Waterloo experiencing condo boom

Tech companies fuel Waterloo condo boom

In a banquet hall in north Toronto, a condominium-sales event is generating the kind of frenzy more often seen on a trading-room floor. Michael Wekerle, former Bay Street trader, technology investor, business reality-show judge and now real-estate mogul, steps up to a podium in front of about 1,600 people to make his pitch.

Bloomberg – CTV News – Business Insider

Meridian kicks off mortgage rate war

Perhaps it’s the warm weather, but Ontario’s largest credit union is trying to kick off a new mortgage rate battle with Canadian banks. Meridian said it will start today with a 1.69 per cent mortgage available on a one-year term to anyone in Ontario — a rate it claims is the lowest fixed rate product on the market.

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

Akelius buys four Montreal apartment buildings

Akelius Canada has significantly boosted its portfolio of Montreal apartment buildings with the acquisition of four properties housing 415 units from Cromwell Management. Akelius will also manage the properties, which were purchased for $120.5 million. They were built between 1956 and 1973 and have good access to public transit.

Property Biz Canada

Hot Vancouver apartment market expected to sizzle

Multi-family rental building sales in Greater Vancouver rose by 47 per cent to 181 transactions and the dollar volume soared by 99 per cent to $1.55 billion last year. Things could heat up even more, according to David Goodman, a partner with his son Mark in HQ Commercial and the Goodman Report.

Property Biz Canada – Vancouver Sun

B.C. Housing studying foreign ownership

Premier Christy Clark says the agency that manages and administers subsidized housing in British Columbia is studying the level of foreign investment in the real-estate market. Housing affordability is a hot topic in Vancouver, where the rental-vacancy rate is below one per cent and the average price of a home on the west side is now more than $2.5 million.

CBC News – Vancouver Province

B.C. officials concerned homebuyers unaware of risks

Recent deals on some key Vancouver properties at astronomical prices have politicians, planners, and the B.C. Securities Commission concerned about the level of speculation, misrepresentation or plain ignorance emerging. City officials see signs Vancouver’s hot housing market is enticing buyers to pay inflated prices without getting complete information on the rezoning process.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Province – Business In Vancouver

Mansion just another Vancouver tear-down

By all appearances, the house at 6088 Adera St. is a well-appointed, relatively new, $6-million luxury home, but it is slated for demolition. The prospect of a luxury mansion becoming just another Vancouver tear-down is sparking a new level of debate over the rapid reconstruction of Vancouver’s residential neighbourhoods.

Edmonton Journal

Sinking loonie has snowbirds rushing to sell U.S. homes

Greg Barrett and his wife, Erina, wouldn’t call themselves savvy investors. But the snowbirds have just made a killing in the U.S. real estate market. They join a growing number of Canadians who bought U.S. homes for cheap and are now selling them to take advantage of rising U.S. house prices and a tanking loonie.

CBC News

Cacoeli Asset to acquire 65 Cambridge apartments

Cacoeli Asset Management Inc., a Toronto-based real estate fund, closed on a substantial multi-family property in August. Cacoeli is again well on its way to yet another promising acquisition with two apartment complexes totalling 65 units in the Cambridge, Ont., area.

MarketWired

Northview Apartment REIT opens rental community

Northview Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (NVU.UN-T) officially opened Cobble Hill, its newest rental community, on Friday. Cobble Hill is located in Airdrie, just north of Calgary and is Northview’s first major entry into the Calgary and area market. Cobble Hill features two buildings totalling 140 suites with underground parking and air conditioning.

Marketwired – The Motley Fool

Unsold homes, condos piling up: CMHC

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says evidence of overbuilding has grown in real estate markets in Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Ottawa. The housing agency says higher vacancy rates and an increase in the inventory of new, unsold units are responsible for the rise in overbuilding.

Global News – Bloomberg – Ottawa Citizen – CBC News

Canada’s real estate problem

The Canadian economy was largely stagnant through the first 11 months of last year, shrinking by 0.09 per cent. In light of the collapse in oil prices, however, things could have been worse. But the relative resilience of headline growth belies the extent to which the economy is now being supported by one sector: real estate.

Bloomberg

Military housing badly managed: AG

The stock of housing at military bases across the country is badly managed, a federal watchdog says, with personnel paying cut-rate rent in some locations and needed renovations delayed by badly timed funding. Indeed, Auditor General Michael Ferguson says some of the government-provided housing might not be needed at all.

Toronto Star

Demand for retirement lifestyle communities to soar

Phyllis Mahon was in her late 50s when she went looking for a smaller, more manageable home in a quiet community. She wanted a place where she could share her interests with like-minded people, and still have plenty of space to walk her dog. Her search brought her to the Sandycove Acres retirement community in Innisfil, Ont., about 100 kilometres north of Toronto.

