Recent Articles
Anticipation builds, housing prices expected to rise more sharply
Anticipation builds, housing prices expected to rise
As anticipation builds that interest rates will begin to ease, Royal LePage is predicting housing prices will begin to rise much more steeply later in 2024 - and not surprisingly, the national realtor sees Toronto and Montreal leading the way.
Developers hope new land leasing plan will boost home builds
Advocates and developers in Ottawa are hopeful a new strategy to lease underused government-owned land for new builds could help address the city's housing crisis. The strategy is one of many initiatives the federal government announced in Canada's Housing Plan.
London city hall proposes steps to speed up home building
City hall has teamed up with developers to draft a to-do list to help London, Ont. speed up housing developments in a city that met little more than half of its provincially set target for new home construction last year.
OSFI confirms new limits on banks' mortgage portfolios
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) will begin tracking and limiting how many highly leveraged borrowers banks have on their mortgage books. The test will not apply to individual borrowers, but to each bank’s mortgage portfolio.
Apartment rent growing faster than condo rent
Urbanation, which analyzes monthly listings from Rentals.ca, reported purpose-built units in Canada experienced a 12.7 per cent year-over-year price increase in March, averaging $2,117. Condominium rentals grew at a rate of 3.9 per cent, an average of $2,321.
Housing's dirty secret? Homeowners like high prices
ANALYSIS: Paul Kershaw, a public policy professor at UBC and founder of Generation Squeeze, says the emphasis on increasing housing supply obscures the issue that Canadians are addicted to ever-rising home prices because we see our homes as financial assets.
Foreign landlord fails to pay taxes, CRA goes after tenant
OPINION: In a Tax Court of Canada case last year that went mostly unnoticed, a Montreal tenant was audited and ordered to pay the tax he had failed to withhold on rent to his non-resident landlord, required by law.
Hamilton woman fears property tax collection will add to debt
The City of Hamilton is catching up on automatic property-tax payments following a recent cyberattack. Residents are being told to make four payments in two months. For one woman who recently lost her job, that's more than she can afford.
B.C. construction firms and the Forced Labour Act
What do global issues of abusive labour practices have to do with a B.C. construction or development business? Potentially quite a bit, says the federal government. Canada’s new anti-forced and anti-child labour legislation came into effect January 2024.
B.C. judge questions debtor's sale of house to son for $1
After learning homeowners had signed away ownership of their half-million-dollar home to their son for one dollar, the man to whom they owed $436,000 had questions. Last week, a B.C. judge found the transfer of the home was suspicious.
Armoured house hits market near Naramata
A house nestled in the fire-scarred hills above Okanagan Lake, designed by Toronto architect Omar Gandhi and completed in 2021, has been built to withstand any future infernos. It's on the market for a cool $3.8 million.
This single mother pays nearly double her mortgage in rent
In 2015, Emily Wheedon bought a modern, 1.5-bedroom condo in a midrise building in Toronto. It wasn’t perfect — she gave her teen daughter the main bedroom and installed sliding glass doors for her own room — but it was theirs.
Mississauga family loses home over mortgage payments
Over the past decade, Patty and Nader have exeprienced one incident after another that have spiralled into what feels like a never-ending series of unfortunate events, resulting in the couple’s joint income being reduced by 80 per cent.
Alta. population breaking records, but showing signs of strain
At Calgary’s Centre for Newcomers, where Kelly Ernst is chief program officer, staff have been “run off their feet.” The non-profit organization, which offers services and training to immigrants and refugees in Alberta’s largest city, served 50,000 clients last year.
RE wealth has devalued millionaire status in Canada
OPINION: The word millionaire means wealth, financial independence and prestige, at least in the minds of people writing, editing and publishing personal finance books. But the status of millionaires today has been devalued by high real estate prices.
$6.9M penthouse stunning views of downtown Victoria
Sitting atop the Customs House building on Government Street is a $6.9 million penthouse for sale with stunning panoramic views of Victoria’s Inner Harbour and an average price per square foot of $1,250.
Wealthsimple founder feels the pain of younger Canadians
Michael Katchen, co-founder and CEO of Wealthsimple has mixed feelings about the future. He is bullish on AI and his online investment management services platform. He is conerned about Canada’s housing market, innovation gap and declining productivity.
Lowering high housing costs, recipe for low productivity
OPINION: The top-down revolutionaries of postwar “progress” aimed to remake the city through zoning but the bottom-up, anti-development, counter-revolutionaries have defeated them. They have added volumes of new rules to roadblock growth. Ulitimately becoming difficult to build almost anything, anywhere.
The BoC's interest rate decision's impact on real estate
Real estate experts say potential homebuyers are waiting for rate cuts before entering the market following the Bank of Canada's (BoC) latest decision to hold rates. A mortgage expert at Ratesdotca said the housing market is in a “holding pattern.”
U.S. housing developers face growing funding gaps
Like the game Jenga, all the pieces of the capital stack need to align just right to achieve stability. And in this moment, as the pieces pile higher, one too many precariously placed gaps could mean it all crashes down.
Industry Events
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Canada Real Estate Auctions
Dec 01 2024
to Dec 31 2024
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Toronto Real Estate Forum
Dec 04 2024
to Oct 05 2024
Metro Toronto Convention Centre - South Building -
First Nations Housing Conference
Feb 04 2025
to Feb 06 2025
Valhalla Hotel, Thunder Bay, ON -
2025 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference
Feb 25 2025
to Feb 26 2025
Atlanta, GA -
MIPIM: The Global Urban Festival
Mar 11 2025
to Mar 14 2025
Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France -
CHBA's Home Building Week in Canada
May 11 2025
to May 15 2025
Victoria, BC -
2025 CFAA Rental Housing Conference
May 13 2025
to May 15 2025
Vancouver, BC