortgage rates will soar. Are you ready?

Getting a variable-rate mortgage is like buying oceanfront property in a hurricane zone. It’s just a matter of time before you rethink your decision. At some point, a storm surge will hit Canada’s interest-rate market. Prime rate will rocket one or two percentage points higher and many a borrower will be swearing at the person who suggested they get a variable-rate mortgage.

Globe and Mail

REITs and REOCs – Financial Reports

CHC Student Housing establishes DSU plan

CHC Student Housing Corp. (CHC-X) announces that its Board of Directors has adopted a deferred share unit plan. The purpose of the deferred share unit plan (DSU Plan) is to promote greater alignment of interests between the Company’s shareholders and directors while reducing the cash expense of compensating its directors.

Marketwired

Taxes and Utilities

Potential solutions to deal with tax evasion in real estate market

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said he’ll be watching as a parliamentary committee prepares to study how frothy real estate sales in Toronto and Vancouver are affecting the country’s financial system, but tax experts say there are already some remedies within easy reach to address the problem.

Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

New pop-up library in condo building is a new thing

After an almost half-century hiatus, the Calgary Public Library is returning to Sunnyside and this time, staff are bringing more than just books. Last week, the library opened a temporary pop-up location in the eight-storey Lido condo building on the corner of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, just 400 metres from the former Hillhurst-Sunnyside Library location.

Calgary Herald

Buying and Selling

Why some owners auction off their homes

Count Spaur zu Flavon und Valer’s family had lived in its 80-room castle in the Dolomites for more than 650 years; having recently poured more than 10 million euros ($14.7 million) into its restoration, the count decided in 2012 that it was time to sell.  After losing patience with traditional real estate brokers, he decided to take a risk and put their properties up for auction.

Toronto Star

Other

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