Ontario toughens anti-sprawl policies

Ontario toughens anti-sprawl policies

The Ontario government plans to strengthen its anti-sprawl policies by making southern municipalities add most new homes to already developed areas and requiring projects on undeveloped land to accommodate more people and jobs. The province, however, is giving municipalities until 2031 to meet the new, tougher targets set out in its updated growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe region.

CBC – Toronto Star

HSBC seeking larger share of Canadian market

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBC-N) is getting aggressive in Canada — and one needs to look no further than its latest mortgage rate for proof of broader ambitions. HSBC Canada is offering five-year fixed-term mortgages at 2.39 per cent, undercutting the lowest discretionary rates at the largest domestic lenders including TD TD Canada Trust and RBC. 

Bloomberg

Developers offer insights into GTA condo trends

Larger units and more buildings in public transit-accessible suburban locations are two of the trends to look for in the Greater Toronto Area condo market. “The Toronto market is very robust and very challenging,” Canderel executive vice-president Ben Rogowski said.

Property Biz Canada – Globe and Mail

Two Ontario developers cancel rental projects

The Ontario government’s new rules extending rent control to all apartments have some Toronto-area developers rethinking the rental projects they had planned to build. Cary Green, whose family has spent generations building rental units in Toronto, says the uncertainty over the province’s proposed changes means his company now is taking a second look at its latest roster of projects.

CBC

Hong Kong ad offers to cover foreign buyers’ tax for TO investors

A real estate ad has surfaced in Hong Kong promising to cover Ontario’s recently implemented foreign buyers’ tax and a rent guarantee of up to one year for the first 30 buyers of units in a downtown Toronto condo building. The ad surfaced on news aggregation and discussion platform Reddit from a user Monday night.

BNN

Horseshoe Bay ‘locals first’ initiative wraps up

A large-scale condo project in West Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay adopted with a unique “locals first” policy which put North Shore buyers at the front of the queue has now opened its doors to buyers from around the world. The project by Westbank developers on land currently owned by Sewell’s Marina includes a 159-unit condo complex in six buildings ranging from three to 11 storeys.

Business In Vancouver

Distillery District condos rankle residents

Three proposed condo buildings in Toronto’s Distillery District are rankling residents and raising questions about what kind of development is appropriate for the national historic site. The architects for Cityscape, the developer on two of the projects, say the development is needed to continue revitalizing and preserving some of the city’s most important heritage resources.

Toronto Star

Wesley Tower coming to Mississauga in August

It has arrived – the first rendering of Wesley Tower, marking Daniels’ triumphant return to the award-winning, 23-acre master-planned, mixed-use Mississauga City Centre. Some know it as the Daniels City Centre. Designed by Rafael & Bigauskas Architects, Wesley Tower will rise 40 storeys at Confederation Parkway and City Centre Drive, just steps from the Square One shopping mall.

Newinhomes.com – Property Biz Canada

Blame ‘unlucky’ brokers for Home Capital mess

Home Capital’s troubles started with “unlucky” brokers as Canadian banks and insurers refer to mortgage merchants who get caught submitting fraudulent loan documents. Home Capital (HCG-T) disclosed 45 independent brokers submitted loan applications that misstated borrowers’ income and other details. A securities regulator accused the company of misleading investors about the fraud, which sparked a run on deposits. 

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

10 per cent mortgage hike would devastate many: Manulife

CBC – Financial Post

Cottage country feels the heat from TO’s RE fire

The May long weekend is the traditional kickoff to cottage season. But long before the snow melted this spring, equity-rich baby boomers from the city had been turning up the heat on resort-area real estate. Agents in Muskoka and Haliburton say most of the action is due to 50-somethings cashing out and driving north to retire or telecommute.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

High-rises taking over suburbs

Hamilton builder Jeff Paikin has been in the real estate industry for almost three decades, but his days of building single-family homes may be over. He now focuses on more budget-sensitive condominiums and townhomes in what are ostensibly the suburbs of Hamilton. His latest project in Stoney Creek is the largest single-phase condominium in that city’s history at 470 units.

Financial Post

Toronto high-rise living by the numbers

Toronto has seen unprecedented vertical growth in recent years. A larger proportion of residents are living in high-rises than ever before, with that number set to increase in the coming years. In fact, the city has almost twice the percentage of people living in buildings with five or more storeys compared to Vancouver.