Globe and Mail

Industry titans inducted into BILD Hall of Fame

Two industry titans whose notable buildings have changed the GTA landscape are the newest inductees into the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) Hall of Fame. Julie Di Lorenzo ia president of Diamante Urban Corp, and a prominent voice for the real estate development industry. The second inductee is Al Longo, one of the association’s longest-standing members.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

RENX Columnists

Understanding cap rates in the apartment sector

Capitalization rates, or cap rates, are a way of estimating the general rate of return of an apartment building by buyers or sellers. The cap rate for an apartment transaction is calculated by dividing a building’s net operating income or NOI into the total value of the transaction or sale (Value = NOI/Cap Rate).

Read more

Market Conditions

Vancouver’s housing divide shifts eastward

The Vancouver real estate market is being blanketed by a record rate of single-family detached houses assessed at $1 million or higher. More than 91 per cent of 66,752 detached homes surveyed within the city had assessed values of at least $1 million on July 1, 2015, and prices have jumped at least 10 per cent since, according to researcher Andy Yan.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun – Huffington Post

Toronto luxury home market on fire

A Toronto realtor says in a new study $5 million home sales are taking off across the city, aided by international buyers. Real estate prices in the city made headlines in 2015 when the average sale price of a detached home crossed $1 million, but Barry Cohen, a luxury realtor in Toronto, says keep an eye on those $5 million homes

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

TO house-condo price gap expected to shrink

The price gap between condos and houses soared 50 per cent last year in the GTA as values of single-family homes skyrocketed, while the condo market flatlined. But industry analysts expect that divide to shrink as local municipalities green-light several long-awaited low-rise housing projects and the condo market cools off.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

Conference Board reports slip in sales

The Conference Board of Canada reports the overall sales trend in December was biased to the downside, with 14 of the 28 housing markets covered in its Metro Resale Snapshot registering a monthly decrease. Most of the dips were small; only six markets suffered a drop of at least five per cent, including Edmonton, Regina, Hamilton, Windsor, Kingston and Halifax.

Hamilton Spectator – Windsor Star

What real estate experts expect in 2016

Q: What should we expect in 2016, when it comes to Canada’s housing and mortgage market? What advice or warnings would you give to buyers, sellers, current home owners and real estate investors?
Answer No. 1: 2016 is going to see more of the same. We have seen huge sales numbers and high prices for years now.

MoneySense – Huffington Post – MoneySense – Newinhomes.com

Foreign investors plan to buy more U.S. apartments

International buyers are planning another huge year of investment in U.S. apartment properties, according to the 24th annual survey of the members of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). “The investment opportunity is the United States, itself,” says James A. Fetgatter, chief executive of AFIRE.

National Real Estate Investor

Renters eye suburbs; Investors follow them

Starwood Capital Group‘s Barry Sternlicht, whose $5.4-billion deal to buy a largely suburban multi-family portfolio from Equity Residential was greeted with some skepticism when it was first announced in October, may end up having the last laugh. JLL reports an increasing number of renters are being lured to the suburbs and relief from the high rents of core urban high-rises.

Globest.com

Affordability just one factor slowing U.S. housing

In addition to reduced affordability, tight credit and limited inventory are also main headwinds facing the housing market, which will likely not see dramatic growth in sales volume during 2016, Ten-X’s newly appointed chief marketing officer Rick Sharga told GlobeSt.com following the release of the firm’s latest Residential Real Estate Nowcast.

Globest.com – Bloomberg – Bloomberg – KING5.com

Latest market reports:

*  Toronto condominium apartment rentals, Toronto Real Estate Board, Marketwired

* Toronto condominium apartment sales, Toronto Real Estate Board, Marketwired

* GTA new home sales, Altus Group Limited, Marketwired

* GTA new-home sales, RealNet Canada Inc., Newinhomes.com, Canada Newswire

* Calgary, Calgary Real Estate Board, Calgary Herald

* Vancouver, British Columbia Real Estate Association, Business In Vancouver

* Fraser Valley, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, Business In Vancouver

* Victoria, Victoria Real Estate Board, Victoria Times Colonist, Globe and Mail, CTV News, Marketwired 

* New York City, New York Post 

* Detroit, Max Broock, Montreal Gazette

* U.S. apartment rents, Business Insider

* U.S. home prices, CoreLogic, MultifamilyBiz.com 

RENX Market Summaries

Mortgage and Finance

B.C. ideal for retirees to earn real estate income

For many mature British Columbians, real estate offers the best avenue for secure retirement income. Those who own even a modest house in Vancouver would attest to that. In 2015, the benchmark price of a detached house in the city increased by an average of $30,000 a month and ended the year worth more than $1.8 million. 

Business In Vancouver – Huffington Post

New Developments

Brookfield project wins community’s approval

Planning a new development is no easy task, and too often one of the biggest problems is convincing existing neighbourhoods there will be little or no negative impacts. Brookfield Residential gets it. It will begin construction this spring on The Henry, an upscale townhome project along that’s been welcomed by the Calgary community association.

Calgary Herald

JPI plans apartment project near Angel Stadium

Irving, Texas-based apartment developer JPI has acquired 17.6 acres from Prologis and announced plans to build a 1,079-unit apartment community across the street from Angel Stadium in Anaheim. In addition to the new Jefferson Stadium Park, to be built in three phases, JPI is currently building Jefferson Platinum Triangle, a 400-unit luxury project.

