Foreign buyers barely making a dent in apartments sector

Foreign buyers barely making a dent in apartments sector

Individual investors own almost half of the apartment stock in the country and a new survey from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. shows those landlords are getting lower rental rates and dealing with higher vacancy rates. The first-of-its-kind study by CMHC breaks down the rental ownership structure in Canada for purpose-built apartments.

Financial Post

Renovation spending to hit another record in 2017

Renovation spending is expected to reach record levels this year and next, but the Canadian home improvement craze may finally be slowing down, according to a new report. Altus Group Ltd. said renovation spending will reach $72.7 billion in 2017, up from $71.2 billion in 2016, and climb to $74 billion next year. The entire new home market was worth only $53 billion in 2016.

Financial Post

High hopes in High River: Alberta town on the rebound

The scenic Town of High River at the foot of the Rocky Mountains has seen its share of floods. The Highwood River which runs through it has spilled its banks more than a dozen times over the last 100-plus years. But it was the most recent flood in 2013 that threatened the Alberta town’s very existence.

Property Biz Canada

New hitch for B.C. group condo sales causing anguish

It is already hard enough to get 22, or 50, or 179 people to agree to sell their condos en masse to a developer – the real estate trend that is currently dominating conversation in many strata buildings in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. But, it turns out, there is a new wrinkle people are discovering that makes negotiations even more fraught.

Globe and Mail

Van. apartment building sales down in 2017

According to the Goodman team – David and Mark Goodman, and Cynthia Jagger – at HQ Real Estate Services Inc., 87 purpose-built Greater Vancouver apartment blocks sold in 2017’s first six months, down 30 per cent from 124 in 2016’s first half. The aggregate value of the deals was $1.4 billion, 23% higher than in the same period last year.

Business In Vancouver

Rental costs help make Vancouver’s cost of living No. 1

Vancouver has eclipsed Toronto as Canada’s most expensive city for expats, largely due to rapidly increasing rental costs. Vancouver made its meteoric rise to the top of the list as it jumped 35 place points from 2016. Vancouver is 107th on the list. Toronto is at 119 and Montreal at 129. Ottawa is ranked as Canada’s least expensive city at 152. 

BCBusiness – Newinhomes.com

Aging population, low vacancy spur Victoria apartment builds

Victoria’s aging population of well-off downsizers, a severe shortage of rental homes and other market pressures are spurring developers to build hundreds of new rental apartment units, stakeholders and experts say. There are currently between 800 and 1,000 purpose-built rental apartment units being built in Victoria, said Justin Filuk, director of development at Townline.

Property Biz Canada – Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria-area Econo Lodge converting to rental suites

Esquimalt council has given the green light to GMC Projects to turn an area hotel into rental housing. Council has given third reading to a rezoning application that will see the 123-room Econo Lodge, 101 Island Highway, converted to a 96-unit apartment complex with room for a restaurant, an upgraded Gorge waterfront pool and cottages.

Victoria Times Colonist

Toronto condo rental market soars

As the housing market in Toronto cools, the rental market is especially hot following the announcement of new provincial housing measures, according to a report from Urbanation Inc., which reveals new housing measures may have led to a record high demand of condo rentals across the city.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – CBC

TO condos must accommodate babies: Report

Many of Toronto’s downtown condo buildings are brimming with children — and the pressure is on to transform those concrete blocks into family-friendly neighbourhoods. City council was set to debate draft guidelines that could prompt developers to include larger units in new buildings, one of the suggestions which came out of public consultations.

CBC – Toronto Star

Ontario considers review of preferential condo sales

The Ontario government is considering a review of preferential sales practices for pre-construction condos as part of its wide-ranging reforms of the housing market. In a practice that has quietly become standard in the Greater Toronto Area, insider real estate agents are often given selective, early access to multiple allocations of units in new condominium developments.

Globe and Mail

Toronto home sales drop most in eight years

Toronto’s housing market is losing steam. A series of government measures and the prospect of higher interest rates boosted listings and sparked the biggest sales decline in more than eight years last month, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Thursday. Average home prices rose just 6.3 per cent to $793,915, the smallest annual increase since January 2015.

Bloomberg – Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Toronto Star

BMO, CIBC boost mortgage rates

The Bank of Montreal and CIBC have each hiked some of their mortgage rates — a move that comes as the market is widely anticipating an increase this week in the key benchmark rate set by the Bank of Canada. BMO increased its rates on both its five-year fixed and five-year “smart fixed” mortgages to 2.89 and 2.79 per cent, respectively.

