Canadian companies bet on rentals amid record immigration
Bentall Kennedy LP, the real estate arm of insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., is boosting its exposure to rental apartments as immigration in Canada’s biggest city booms. The Toronto-based firm, which managed $22 billion of assets in Canada as of September, plans to increase multi-residential investments to about 15 per cent of its portfolio from below 10 per cent, according to Doug Poutasse, head of strategy and research at Bentall. The “Canadian economy peaked but it is not necessarily coming...
read moreRental market braces for influx of tenants
Rising interest rates and strict mortgage qualification resulted in fewer Canadians seeking homeownership than rental accommodations last year, and 2019 will bring more of the same. “It’s going to continue,” said Marcus & Millichap’s Vice President and Broker of Record Mark Paterson. “People will continue renting rather than dealing with residential mortgages. The rental market right now can barely keep up with the vacancy rate in Toronto, for example, being around 1%.” Competition for...
read moreToronto City Council Approves Affordable ‘Housing Now’ Plan
This week, Toronto City Council voted to approve the ‘Housing Now’ plan, part of John Tory’s campaign promise to build 40,000 affordable rental units over the next 12 years. This first phase of the plan calls for the construction of 10,000 residential homes — 3,700 of which will be affordable — on 11 City-owned sites. The plan offers $280 million in financial incentives for private developers and non-profits to construct buildings with affordable housing components on these specific sites. The...
read more‘Unfinished business’: Trump’s tariffs hang over Canada after signing new NAFTA
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the new North American Free Trade Agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump and outgoing Mexico president Enrique Peña Nieto on Nov. 30, he added one caveat on the milestone day. “Make no mistake, we will stand up for our workers and fight for their families and their communities,” Trudeau said at the time. “And Donald, it’s all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries.”...
read moreNotice of Entry Service Rule Corrected
Earlier in January, we notified you that the LTB Rules had changed to remove the provision of posting 24 hours’ notice of entry on the door of a rental unit and in a follow up bulletin, that the LTB advised the omission of the rule was a clerical error. We also advised that we would provide an update once the Rule was corrected. We have reviewed the LTB’s Rules and Rule 3.2 has been added to allow 24 hours’ notice of entry to be posted on the door of the rental unit. ...
read moreRecord Year for Condo Rent Increases
Rents for condominium apartment leases signed in the Greater Toronto Area during 2018 increased by an average of 9.3%, topping the 8.3% growth recorded in 2017 and marking the highest rate of increase since Urbanation began tracking condo rental transactions in 2010. Over the past eight years, condominium rents have grown by an average of 4.1%. On a year-over-year basis, rent growth moderated in the fourth quarter to 6.7%, representing the slowest annual pace since Q1-2017 (nearly two years...
read moreRenting vs. Buying: Why It Might Be A Good Time To Hold Off On A House Purchase
In the long-running debate on renting versus buying, the scales have tipped a little towards renting — at least in Canada’s largest cities. Rapid house price growth a few years ago, combined with rising interest rates today, mean renting has become cheaper than buying on a national level for the first time in years, National Bank of Canada said in a report this week. The report found the mortgage payment on a median two-bedroom condo had risen to around $2,000 in the fourth quarter of...
read moreMorneau Sees Canadian Expansion on Track Despite Headwinds
Despite trade headwinds and an oil shock, Canada’s economy remains on track to grow this year and in the “forecastable future,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said. Morneau, speaking in an interview Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said a November shock in Canadian crude prices is negatively impact the nation’s economy, but private sector economists continue to anticipate the expansion will continue. “There are headwinds, I don’t want to dismiss that as a challenge, but...
read moreInstead of a new multibillion-dollar campus, Microsoft is investing $500m into affordable housing in the Seattle area.
Microsoft pledged to invest $500m in building affordable housing units near its headquarters in the Seattle area. Like other tech hubs, Seattle has struggled to build enough CrossFit studios for new residents and enough affordable housing for existing residents. To accommodate growing workforces, other tech giants have simply built private city centers (in the form of multibillion-dollar campuses) and private transportation systems. But Microsoft is trying a different approach —...
read moreThe Week Ahead: Canadian GDP, Fed rate decision, another Brexit vote
Monday, January 28 -Notable earnings: Caterpillar -U.S. Congressional Budget Office releases updated economic and budget projections (1000) -House of Commons resumes sitting Tuesday, January 29 -Notable earnings: Canadian National Railway, Metro, Apple, Pfizer, 3M, Verizon, eBay -Notable data: S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. home price index, U.S. consumer confidence -Canadian Transportation Agency holds hearing in Vancouver re. freight rail investigation (1200) -U.K. Parliament holds vote on...
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