Montreal by-law mandates developers to help improve affordability
Montreal’s new by-law is strictly requiring property developers to help improve the availability of low-cost homes in the market. Last week, the city government unveiled its By-law for a Diverse Metropolis, which included the mandate as a prerequisite for multi-family construction permits. “To qualify for a residential construction permit, the contractor will have to enter into an agreement with the city, whereby they will contribute to increasing the supply of social, affordable and family...
read moreToronto’s office spaces rapidly getting snapped up by red-hot demand
The pace of office development in Toronto is largely stoked by outsized appetite for the asset class, with vacancy levels at a vanishingly low 1%, according to Colliers International (Toronto) senior managing director Daniel Holmes. Currently, around 9.4 million square feet of new office projects are being built in the GTA – although it remains an open question if these supply additions can accommodate the fevered demand. “If you look at Manhattan, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Boston,...
read moreMake 20 per cent of units ‘affordable’ in larger condo projects, Victoria councillors say
Victoria council could soon require developers to make 20 per cent of units “affordable” in larger new residential strata buildings, despite expert advice warning against the move. An analysis by Vancouver-based Coriolis Consulting said a policy requiring 10 per cent of units be affordable was all the Victoria market would bear. Anything more would make projects not viable for developers and discourage them from applying to rezone properties. A final decision won’t be made until June 27, but...
read moreLarge Building Energy & Water Reporting
NOTICE OF REPORTING DEADLINE : Ontario Regulation 506/18, Reporting of Energy Consumption and Water Use, outlines what utilities and building owners must do to comply with Ontario’s Large Building Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) initiative. Under EWRB, buildings 100,000 square feet or larger are required to report their data to the provincial government by July 1, 2019. By 2020, when the EWRB initiative is fully phased in, buildings 50,000 square feet or larger will also be...
read moreU.S. already in recession, Fed will cut rates back to zero: Rosenberg
The world’s biggest economy is already in a recession, according to prominent Canadian economist David Rosenberg, who says the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates all the way back to zero starting this summer. Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates, told BNN Bloomberg in an interview airing Friday that back-to-back quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) is not the only measure of a recession. “In fact, you don’t even need GDP to go...
read moreHealthcare assets offer stable investment opportunity – analyst
Investing in healthcare sector assets might be a potent, if unconventional, buffer against the worst effects of housing market weakness, according to The Motley Fool columnist Andrew Button. This is largely because of the industry’s evergreen nature, Button noted. “The healthcare sector is noted for its stability. In Canada, it is largely government funded, and what isn’t funded is usually covered by private insurance, which makes the healthcare industry very reliable in terms of income and,...
read moreVacancy rates for seniors on the rise in B.C., Quebec, Alberta
Senior vacancy rates increased in British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta, but fell in Ontario According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Seniors’ Housing Reports—which surveyed seniors in February and March—vacancy rates for standard spaces in seniors’ residences in B.C. rose for the first time in six years, hitting 4.2% in 2018 from 3%. Non-standard spaces, however, had a vacancy rate that fell 2.1% in 2018 to 1.3% this year. The largest decline came in Vancouver and the Central...
read moreMulti-family property sales showing sustained strength in Ottawa
A major $15-million transaction for two multi-family properties just closed in Ottawa last week, attesting to the sub-sector’s continued strength. “Private and institutional clientele continue to show strong interest in Canadian multifamily assets and although opportunities are limited at times, our deep reach and strong client relationships give us the edge in completing transactions,” Institutional Property Advisors senior managing director Aik Aliferis said. IPA, which operates under Marcus...
read moreCanada added 27,700 jobs in May; unemployment rate hit record low
Canada’s labor market continued its strong run of job gains, bringing the unemployment rate down to a fresh low and adding to evidence the country is emerging from a recent slowdown. The economy added 27,700 in May, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, bringing the gain over the past 12 months to 453,100. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent, the lowest in data going back to 1976. Friday’s report reaffirms the labor market as the main driver of Canada’s expansion, and adds to a...
read more20% of Visible Minority Households in Core Housing Need
In 2016, visible minority households accounted for 16.6% of all households in Canada. Among these visible minority households, 20.1% were in core housing need. This was well above the 11.2% rate of core housing need among non-visible minority households. Given the nature of immigration, visible minority households also tend to be immigrant households. In 2011, for example, 83.4% of visible minority households were also immigrant households. We recently published a report updating earlier...
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