Victoria tops global luxury housing markets

Victoria tops global luxury housing markets

Greater Victoria is on top of the world when it comes to the “hottest” housing markets around the globe, according to Christie’s International Real Estate. The company’s “luxury thermometer” for primary markets set Victoria on top, followed by San Diego and Orange County in California, Washington, D.C., and Paris.

Victoria Times Colonist – Globe and Mail – CHEK

Small towns feel pinch as Vancouver madness spreads

There is a second wave of real estate refugees rippling outward from the Lower Mainland. Even in Lillooet, nearly a four-hour drive from Vancouver on narrow mountain roads, people are feeling the secondary effects of the Lower Mainland’s out-of-control real estate market.

CBC

Liberating Toronto’s employment lands for housing, jobs

Ken Greenberg has what he calls a “breakthrough idea” to address the needs for affordable housing and jobs and to leverage the massive public investment in GTA transit infrastructure. “It is something I call ‘subtractive urbanism,’ ” the Greenberg Consultants principal said.

Property Biz Canada

Plazacorp earns Tarion honour, keeps building condos

Plazacorp was named high-rise builder of the year at Tarion’s Homeowners’ Choice Awards on May 1, and senior vice-president Scott McLellan said it’s an honour the company really wanted.

Property Biz Canada

Homeowners fighting B.C. speculation tax

A group of homeowners crowdsourcing to raise money to fight B.C.’s new speculation tax on empty homes has retained a lawyer for a potential class-action lawsuit. The group is called Canadians Against the B.C. Speculation Tax 

Vancouver Sun – Calgary Herald

Mortgage stress test pushing more Toronto buyers to Hamilton

Canada’s mortgage stress test is reinforcing the migration of homebuyers from Toronto to Hamilton in search of deals. And that is adding to the already competitive market created by the stress test, which is cutting the buying power of house hunters in Hamilton.

CBC – Financial Post – Newinhomes.com

Fight highlights risk in Toronto house-flipping

The days of easy money flipping houses in Toronto may be over. Exactly who is to blame for the undoing of Vansan Properties Inc. – which owns 28 Woodfield Rd. – is currently being disputed in court.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Millennials living longer with parents: OREA

Ontario Real Estate Association executives today unveiled a Ryerson University report that found millennials in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area are living with their parents longer as they struggle to find affordable houses in a market with limited supply.

Vancouver Sun – OREA media release

April home sales drop to seven-year low

April home sales dropped to a seven-year low for the month, the kickoff to the busy spring real estate season, as both sales and prices saw double-digit annual declines, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported Tuesday.

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

Ottawa the market to watch this year

The shortage of resale listings is contributing to a seller’s market in Ottawa, where more than a fifth of the homes sold above listing in March, according to the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB), and properties are selling in 11 fewer days than they were last year. 

Newinhomes.com – Newinhomes.com

Proposed N.L. tenants act strikes balance: Service Minister

There is finally a plan to repeal and replace Newfoundland and Labrador’s current Residential Tenancies Act. Sherry Gambin-Walsh, minister of Service NL, was set to introduce a new bill in the House of Assembly that improves protections for both landlords and tenants.

CBC

U.S. rental market just heating up: Tricon Capital

Last quarter, Tricon Capital Group Inc. (TCN-T) used proprietary software to scrape 100,000 house listings in the U.S. Sunbelt states. It put offers on 1,500 and ended up buying about 400. This quarter, it expects to buy up to 600 more. Tricon is the third-largest publicly listed landlord of U.S. single-family rentals.

Financial Post – Property Biz Canada – National Real Estate Investor

$85M NYC apartment comes with trip to space

A 15,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom duplex condo in New York City comes with a $1-millon yacht, two Rolls Royce Phantoms, a Lamborghini, and, oh, two tickets to outer space. Price tag: US$85 million.

CTV – The Real Deal

Today’s multi-family: A game for sharpshooters

Yardi Matrix vice-president Jeff Adler notes the U.S. multi-family sector is facing increasing crosswinds. Demand remains strong, but this late in the cycle it is shifting to lower-cost cities driven by job and population growth.

Multi-Housing News – Building Design & Construction – Multi-Housing News

Grenfell Tower inquiry launched as victims remembered

Survivors of a devastating high-rise fire in London wept Monday as relatives paid tribute to some of the 72 victims at the opening of an inquiry into Britain’s deadliest blaze in decades. The Grenfell Tower inquiry is beginning with two weeks of tributes to those who died in June 2017.

Global News – Reuters – The Guardian

Market Conditions

Montreal housing starts at 20-year high

Resale housing prices in Montreal rose slightly in April amid an increase in housing starts that pushed the number of new units starting construction to a 20-year high. The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index, which measures the resale price of houses and condos, rose 0.23 per cent from to March to April. It was up 3.93 per cent from April last year.

Montreal Gazette – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Vacant properties plague struggling U.S. cities

Despite a drop in numbers across much of the U.S. since the recession, vacant and abandoned properties continue to dog struggling post-industrial cities, tearing apart neighbourhoods with growing intensity, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Focus Report The Empty House Next Door: Understanding and Reducing Vacancy and Hypervacancy in the United States. These vacancies are also driving property values down.

PR Newswire

Mortgage and Finance

OSC concerned about alternative mortgage growth

The chair of Ontario Securities Commission is raising red flags about growth in the alternative mortgage lending space. Maureen Jensen said recent efforts to remove risk from the banking system have caused activity to move into other, less heavily regulated areas such as syndicated mortgage lending.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Banks cutting variable rate mortgages

A number of Canadian lenders have slashed their variable mortgage rates in recent days, even as some of those same lenders are raising their fixed-rate mortgages. HSBC Canada cut its five-year variable mortgage rate to 2.39 per cent on Wednesday, more than a full percentage point below the bank’s own prime rate.

