KingSett buying Home Capital commercial mortgages

KingSett buying Home Capital commercial mortgages

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) has struck an agreement to sell a portfolio of commercial mortgages worth about $1.2-billion as it seeks to shore up its finances. Through its Home Trust subsidiary, Home Capital will sell the assets to KingSett Capital, a private-equity firm focused on real estate, injecting the troubled mortgage lender with a shot of much-needed liquidity. 

Globe and Mail – Bloomberg – Financial Post

Cottage country proving immune to GTA cooling

The slowdown in Toronto’s housing market is not reaching cottage country, where vacation properties are changing hands quickly and prices are still climbing. Sales data from Royal LePage show Ontario recreational-property prices have climbed to an average of $413,000 in May this year, while prices for lakefront properties in Muskoka grew 20 per cent year-over-year to $1.5 million from $1.25-million in May 2016.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Market more important than cap rate in apartment valuation

Apartment building capitalization rates are dependent upon location, quality of product and how quickly rents are growing in a market, and should be considered as only one factor. “The liquidity of the market and the stability of the market are far more important than the cap rate,” said SVN/Angelic Real Estate managing director Gabriel Silverstein.

Property Biz Canada

Condo approval delays hurting TO developers

A new report shows it is taking longer to get condo projects approved in Toronto, with the delays causing uncertainty and risk for developers, slowing down the supply of new units coming to market and resulting in lost tax revenue for the city.  The Evaluation of Tall Building Construction Permitting Process in Toronto, was unveiled recently.

Daily Commercial News

TO condos enjoy nation’s fastest-rising prices

Toronto real estate may be cooling, but condos – with the exception of Oakville-Milton – are seeing the fastest rising prices in the country. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) numbers show Toronto condos saw a price increase of more than 31 per cent.  The benchmark price in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is now $464,600, 31.85% higher than May 2016. 

Better Dwelling – BuzzBuzzNews

Home sales see sharpest monthly decline in five years

Home sales across the country dropped sharply last month, driven by a plunge in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  The number of residential properties sold nationwide fell by 6.2 per cent in May compared to April, the largest month-to-month decline in nearly five years, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Thursday.

Global News – Financial Post – Better Dwelling – Bloomberg

Canada’s biggest cities move to regulate Airbnb

Canada’s biggest cities are getting closer to regulating Airbnb. Toronto recently unveiled its proposed regulations on short-term rental services, of which Airbnb is the undisputed global leader. Vancouver has also proposed its own regulations, which are expected to go to city council later this year. 

CBC – Fortune

Vancouver mayor seeks Ottawa’s help in fighting fraud

Vancouver’s economy is at risk because of the city’s out-of-control housing costs, so Ottawa needs to make sure it is doing the maximum to prevent fraud in the real estate market, Mayor Gregor Robertson is warning the federal Finance Minister. “I often hear from residents about fraudulent practices connected to home purchases in Vancouver,” the mayor wrote.

Globe and Mail – Vancouver Sun – Vancouver Sun – BCBusiness

Vancouver’s record rents keep climbing: PadMapper

Vancouver continues to be the most expensive rental market in Canada, but Toronto is closing in, according to a report on the apartment-hunting website PadMapper.com. PadMapper says the median average June rental price of a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver is now $1,950, an increase of 0.5 per cent from May. Meanwhile, Toronto’s average one-bedroom rental price jumped 2.3 per cent to $1,790.

Vancouver Sun – Business In Vancouver – CTV

Victoria councillors seek moratorium on apartment demolitions

Three Victoria councillors are calling for a moratorium on the demolition of apartment buildings to give the city breathing room to develop rental-housing policies. Worried about the loss of 1960s- and 1970s-era apartment buildings, councillors Pam Madoff, Ben Isitt and Jeremy Loveday say they will bring forward a recommendation on Thursday.

Victoria Times Colonist

Sunstone Resort Communities building Winnipeg apartment building

Demolition of a century-old home in Winnipeg’s Osborne Village and three neighbouring homes is expected to begin later this month, triggering the construction of a seven-storey, 77-unit apartment building by  developer Sunstone Resort Communities. The project was met by stiff opposition from area residents, who argued unsuccessfully the building is too big for the property.

Winnipeg Free Press

Map pins down prices along Toronto’s subway lines

A new real estate map shows just how pricey it is to live along Toronto’s subway line. The RedPin real estate site has put out maps, based on data from May 2017, showing how much it costs to live near a subway stop in a one-bedroom condo or house. Proximity to transit leads to a more expensive home.

