In The News
November 25-29, 2019
Toronto & GTA
Hamilton real estate forecast: Property prices up 3.8 per cent in 2020 seller’s market
A seller market remains in both Hamilton and Burlington with 1.9 and 1.6 months of inventory, respectively. A deluge of demand from across the GTA pours into the region for more affordable housing. After a 12.9 per cent increase to prices in 2018, it is predicted that there will be a seven per cent gain in home prices this year.
Toronto city council beefs up requirements for landlords, but some tenants are skeptical
Toronto city councillors unanimously voted in favour of a RentSafeTO by-law that enforces property standards across buildings includes “requiring landlords to post pest-control timelines and publicly share any fire code violations.”
Ontario updates real estate rules making it easier to punish bad agents
Legislative changes to the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002, entitled the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, proposes removing the word “customer” from agreements and replacing it with the term “self-represented” in addition to providing homeowners with the option of disclosing competing offers in a multiple-offer scenario.
How many Toronto homes sell for ‘over asking’? A study of west downtown finds that most don’t
29 per cent sold over asking from January to November this year. Blooor/waterfront, Yonge/rail lines near Lansdowne Ave sold at or under list price. Bay St corridor had lowest percentage of homes selling over asking (14 per cent). Dufferin Grove and Trinity Bellwoods (50 per cent over asking). Semis sold over asking most. Only 26 per cent of condos sold over asking. Lower price per square foot in Trinity than Bay St.
Smaller Canadian cities taking a bite out of Toronto's tech sector: report
Over a five-year period ending in 2018, the tech sector in Toronto grew by 54 per cent. Neighbourhing cities experienced a spillover effect from this growth. Specialized hubs continue to develop not only in other parts of the country, like Montreal and Edmonton, but also in Hamilton (52.9 per cent increase) and Oshawa to Kitchener-Waterloo region (39.7 per cent increase) and Guelph (94.7 per cent increase).
Historic $17 million affordable housing land trust launched in Toronto
Habitat for Humanity GTA in concert with Capital Developments, Metropia, St. Clare’s Multifaith, and community group Build a Better Bloor Dufferin, have garnered investment for a $17 million land trust in order create new affordable housing. The non-profit land trust seeks to utilize $15 million to build up to 180 new affordable housing units and the remaining $2 million will be spent on additional community space.
Canada
Could property tax increase help fight speculative real estate in Vancouver?
The Vancouver city council has proposed an 8.2 per cent increase to property taxes aimed at further removing real estate speculators.
Record population growth has huge housing impact
The Toronto CMA requires 22,000 new rental apartments and condominium rentals per year to meet demand moving forward to 2023. Vancouver requires 9,400 new rentals to satisfy demand over the same period. It has been pointed out that despite “all the cranes in downtown Toronto, we’re actually building less housing now than we did in 2002 in the GTA.” In a way to alleviate the pressure on housing affordability, companies, such as Sociable Living offer housing alternatives that provide a more community-based model.
B.C. housing recovery speeding up amid growing population, declining mortgage rates
Bryan Yu, Central 1’s deputy chief economist, notes that whilst the province will experience a decrease in resale homes this year, he predicts that the following two years will bring forth an increase of 13 per cent in 2020 and four per cent in 2021, in concert with values rising 3.8 per cent and four per cent, respectively.
Alberta needs Canada to ditch the complacency and take action on the economy
Economic conditions in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to worsen in comparison to other parts of Canada, in part due to the respective strength of the real estate market throughout other areas of the country.
USA
US home prices rose 2.1% from a year ago
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 2.1 per cent in September from the same period last year and slightly up from a two per cent annual gain in August. Phoenix led with a six per cent annual price increase; whereas, home values in San Francisco fell 0.7 per cent which is a drastic change from twelve months prior that saw price gains of 9.9 per cent.
Manhattan Sees Uncharacteristically Strong Week for Luxury Sales
A busy week in luxury home sales asking over $4 million completed thirty transactions in Manhattan. This marks the strongest week in around a year and a half. Homes asking over $4 million have been markedly discounted since the federal government implemented a luxury tax.
A Huge Flood Of Housing Is Expecting To Hit The Market As Boomers Die
Approximately 55 per cent of owner-occupied homes in the US are owned by residents over the age of fifty, according to Zillow. As baby boomers, aged 55 to 73, alter their living accommodations and die off over the next twenty years, Zillow predicts 27.4 per cent of owner-occupied homes will hit the resale market.
International
Government mulls more relief for real estate sector, NBFCs
India’s federal government is considering further options in order to provide relief to the real estate sector and non-banking financial corporations.