CBC – Globe and Mail

New Developments

London, Ont., market spurs preconstruction purchases

London, Ont., housing starts trended higher for the first time in five months in April, mostly due to rental apartment developments breaking ground. There were also signs of more detached and townhome starts due to a tight resale market driving demand to the preconstruction market.

Newinhomes.com

James Bay condo development on duplex lots approved

Victoria council narrowly approved a 12-unit strata development on Montreal Street, even though veteran councillor Pam Madoff warned it would be “destabilizing” much of James Bay. Leonard Cole’s Urban Core Ventures plans to build the townhouse-style units on two duplex-zoned lots at 71 and 75 Montreal St. The development will include 12 stalls of underground parking and half of the units will have three bedrooms.

Victoria Times Colonist

Hines, Tridel announce final phase of Bayside Toronto

International real estate firm Hines, and Canada’s leading condominium developer, Tridel, jointly announced their highly anticipated vision for the fourth and final phase of the developer’s waterfront residential partnership at Bayside Toronto in the East Bayfront District. Following an international design competition, the award-winning developers selected Danish firm 3XN as the Design Architect for the condominium, to be known as Aqualuna.

Canada Newswire

Seniors Housing

Riverbank erosion puts Winnipeg seniors housing at risk

For the past seven years, residents of the Columbus Centennial Seniors Co-op have watched the land behind their home crumble into the Red River, while desperately asking for someone — anyone —to help. It now feels like things are reaching a point of no return, according to residents, who say this spring, the situation took a turn for the worse.

Winnipeg Free Press

Seasonal Homes

In Ontario’s cottage country, the new sound is Shhhh

In early March, council for Georgian Bay Township (year-round population 2,499), passed a special bylaw for the lake and surrounding properties. It bans “human sound such as yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, singing,” as well as loud noise from speakers no matter what the time of day or night.

Globe and Mail

How to properly give the cottage to your kids

Any time you transfer an asset to someone other than your spouse, you’ll be deemed to have sold it at fair market value. The result? You could face a taxable capital gain if the asset has appreciated in value. 

Globe and Mail

Taxes and Utilities

CRA cracking down on B.C., Ontario tax scofflaws

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Thursday announced there continue to be tax compliance risks in the real estate sector, particularly in the Vancouver and Toronto markets. Over the past three years, CRA audits have identified $592.6 million in additional taxes related to the real estate sector.

Canada Newswire

Natural Disasters

Hundreds of claims remain unresolved in Fort Mac

Deadlines have been extended for hundreds of insurance claims that remain unresolved more than two years after a wildfire dubbed “The Beast” tore through Fort McMurray and surrounding areas in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. “This is unprecedented, not just for the people of Wood Buffalo, but for our industry,” Bill Adams, with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said Wednesday.

Globe and Mail – CBC

B.C. flooding a ‘shock event’: Experts

The widespread flooding in B.C. is the result of a worst-case scenario of a snowy winter followed by a hot, wet spring, experts say. And while very little can be done to prevent such flooding, they cited need to better prepare for such natural disasters.

Globe and Mail – CTV – CBC

About 10,000 homes, businesses within N.B. flood zones

New Brunswick’s Environment Minister has given a new sense of scale to the province’s record-setting floods, saying as many as 10,000 homes and businesses were within flood zones. Andrew Harvey said citizens are still filing their claims for disaster relief.

Globe and Mail – CBC – CBC

Affordable Housing

Nearly half of Ontarians can’t afford their rent

A new report by the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) highlights the growing lack of affordable rental housing choices for low- and moderate-income households in Ontario. Where Will We Live? Ontario’s Affordable Rental Housing Crisis calls for stronger tenant protections and long-term commitments.

Globe Newswire – Globe Newswire

Feds ‎launch affordable housing fund

Through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF), the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will work with partners to create up to 60,000 new affordable units and repair up to 240,000 affordable and community units.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Small houses

Tiny homes a big problem for city living

Every night, Christine McIntosh goes to sleep under the stars. The glowing night sky is visible through the windows in her cozy upstairs loft – one that only stretches four feet in height. In fact, her entire home is only 12 feet tall. McIntosh lives in a tiny house just outside of Ottawa. It’s only 200 square feet and, while some may find it hard to believe, includes a fully-equipped kitchen, living area, bathroom and bedroom.

Ottawa Citizen

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Stoney Creek apartment tenants on rent strike

Tenants in four different apartment buildings in Stoney Creek are on a “rent strike”, after the property manager proposed a rent increase of nearly ten percent over two years. The tenants feel they’re being priced out of their homes in favour of newer higher paying renters.

CHCH News

Other

Being a landlord is worth the headache: Survey

If you think being a landlord isn’t worth the trouble, think again. A new CIBC (CM-T) poll of Canadian homeowners finds that those who own a separate rental property, earn on average $2,189 per month – 50 per cent more than their monthly costs. Further, those who earn income by renting out space in their home reduce their housing costs by as much as 70 per cent.

Canada Newswire

Ottawa’s Richcraft Homes honoured

The family behind one of Ottawa’s largest homebuilders was fêted at the city’s annual celebrations honouring the best and most generous family-run businesses in the National Capital Region. Kris Singhal launched Richcraft Homes after immigrating to Canada from his native India.

Ottawa Business Journal

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