Ontario urges tax rule changes to curb RE speculation

Ontario urges tax rule changes to curb RE speculation

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa is urging Ottawa to address speculative investing in the country’s housing markets by changing how such profits are taxed. Currently, a capital gains tax is charged on 50 per cent of the profits on the sale of a home unless the property qualifies for a principal residence exemption.

Globe and Mail – Totonto Star – Financial Post – CBC

Tax TO home-flippers, not foreign buyers: Scotiabank

Senior economists with Scotiabank (BNS-T) say a house flipping tax, not a foreign buyer tax, will do more to cool Toronto’s scorching housing market. That’s because the former tax would address speculation in the city, where people are buying into the market as a short-term investment, rather than looking to build a long-term home. 

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

Urbanfund assembles Kitchener property for apartments

Urbanfund Corp. is expanding its Kitchener, Ont., portfolio and plans to consolidate two adjacent properties to develop a purpose-built rental apartment complex. Urbanfund (UFC-X) is contributing 87 per cent of the $2.1 million being paid for the 16,700-square-foot site.

Property Biz Canada

Quality of real estate data ‘a disgrace’: Money manager

Veteran Bay Street money manager John Stephenson is blasting the federal government’s paucity of detailed real estate data. In an interview with BNN, Stephenson, president/CEO of Stephenson & Company, said any discussion of a foreign buyers tax or other intervention to cool the nation’s hot housing markets are made much more difficult given the lack of accurate figures.

BNN

Skilled workers to get tax break on Vancouver RE

British Columbia unveiled changes to its foreign-buyer tax on real estate on Friday, exempting skilled workers emigrating under the provincial nominee program and offering rebates to foreign buyers who put down roots as permanent residents.

Vancouver Sun – CTV – Bloomberg – Globe and Mail

New condo-sale rule brings relief to many, grief to some

Last summer, the B.C. government’s Bill 40 lowered the bar so that if 80 per cent of the owners in a strata corporation vote to dissolve that entity and sell the site to a developer, they can petition BC Supreme Court for final approval.

Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver – Western Investor

Purpose-built rental developments in GTA crucial: CIBC

The housing market in the Greater Toronto Area is in serious need of government intervention if living in Canada’s largest metropolis is to remain affordable, according to a new report by Benjamin Tal, CIBC’s deputy chief economist.

Financial Post – BuzzBuzzNews – Canada Newswire

Ontario housing minister vows to boost rent control

The Ontario housing minister vows the province will soon unveil new “rental controls” to address the skyrocketing cost to lease a home in and around Toronto. Minister Chris Ballard spoke about the upcoming changes on Thursday, following the announcement of an NDP private member’s bill promising much the same thing.

CBC – Ottawa Citizen – CBC – Metro

Toronto’s rent affordable compared to other financial hubs

Rent in Toronto is a bargain — if you compare it to other global financial centres. According to a recent report by RentCafe, a U.S.-based online service that helps people find apartments in cities like San Francisco, Washington and Chicago, Toronto sits 13th on a list of the 30 top financial centres in the world. The data is from Z/Yen.

CBC

More Vancouver renters decry loophole to raise rents

Residents of a building in Vancouver’s Fairview Slopes neighbourhood are adding their voices to demands the province close a legal loophole that allows landlords to sharply increase rent. The renters of the 11 suites say their landlord is petitioning the province to raise their rents by 35 per cent.

CBC – Business In Vancouver

Concerns voiced about Condo Act overhaul

Lawyers are expressing concerns over the timing of the rollout of extensive draft regulations by the Ontario government to amend the Condominium Act, saying it will leave them little time to bring clients up to speed. The government passed legislation back in 2015 to amend the act and to introduce the Condominium Management Services Act.

Law Times – Toronto Star

B.C.’s house-price correction could be all but over

It’s still too early to say if the Lower Mainland’s housing-price correction is over, but February data points in that direction. While sales fell a whopping 42 per cent year-over-year, market conditions were stronger than this suggests. February sales were comparable to a strong year-ago performance, which culminated in a record-high spring pace.

Business In Vancouver – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Engel & Volkers integrates VR technology into RE offices

Engel & Völkers North America has launched a network-wide initiative to integrate virtual reality technology, capabilities and support into each of its real estate shops. The company will provide each of its brokerages with a virtual reality camera and Google cardboard glasses. It will also provide informational webinars, marketing tools and support.

REMonline.com – Metro

Top U.S. universities continue to add student housing

From 2004 to 2014, developers constructed no new student housing in Ames, Iowa, a major university town. But ever since, Ames has seen a host of new communities geared toward Iowa State University’s rapidly expanding student population. EdR recently started construction on a new community within walking distance of the campus.

GlobeSt.com – MultiHousing News

Bid-ask gap grows in U.S. apartment sector

The new year has brought some surprises for the apartment business. Investors are buying and selling far fewer apartment buildings. “You are going to be shocked at the year-over-year declines in apartment deal volume into January,” says Jim Costello, senior vice president of New York City-based research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA). 

National Real Estate Investor

Market Conditions

The power of the second mortgage

Many people think of second mortgages as an option reserved for riskier deals or under-capitalized borrowers. The truth is that it’s a tool used by a wide cross-section of investors to serve many purposes.

Read more

Barrie among most expensive places to rent an apartment: Report

Barrie is among the most expensive places in Canada to rent a one-bedroom apartment. According to a new report from Padmapper.com, an average on- bedroom apartment in Barrie costs about $1,100. That’s up 4.5 per cent from February and puts Barrie at the No. 5 spot on their most expensive rental markets. In November, Barrie wasn’t even on Padmapper’s top 10 list.

