Tim Cestnick July 21, 2017 Ever since the 2017 federal budget in March, when the government announced that tax changes affecting private corporations would be coming, I’ve been feeling queasy. Well, the proposed tax changes were announced by Bill Morneau, the Finance Minister, on Tuesday. And ugly they are. Here’s a primer on the potential […]
As expected, sales in June 2017 were down year-over-year, although prices were again moderately up, even with more new and active listings coming into the market. “Significantly, condo resale prices soared in pricing by 23.2% in the 416 and 21.4% in the 905, more than double the increase of detached homes, semis and town homes.”
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz holds a new conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The Bank of Canada is hiking its key interest rate for the first time in seven years, joining the U.S. Federal Reserve in starting the process of undoing nearly a decade of easy […]
Globe & Mail June 10, 2017 With a new home and a baby on the way, this summer was meant to be joyful for Pickering teacher A.J. Smith. Instead, he’s found himself squeezed by the Greater Toronto Area’s housing-market slowdown, watching tens of thousands of dollars evaporate from the value of a house he needs […]
New rent-control rules are “the exact opposite” of what is needed to deal with housing affordability problems in Toronto, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce economist Benjamin Tal says. In a new report Tuesday, Mr.Tal urges the Ontario government not to proceed with “alarming” plans to expand rent control protections, saying the Greater Toronto Area needs […]
TIANJIN – The northern port city of Tianjin announced measures Friday to restrict home owners from buying new homes to cool the property market. Starting Saturday, single adults (including divorced individuals) and families whose members do not have permanent residence permits, or hukou, will be prohibited from buying new apartments, including second-hand ones, if they already own at […]
Here’s a scoop: sometimes politicians do things just so they can say they did something. Whether what they do has much effect in the real world is an entirely secondary matter. If Toronto does go ahead with a tax on vacant homes in an effort to slow the vertiginous rise in property prices, it will […]
The Toronto Region’s population base is one of the fastest growing in Canada; growth between 2001 and 2014 equalled 87% of the total population of Calgary in 2015. More than half of the global population (54%) now lives in cities, and by 2050 it is expected to grow to 66%. Toronto has more than twice the proportion of recent […]
Major Toronto apartment developers are warning that Ontario’s proposals to expand rent controls would be a “disaster” that would push house prices even higher as the supply of new rental properties dries up. The Ontario government announced earlier this month that it is reviewing rent control regulations in the province and considering “substantive changes”. Current […]
Rent control is out of control. Now it’s making a comeback. Which may leave us right back where we started. The debate over rent control is a perennial in Ontario politics, as predictable as the election cycle. In today’s tight housing market, with a close political contest looming, history is about to repeat itself. For better […]
Canada’s housing market is firing on three cylinders, surprisingly including Vancouver, and setting fresh records for the month of February. The Teranet-National Bank home price index, released Tuesday, showed a gain of 1% from January. That marks the fastest pace for a February in the 18-year history of this measure. The “increase of unusual magnitude […]
Toronto’s soaring home prices are in line with the reality of other world cities such as New York, Hong Kong and London, says Mark Renzoni, president of global commercial real estate giant CBRE. “The market is fairly balanced. It’s not being driven by foreign capital. It’s being driven by Canadians, moving up, buying for the […]
There’s a lot going on beneath the surface of southern Ontario’s wild housing market. Realtors say there’s simply not enough supply, and that the provincial government should open up more protected land for development. Federal policy makers, in turn, have been attacking demand with tax and mortgage qualification changes. But Bank of Nova Scotia says […]
Toronto Mayor John Tory is rejecting the notion the city’s housing market is in a bubble and insists the rapid rise in home prices shows the market is healthy. “Reports will come out from economists – I don’t dismiss them, I read them all – but I also talk to a lot of people in […]
Parts of Ontario will enjoy an increase in population between 2015 and 2041, while other areas will experience decreased population. This will affect medical services offered, will determine if schools are built or closed, will determine the future of public transit, etc. Read more….
