Vancouver developers oppose proposed rent controls

Vancouver developers oppose proposed rent controls

With the provincial rental housing task force’s report expected within weeks, the lobbying association for B.C.’s real estate development industry has warned proposed tenant protections could put thousands of planned rental homes at risk. However, tenant advocates are pushing back on the industry group’s claim, calling it “alarmist” and “disingenuous.” “We’ve got dire warnings on both sides,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. “Everybody’s meter is on 10.”

Vancouver Sun – Vancouver Sun – Western Investor

Berkeley Tower owner increases buyout offer to tenants

The owner of a West End Vancouver tower where tenants have organized to fight evictions offered more cash Friday to persuade residents to leave their homes. The development at the 16-storey Berkeley Tower overlooking English Bay is an example of increasing tensions between tenants and landlords in a city with near-zero vacancy rate and a rapidly shifting rental housing landscape.

Vancouver Sun

CRE runs in the family for Yuhu proptech founders

The sons of two prominent Canadian real estate industry executives are forging their own path in the property technology field with Yuhu Inc.  Yuhu is a property management platform focused on leveraging technology to improve the tenant experience in residential and commercial assets while driving cost savings and operational efficiencies for customers. Yuhu was launched in late 2016 by Hugh Kolias, the son of Boardwalk REIT (BEI-UN-T) founder/CEO Sam Kolias.

Property Biz Canada

Slate’s next growth area: multi-family development

Slate Asset Management is moving into the Canadian multi-family asset class with Toronto’s Junction House and two other planned developments. “We believe that many, and perhaps most, dense and growing urban markets operate at a continual housing supply deficit because of their land use constraints,” said Slate vice-president of development Brandon Donnelly. “That creates a market opportunity and an immediate need for new supply.”

Property Biz Canada

Taller condos leave Toronto grappling with shadows

When Lynne Craigmyle moved into her Yonge and Eglinton-area condo five years ago, she had a wonderful unobstructed view and lots of sunlight streaming through her west-facing balcony. But since then, new high-rise condo towers on her street, including a 34-storey building on the northeast corner of Roehampton Ave. and Yonge St. and one under construction across the street, have significantly reduced the invigorating rays hitting her third-floor unit.

Toronto Star

Secrets of Four Seasons Private Residences Toronto

Nestled in the heart of Yorkville, two glass towers rise above a scarlet fountain that gently gurgles as residents pull into a parking lot with paving stones arranged in paisley patterns. The Four Seasons Private Residences Toronto is one of the most prestigious condo developments in Canada, a place where the moneyed elite can live modern urban lifestyles akin to Manhattan, Paris, London or Hong Kong.

Toronto Star

Which neighbourhoods have seen large spikes in rent?

The hunt for rental housing, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver, has become increasingly competitive and confusing as the number of people continues to outpace what is actually being built. To try to cut through that confusion, the Toronto Star built an interactive map showing how a big slice of the complex market — purpose-built rentals — have gone up in price. 

Toronto Star

Population boom turning Toronto rental market into nightmare

Debbie Ross has the same chance of snagging an affordable apartment in Toronto as she does picking a long-shot at the Kentucky Derby. Ross is hoping to win one of 75 rental apartments in a lottery run by the city’s public housing agency. She’s up against 3,779 others, so the odds of winning are only about 50:1 but figures it’s as good a chance as any of finding a place to live.

Bloomberg – Toronto Star – Toronto Star

Toronto developers see business case for more leased units

When Ontario’s governing party announced the removal of rent controls for new apartments in the province, it kicked off an age-old debate: Do rent controls – on their own – kill supply of new rental and does the removal of rent controls lead to more construction? “With rent control or without, we think that rental makes a ton of sense,” said Gary Berman, CEO of Toronto-based Tricon Capital Group.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Newinhomes.com

Montreal vows public consultation for condo towers

A developer’s announcement of a $700-million project to build twin 50-plus storey residential towers in downtown Montreal caused a spectacle on Thursday, and not just because the proposed construction would fill the long vacant site of the former Spectrum concert hall in the Quartier des spectacles. Mayor Valérie Plante and her administration accused the developer of staging a “publicity stunt.”

Montreal Gazette – Property Biz Canada

Who’s paying the soaring costs of real estate levies?

Municipal budgets have become increasingly reliant on property taxes and development charges since the federal government began downloading costs onto provinces and municipalities in the 1990s. But government taxes are not the only factor contributing to the rising cost of real estate ownership. Higher interest rates, permit wait times and stricter financial requirements for mortgages have also played a part.

Business In Vancouver

Wesgroup proposes 49-storey Vancouver high-rise

Developer Wesgroup has revealed plans for a 49-storey tower at 1450 West Georgia Street in Vancouver’s chi-chi Coal Harbour neighbourhood, according to a report by UrbanYVR. The proposed building is set to replace an aging rental building called Georgian Towers, which located at the West Georgia and Nicola Street intersection, and is at the end of its life. If approved, the new building would contain 162 rental units and 187 condos.

Western Investor

B.C.’s great housing boom is shifting north

Forget Vancouver. British Columbia’s housing boom is set to shift to the province’s rugged north as Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $31 billion liquefied natural gas project sparks an economic boom in the remote region. B.C.’s North Coast is set for a turnaround as Shell and its four partners ramp up activity on Canada’s largest infrastructure project ever, according to Bryan Yu, deputy chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union. 