Toronto Sun

Montrealers’ rent-info site crippled by high traffic

A new website that helps Montrealers share and compare rental information was crippled Wednesday because of high traffic. Julien Fortier and his partners launched myrent.quebec in April as an interactive map where people can — normally — see and submit information like the address, cost, size and conditions of local rental units.

Montreal Gazette

CRA cracks down on tax cheating in RE transactions

Canada Newswire

U.S. in desperate need of new apartments

According to a new study commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association, delayed marriages, an aging population and international immigration are increasing a pressing need for new apartments in the U.S. It will take at least 325,000 new apartment homes every year to meet demand; yet, on average, just 244,000 apartments were delivered from 2012 through 2016.

World Property Journal

Market Conditions

Senior housing availability takes a nose dive

Despite a willingness to pay rents three to four times higher than the conventional apartment market, B.C.’s 370,000 senior citizens are facing a rental crunch, according to new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) data. The rental vacancy for seniors’ housing units across B.C. fell to 4.7 per cent this year, down from nearly 10 per cent two years ago.

Western Investor

Canada, U.K. offer great luxury buying opportunities: Christie’s

Despite tumbling transaction levels and ongoing political uncertainty, the U.K. is still a compelling place to invest, says Dan Conn, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate. “There are also pockets of Canada that I think are great buying opportunities . . . London, Vancouver, Toronto, these are all great places to live – you don’t get away from that dynamic,” said 

CNBC

Montreal home price index matches all-time high

The re-sale price of houses in the greater Montreal area rose for the third straight month in May, matching a peak set last summer, according to a report released Wednesday. The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures the selling price of single-family houses that have sold more than once, rose 1.07 per cent from April to May in Montreal.

Montreal Gazette

Mortgage and Finance

Manitoba realtors: Send foreign home buyers our way

If Toronto and Vancouver have a problem with international property buyers, Manitoba realtors have an answer for them. Chris Pennycook, the president of the Manitoba Real Estate Association, said his province is ready to accept more immigrants into its borders and is happy to also take on investors with money coming from abroad.

Regina Leader-Post – Globe and Mail

Average payments on new mortgages rising faster than inflation: CMHC

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp says the average scheduled monthly mortgage payment for new loans climbed to $1,328 in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 4.6 per cent from $1,269 a year ago. The increase came as house prices continued to rise, particularly in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver and their surrounding areas.

Globe and Mail

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

TO church approved for conversion into 77-unit condo

Etobicoke York Community Council (EYCC) has approved the conversion of a vacant High Park Avenue heritage church into a 77-unit condo building. While the proposed development would retain and renovate the entirety of the former High Park Alhambra United Church’s sanctuary building, all but the north façade and one bay of the west façade of the church’s attached Sunday school building would be demolished.

insideTORONTO.com-

Taxes and Utilities

Tax on speculative GTA home purchases may be in cards

The chief economist of the Canadian Real Estate Association says homeowners in the Greater Toronto Area should brace themselves for a possible tax on speculative home purchases. Gregory Klump says he would not be surprised to see policy-makers roll out such a measure just as the market begins to recover from the most recent round of changes.

Winnipeg Free Press

Percentage of foreign homebuyers has not fallen since tax

The percentage of foreign buyers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe is still where it stood before Ontario brought in its 15 per cent tax on non-residents, finance minister Charles Sousa said, adding it’s too early to comment on the impact of the tax — the province has data from about two to three weeks of activity based on voluntary submissions.

Financial Post – Marketwired

Condominium Management

Condo board member also copies fobs

For $35, nearly anyone can copy an electronic key fob and get access to dozens of Toronto condo towers, a CBC Toronto investigation has revealed. Toronto businessman George Laczko is the director of FobCopy, a walk-in and mail-in business that copies different types of fobs — small electronic key tags that give people access to condo towers and common areas.

CBC

Construction

U.S. housing starts hit eight-month low

U.S. homebuilding fell for a third straight month in May to the lowest level in eight months as construction activity declined broadly, which could raise concerns that the housing market recovery was faltering. Housing starts dropped 5.5 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million units, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

Globe and Mail

Affordable Housing

Ontario led decline in housing affordability in Q1: Desjardins

Strong housing markets in Ontario and British Columbia drove home ownership further from the average Canadian’s reach in the first quarter of 2017, but that may turn around soon, according to the latest housing affordability study by Desjardins.

Regina Leader-Post

TO to offer combination condo, long-term care home

Toronto seniors are struggling with a scarcity of quality long-term care beds and affordable housing units. Soon, one downtown building will have both. The Rekai Centres, which has run long-term care homes in the city dating back to 1955, and Options for Homes, builders of 3,100 affordable units, have partnered to buy a plot of land in the West Don Lands.

CBC – Canada Newswire

Other

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