CBC – CBC

Housing could become government’s last great tax grab

Home ownership is probably the most powerful political totem among voters in free-market and democratic countries. However, we are coming to a wealth and demographic pinch point where even conservative lawmakers can contemplate mining the domestic real estate gold mine. For governments, homes are mostly money locked away in a pile of bricks and timber on overvalued land.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Toronto Star – Globe and Mail

The condo dream becomes a nightmare

If you’re a baby boomer and/or empty-nester living in suburban Toronto, you’ve no doubt considered ditching the house and moving into a sleek downtown condo. You may already have made the leap to take advantage of the rich cultural menu that city life offers. The burbs were great for raising a family and holding backyard barbecues. But they’re deathly boring and dining out often means choosing between Swiss Chalet and East Side Mario’s.

Globe and Mail

Market Conditions

Canada has 30 per cent chance of housing ‘bust’: Goldman

The Swedish and New Zealand housing markets are the most at risk of a correction among the so-called G-10 economies, according to Goldman Sachs, but Canada isn’t far behind. The investment bank said there is a 35-40 per cent chance of a housing “bust” in Swedish and New Zealand over the next two years. Canada is next at 30 per cent.

Bloomberg – CBC – Newinhomes.com

More detached homes for sale than condos in Vancouver

Vancouver condo sales are on the decline, but a drop in new listings is leaving the city short on inventory. The latest from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) shows condo inventory was lower than detached units in April. The price climbed 3.1% from last month to $554,100. This represents a massive 16.6% increase from the same time last year.

Better Dwelling

Flood of listings overwhelms Toronto buyers

Toronto real estate agent Davelle Morrison recently bought a truckload of modern chairs, crisp bed linens and stylish lamps. She had to, she says, because the surge in listings in the Greater Toronto Area has sucked up all of the furniture normally used to make properties look as appealing as possible.

Globe and Mail

Can investors find safe harbour in single-family rental?

The single-family rental (SFR) sector continues to mature as an asset class. And despite a proliferation of investors chasing the assets, fundamentals both for the sector itself and for the broader single-family housing market point to continued stability. Single-family housing starts remain below historical averages. So there is little danger of too much supply coming on to the market.

National Real Estate Investor

The next wave in multi-family: Middle-market assets

Multi-family is holding on to its title as the most durable and attractive asset type in the U.S. industry, though construction and rent growth are expected to dampen even further. Jay Rollins, managing principal & co-founder of JCR Capital, talked about the next stage in the cycle: the winners, the losers and the most attractive investment opportunities.

Multi-Housing News

New Developments

Proposed Ottawa development to add 55 apartment units

A developer is looking for the city’s permission to build a new low-rise apartment building near the University of Ottawa on the site of several century-old single-family homes currently used as multi-residential dwellings. The four-storey building would contain 55 units. Planning documents list the project’s proponent as Polocorp, a planning and land development company based in Kitchener.

Ottawa Business Journal

Millennials targeted for Windsor development

Windsor’s millennials will be the targeted market for smaller, more affordable townhouses in a 70-unit subdivision proposal city council is being asked to approve. The developer – former Deerbrook Realty owner Sam Zlotnik – said he was originally going after snowbird retirees but is now eyeing a much younger set of Windsor homebuyers. 

Windsor Star

Natural Disasters

Flooding fears rise in south Okanagan

Emergency officials in British Columbia’s Okanagan say “unseasonably warm weather” is expected to hasten upper level snowpack melt, possibly leading to more flooding from the region’s already full rivers, creeks and lakes. Environment Canada and the B.C. River Forecast Centre issued warnings for the region, which has been on alert for more than two weeks.

CBC – CBC

Alberta neighbourhood returning to nature

Seph Lawless has made a name for himself taking eerie photos of places humans have left behind. But Lawless has never seen a place like Beachwood Estates, an evacuated neighbourhood in High River, Alta., set to return to its natural state as a floodplain.

Global News – CBC

Gatineau flood victims face heritage site rules

A pocket of 150 homes in Gatineau’s flood zone faces a new danger now that the water has receded: Municipal rules intended to keep their neighbourhood looking historic.

Before the flood, it took Lucie Fortin eight months to get city approval for a small solarium on the house that once belonged to her grandparents. The house was built in 1885, one of the oldest in the Jacques-Cartier Street area.