CBC – Financial Post – CBC – Huffington Post

CMHC to pay special dividend to Ottawa

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. will pay a special dividend of $4 billion to the federal government over the next two years, saying it has excess capital above its required targets. The excess occurred even though the CMHC reported a sharp drop in insurance volumes in the first quarter this year as fewer buyers qualified for mortgage insurance.

Globe and Mail – CBC

14,000 evacuated as crews battle B.C. wildfires

Angie Thorne hugs her granddaughter as she looks for the first time at the blackened pit where her home of 21 years had stood. Thorne and her husband escaped with their camper trailer before their home burned to the ground. They returned Sunday to see what remained after a large wildfire engulfed the Ashcroft Indian Reserve.

CBC – Bloomberg – Maclean’s – Global News

RENX Columnists

Pros and cons of the Airbnb experience

There are a number of pros and cons when it comes to an Airbnb experience. Having just used one in Toronto, here’s my personal experience. Would I recommend it? Sure, I like a deal and I’m willing to try something a little riskier than cookie cutter hotels. But be prepared, there are a few trade-offs.

Read more

Market Conditions

Sales of pricey Toronto condo soaring: Sotheby’s

Across the GTA, condo sales on units priced at $1 million or more rose to 758 in the first half of 2017, a 98 per cent increase over the previous year, according to a report Monday from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. Across the region, sales of units priced at $4 million or higher rose 150 per cent, to 15 units.

Toronto Star – CBC

Hot condo market driving Montreal home sales

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board says area home sales increased by 10 per cent in June, driven by a hot condo market. There were 3,952 properties sold, the highest level for June in eight years. The data comes amid concerns a 15 per cent foreign buyers’ tax in the Greater Toronto Area could have a spillover effect on Canada’s second-largest city.

Toronto Star

Vancouver owners ‘panic’ to rent as vacancy tax implemented

Vancouver’s new empty homes tax is causing property owners to scramble, according to Cameron Fazli with Re/Max Crest Realty. “We are getting a lot of calls from people who are unsure what they are going to do,” Fazli said. “There is a lot of uncertainty and definitely a lot of unhappy property owners.”

CBC

Foreign buyers eye Golden Horseshoe homes

Nearly five per cent of homes sold in the Golden Horseshoe region were purchased by foreign buyers, according to a month’s worth of new data from the Ontario government. The province announced a foreign-buyers tax on April 20, but most of these sales were not affected by the levy because the contracts were signed before the announcement.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Newinhomes.com

TO housing boom driving Ont. economic growth: Fraser Institute

Weak business investment in Ontario has the provincial economy increasingly dependent on Toronto’s housing market for growth, leaving the province especially vulnerable if the market slows, finds Ontario’s One Cylinder Economy: Housing in Toronto and Weak Business Investment, a new study by Canadian think-tank Fraser Institute.

Marketwired

Lack of supply stymies pending U.S. home sales

You can’t buy what isn’t available. A self-evident statement, but it underscores the dilemma facing would-be homebuyers and helps to explain why pending home sales declined in May for the third consecutive month. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday no region of the U.S. saw an increase in contract activity last month.

GlobeSt.com – Winnipeg Free Press

Mortgage and Finance

Uninsured mortgages biggest risk for banks: DBRS

Uninsured mortgages, a new target of federal regulators, represent the greatest risk to the financial industry, especially Canada’s largest banks, according to a report out Monday from DBRS Inc. The credit ratings agency says about 46 per cent of total mortgages in Canada are now uninsured with the big six banks holding 32 percentage points of that total. Credit unions have eight percentage points.

Financial Post – Financial Post – CBC – Reuters

Time to get over reverse mortgage squeamishness

There’s still one notable example of the old Canadian conservatism with money. It’s the reluctance of retired people to crack open the equity they have in their homes and spend the money. Strong growth in demand for reverse mortgages suggests this won’t last. Our less cautious attitude to money can be seen in ever-rising household debt.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

One Properties bringing new seniors facility to Edmonton

Edmonton developer One Properties is counting on a new seniors home to kick-start redevelopment near High Street. The land has been rezoned multiple times since 2006. The original concept included large, luxury units in a tower. The new design includes a 22-storey tower with a wide, six-storey podium to hold the seniors facility at the base.

