A partnership of three Dream entities has acquired the Weston Common apartment and mixed-use complex on John Street in Toronto. (Google Maps)
Three Dream entities have closed on the acquisitions of two Toronto apartment properties, comprising 912 units, for $378 million. The partners also have another Toronto acquisition under contract.
The acquisitions of the 912 apartments were originally announced during the summer, but at the time Dream did not provide further information about the properties. The sites are Weston Common, a two-tower mixed-use apartment complex with 841 units, and a smaller building at 262 Jarvis St.
The properties have been acquired in a joint venture between Dream Unlimited Corp. (DRM-T), Dream Impact Trust (MPCT-UN-T) and the Dream Impact Fund. Each of the entities holds a one-third interest in the portfolio.
“The successful acquisition of these apartments accelerates the growth of our income property portfolio and increases the proportion of our assets that generate recurring income,” Michael Cooper, chief responsible officer of Dream Unlimited and portfolio manager of Dream Impact, said in the announcement.
Dream Unlimited and the trust also have a 228-unit, multi-building portfolio of multiresidential assets in Toronto under contract. The ownership structure is expected to mirror those of Weston Common and 262 Jarvis.
Dream’s Weston Common acquisition
Weston Common is comprised of 22 John St., a 369-unit, class-A, purpose-built rental building completed in 2019, as well as a 472-unit apartment building completed in 1974, 42,000 square feet of fully leased commercial space and an 8,800-square-foot community hub occupied and programmed by Artscape, a non-profit community organization.
It includes 53 affordable housing units and 26 live/work artist studios.
Dream’s intention is to increase the number of affordable units provided on-site as per CMHC’s definition of affordable rent for the area.
It has also pledged to “implement specific initiatives from each of its three impact verticals (Affordable & Attainable Housing, Environmental Sustainability & Resilience, and Inclusive Communities) at each property).”
Included among the plans are decarbonization and building modernization retrofits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent within the next three years.
It also plans to implement social programming and other supports for the community and its residents. Details are to be included in the 2022 Dream Impact Report.
262 Jarvis is a six-storey, 71-unit, art deco-style apartment building located near Ryerson University.
About Dream Unlimited and Dream Impact Trust
Dream is a Toronto-based developer of office and residential assets which owns stabilized income generating assets in both Canada and the U.S., and has an asset management business.
The firm has $12 billion of assets under management across three TSX-listed trusts, its private asset management business and partnerships.
Dream also develops land and residential assets in Western Canada.
Dream Impact Trust is an open-ended trust dedicated to impact investing.
Dream Impact’s underlying portfolio is comprised of real estate assets reported under two operating segments: development and recurring income.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
