Five things you need to know about the Brookfield-Genworth deal
In a $2.4 billion deal, mortgage insurance company Genworth Financial Inc. will sell its Canadian unit to Brookfield Business Partners LP, the companies said Tuesday. Who are Genworth and Brookfield? Richmond, Virginia-based Genworth Financial Inc. is an insurance company founded in 1871 that has units in retirement and long-term care, mortgage insurance and an international division. New York-based Brookfield Business Partners LP is an industrial and services company that includes nuclear...
read moreAffordability worse for Canadians looking for rentals, report shows
Data shows affordability for low-income Canadians looking for a place to rent is worse than reported in mid-July by the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The August National Rent Report, produced by Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting, shows that a Canadian making $13 an hour would have to work 62 hours a week to afford the average lower-cost rental, maintaining the recommended 30% rent to income ratio. On the lower end of rental prices — in the 10th...
read moreSmoking Bans Upheld ion Quebec- What It May Mean for Ontario Condos and Rental Buildings
Since the legalization of marijuana (cannabis) in 2018, many condominium corporations have become increasingly interested in and willing to adopt rules prohibiting the smoking of tobacco and cannabis inside units and enclosed common elements. The adoption of smoking bans have led to concerns regarding their effect on ownership rights and rights of use. The Quebec Superior Court of Justice in El-Helou v. Syndicat de la Copropriété du 7500, 7502 et 7504, rue Saint-Gérard, Montréal, 2019 QCCS...
read moreEdmonton rental market spurred by steady recovery in employment
Edmonton’s rental apartment segment is feeling ever-greater pressure from consistent growth in the region’s employment, according to a new analysis. In its Q3 2019 Multifamily Market Report covering the Greater Edmonton Area, Marcus & Millichap stated that in the 12 months ending June, developers completed work on 1,050 apartments in the city. As of mid-year, more than 2,300 purpose-built rentals were being constructed in response to heavy demand. Marcus & Millichap cited Alberta’s...
read moreDoug Ford moving ahead with Ontario municipal funding cuts in 2020
Ontario will move ahead with its controversial municipal funding cuts for public health and child care next year. Premier Doug Ford is expected to make the announcement later today at a gathering of municipal leaders in Ottawa. His office says Ford will announce that the funding changes will go ahead on Jan. 1, 2020. The Progressive Conservative government tried to force retroactive funding cuts this year but had to cancel them after municipal leaders complained their annual budgets had...
read more“Ghost” Homes Across Canada: A Decade of Change in 150 Cities
With over 1.3 million empty and temporarily occupied homes in 2016, Canada’s housing problem extends beyond foreign buyers jacking up prices and unaffordability taking over major cities. Speculation and short-term renting are the main culprits behind the high vacancy rates in places like Toronto and Vancouver. In many other cities across the country, falling population and fluctuations in the local economy drive the number of vacant homes up. In 2001, when the government first started...
read moreUnemployment Rate Jumps To 5.7% As Canada Posts Surprise Job Losses
After stellar growth over the past few years, Canada’s job market is showing signs of slowing down ― even as wage growth is accelerating. The country posted a decline of 24,200 jobs in July, according to Statistics Canada, pushing the unemployment rate up to 5.7 per cent ― still a very low rate by historic standards. The decline came as a surprise to experts, who had been expecting job gains of around 12,000 to 14,000. This marks the third consecutive month that Canada’s economy has failed to...
read moreBC low-cost housing initiative to supply over a thousand new units
As much as 1,500 affordable housing units will be built across British Columbia over the next five years, the provincial government announced. BC Housing, along with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, will be investing $75 million in the construction of 1,000 new units planned under the province’s Supportive Housing Fund, and 500 new units planned under the Women’s Transition Housing Fund. The memorandum of intent signed by BC Housing and CMHC will “help us ensure that more British...
read moreDevelopers can’t get enough of new Canada loans for rentals
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ramped up loans to boost rental housing in Canada and developers are snapping them up. Demand has been so hot for the low-cost loans from Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. that the government plans to increase the program to almost $14 billion over the next nine years. That’s up from $2.5 billion when it was launched in 2017. “I’ve been fielding a lot of calls,” Robyn Adamache, senior specialist of affordable housing for the housing agency, said by phone....
read moreCanada’s housing market sticks its soft landing: BMO
Canadian policymakers appear to have succeeded in bringing the country’s once-overheated housing market to a soft landing, according to a new report from BMO Capital Markets. “With few exceptions, the market has absorbed earlier measures and is now warming without overheating,” BMO senior economist Sal Guatieri wrote in the report released on Friday. In the most recent quarter, the value of home sales in most Canadian markets rose, after falling in four of the past five quarters and dragging...
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