Feds need to crack down on money laundering

Feds need to crack down on money laundering

Ottawa needs to beef up its efforts to combat money laundering in the real estate industry, say critics and housing observers after documents revealed that least 85 firms haven’t shown how they’re trying to detect questionable transactions

Global News – CBC

Condo renovation industry in criminal probe

Canada’s Competition Bureau is setting its sights on the booming condominium sector in the Greater Toronto Area, ordering more than 100 condo boards to hand over records as part of a sweeping criminal investigation. The bureau is probing what it calls “allegations of bid-rigging and conspiracy” involving the region’s multi-million-dollar condo renovation industry.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Parkbridge No. 1 owner of land lease communities

Overlooked in mainstream real estate circles, Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities continues to grow and solidify its position as Canada’s leading owner, operator and developer of land lease communities. “We’ve established a presence from the West Coast to the East Coast and there’s no particular geographic region that we’re focusing on,” said Nicolas Bouquet.

Property Biz Canada

Realtor says he was targeted after calling out unethical practices

One of Vancouver’s top realtors has been voted out of what he calls the “insiders club” after speaking out about unethical practices and lax penalties in the city’s frenzied real estate market. Re/Max realtor Keith Roy has been on the professional standards committee of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver since 2014.

Globe and Mail

Montreal’s neighbourhood a battleground in gentrification debate

Once a bastion of Montreal’s francophone working class Montreal’s St-Henri neighbourhood has in recent years become a favourite of condo-developers and fine diners.  Some of the best restaurants in the country — Joe Beef, Tuck Shop — are now established institutions along Notre Dame West, which not so long ago was speckled with vacant properties and discount stores.

CBC

Condo pre-sales exempt from B.C.’s new assignment rules

A housing sector that appears prime for flipping – pre-sale condominiums – is exempt from new B.C. legislation meant to restrict the sale of contract assignments and track foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver’. Assigning one’s right to a contract is a legitimate practice. But, due to media reports that some realtors were flipping assignments secretly new laws are being enacted.

Business In Vancouver

Condo building boom ‘well into the high risk zone’: RBC

Royal Bank of Canada economists are fretting over the condo construction boom. They’re flagging other issues, as well, notably that of housing affordability in Vancouver and Toronto. But condo construction gets a red flag across the board, as this RBC monitor below shows.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Vancouver Sun

New West’s revamped rental apartment policy bears first fruit

The number of new market rental apartment buildings in New Westminster is set to ramp up in coming years in a building boom that developers and realtors say is being sparked by policies at City Hall that aim to improve the current rental vacancy rate of 0.9 per cent.

Vancouver Sun

Conditions improving for investment in B.C. rental properties

Rental housing is in tight supply across B.C., and the stock that remains is getting older, prompting municipalities to seek ways to restock the market. Vancouver developed the Rental 100 program, and Kelowna recently awarded $286,000 in grants to offset development cost charges on six new projects in the Okanagan.

Business In Vancouver

Software might shake up credit scoring industry

Milan Vrekic was frustrated by the difficult task of selecting good tenants. Vrekic’s latest startup, Zora Computing Inc., aims to make the process easier, and less risky, for landlords, cutting rent default rates by nearly 50 per cent. Vrekic contends his real estate software could eventually help shake up the credit scoring industry.

Financial Post

Calgary’s Beltline slow and steady through city’s downturn

Last month, year-to-date sales in Calgary’s city centre fell to the lowest since 1999 with just 960 transactions so far in 2016; 33 per cent below the neighbourhood’s 10 year average.  Of the 55 areas identified as making up the city centre, the Beltline lead in year-to-date sales, and accounted for more than 15 per cent of registered transactions. And it’s not a new phenomenon.

Globe and Mail

Alberta: From state of emergency to back to business

Over the last few weeks, Alberta residents have been wondering what happens next. It’s been reported that insurance companies will be doling out $5-9 billion dollars – one of the most costly disasters in Canadian history. If you are a small business or property owner, here’s a few things to keep in mind when looking ahead at effective risk management.

Read more

Is commission protection insurance worth it?

What do Ontario Realtors really think about their mandated commission protection insurance and what can boards and associations across the country learn from Ontario as they consider whether commission protection insurance is a good fit for their membership? REM reporter Tony Palermo investigates.

REM Online

The highest priced highrise apartment in NYC

Billionaires’ Row.  That’s what New York real estate experts have dubbed a lineup of a half-dozen new super luxury skyscrapers overlooking Central Park that are home to some of the world’s most expensive apartments.  One penthouse  in a high-rise being built on Central Park South, a 23,000-square-foot, four-storey apartment is being offered at $250 million US.

CBC

London skyscraper stark symbol of crisis

A Russian billionaire whose business partner is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, the former chairman of a defunct Nigerian bank and a Kyrgyz vodka tycoon appear to be among more than 130 foreign buyers in Britain’s tallest residential skyscraper. Almost two-thirds of homes in the Tower, a 50-storey apartment complex in London, are in foreign ownership, with a quarter held through secretive offshore companies.

