No blank cheque for Toronto’s housing repair backlog, new minister says
MPP Peter Milczyn is a former Toronto councillor. Mayor John Tory has warned that hundreds of community housing units may because $1.73 billion in repairs are needed. Ontario will not be handing Mayor John Tory a “blank cheque” to deal with a backlog of repairs needed in crumbling Toronto Community Housing units, says the new minister of housing. The province is waiting to see Toronto’s plan to reconfigure the agency before any money is forked over, Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP Peter Milczyn said...
read moreAverage GTA condo rental rate hits $2,000 a month as landlords increase ahead of controls
Landlords are boosting rents to try and beat new rent control rules brought in across the province in April Rental rates in Ontario soared just before the province implemented its expanded rent control rules in April, according to a report out Friday. Condominium research firm Urbanation Inc. said the 5.1-per-cent jump in rents from the first quarter to the second quarter was the largest quarterly increase on record and sent the average rent in the Greater Toronto Area condominium market to...
read moreCommunity Laundry Rooms are getting a Makeover
Canada is hopping. The economy is stronger than ever and growing. The large millennial population is ready for home ownership. And home prices continue to rise. However, higher prices may mean a good portion of this millennial group may be renting for a longer period of time than normal before becoming first-time homebuyers. Now add to the equation a multi-housing market that is starting to see new construction. Bottom line – owners of apartment properties need to make sure locations are...
read moreCanada Says It Won’t Take Just Any Deal in Nafta Talks
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland laid out Canada’s core objectives in a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement and signaled the country won’t accept “just any deal’’ as it prepares for talks to begin later this week. Speaking Monday in Ottawa, Freeland said she hopes the three sides — the U.S., Canada and Mexico — can keep what is good about the current agreement, while using the negotiations to modernize the pact. Among Canada’s six main objectives is a desire...
read moreIs Airbnb really stripping this many homes from Canada’s biggest rental markets?
As major Canadian housing markets like Toronto and Vancouver grapple with limited housing supply and worsening affordability, many have speculated that Airbnb may be exacerbating the issue. A new study from McGill University has quantified just how much of an impact the hugely popular short term rental platform is having on the rental housing pool in Canada’s three largest cities. The study by McGill’s School of Urban Planning found Airbnb was responsible for slashing roughly 14,000 rental...
read moreUp to 25% of heating energy escapes from multi-residential buildings
Most multi-residential buildings are very leaky (not airtight), with 20 to 25% of heating energy simply seeping away. As a result, air leakage has a significant impact on annual space heating and cooling costs as well as peak energy demand. Furthermore, leakage is greatest during the coldest periods of the year. In fact, during the winter, air leakage can account for 40% of a building’s overall heating bill. Air leakage can also have a significant impact on a building’s envelope. Moisture...
read moreRealtors brace for next mortgage crackdown amid shadow banking fear
The real estate industry is “holding its breath” as regulators look to extend tough mortgage rules in the face of a sharp slowdown in the country’s largest market. Canada’s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, is taking aim at the uninsured mortgage market – where homeowners make a down payment of 20 per cent or more. OSFI is proposing stringent stress tests for those borrowers, in line with what’s already happening in the insured market. The period...
read moreCanada’s Unemployment Rate Drops To Lowest Level In 9 Years
OTTAWA — The economy added nearly 11,000 jobs in July, the eighth consecutive month of growth, as the unemployment rate fell to its lowest point in nearly nine years, Statistics Canada said Friday. The pace of job growth slowed, however, with 10,900 net new positions, down from an increase of 45,300 in June. The number of full-time jobs grew by 35,100, offset by the loss of 24,300 part-time jobs. The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points to 6.3 per cent, its lowest level since...
read moreAs Toronto rents near Brooklyn-level prices, tenants grow desperate
Apartment-seekers are driving the streets looking for rentals and creating web profiles, similar to dating bios, to attract landlords. Trying to find an apartment in Toronto is a lot like online dating, only more demoralizing. Ask Kin Lau. Normally, landlords would be swiping right on him. He’s got a perfect credit score and a good job. But last week he drove 40 minutes to check out a one-bedroom — only to discover another suitor had snapped it up first. “Do people just not go to see the place...
read moreCalgary growth ‘far stronger’ than expected for the first half of 2017
Latest numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) revealed reliable growth in the city’s housing sales for the first half of this year, in what is appearing to be even more proof of a recovering market. On an annual basis, residential real estate sales grew by 9.24 per cent, up to 11,957 total closed transactions in that 6-month time frame. This is despite some weakness in this metric by July, with sales declining by 6.14 per cent year-over-year (down to 1,637 sales). “When we look at...
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