Mississauga to host 10-tower condo project

Mississauga to host 10-tower condo project

A parcel of land bought in the 1960s by Ted Rogers at the western edge of what is now downtown Mississauga is to be transformed into a 10-tower condo development. Rogers Real Estate Development Limited unveiled a $1.5-billion, 15-acre, 4.3-million-square-foot project that promises more than two acres of public parkland downtown.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail – Bloomberg – Canada Newswire

Some apartment managers willing to partner with Airbnb

Airbnb recently announced the Friendly Buildings Program, in which the popular home-rental site seeks to partner with multifamily firms to expand access to, and the transparency of, its home-sharing network. The program offers owners and managers numerous benefits however, many apartment companies are still reluctant to dive in, wary of security issues.

Multifamily Executive

Apartment tenants want more technology

Tenants are more technologically savvy than their landlords, according to a new rental preference survey co-sponsored by Avison Young, Informa Canada and Rentlogic to to try and better understand tenant profiles, desires and technological take-ups.

Property Biz Canada

Realtors say Airbnb creates new challenge for homeowners

Brian McConvey has watched condo buildings dwarf the townhouses that once stood alone in Liberty Village when he moved there 12 years ago. With the condos came more renters and now, more and more people using Airbnb. The surge has turned McConvey into a sleuth. His goal is figuring out who is running short-term rentals in his condo.

CBC

Rentlogic looks to grade landlords and buildings

The New York Times’ Ronda Kaysen looks at the trials and tribulations of Rentlogic, a company that seeks to grade landlords and buildings on a scale of A through F. The start-up began about six months ago, tracking complaints and violations on 1.1 million multifamily buildings, about a third of which are rentals.

Multifamily Executive

Homebuyers to bear costs of tighter mortgage insurance rules

Residential mortgage default insurance premiums are likely to increase for homes in hot real estate markets as a result of beefed-up capital requirements for Canada’s mortgage insurers coming into force next year.  And it is homebuyers who are expected to bear the added cost, rather than the financial institutions that lend the money for home purchases.

Financial Post

Strata property act changes could help ease Metro’s housing crisis

A recent change to B.C.’s Strata Property Act should help solve some of the legal issues that contribute to the Lower Mainland’s housing crisis. Although there are many opinions on the causes and solutions to the region’s housing problems, one fact on which everyone can agree is that many Lower Mainland municipalities are out of land – and the only way to build is up.

Business in Vancouver

Rising Vancouver prices prompt famly to relocate to St. John’s

John Duchow and Marla Clarke dreamed of buying a home in Vancouver. But when housing prices kept outpacing their savings, the pair say they became real estate refugees, forced out by an ever-climbing market.  Duchow and Clarke decided to look east to St. John’s, where Duchow has family roots and Clarke was more than willing to plant some new ones. 

CBC

Millennials set on finding their perfect ‘YOLOcation’

Millennials are applying the “you only live once” philosophy to their homebuying approach with nearly half of surveyed Millennials who commute (48 per cent) saying they are likely to spend more money on a home in order to live closer to work, compared to only 34 per cent of Canadians as a whole, according to a new survey from TD.

Canada Newswire

Why Canadians are being offered cash to abandon homes

On the far eastern edge of Canada sits Little Bay Islands, a beautiful, dying village divided by crisis. The fish plant was shuttered half a decade ago, and most supporting businesses have closed with it. Perry Locke is among the tiny population that’s left. He served as the mayor, the fire chief and now runs the power-generating station.

Bloomberg

Lakepoint One connects generations of families

When Jim Grant and his wife decided to retire, the last thing they wanted was to end up in a retirement community where everyone was in the same age group. When they discovered that Westhills Land Corp. was developing a “multi-generational community ” on about 500 acres in Langford, about 30 minutes drive northwest of Victoria, they thought they had hit the jackpot.

Calgary Herald

Birchwood builds on success with Ezra at Riley Park

Birchwood Properties built homes throughout Calgary for 20 years before executive chairman Carl Cheverie and his son Jeff, the company’s president and CEO decided in 2012 to fully concentrate on multi-family residences. Focusing all their efforts on the development of for sale and purpose-built rental properties has evolved into their latest offering — Ezra on Riley Park.

Calgary Herald

Real estate sector at high risk of money laundering: report

An in-depth review of Canada’s anti-money laundering efforts has uncovered serious concerns that organized crime is using the country’s hot real estate sector to illegally funnel cash. The report from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force makes special note of real estate as an area of the economy with a high risk of illicit activity.

Toronto Star

Banks tighten mortgage rules for foreign home buyers

At least two Canadian banks have tightened restrictions on mortgages granted to non-resident home buyers amid widespread concerns about the overheating housing markets of Vancouver and Toronto. Last week, Bank of Nova Scotia amended its income verification policy for non-residents, ending what it called a “pilot program”.

Globe and Mail – CBC

Chinese student files lawsuit to halt B.C.’s tax

A legal challenge of a British Columbia levy on foreign home buyers has been filed in Vancouver, seeking a class-action lawsuit on behalf of those forced to pay the 15 per cent tax. Lawyer Luciana Brasil says the notice of civil claim alleges B.C. acted outside its jurisdiction when the Property Transfer Tax Act was amended in July.