The Guardian

Market Conditions

Statistics Canada says 69 per cent were dual-income households in 2015

A report by Statistics Canada says the percentage of dual-income Canadian families with children has nearly doubled over the last 40 years.  The report says the proportion of dual-income families was 69 per cent in 2015 compared with just 36 per cent in 1976.  Saskatchewan had the highest percentage with 74.1 per cent, followed by Quebec with 73.2 per cent. Manitoba was third at 70.8 per cent.

The Province

Nelson real estate market ‘fast and furious’

Last week there were 37 family dwellings listed for sale in Nelson. At the same time last year therewere 60, and in May 2014 there were 110.  But the number of potential buyers has not gone down.

Nelson Star

B.C. real estate companies join Christy Clark on trade mission to Asia

Representatives of two real estate companies are travelling with the B.C. Premier on a trade mission to Asia, raising questions about the optics of the perceived partnership at a time when many are calling for an end to foreign real estate investment. The B.C. government lists more than 60 companies taking part in the trade mission to Korea, Japan and the Philippine.

CBC

U.S. new home sales race to eight-year high

New U.S. single-family home sales surged to a more than eight-year high in April and prices hit a record high, offering further evidence of a pick-up in economic growth early in the second quarter. The Commerce Department said Tuesday new home sales jumped 16.6 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000 units, the highest level since January 2008.

Reuters – Reuters

RENX Market Summaries

	REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their reports that will be updated quarterly. First-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report

 

Mortgage and Finance

The man who first saw impact of Chinese buyers in Vancouver

If he wanted to, geographer David Ley could consider himself a data point in his own research. It was back in 1996 that he was named UBC director of the Metropolis Project, an international inquiry into immigration and diversity. By that time, he’d seen his own Kerrisdale neighbourhood being remade by rich immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan who’d sent house prices soaring.

Globe and Mail

Renovation, Repair and Maintenance

Renovating a good time to update home insurance policy

Homeowners need to regularly check and update their home insurance policies or risk having insufficient coverage when disaster strikes, insurance experts say.  The need to review and update a policy is especially important for those who have done renovations because changes to the property could render the policy void if the insurer hasn’t been informed.

Toronto Star

Taxes and Utilities

Shock from Toronto property assessment notices

Toronto homeowners may get a shock later this month when they open their property assessment notices to find the value of their home has jumped nearly 50 per cent. The latest assessment data released by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp., conducts assessments on more than 5 million residential properties in the province once every four years.

Globe and Mail

Natural Disasters

Delayed return for 2,000 Fort Mac evacuees

Up to 2,000 evacuees expecting to move back to their homes in fire-damaged Fort McMurray this week will not be able to do so until possibly September.  Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said more than 500 homes and about a dozen apartment complexes that escaped a wildfire earlier this month in three otherwise heavily damaged neighbourhoods are not safe to be lived in yet.

Toronto Star

Fort McMurray fires a reminder that safety deposit boxes are not 100% safe

There’s one banking service that technology can’t touch – the safe deposit box. But fire and other catastrophes? That’s another story. The latest test of the safety of safe deposit boxes is the Fort McMurray fire. A check-in with several banks about their branches in the city produced a small bit of good news for clients.

Globe and Mail

	Fort McMurray wildfire news
	RENX will be summarizing news regarding the Fort McMurray wildfire and its consequences for the real estate industry in the following section of the newsletter.

 

Affordable Housing

Vancouver job boom but still no affordable housing

Kala Vilches always knew she’d have to leave Vancouver if she wanted to buy a house.  Three years ago, the fashion design graduate was working as a product developer at Lululemon, earning a good salary and living in what she calls “the best Canadian city for fashion.” But she was also paying $900 a month in rent, saving little and saddled with student debt.

Toronto Star

Affordable new homes coming to Vancouver

A partnership of co-op and non-profit organizations led by the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C. and the Vancouver Community Land Trust Foundation is developing 358 affordable homes on four sites owned by the City of Vancouver. Construction is underway on all four sites with the first 48 homes scheduled for completion next March and the remainder to follow early in 2018.

Canada Newswire

Small houses

‘The smallest home in the world’ on Airbnb

It looks more like a go-cart, but the teeny-tiny box on wheels is the “smallest house in the world,” according to the Boston artist who created it. Jeff Smith is offering a 25-square-foot, “very small, but super convenient” home on Airbnb for $74 a night (plus $9 service fee). It’s so small it can fit inside a regular-sized van.

Calgary Herald

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Former Edmonton Mayor honoured by neighbourhood

Terry Cavanagh, who served for 27 years on Edmonton’s city council and who was appointed mayor twice, will participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony for Cavanagh, a new Edmonton community that carries his name. Bryan Anderson, Ward 9 city councillor and representative for the neighbourhood will also be in attendance. 

Marketwired

Buying and Selling

B.C. seminars prey on house hunters: Lawyer

Almost every month, real estate seminars in and around Vancouver promise ordinary people the insider tips and tricks needed to find a backdoor into the region’s frenzied housing market. Inevitably, many of these free seminars end with the promise that attendees will learn real secrets and even get connected with a group of mysterious private investors if they pay thousands, on the spot, for another workshop or a mentorship.

Globe and Mail

CREA wants competition ruling to apply in Toronto only

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) doesn’t want real estate boards outside Toronto to be bound by a Competition Tribunal ruling that will likely force the country’s largest board to lift restrictions on some property sales data.

Toronto Star

Other

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