Strategic to convert Edmonton tower to rental apartments

Strategic to convert Edmonton tower to rental apartments

A Calgary company is planning to convert an Edmonton office tower to rental apartment suites in a move that could help reduce the glut of downtown commercial space. Harley Court would become a mix of 177 one- and two-bedroom suites aimed primarily at students and young professionals, Randy Ferguson, chief operating officer of building owner Strategic Group, said Monday.

Edmonton Journal

Inside the flipping frenzy at Toronto’s X2 condo

It was a genuine Toronto real-estate street fight. Police were called to calm tempers after realtors who had camped out for days to land units in a new condo building got into skirmishes when the developer recognized just one of three rival lineups. It was the fall of 2009 and the city was still recovering from the global economic meltdown. 

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – BuzzBuzzNews

Lobo’s mission: More purpose-built rentals in Canada

Derek Lobo is on a mission to get more developers and real estate investors involved in the purpose-built multi-family rental business across Canada. The founder and CEO of SVN Rock Advisors Inc. believes most Canadian markets are under-served and he’s not just talking about major centres. 

Property Biz Canada

Ontario rent control clouds over booming builds

The time is right for rental buildings across much of Canada, even with dampening policy such as Ontario’s expanded rent controls. “After 40 years of virtually no new construction of purpose-built rentals, we are seeing a resurgence of activity in most majority markets,” David Bloomstone, director of investment banking with TD Securities, said at the recent Land & Development Conference.

Property Biz Canada – CBC

Many insurance policies don’t cover flooding

Insurance industry experts say many Canadian homeowners aren’t insured for flooding and could be left footing at least part of the bill after heavy rains hit parts of Quebec and Ontario. Craig Stewart, vice-president of federal affairs for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, estimates only 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians have so-called “overland flood insurance.”

Winnipeg Free Press

Gatineau offices, schools remain shut

Flood-stricken regions in Gatineau and low-lying areas of Ottawa were greeted with sunshine and a promise of relief Tuesday morning as flood experts confirmed levels on the historically high Ottawa River have reached a peak. Federal government offices in Gatineau remained closed and public service workers who travel across interprovincial bridges were being asked to stay at home.

Ottawa Citizen – Globe and Mail – CTV – CTV

Home Capital sells mortgages; shares surge

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) says it plans to sell up to $1.5 billion of its mortgages to an unidentified third party – a move that may take some financial pressure off the company, as it continues to navigate through a funding crisis. The company’s entire book of mortgages is in the region of $18 billion.

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

New mortgage rules to take toll on Genworth

Tougher mortgage eligibility rules announced in October by the federal government will reduce the volume of new mortgage insurance written by Canada’s largest private-sector mortgage insurer this year, but the impact will be offset by higher premium levels. Genworth MI Canada Inc. (MIC-T) expects total new transactional insurance written in 2017 to fall 15 to 25 per cent. 

Globe and Mail

Developers eye housing projects along TO transit routes

In the debate over Toronto’s skyrocketing housing prices, some developers are favouring a middle ground: multi-family development along existing and planned transit routes. When executives for Medallion Corp., a developer with 7,000 apartment units in its portfolio, scan the Greater Toronto market for opportunities, they see plenty of consumer interest in rental accommodation, but an uncertain market outside the core.

Globe and Mail

Queen’s Park, TREB at odds over foreign buyers

The Toronto Real Estate Board and the Ontario government have their own conflicting calculations on the amount of foreign ownership in the GTA housing market and its effect on skyrocketing prices. Ontario’s Finance Ministry is standing by its decision to tax foreign real estate buyers an extra 15 per cent, despite a TREB report claiming foreign ownership and speculation remain low.

CBC – Newinhomes.com

Teachers’ joins bid for Australian newspapers, RE portal

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has joined a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital in a $2.23-billion bid for the real estate advertising business and prestige broadsheet newspapers of Australian publishing giant Fairfax Media Ltd. TPG Capital’s consortium is bidding for three mastheads alongside the Domain.com.au real estate portal and a handful of other digital assets.

Financial Post

Could open auctions make Toronto market more fair?

Ray Wood comes from a family with a long history of selling real estate in Australia. He now focuses on his real-estate related marketing business. But the 56-year-old maintains some strong opinions about real estate practices, particularly the blind bidding wars that have Toronto-area buyers competing with no idea what others are offering on the same property.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Toronto Star

Canada not ready to house senior population

As the number of seniors continues to grow, experts say Canada is failing to prepare for the housing and home care needs of an aging population. “We’re so far behind where we ought to be, given we know these trends are happening and we’ve known about these trends for the past 20 years,” said Queen’s University professor Mark Rosenberg.

CBC

More Torontonians in apartments than in detached houses

Single-detached houses remain Canadians’ choice of dwelling but in Toronto, the apartment reigns. Data from the 2016 census shows apartments (44 per cent) outnumber single-detached houses (40 per cent) as home for Toronto residents. And Toronto had the most dwellings in high-rise apartment buildings – nearly one in three – of major cities across the country, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

Toronto Star – Maclean’s

Are laneway houses an answer for new buyers?