Edmonton Journal

MoDA designs switchback condo development

When well-known Calgary philanthropist Mike Shaikh decided it was time to develop his site, he approached four or five architects to find a design that would best fit the Lower Mount Royal neighbourhood. He found the right team in Dustin Couzens and Ben Klumper of Modern Office of Design + Architecture (MoDA).

Calgary Herald

Seasonal Homes

The family cottage may prove hard to hold onto

As Ontario’s cottage country ages, its largest generation of owners faces challenges in handing down their properties. Cottages in communities such as Muskoka and Haliburton may no longer be passed down, because the children of baby boomers may not be able to afford the capital gains taxes, said Troy Austen, a real estate sales representative with Team Haliburton Highlands Re/Max.

Toronto Star

Condominium Management

Angry owners take control of condo board

A small group accused of aggressively taking control of GTA condo boards — and their multi-million-dollar budgets — was replaced at the upscale Five Condos last week. It marked the second time in less than a week the three men — Darryl McGregor, George Laczko and Ray Blanchard — have been replaced on a downtown condo board.

CBC

Construction

Canadian housing starts pick up in June

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in Canada picked up in June. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in June came in at 212,695 units, up from 194,955 units in May.  Economists had expected the annual rate to come in at 200,000, according to Thomson Reuters. 

Globe and Mail

Planning approval process reducing housing supply: Report

A joint report from Ryerson University and the Residential Construction Council of Ontario paints a dim picture of the planning approval process that it says leads to delays as long as 28 months for some condominium projects. The report ranks Canada 57th in the world when it comes to the building approval permit process out of 190 jurisdictions. 

Financial Post

U.S. coasts most challenging for new apartment supply

The top four most-challenging places to add new apartments are all coastal markets: Honolulu, Boston, Baltimore and Miami. Somewhat surprisingly, Memphis was ranked as the fifth most challenging, according to the research conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services (HAS) and commissioned by the National Apartment Association (NAA) and National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC).

CoStar Group

Affordable Housing

Facebook, Google building affordable housing in Silicon Valley

One day, Facebook employees will only have to cross the street to commute to the tech giant’s Menlo Park headquarters. In a blog post on Friday, Facebook announced plans to turn the 56-acre Menlo Science & Technology Park it bought in 2015 into a company town, dubbed the Willow Campus. It will include a grocery store, pharmacy and shopping centre.

CNBC – The Guardian – SFGATE

More Canadians say housing unaffordable: Poll

A new poll suggests just over two in five Canadians believe housing is unaffordable, a finding that cuts almost evenly across income levels. The poll by EKOS Research appears even more bleak in some of Canada’s hottest housing markets, where only a small sliver of respondents said they believe homes are affordable.

Financial Post

Ground broken on Niagara affordable rental housing

An official groundbreaking was recently held for a new affordable housing complex in St. Catharines. The development received more than $11 million in funding from the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario through the Investment in Affordable Housing agreement. This Niagara Regional Housing facility will help residents currently on the region’s affordable housing waiting list.

Daily Commercial News

Montreal housing still relatively affordable

Compared to Vancouver and Toronto, buying a home in Montreal is relatively affordable. But with rising prices, some areas are seeing faster increases than others. On the island of Montreal, the median price of a condo sold between January and May was $289,000, according to the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards.

Montreal Gazette

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Windsor ponders banning ‘snout houses’

A new report is recommending Windsor take steps to keep ‘snout houses’ from turning its streetscapes into “walled fortresses.” The layout featuring houses dominated by protruding garages is popular in the city’s newer neighbourhoods, but city planners argue there are good reasons to stop snouts from sticking out like sore thumbs.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Speed-dating event helps people find match in Toronto RE

At a recent speed-dating event for potential co-homeowners, guests who range from millennials to seniors have come to find The One — a match made in real estate heaven.  The housing matchmaker behind this event is Lesli Gaynor, a social worker-turned-Royal LePage realtor who launched GoCo Solutions to help people get into Toronto’s red-hot real estate market through co-ownership.

Financial Post

Ontario proposes banning double ending

Ontario is proposing banning the practice of double ending, in which a real estate agent represents both a buyer and a seller in a transaction. The province’s Liberal government announced a 16-point housing plan earlier this year including reviewing the rules for real estate agents to ensure consumers are fairly represented.

Victoria Times Colonist

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