Financial Post

RENX Columnists

Would you like a $1.7M property taxes refund?

If your MPAC assessment doesn’t have you seeing red, maybe it should. You may recall a few posts back I coined the phrase “red building.” This label applies to any building that, due to its age, operational inefficiency or lack of amenities common to newer real estate, just doesn’t have the market appeal it once did, and is going to be out bid in the marketplace by new green construction.

Read more

Part two: Technology is going to change everything

In terms of our commercial real estate case-study, I think it means nothing less than the death of the long-term inflexible office lease. Everyone in office sales or leasing should really think about that.

Read more

Market Conditions

2016 could be record year for GTA high-rise sales

Sales of new high-rise homes in the GTA are on pace for a record year, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today. As of August 31, 17,949 new high-rise homes had been sold in the GTA, a record for this point in the year.

Canada Newswire

Bay St. condos cost more than those on Yonge corridor

A couple of blocks can make a $41,000 difference on the price of a condo in Toronto. That’s how much more it cost on average to buy a condo near Bay St., compared to the Yonge St. corridor in the last year, according to number-crunching by online brokerage TheRedPin.

Toronto Star

Asking prices of U.S. apartments and condos in Q1 2016

The NAHB’s Carmel Ford sifts through the Survey of Market Absorption, a joint venture between the Department of Commerce, HUD and the Census Bureau, which shows the median asking price for a rental hasn’t changed significantly over the last year. In the first quarter, the median asking price was $1,426, down slightly from the fourth quarter’s $1,442 but a bump up year-over-year of about $12.

Multifamily Executive

U.S. construction starts jump 21 percent with multifamily housing

New construction starts in August soared 21% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $711.2 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics, following lackluster activity in July. The residential building contributed with a moderate August gain, reflecting another advance for multifamily housing which included groundbreaking for the $900 million Wanda Vista Tower in Chicago IL. 

Multifamily Biz

	RENX 2017 Media Kit available now!
	RENX blended advertising programs provide exposure in RENX email newsletters and on the RENX.ca website.  In 2015 RENX experienced a 15% increase in page views on its website, added 500+ net new email subscribers and acquired 1,200 new social media followers.   Contact Sonya Hesson, SonyaHesson@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Mortgage and Finance

Plunging foreign investment the desired outcome: B.C. premier

B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she is pleased by the dramatic impact her tax on foreign buyers is having on Metro Vancouver’s residential real estate market. According to data released by the B.C. government today, billions of dollars in Metro Vancouver real estate deals dried up virtually overnight after Clark introduced a 15 per cent tax on foreign nationals last month.

CBC

Vancouver real estate developer seeks to set record straight

A Vancouver real estate developer and speculator featured in a recent Globe and Mail investigation is pledging to pay his fair share of taxes and work with the Canada Revenue Agency to make sure his books are in order. Kenny Gu sat down with The Globe for an exclusive interview because he said he wanted to clear his name.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

We’re failing on infill, but winning with ‘denseburbs’

The city’s goal for infill housing in Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods is 25 per cent of all new housing by 2018. In 2015, the city saw only 13 per cent. Not only does that 13 per cent represent a failure to move toward the target, it’s down from a high of 19 per cent in 2011. The percentages have been sliding. So a major fail, right? Wrong.

Edmonton Journal

Seasonal Homes

Airbnb customer who lost $3,700 warns others to avoid scammers

A Halifax woman who tried to book an apartment through Airbnb is warning people about a holiday rental scam that cost her $3,700. Myra Donnelly-Gay has no expectation of getting her money back, but wants others to be aware of the potential pitfall. Donnelly-Gay used the Airbnb site for the first time to find an apartment in San Francisco, and requested some dates.

CBC

Legal Issues

Well-dressed ‘professional tenant’ won’t leave Yorkville apartment

A Toronto landlord says she’s been conned by a “professional tenant” who’s been living in her Yorkville home since July without paying rent.  The matter is being heard by the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board.  The tenant, James Regan, 62, lost a similar dispute at the board earlier this year over another property he was occupying. The board ordered his eviction.

CBC

Ottawa lawyer suspended for role in real estate transactions

Harry Gregoropoulos, a partner at the Ottawa firm Low Murchison Radnoff and a prominent Ottawa lawyer was found guilty earlier this year of professional misconduct for his role in 17 questionable real estate transactions between 2003 and 2005 has been suspended for three months by a tribunal of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Ottawa Citizen

Affordable Housing

Vancouver rental crunch threatens to squeeze out vulnerable tenants

Ron Sigurdson says his new landlord had informed him he’d have to move out of his West End apartment at the end of this month because of safety concerns. Mr. Sigurdson, who lives on a pension, was informed that his unit wasn’t authorized to be lived in. Not wanting to make problems for the landlord, he agreed to sign a mutual agreement to end tenancy, he says.

Globe and Mail

Other

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