Developers rage as White Rock freezes tower plans

Developers rage as White Rock freezes tower plans

White Rock council voted Wednesday to hit the pause button on two 12-storey residential towers planned for the B.C. city’s downtown core, a decision one developer said would “obliterate” several years of planning work. Although both projects, the 12-storey Lady Alexandra and the 12-storey Solterra, had received development permits and were within the limits set out in the city’s OCP, they had not yet applied for a building permit.

Vancouver Province

Vancouver condos’ price-per-square-foot survey sparks debate

Vancouver condo prices continue to be the highest in Canada despite decreases over the last year, according to a nationwide study conducted by CENTURY 21 Canada. That’s not surprising, but the price-per-square-foot calculations Century 21 cited sit higher than what some other realtors are starting to discuss in a fast-changing market. Century 21’s pegs downtown Vancouver condos as some of the most expensive properties in the country at $1,345 per square foot.

Vancouver Sun – Globe Newswire

Average sq. ft. price for new T.O. condos surpasses $1,000

Urbanation, the leading source for condo market intelligence in the Greater Toronto Area, released its Q3 results, reporting some record highs. The average size of a new condo unit launched during the third quarter was 714 square feet, which puts the average price per square foot at $1,044 – the first time Toronto has seen the average price above $1,000 for new launches.

Newinhomes.com – The Numbers Game

Reasons not to sell your apartment building

GUEST COLUMN: As brokers who match buyers and sellers of apartment buildings, we run into many objections to selling from owners during our prospecting. Sometimes it’s just not the time to sell and we respect that. But even when it is time to sell, there are still questions we hear consistently, which we answer fairly and honestly. Some common examples follow below: 

Property Biz Canada

Residential construction underway on $250M Victoria project

Construction is starting on the new Capital Park Residences at a six-acre, mixed-use James Bay project. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle,” said Brian McCauley, president and chief executive of Concert Properties, which is partnering with Jawl Properties in developing the $250-million multi-phased project behind the legislature. The first office complex, at 127,000 square feet, is finished and filled with provincial staff. 

Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria eases affordable housing stance amid backlash

In the face of huge backlash from the development community, Victoria councillors Thursday eased off a proposal that would have immediately required all new condo projects to include between 10 and 15 per cent “affordable” units. As an interim measure instead, they directed staff to negotiate an affordable component or cash-in-lieu feature in all future developments while working with stakeholders to develop an “inclusive” housing policy by March 31.

Victoria Times Colonist – Victoria Times Colonist

Foreign buyers tax may become reality in Montreal

While some homeowners may enjoy the boost to their wealth, the prospect of Montreal following in Toronto and Vancouver’s footsteps to million-dollar bungalows and $500,000 condos is alarming to many in a city that has long focused on home affordability as a priority. However, the political narrative forming around the phenomenon is focusing on one thing: Foreign buyers.

Huffington Post – CBC

Toronto’s King Street pilot project turns one

As it marks its first anniversary, an experiment in giving transit, pedestrians and cyclists priority on a main downtown thoroughfare remains a polarizing and politically charged pilot project. One year ago Monday, the city closed King Street to through traffic, except for TTC vehicles and emergency services, between Jarvis and Bathurst streets. The trial run has been celebrated in some circles and denounced in others.

CBC – Toronto Star – CTV

Renting a Toronto apartment is high-rise hell

I’ve always said that if you can’t properly afford a house, rent. But I’ve met my match in Toronto, where it’s getting hard to buy or rent. According to a recent Vice article, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto is $2,200, while the average rent for a one-bedroom condo is $2,385. Vice reports the vacancy rate in Toronto is under two per cent, the worst in 16 years.

Globe and Mail

Onni launches Tsawwassen Landing development

Tsawwassen is somewhat of a “hidden gem” in Metro Vancouver, observes the Onni Group’s Andrew Joblin, but odds are, it will be far less hidden in the years ahead. Work has begun on residential development on a 270-acre piece of land just west of the huge new Tsawwassen Mills mall, and Onni has almost half that property — 120 acres — for its new master-planned community, Tsawwassen Landing. 

Vancouver Sun

B.C. sales forecast to fall 23% by end of 2018

B.C home sales are forecast the plummet 23 per cent by the end of 2018 compared with 2017, according to a new report from the B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA). The BCREA’s fourth-quarter outlook pegs Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sales at 80,000 units for the year, down from 103,768 units in 2017. The BCREA pointed to the new mortgage stress test introduced by Ottawa in January as the main culprit behind the decline.

Business In Vancouver

Vancouver expects $30M in first year of empty homes tax

The City of Vancouver says it has collected $18 million from the first year of its empty homes tax and another $12 million could still flow into its coffers. The city says in a news release it expects to generate a total of $30 million from the first year of the tax, which is applied to vacant residential properties in a bid to ease Vancouver’s near-zero vacancy rate.

Vancouver Sun

Townhouses playing growing role in Canada: Altus Group

Altus Group has released its latest Housing Report, with this edition focusing on the important and growing role that townhouses play in Canada’s new home sector. Among the findings, the report indicates the role of townhouses in the new home market has been growing since the 1950s. However, recent new townhouse sales are down in Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area, due to broader affordability challenges.

Altus Group media release – Canada Newswire

B.C. government seeks public’s ideas for tackling ‘dirty money’

British Columbians who believe money laundering is playing a role in corrupting B.C.’s real estate market are now getting a chance to share their views. The B.C. NDP government’s money laundering task force is seeking public input on how British Columbians think so-called “dirty money” has affected real estate in B.C. and what should be done about it.

Western Investor

Airbnb landlords agree to pay San Francisco $2.25 million

A San Francisco couple has agreed to pay $2.25 million to the city for illegally renting out 14 apartments as Airbnb units. City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced the settlement Monday, calling the penalty an important deterrent to others seeking to illegally profit from the city’s housing crisis. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Darren and Valerie Lee agreed to pay the money as penalties and investigation costs.

