As the November 2023 print edition of Western Investor rolls off the presses and across Western Canada this week, we present some of the paper’s listings that caught out eye.
Transit-oriented development
The collapse of a major Vancouver developer in 2022 has left a nine-lot residential land assembly close to the Nanaimo SkyTrain station under a court-order sale. The 29,403-square-foot (0.67-acre) TOD site at 2415 to 2483 East 26 Avenue is eyed for higher-density zoning by the City of Vancouver. Originally purchased in 2021 from separte owners for $29.6 million, it is listed at $20 million by Casey Weeks and the investment and land sales group at Colliers, Vancouver.
Bays of Diefenbaker resort
Imagine your own little piece of paradise on The Bays on Diefenbaker in spacious Saskatchewan. About a 90-minute (110 km.) drive from Saskatoon, and 10 km. from the golf courses of Elbow, Saskatchewan, the Bays on Diefenbaker is the newest resort on the Prairies, offering large lakefront and recreational-vehicle lots, with panoramic lake views, sandy beaches, plus forested and shoreline hiking trails and a large playground. Compared to B.C. and Alberta, lakefront prices are quite low. Lots start at $51,900, according to Gayland Panko of Panko & Associates, Moose Jaw.
Burnaby redevelopment site
Nearly an acre corner lot at 7268 Balmoral Street in Burnaby’s Edmond Town Centre has an older low-rise 56-suite multi-family rental property on site, where rents are below market values. Current zoning is RM-3, which has a base density of 1.1 FSR (floor space ratio) but density bonuses can increase to a maximum of 3.15 FSR. The property offers a “strong and secure holding income poised for value-add potential with a path to future redevelopment,” according to David Venance and team at Cushman & Wakefield, Vancouver. It is listed at $16.25 million.
Okanagan manufactured home park
A Millennial or others in B.C.’s Lower Mainland trying to get onto the real estate ladder may want take this step: an Okanagan seven-unit manufactured home park (MHP) priced less than a Vancouver condo. The Ranchero MHP in the lovely Salmon Arm-Shuswap Lake area covers one acre with long-term tenants and with most pad rentals below the market average. It requires no manager, according to broker Bill Summers of Lighthouse Realty, generates a 6.52 per cent capitalization rate and is priced at $459,900.
Western Investor, which carries the most varied commercial real estate listings in Western Canada, is on newsstands this week. See the digital edition at westerninvestor.com
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.