CoStar Group

Montreal’s Le Namur set for spring occupancy

A new rental project is taking shape in the Le Triangle district in Montréal, just steps from the Namur and De la Savane metro stations. The modern 175-unit building will be ready for occupancy in the spring. Le Namur is the outcome of a partnership between Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ and Habitations Trigone.

Canada Newswire

Council approves townhouse project in Beaconsfield

Albeit with some minor modifications, a townhouse project along Beaurepaire Drive in Beaconsfield passed through its second draft approval on Monday. The promoter, Construction Jean Houde Inc., is proposing to build 22 two-storey townhouses, half facing Beaurepaire Drive and the rest fronting on Prairie Drive.

Montreal Gazette

Seasonal Homes

Canadian resort realtors love high U.S. dollar

Realtors who sell Canadian resort properties say the low loonie is spurring interest from American buyers who are looking to pick up cheap vacation homes north of the border. “We’re thanking our lucky stars,” said Brad Hawker from Royal LePage Rocky Mountain Realty in Canmore, Alta.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Major cash needed to fix FN homes

Internal government documents say Manitoba First Nations live in some of the most dilapidated homes in the country and it will cost $2 billion to eliminate mould and chronic overcrowding in that province alone. That’s almost 13 times more than the $150 million the federal government has budgeted for housing on all reserves across Canada this year.

Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press

Legal Issues

Late mortgage payment charges contrary to Interest Act

A decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled late payment charges and default fees set out in a mortgage are unenforceable and contrary to the Interest Act. The case arose in 2011 when Bijan Pardis and two of his companies signed a promissory note and a mortgage on a property he owned in Markham.

Toronto Star

Man must quit smoking in condo: Judge

A “life-long smoker” has been ordered to butt out inside his Langley, B.C., apartment while he waits to challenge his condo corporation with a human rights complaint. A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has concluded Paul Aradi must follow a no-smoking bylaw in his building, despite having difficulty standing and walking.

Victoria Times Colonist

Affordable Housing

Vancouver offers city land in bid for social-housing cash

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is offering $25  million worth of city-owned property as part of an ambitious pre-budget pitch to the federal government for new affordable-housing cash. The 20 sites put forward by the city are largely concentrated in areas of new development. Most of the properties are vacant lots.

Globe and Mail

Saskatoon affordable housing project gets cash infusion

A 20-unit affordable housing project for people at risk of homelessness recently received a $1.9-million cash infusion from the federal and provincial governments. The 325 square-foot studio apartments will provide stable housing with counselling staff for people who have difficulty renting and maintaining a secure place to live, said Saskatoon Housing Coalition‘s Jo-Ann Coleman Pidskalny.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Calgary’s Inglewood community comes of age

So you’ve got a bit of money in your pocket, a spring in your step, it’s warm out and you want to be where the action is. Time to hit one of Calgary’s main streets.  In Calgary’s oldest community, residents are working hard to maintain the character and charm of their main street. 

CBC

Real-estate wars plague San Francisco

America’s biggest cities are experiencing a land rush, with the wealthiest residents buying up property and squeezing out the middle and lower classes. In San Francisco, the battle has reached crisis levels, in part due to factors unique to the area. The booming tech industry, with its high-paid workers, casts a singular power over this city.

Business Insider

Buying and Selling

Big Fat Deal: Living large in Vancouver

Address: 5512 Wycliffe Road, Vancouver
Price: $10,380,000
MLS: R2028069
The skinny: Six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 6,703-square-foot house on a 18,000-square-foot lot near UBC and Pacific Spirit Park
The bling: Here’s a house made to measure for all your aged swinging fantasies: the large open plan main floor, with its inviting roll-a-round, soft-carpeted conversation pit for those spontaneous “getting-to-know-you” moments.

BC Business

Vancouver fixer-upper is a real steal

There will be an open house at Vancouver’s 4453 W 14th Avenue today. Regardless if the offers match the asking price, the owners stand to make a hefty profit. In the latest BC Assessment, the house, which stands on a 4,026-square-foot lot, had a valuation of $2.1455 million. But, it definitely needs some TLC.

Vancouver Sun – Globe and Mail – Calgary Herald – Vancity Buzz

Coquitlam home sale sets new benchmark

A property on Fleet Street in Coquitlam, B.C., was listed at $788,800 and recently sold for nearly $300,000 above the asking price at $1,080,000. The price per square foot of land for the 11,920-square-foot corner lot equates to almost $91/sq.ft.- a new benchmark for a typical 8000+ sq.ft Ranch Park lot – an area well known for its larger than normal lot sizes. 

Canada Newswire

Other

Four futuristic home features you can own today

CES 2016 gave us a glimpse of what life will be like in the future. Booths showcasing prototypes for the latest in smart home technology and design helped us envision a future world. However, there are already a ton of smart home features on the market today that could turn your home into a scene right out of the Jetsons.

Newinhomes.com