Winnipeg Free Press

Market Conditions

Affordability propels GTA condo market share to peak levels

Affordability is fuelling the rise of vertical growth, with resale condominium apartments and townhomes in the Greater Toronto Area now representing almost 37 per cent of total residential sales on the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). Market share for this segment has been trending upward since 2013, when the transfer of condominiums represented 30 per cent of total sales, according to a new report by RE/MAX of Ontario-Atlantic Canada Region.

Canada Newswire

Langley condo listings quadruple

A local real estate agent and industry blogger is calling Langley’s current condo market “insane.” Looking at stats from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Steve Saretsky said inventory has nearly quadrupled in the last 12 months, a six-year high. He said Langley was the hottest condo market this time last year but now prices are dropping off as the area becomes flooded with condos.

Global News

Canadian housing starts trend decreases in October

The trend in housing starts was 206,171 units in October, down from 207,809 in September, reports Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. “The national trend in housing starts declined for a fourth consecutive month in October, which leaves the trend at its lowest level since February 2017,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.

Canada Newswire – Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com

Housing jitters subside: Nanos Research

Bloomberg

Mortgage and Finance

Home equity lines of credit fuel worries

Rising interest rates and efforts by policymakers and regulators to tame climbing residential real estate prices are prompting concerns about the ability of Canadians to manage popular and widespread home equity lines of credit. Research conducted by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada suggests plans to pay off the loans, which make up a significant portion of non-mortgage consumer debt, are optimistic.

Financial Post

Mortgage renewals have entered a new era

As Canadian mortgages come up for renewal, many households are starting to experience what TD Economics has dubbed a “completely new phenomenon” – higher interest rates. In a recent report, TD looked at the change to the conventional five-year mortgage rate over its term length. Essentially, this shows where rates for a popular product – the five-year, fixed-rate mortgage – stand upon renewal.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

U.S. mortgage rates hit seven-year high

Freddie Mac (FMCC) Thursday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), showing mortgage rates rose significantly across the board. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, says, “The economy continued to show resilience as strong business activity and growth in employment drove the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to a seven year high of 4.94 per cent – up 11 basis points from last week.”

Globe Newswire

New Developments

Coquitlam, Beedie clash over development details

The city of Coquitlam is pushing back against several assertions made by a developer about its plans for the Fraser Mills site in southwest Coquitlam. During a presentation last week to the Real Estate Institute of BC, David Roppel, Beedie Living’s director of residential development, said plans for the riverfront project included 16 acres of park space, 118 market-rental units and 117 below-market rental units.

Tri-City News – Property Biz Canada

109-year-old auto shop makes way for Vancouver rentals

Alec’s Automotive, a fixture on Vancouver’s Fraser Street at 23rd Avenue since it opened as a blacksmith shop in 1909, is leaving Vancouver. The family-run operation is moving to the Metrotown area of Burnaby, another old-time automotive business forced out of the city by high taxes and encroaching development. The buildings will be levelled by the developer who bought the property to make way for a rental apartment building.

Vancouver Province

Seniors Housing

Stay-home seniors skew retirement home outlook

Stubborn seniors are skewing the outlook for the retirement residences market in Canada by opting to stay in their own homes when they retire. In Metro Vancouver, rising debt and the scarcity and soaring cost of seniors’ housing add a dark tinge to the trend, however. A recent survey found 93 per cent of Canadian seniors want to live in their current homes during their retirement years.

Business In Vancouver

Natural Disasters

California death toll mounts; 6,500 houses destroyed

The death toll from the Camp fire raging in Butte County rose to 29 on Sunday as authorities continued their search for victims amid the ruins of the Sierra foothills town of Paradise. Five additional victims were found in their homes, said Butte County Sheriff-Coroner Kory Honea. Another was found in a vehicle. The number could continue to grow. On Sunday, authorities said, there were 228 people whose whereabouts were unknown.

Los Angeles Times – Bloomberg – Globe and Mail

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Landlords, advocates hope T.O. loosens secondary suite rules

When Shelley Kanitz bought a small Toronto bungalow in 2016, she had big plans for it: A massive renovation and a legal basement rental suite. After spending nearly two years rebuilding the house from the ground up, Kanitz’s family — including her husband and young daughter — finally moved into their new five-bedroom, six-bathroom Danforth-area home this March. However, getting city backing for the rental apartment proved a bigger challenge.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Free mortgage deal attracts buyers to Langley development

First-time homebuyers leaped at the chance to live mortgage-free for one year in response to a Langley developer’s offer to make their mortgage payments. The savvy marketing move by Kerr Properties, the developers behind The Landing, 78 one- and two-bedroom condos in Langley, attracted several buyers before the promotion ended last week, development manager Travis Tournier said Friday.

Vancouver Province

Quirky North York home for sale at $3 million

One of Toronto’s quirkiest homes, the angular blue property at 1 Bond Ave. that made waves in cookie-cutter Don Mills when it was built in the late ’90s, is on the market. The house, along with its fraternal twin property at 3 Bond Ave., drew the chagrin of neighbours when it was built at the turn of the millennium. The property at 1 Bond Ave., is priced at $2,950,000.

Toronto Star

Toronto condo buyers go all-in

Toronto’s fall real estate market has seen deep-pocketed baby boomers and ambitious young millennials contend for condo units – albeit in vastly different neighbourhoods and price segments. In late October, Gay MacLeod of Chestnut Park Real Estate Ltd., had six contenders vying for a three-bedroom condo with a list price of $2.795-million. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit in Granite Place sold for $3.585-million, or $790,000 above the asking price.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

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