CTV

BMO, TD raise alarm over Toronto housing ‘bubble’

BMO and TD Bank are both waving red flags about Toronto housing prices, calling them “simply unsustainable” and a “bubble” in separate reports. The Canadian Real Estate Association said last week average house prices across the Greater Toronto Area hit $727,300 in February, a figure that has risen by more than 23 per cent in the past year.

CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Huffington Post Canada – BuzzBuzzNews

Toronto prices may jump again this year: TD

Toronto’s housing market is likely to stay strong for the rest of the year, with home prices jumping by 25 per cent, amid hints speculators are fuelling demand and posing a potential risk to the economy, TD Economics chief economist Beata Caranci wrote Monday. A “strong Toronto home-price forecast is not a vote of confidence in market fundamentals,” Caranci wrote.

Bloomberg – CBC – Better Dwelling – BuzzBuzzNews

Multi-family’s lowest-risk markets and its highest

For the United States’ least risky apartment market in terms of a rent recession, look outside the Smile States. RealPage’s MPF Research recently scored both the metro areas least likely and those most likely to experience a period of two or more consecutive annual rent decreases, based on a composite of variables.

GlobeSt.com

Hong Kong home prices at record high

Hong Kong residential property prices appear at a disconnect with the uptrending cycle of U.S. interest rates, thanks to strong local buying interest and rising demand from mainlanders seeking to hedge against yuan depreciation. Home prices surged to a new all time high of 148.67 for the week ended March 5, according to the Centa-City Leading Index.

Business In Vancouver

Mortgage and Finance

Understanding mortgage insurance

VIDEO: The Canadian housing market could be even trickier to navigate with changes being made to mortgage insurance premiums. Mortgage broker Marcus Tzaferis highlights things you should know about mortgage insurance when buying property.

Globe and Mail

New Developments

Critics blast proposed Montreal condos

Critics took advantage of public consultations on Monday night to poke holes in the redevelopment plan for the former site of the Montreal Children’s Hospital. The $400-million project is being subjected to two days of scrutiny and community groups and concerned citizens took turns expressing misgivings with developer Devimco‘s proposal.

CBC

Affordable Housing

Banff receives affordable housing project funding

Banff will receive $11.9 million from the province, which will cover 50 per cent of the cost to build 132 affordable housing units in an effort to alleviate a housing crisis. The remainder of the cost will be debt-financed by the town. “They need it.There’s a lot of people that come here, they work, they can’t find housing,” said resident Robert Awalt.

CBC

A portable housing benefit could ease homeless crisis

A frustratingly familiar challenge is playing out for Canadian families across the country. Overheated markets are pricing home ownership out of reach for too many. Limited vacancy rates are squeezing rental supply. And people who are struggling to find shelter say it’s just too expensive. A common thread throughout all of these scenarios is cost. Affordability determines access. And one solution within our grasp is a national portable housing benefit.

Globe and Mail

Greater Victoria suffers affordable housing crunch

There is high demand for affordable housing in Greater Victoria, but little supply. The working poor, seniors on fixed incomes and people with disabilities have been hit especially hard by the shortage of spaces, by rising rents, and by “renovictions” — evictions that occur when a building owner makes massive upgrades to rental units.

Victoria Times Colonist

‘Third housing sector’ would make Vancouver more affordable

Even with the slight moderation of Vancouver’s housing prices following the imposition of taxes on foreign buyers and empty homes, the stark reality is that average families can no longer afford to live here. Double-income families with well-paid jobs can barely manage to find housing that meets their needs without the financial help of parents or other family members.

Vancouver Sun – Vancouver Sun

Affordable housing concerns raised in Fredericton

Concerns about affordable housing are being raised in Fredericton after city council approved the construction of a new apartment building on Connaught Street. Three older, six-unit apartment buildings will be demolished to make room for the new, 32-unit building, where rent is expected to be significantly higher.

CBC

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Residents rally against planned BC Hydro tower

When Urs Ribary and his family moved into their Anmore home, they knew the property came with a tower and power lines. BC Hydro wants to add another tower and a 230-kilovolt transmission line through the Ribary family’s one-acre property. The new tower would be positioned a mere 20 metres from the family’s back door.

Globe and Mail

Ottawa runs out of good suburban land

Ottawa is bringing back sump pumps in new houses because the suburban land we have left is too crummy to build on without them. The city’s hand is being forced, says Felice Petti, the city’s manager in charge of a review of Ottawa’s infrastructure standards.

Ottawa Citizen

Buying and Selling

Classic Calgary apartment on the block

In 2012, landlord John Davis was viewing a potential investment property in Calgary’s Beltline when a striking red-brick apartment building with white balconies and turreted corners caught his eye. The Colgrove is one of the oldest apartment buildings in Calgary; built in 1912 by Robert J. Colgrove and styled on a New York City apartment block.

Globe and Mail

Does B.C. first-time homebuyer loan plan help?

Every day, Alicia Winnett pores over the real estate listings for the Lower Mainland. And every day she feels frustrated and disappointed. “The way the prices of housing have soared makes it stressful to watch from the sidelines, especially being at the point where we’re hoping to start a family,” says the 30-year-old.

Vancouver Sun

Other

Calgary residential companies honoured

Five members of Calgary’s residential industry are in the spotlight for being among the best managed businesses in Canada. Jayman Built Group of Companies, Trico Homes, Morrison Homes, Cardel Lifestyles, and Hopewell Group of Companies were all named winners of the 2017 Canada’s Best Managed Companies awards program through Deloitte.

Calgary Herald

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