Ontario scraps rent control for new units

Ontario scraps rent control for new units

The Ontario government’s removal of rent controls on new, previously unoccupied rental units will mean higher housing costs in the future but won’t do much to relieve Toronto’s historically low vacancy rate, at least in the near term, say tenant and housing experts. Starting immediately, rent control rules will no longer apply to buildings and flats being rented for the first time, the Progressive Conservative government announced Thursday.

Toronto Star – CBC – CBC

Moving to Toronto suburbs rarely saves cash: CMHC

It’s called “driving until you qualify” and it’s the trade-off a growing number of Toronto-area residents are making — commuting longer distances in exchange for a suburban home. But a new study from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) provides fresh evidence of what many have long suspected — the cost of commuting into Toronto actually eats up the savings homebuyers seek by locating in 905-area communities.

Toronto Star – Bloomberg – Newinhomes.com

GTA residential land increasingly scarce, costly

As land for single- and multi-family homes gets more scarce and expensive due to population growth in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), investment activity shows confidence and remains strong in the sector. “When you increase demand and don’t increase supply to accommodate it, you’re going to increase prices,” said Mike Czestochowski, executive vice-president of CBRE Canada’s Land Services Group, which recently released new research on this issue.

Property Biz Canada

Delays make new homes less affordable: BILD

The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and Malone Given Parsons Ltd. (MGP) released the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Land Supply Analysis today. The analysis shows the former Government of Ontario’s growth policies (the 2006 and 2017 Growth Plans) have had the unintended consequences of lengthening the land development and approval process in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), negatively impacting housing supply and affordability.

Canada Newswire

Vancouver’s housing CEO jumps to modular homes company

The City of Vancouver’s chief proponent for modular homes has parted ways with city hall to take an executive position with the very company contracted to build such homes. Modular home company Horizon North Inc., which holds a $66 million contract with the city and BC Housing, announced Nov. 1 it was appointing Luke Harrison as its vice-president, business development.

Business In Vancouver

Prime Burnaby apartment property for sale

A prime site in Burnaby’s Metrotown neighbourhood is for sale, offering both solid holding income from existing apartments and attractive redevelopment potential. The two three-storey apartment buildings built in 1967, at 6470 and 6508 Silver Ave. in the Vancouver suburb, are being sold by a family which has owned them for years. The asking price is $52 million. The 730-acre Metrotown is in the southwest quadrant of Burnaby.

Property Biz Canada

Worst timing in Vancouver history for ‘vacancy controls’

GUEST COLUMN: Rent controls already force Vancouver landlords to follow strict rules, but this is not enough for some tenant advocacy groups pushing a controversial policy they call “vacancy controls.” They argue the right of landlords to charge market rates when a suite becomes vacant is unfair to tenants, and that rents should be maintained at the previous rates upon new occupancy.

Property Biz Canada

Is buying a house the cure for sky-high rents?

High rents got you down? Maybe you should own a home instead. In Toronto and Vancouver, the median cost for a one-bedroom apartment is close to $2,200. Even with mortgage rates up a fair bit in the past year, surely home ownership can’t be much more expensive than those incredibly high rents?The Canadian Real Estate Association reports the average resale home price in the Greater Toronto Area was $765,400 in September. 

Globe and Mail – Western Investor

Housing market shows increasing signs of soft landing

Canada’s once-lofty housing market is achieving a best-case soft landing for policy makers trying to cool things down without triggering a collapse. The latest string of data indicates the market is experiencing only a modest adjustment in prices in the face of higher interest rates and tougher regulations brought in to tackle a boom that saw values more than double in Toronto and Vancouver since 2009.

Bloomberg – CBC – Canada Newswire

Mortgage risks fading thanks to higher rates, tougher rules: B of C

The Bank of Canada provided a closer look Wednesday at just how much stricter mortgage rules and higher interest rates have helped slow the entry of new households into the category of “deeply indebted borrowers.” The lofty levels of household debt has been a key concern for the bank as it gradually raises its trend-setting interest rate, which it has already hiked five times since the summer of 2017.

National Post – CBC

New Energy Star certification for high-rise residential

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has introduced an Energy Star certification for new mid- and high-rise residential buildings for an Ontario pilot program. “The Energy Star Multifamily High-Rise (New Construction) Pilot Program broadens the Energy Star program suite in Canada, starting with the Energy Star for New Homes program for low-rise homes,” said NRCan spokeswoman Catherine Leroux.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Condo builders push to meet a luxury shortage

There are more millionaires than ever in Canada and while affordability isn’t an issue in the luxury-condominium market, they may face a constraint that also plagues middle-income and lower-income house hunters: There’s simply not enough supply. According to the 2018 Re/Max Spotlight on Luxury, only 37 condos worth more that $3 million have transacted in Toronto in both 2017 and ’18, and in Vancouver the number actually fell 13 per cent from 68 to 59 in 2018.

Globe and Mail – Business In Vancouver

UVic to get 620 new campus housing units

The major housing initiative University of Victoria has been planning for several years received provincial approval Thursday. Work is expected to start in 2020 on a series of projects that will make for a net increase of 620 on-campus units, increasing UVic’s residence capacity by 25 per cent. A new dining hall and multipurpose space are included in the work.

