RISING RENTS IN MONTREAL THREATEN THE FABRIC OF THE CITY
A blue banner hanging from the Manoir Lafontaine snapped in the wind on a blustery spring day, as if to emphasize its message, loud and clear in either language: “Renoviction.” The corporate owners of the 12-storey building in Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood – Hillpark Capital – were ordering residents to move out by the summer for major renovations. But the renters weren’t going quietly. At a lively protest in April, full of jangling tambourines and bullhorn speeches, they claimed they were...
read moreGTA NEW CONDO SALES REACH THIRD HIGHEST LEVEL ON RECORD IN Q2
New condominium apartment sales in the Greater Toronto Area totaled 9,001 units in the second quarter of 2021, which was 5.5 times higher than sales during Q2-2020 (1,637 units) and nearly matched the level in Q2-2019 (9,075), representing the third highest quarterly total on record. The 905 region of the GTA once again led new condominium market activity with a 58% share of sales in Q2-2021. A total of 8,490 new condominium units were launched for presale during the second quarter, which...
read moreAN OTTAWA LANDLORD REQUIRED COVID-19 VACCINATION FROM HIS RENTER. IS THAT ALLOWED?
Sixteen days before he was supposed to move in to his new rental, Eric Foucault’s son got a text from his landlord asking about his COVID-19 vaccination status. The Algonquin College student had viewed the place three weeks prior, a room in a basement he’d be living in with two other renters, with a kitchen, bathroom and some other common space shared between them. The landlord and his wife lived upstairs, with their own kitchen and bathroom and a different entrance. They would do some...
read moreLANDLORDS SHOULD PLAN TODAY FOR SEPTEMBER 1 RTA CHANGES
RTA changes are coming September 1, 2021 but some of those changes will affect decisions that landlords are making today. For example, one new change is that landlords will be able to apply at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) for a judgment for arrears of rent owed by a “former tenant” up to one year after the tenant vacates the rental unit. Today, an application of this type can only be made by way of Small Claims Court since the tenant is out of possession but landlords who wait until...
read moreTHE BANK OF CANADA REMAINS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO KEEPING INFLATION UNDER CONTROL
As the third wave of the pandemic recedes and vaccination rates rise, Canadians are feeling a sense of relief and renewed optimism. But there are also new concerns, including what’s happening to the cost of living. Statistics Canada says the inflation rate was 3.1 per cent in June. That’s above our one-to-three-per-cent target range — and it’s been above our range for three months in a row. Even before the pandemic, we knew Canadians cared about inflation. As part of our process to renew our...
read moreSHORT-TERM PROPERTY RENTALS START TO REBOUND AS ECONOMY REOPENS
Airbnb and Vrbo bookings in major Canadian cities are increasing as the economy reopens and travel restrictions ease. The number of booked nights has risen steadily since hitting a low in February when the country had a surge in COVID-19 cases, according to new data from AirDNA, a research firm for real estate investors and property managers. In Toronto, booked nights climbed 32 per cent to 38,486 from February to June, 2021, while booked nights in Vancouver rose 66 per cent to 22,032 over the...
read moreRENT INCREASES PREDICTED FOR METRO VANCOUVER AS CANADA PREPARES TO REOPEN ITS BORDERS
When Peter Dowdy, 35, and his wife were on the hunt for a temporary rental apartment in Vancouver at the beginning of the pandemic, he couldn’t believe his luck. The couple had sold their apartment and were looking for a six-month lease while they searched for a new home to buy. “Analysts claimed that rental rates had dropped significantly by about a third or so, and that was pretty consistent with our own experience,” Dowdy said. They managed to pay $2,750 per month to rent...
read moreWHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RENTING IN CANADA POST-COVID
The pandemic has changed more than our makeup routines and work-from-home wardrobes — it’s sparked serious changes in Canada’s housing market. Home prices skyrocketed throughout much of 2020 and into the start of 2021, fuelled by low supply, high demand, and record-low interest rates. Only as of spring did we start to see signs of a slight cooling off, even though prices are still desperately out of reach for most of us. The rental market is a different story: Rents across the country started...
read moreRENT CONTROL IS NOW A NOVA SCOTIA ELECTION ISSUE BUT ITS EFFECTIVENESS REMAINS QUESTIONED
Nova Scotia’s emergency rent cap will expire in the next seven months, and as the provincial election campaign gets underway, party leaders are explaining their plans to make Nova Scotia affordable for those who rent their homes. On Tuesday morning, the NDP made a platform promise of permanent rent control through legislation called the ‘Rental Fairness and Affordability Act.’ It would set the previous tenant’s rent as the base for increases, tie allowable annual increases to a measure like...
read moreTHE GTA’S AFFORDABILITY CRISIS IS COSTING THE ECONOMY UP TO $8 BILLION EACH YEAR
A new report from the Toronto Region Board of Trade and WoodGreen found that the affordability crisis is costing the GTA economy and GTA employers anywhere from $5.88 billion to $7.98 billion per year. Over a five-year period, this comes out to $29.4 billion to $37.9 billion. There are a number of principal causes for this loss, according to the report, with migration out of the GTA due to unaffordable housing prices being the biggest factor. Workers leaving the area for other regions of the...
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