Ottawa Citizen

Condominium Management

Tips for evaluating condo governance

Not just anyone should sit on the board of directors of a condo corporation. “You want people who are financially literate, who have some business experience, preferably,” said Audrey Loeb, a lawyer with Miller Thomson who specializes in condo law. “You don’t want the board of directors managing the building, you want the board of directors overseeing the manager.”

CBC

Construction

Origine wood tower reaches capping stage

May 8 marked the capping of project Origine, a tall wood construction project in Quebec City’s Pointe-aux-Lievres eco-district.  Origine is the tallest wood-constructed condominium in North America, and includes a 12-storey wood structure on top of a one-storey concrete podium. Project developers are the NEB Consortium. The 41-metre tall condominium uses cross-laminated timber as its primary building material.

Daily Commercial News

U.S. housing starts fall unexpectedly

U.S. homebuilding unexpectedly fell in April amid a persistent decline in the construction of multi-family housing units and a modest rebound in single-family projects, pointing to a slowdown in the housing market recovery. Housing starts dropped 2.6 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

Reuters

Affordable Housing

Bad policy plays role in housing crisis: Opinion

Popular discussions about Canada’s housing market focus on affordability. Home prices in Toronto and Vancouver have grown much faster than incomes. Since 2010, nominal house prices have nearly doubled in both the Toronto and Vancouver metro areas, two regions that account for nearly half of Canada’s residential housing value. In contrast, rent growth has been restrained.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Ownership obsession driving TO affordability crisis: Report

The GTA’s high house prices haven’t stopped the city from achieving one of the highest ownership rates in the developed world. Toronto’s ownership rate, at 68 per cent, is behind only Oslo, Norway (69 per cent), and Calgary (74 per cent) among 38 Western cities. But ownership doesn’t equal affordability, says a sweeping study by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA).

Toronto Star – CBC – Canada Newswire

Calgary opens first city-owned project in five years

The opening of a new affordable housing development in Crescent Heights was celebrated Wednesday, but officials say there’s a desperate need for more buildings like it in Calgary.  The 16-unit building is the city’s first affordable housing project to open in the last five years. It will be managed by Calgary Housing Company, a city-owned corporation.

CBC – Calgary Herald

Small houses

Tiny home advocates build, show off simple lifestyle

Advocates for tiny homes in Vancouver hoped to convert more people to the minimalist movement by building an eight metre-long house on wheels from scratch at an event Saturday. “We are for sustainable, well-built, well-designed, safe, dignified homes and tiny houses fit into that category,” said B.C. Tiny House Collective founders Anastasia Koutalianos and Samantha Gambling at Science World.

CBC

Mini-homes movement making mark in Manitoba

The tiny-home movement arrived in Manitoba with an open house for the first tiny home sold in the province back in 2015. Now, the couple behind the concept – Mini Homes of Manitoba Inc. – are drumming up interest from prospective buyers, millennials and retired folk as the movement takes its next steps.

Winnipeg Free Press – Globe and Mail

Micro-apartments coming to Miami

Micro-units — compact, affordable apartments aimed at young, single professionals who want to live in popular neighborhoods without paying exorbitant rents — are sprouting up in Miami. The 400,000-square-foot development will occupy 2.3 acres and include 289 rental apartments, ranging in size from 400 to 1,200 square feet. By comparison, the average two-car garage is 480 to 625 square feet.

Miami Herald – Miami Herald

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Vancouver residents oppose Beedie’s residential project

Community groups in Chinatown say despite changes, a proposed residential building does not fit in with their Vancouver neighbourhood. Beedie Development Group‘s 105 Keefer project was set to be the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday after the developer made further revisions to the design. The 12-storey building would include 106 market-price units and 25 “low-to-moderate income” seniors units.

CBC

Richmond approves 11,000-square-foot limit on farmland homes

After months of contentious public hearings, Richmond city council has voted to limit the size of homes that can be built on the Agricultural Land Reserve. The passed bylaw caps the size of farmhouses built on half acre properties to 10,764 square feet. Homes built on properties smaller than half an acre are limited to 5,382 square feet.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Millennials not writing off home ownership dream just yet

Record real estate prices aren’t scaring Millennials out of their dreams of home ownership, but they may be making young Canadians more cautious — and even more creative — when it comes to buying in. A recent study suggested nearly 40 per cent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 think they’ll buy a home in the next two years.

Financial Post

Other