Laneway homes, whether built to rent or as a home for elderly parents or adult children, are still a niche phenomenon. They have taken hold in Vancouver, with hundreds built since the city started introducing permits in 2009, and Ottawa has more recently followed suit. The next major test is Toronto.

Globe and Mail – Newinhomes.com

RENX Columnists

Housing, incomes and making Ontario communities livable

Cooling Ontario’s blistering housing market and providing a basic income to everyone – what social-economic impacts will these moves by the Wynne government have on real estate? Let’s start with the housing market. 

Value: Weighed and Measured

Market Conditions

For first time, majority expect home prices to rise

Expectations for Canada’s housing market are heating up, with more than half of respondents in a weekly telephone survey predicting home prices will rise, the first time the measure has topped 50 per cent in records dating back to 2008. The broad Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index fell to 59 in the week ended March 5.

Bloomberg

B.C. home-sale protection fixes in limbo

B.C.’s real estate regulator has yet to implement several key changes designed to protect buyers and sellers, such as banning controversial “double-end” deals. Last June, the province took full regulatory powers away from the industry-led Real Estate Council of British Columbia and giving them to a new Superintendent of Real Estate.

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

Toronto has too much housing: Ryerson report

Don’t let the mushrooming condos downtown fool you. There is no housing shortage in Toronto, says new planning research out of Ryerson University. The draft report, called “Protecting the Vibrancy of Residential Neighbourhoods,” shows Toronto is over-housed, with a majority of 140 city neighbourhoods suffering from a stagnant or declining population over the last 30 years.

Toronto Star – Financial Post

A look at Montreal’s changing market

Many are feeling it; the real estate market in Montreal is in an upswing. “I’ve been very busy, I’m about to learn Chinese because I’m getting a lot of people outside of the country calling me,” said Alexander Sabouri, a realtor with the Londono Group. Sabouri helped Yves Jubinville sell his home in two days at full asking price.

Global News – Canada Newswire

Canadian housing starts drop

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of new housing starts fell 15 per cent last month compared with March. The Ottawa-based federal agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 214,098 units in April, down from 252,305 in March. Economists had expected an annual rate of 210,000 for April, according to Thomson Reuters.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Mortgage and Finance

Torontonians turn to real estate speed dating

There is nervous laughter among the gulps of wine, tentatively proffered handshakes and exchanged numbers. But the personalized name tags at this speed-dating event in a Yorkville pub are a clue that this isn’t a romantic quest. “I have a big down payment,” reads the badge of a woman. “I love dogs,” says one man’s name tag.

Toronto Star

Natural Disasters

Better measures needed for future wildfires: Experts

Experts warn it is only a matter of time before another community in Canada is ravaged by a sudden intense wildfire similar to Fort McMurray’s. And the insurance industry says governments aren’t doing enough to prevent destructive blazes before they happen. In recent years, other big wildfires have also caused extensive damage in Kelowna, B.C., and Slave Lake, Alta.

CBC – Maclean’s

Firestorm: How a wisp of smoke grew into a raging inferno

The plume of smoke rose high across the Clearwater River, a wisp of white in the blue sky over the crisp boreal forest. But what was it? Dust kicked up from a gravel road? A campfire? Or another wildfire? The Alberta Forestry helicopter, a 212 Bell Twin Huey with a crew of eight wildfire fighters, was just finished an hour-long patrol for signs of wildfire. (NOTE: Firestorm: Parts II-V follow in links below)

Firestorm: Part II

Edmonton Journal – Firestorm: Part III – Firestorm: Part IV – Firestorm: Part V

Construction

Alberta moves to license home builders

The Alberta government wants to license home builders and post information about their track records online to protect consumers from shoddy work and fly-by-night companies. Bill 12, the New Home Buyer Protection Amendment Act, introduced in the legislature Thursday, proposes an end to a system where anyone can be a home builder, regardless of aptitude or experience.

CBC

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

New appeal body replaces OMB, sort of

The City of Toronto recently announced it had established an independent appeal body to “provide quick and efficient hearings on appeals of land use decisions made by the Committee of Adjustment” — and in doing so, replaced the much-maligned Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in matters of minor variance and consent.

Newinhomes.com

Saskatoon homes on unstable slope rising in value

Kent Rathwell has watched the assessed value of his impressive Saskatoon home precipitously over the last five years. For Rathwell, though, it only means higher property taxes. Three and a half years ago, he moved his family out of the dream home that has become a nightmare. Rathwell decided to vacate rather than risk disaster.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Buying and Selling

Realtors find a niche in clients getting divorced

Real estate agent Michael Shuster’s first experience working with a client in the midst of a divorce was an eye-opener. It was just over four years ago and the house up for sale was attracting little interest. Two realtors had previously walked away from the client, unwilling to deal with the ex-husband, the lawyers and pressure from the mortgage lender.

Globe and Mail

Other

	RENX has surpassed 9,900 Twitter followers
	Recent follower Montrose Winnipeg is a full-service mortgage and banking company with a 50-year history of business.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.