GOVERNMENTS NEED TO MAKE THE TAX AND DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE BETTER FOR RENTAL INVESTMENT
According to CMHC, the average rental vacancy rate in major centres across Canada increased from 2.0% in October 2019 to 3.2% in October 2020. According to CFAA’s members, vacancy rates generally increased in the city centres and university towns, while staying flat in suburbs and in smaller centres which do not serve universities or colleges. CFAA President, John Dickie, says, “Despite the increase in vacancy rates due to COVID-19, there remains an underlying shortage of rental housing,...
read moreEMPIRE COMMUNITIES ANNOUNCES NEW RENTAL HOUSING DIVISION
Empire Communities, one of North America’s largest private homebuilders, is proud to announce the company’s expansion into rental housing with the formation of Empire Rental Living, a vertically-integrated developer, builder, and operator of built-for-rent single-family and multi-family rental communities initially targeting markets in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, the Carolinas, and Ontario, Canada, with additional markets under consideration. As part of this expansion, Empire Communities is...
read moreMONTREAL VACANCY HITS 6%, HIGHEST IN YEARS, BUT PRICES DON’T SEEM TO BE DROPPING
It’s been a long time since there were this many “for rent” signs in Montreal: the vacancy rate just hit six per cent, a far cry from what it’s been for the last few years. Why is that? Many of the reasons were predictable, given the strange past year, though they didn’t translate into lower vacancy for the first few months of the pandemic. It’s a combination of a drop in foreign students, a drop in tourism, and more Montrealers fleeing the city for the suburbs. The Quebec Landlords’...
read moreHOW THE HOME RENO BOOM COULD HELP FILL IN THE ‘MISSING MIDDLE’ IN TORONTO’S HOUSING STOCK
It’s getting to be a familiar sight in many of Toronto’s inner suburbs: construction crews hard at work adding second floors to post-war bungalows as homeowners try to add more space for growing families. But affordable housing advocates are hoping the city can harness the reno boom to help fill the “missing middle” in the city’s housing stock by converting some of those single-family homes into multi-unit dwellings. Builder Peter Lux, of Homes By Lux Inc.,...
read more905 OVERTAKES 416 FOR GTA NEW CONDO SALES IN 2020
New condominium apartment sales in the GTA declined 28% in 2020 to 18,247 units, the lowest annual total since 2013 and 15% below the 10-year average (21,421). Sales remained in line with new launches of 18,004 units last year, down from 25,296 launches in 2019. The 4,642 new condominium units sold in Q4-2020 was down 43% year-over-year and 22% below the 10-year Q4 average (5,960). However, a record third quarter brought total units sold during the second half of the year to 11,031 units,...
read moreOPTIONS REMAIN FOR LANDLORDS TO OBTAIN RELIEF AT THE LTB
On January 13, 2021 the Province of Ontario passed a regulation which, as was the case in March 2020, suspended the enforcement of evictions orders issued by the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) and Superior Courts. For landlords though, there are some important differences between the Judicially imposed eviction moratorium in 2020 and the current suspension of enforcement of evictions imposed by provincial regulation here in 2021. First, the provincial regulation (O. Reg. 13/21) creates an...
read moreU.S. MULTIFAMILY TENANTS OWE $70B IN UNPAID RENT
Renters have racked up a stunning $70 billion in unpaid rent since the start of the economic crisis cause by the coronavirus, according to an analysis of Census data by Moody’s Analytics. And that pain is not evenly spread. Top tier properties tend to have tenants who have been less affected by the pandemic and who have been able to continue to pay regularly. Meanwhile class-B and class-C apartments, where residents have been more likely to have hours cut or lost their jobs entirely, have...
read moreCITY POWERLESS TO DEAL WITH MASK VIOLATIONS IN CONDO COMMON AREAS
The City of Toronto has received nearly 2,000 complaints about apartment and condo residents who remain unmasked in common building areas but has not issued a single ticket or charge in response. Toronto’s mandatory face-covering bylaw — at least for apartment and condo residents — has no teeth. “Under the provincial regulation, there is no provision to charge an individual — the person not wearing the mask — for not wearing a mask in a condo or apartment building,” according to a statement...
read moreNEARLY HALF OF ATLANTIC CANADIANS FEAR THEY CAN’T COVER LIVING EXPENSES IN 2021
A new report shows nearly half of Atlantic Canadians are not confident they can cover living expenses this year without increasing debt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MNP Consumer Debt Index report, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of MNP LTD, has found 47 per cent of Atlantic Canadians are not confident they can cover living expenses for the next year, which is an 11 per cent jump from September. Tina Powell, a local licensed insolvency trustee with MNP LTD, said the pandemic has accelerated...
read moreA NEW STUDY REVEALS THAT THE NUMBER OF VACANT MONTREAL APARTMENTS HAS ‘EXPLODED’
A new study conducted by the Quebec Landlords Corporation (CORPIQ) reveals that Montreal’s apartment rental vacancy rate “exploded” during the pandemic. According to the CORPIQ, a high vacancy rate ought to be good news for renters looking for a new place to live. Landlords, however, might experience some difficulties re-renting their apartments during the pandemic, the Corporation says. “The pandemic and the economic crisis it is causing are particularly affecting the...
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