Victoria Times Colonist

Death of Olympic bid kills Canmore, Whistler housing

The 2026 Winter Olympics were never much of a hard sell in Canmore. Many in the community located in the Alberta Rockies still remember the 1988 Calgary Games, which helped speed along Canmore’s transformation from a formerly struggling mining town into a year-round capital for mountain sports. Most importantly, the Athletes Village would have been converted into 242 units of below-market accommodations.

Globe and Mail

Councillors reject land use plan for Winnipeg neighbourhood

A trio of city councillors sent Parker lands owner Andrew Marquess back to the drawing board by rejecting land-use changes that would have paved the way for a development called Fulton Grove. Council’s city centre community committee voted late Tuesday evening to reject a proposal to subdivide and rezone 47 acres of land at the northern edge of Fort Garry for the purposes of building thousands of new residential units.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Market Conditions

Montreal only city to see price index rise in October

Of the 11 major Canadian cities whose housing prices are tracked as part of the Teranet–National Bank National Composite House Price Index, only Montreal saw the index rise in October. The housing price index, which tracks the resale price of homes, for Montreal rose 0.2 per cent from September to October. It was up 5.02 per cent from October 2017.

Montreal Gazette

Slow housing sales boosting supply: BCREA

A slow October for residential real estate sales across the province has led to an overall balanced market and a “much-needed” increase in available homes for sale, according to the latest monthly statistics from the B.C. Real Estate Association. In total, 6,405 homes traded hands on the MLS last month, down 26.2 per cent year-over-year. However, that total is a jump of 14.9 per cent over September 2018.

Business In Vancouver – CBC – Vancouver Province

Amazon sparks a pair of white-hot markets

Amazon has just sparked a real estate frenzy. A three-bedroom condo with Manhattan views that had sat on the market for months, priced at $1.7 million, is suddenly drawing would-be buyers now that Amazon has announced plans to build part of its new second headquarters in Long Island City. Online searches for homes in Long Island City soared 248 per cent following the announcement.

Associated Press – Mansion Global

Seniors Housing

Saskatoon seniors complex stunted by home sales slump

Timing is everything, and it is now apparent the brain trust behind The Village at Stonebridge in Saskatoon had lousy timing. LutherCare Communities had just finished construction of its $63.5-million senior living project in the fall of 2016 when commodity market prices went south in a hurry, turning one of Canada’s hottest economies into one of the coldest. The Saskatoon-based project has 159 independent living suites and 27 intermediate care suites.

Western Investor

Natural Disasters

Councillor berates landlords, condo boards over slow tornado repairs

An Ottawa city councillor is calling on landlords and condominium boards to speed up repair work to tornado-damaged buildings in his ward. At Arlington Court, a pocket of condos near Greenbank and West Hunt Club roads in the hard-hit Trend-Arlington neighbourhood, tarps still cover roofs and windows eight weeks after the devastating Sept. 21 storm.

CBC

Photos from California wildfires reveal lessons for B.C.

The wildfire situation in California is now the deadliest in the state’s history, with at least 77 killed, nearly 1,000 missing or unaccounted for and the town of Paradise almost entirely destroyed. However, the footage coming out of affected communities tells an unexpected story, says a U.S. fire expert — one that could have lessons for wildfire prevention measures.

CBC – CBC – Global News

Legal Issues

How RECO deals with complaints

Investigating complaints is one of the Real Estate Council of Ontario’s (RECO) most important tasks when it comes to protecting the public and ensuring confidence in the province’s real estate brokerage industry. Real estate salespeople and brokers must register with RECO, and they know they can be fined up to $50,000.

Toronto Star

Construction

Steel framing, panelization chosen for retirement residence

Cold-formed steel (CFS) construction has evolved into a logical and efficient way to build many structures. Further, steel framing can be combined with offsite construction techniques to fully capitalize tighter tolerances and precision assembly processes. This was the chosen method for building the Seasons Retirement Community in Cambridge, Ont. However, it was not the original plan.

Construction Canada

U.S. homebuilder index drops by most since ’14

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders plummeted by the most since 2014 as the highest borrowing costs in eight years restrain demand, adding to signs of a cooling housing market that will weigh on the Federal Reserve’s debate over how far to raise interest rates. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped eight points in November to 60, the lowest level since August 2016.

Bloomberg

Affordable Housing

New affordable homes coming to 42 B.C. communities

The British Columbia government is funding 4,900 new affordable rental units to be built in the next three years as part of its efforts to tackle a housing crisis across the province. The units will include both non-profit and co-operative housing and are designed to address affordable housing needs for a range of income levels in 42 communities, the government says in a statement.

CBC – Canada Newswire – Vancouver Sun

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Ottawa exploring changes over student residence

The City of Ottawa’s planning department says it will explore policy changes after a proposal to build eight townhouse units in a west-end neighbourhood ballooned into an 89-bed student residence. The initial Glabar Park building, which called for four bedrooms per unit, was approved in 2013 following public consultations. But the original developer then sold the property to another developer, Smart Living Properties, before construction began.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Chinese inquiries up for Calgary real estate

Inquiries by Chinese buyers into the Calgary real estate market have jumped dramatically over the past year, according to figures compiled by the Juwai.com website. The Calgary Real Estate Board says Chinese investors haven’t yet made an impact on sales statistics, but some realtors say sales to buyers from the People’s Republic of China have been significant for them.

Calgary Herald

Other

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