Bloomberg

Farm owners decry B.C. plan to curb mansions on ALR land

A newly formed association of B.C. farm owners gathered Sunday to voice its displeasure with the provincial government’s proposal to restrict house sizes on properties in the Agricultural Land Reserve. The B.C. Farmland Owners Association said Bill 52, the provincial government’s amendment to the Agricultural Land Commission Act, was made with inadequate consultation with farm owners and will negatively affect them.

Vancouver Sun

Housing market still vulnerable: Bank of Canada

Vulnerabilities in the Canadian housing market are still high despite rising interest rates and tighter mortgage rules, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins said Thursday. Wilkins told a housing conference in Ottawa the vulnerabilities would not disappear quickly given they had been building for a long while. The central bank is watching closely to see how higher interest rates affect highly indebted sectors of the population.

Reuters

RENX Columnists

The apartment building sale: Getting multiple offers

GUEST COLUMN: Self-serving, arrogant, duplicitous – if this is the typical perception the public has of brokers, then it is no surprise the value of a correct listing process is sometimes underestimated. If you’ve been following our articles, you already know we write from direct transactional experience and this story is no different. Our seller client had initially attempted to sell his 100-plus-unit portfolio himself.

Property Biz Canada

Market Conditions

Housing collapse unlikely: CPA Canada study

As household debt rises and home prices in some markets continue to be out of reach for many average Canadians, the temptation is to compare the situation to the 2008-’09 U.S. housing market bubble and subsequent crash. However, underlying trends point to a Canadian housing market that is different and likely more resilient than it might first appear, according to new research by Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada).

Canada Newswire

Calgary condo supply expected to ease: CMHC

Employment growth and higher migration to Calgary will help sop up excess supply of housing that has dragged down prices in recent years, according to the latest Housing Market Outlook from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The report suggests improving economic conditions will draw more people to the city for work, and that should bolster demand, which has fallen off since the start of the recession.

Calgary Herald

New GTA home market continues to gain momentum: BILD

In October, the GTA new home market saw a relatively active month for new condominium apartment and single-family home sales and openings, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today. There were 2,805 condominium apartments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units sold in October, down 44 per cent from October 2017 but only one per cent less than the 10-year average, according to Altus Group.

Canada Newswire

Vancouver millennials lead in home ownership

Young Vancouver homeowners are faring far better than their counterparts in other cities in one key aspect: owning their homes outright. In the city of Vancouver, a surprising 19 per cent of homeowners between 25 and 34 own their homes clear title, without a mortgage, according to census data. The national average is 6.4 per cent

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Mortgage and Finance

Mortgage math not adding up for older generations in B.C.

The main critique of BC NDP housing taxes has been that they breed attacks on the difficult-to-defend wealth of the longtime homeowner – that they are, in effect, thinly veiled class warfare. But I think the data suggests there’s an even deeper issue that should concern us: generational warfare.

Business In Vancouver

New Developments

Proposed Victoria condo tower to go to public hearing

Amid concerns about its potential impact on Victoria’s street community, a condo tower proposed to be built across the street from the Our Place Society’s Pandora Street drop-in, will go to public hearing. Kang and Gill Construction wants to build an 11-storey (including the rooftop mechanical room), 148-unit condo building at 926 and 932 Pandora Ave.

Victoria Times Colonist

Seniors Housing

20 places to buy a retirement home for less than $100,000

PHOTO GALLERY: If you are retiring on a modest income, or just want to stretch your post-working dollars further, it makes sense to move to a location with inexpensive housing. While house prices in Canada, especially in major urban centres, can be breathtakingly high, you can still find charming communities across the country with houses, condos and double-wides selling for under $100,000.

MSN.com

Taxes and Utilities

B.C. residents approve of school tax on $2M-plus homes: Poll

Many British Columbians are concerned about the possibility of a new tax on real estate being expanded to include lower priced properties, a new poll has found. The provincial government introduced the additional school tax of 0.2 per cent on the value of homes between $3 million and $4 million, and a tax rate of 0.4 per cent on the portion of a home’s value that exceeds $4 million.

Vancouver Sun

Construction

NYC rental building trends reducing costs and waste

As more restraints are being put on today’s developers building out the next generation of housing properties, a new wave of property styles are popping up that focus on efficiency of resource consumption and labour. In recent years a new trend in building construction has emerged in project plans and in development across highly saturated city areas like NYC. This new wave of buildings is that of modular properties.

PR Newswire

Affordable Housing

Daniels’ affordable program helped Toronto couple

In life-altering happenstance, Anthony and Vanessa Mitchell heard from a family member about an affordable housing program offered by Daniels Corporation. Under the FirstHome Boost program, the builder uses federal and provincial housing supports to provide qualified applicants with interest-free loans for pre-construction homes worth 10 per cent of the purchase price — basically a silent second mortgage. That money only gets paid back if the purchaser sells the home.

Toronto Star – Newinhomes.com – Property Biz Canada

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

Hamiltonian evicted over rules protecting tenants

For 10 years, Shawna Chorney has had the perfect apartment — a one-bedroom for $634 in a cozy duplex in the east end. Now her days appear to be numbered there, and she can’t help but lament why. She’s frustrated with the decision by her landlord, who is evicting her because her monthly rent is about $200 less than her neighbours. She’s frustrated with Hamilton’s housing crisis, which has led to apartment vacancies being at 2.4 per cent.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Vancouver mansion a waterfall of steel and chrome

In the late 1970s, Hugo Eppich’s twin brother Helmut was living in a house designed by Canada’s pre-eminent architect Arthur Erickson. “So when it came time to build a home of my own, I of course wanted an Arthur Erickson house too,” Eppich recalls. “People said, ‘Why are you getting the same architect? You’re going to end up with the same house as your brother.’ ”

Bloomberg

Other