Real eState

LACKIE: Bleak times for Toronto real estate market

Published

12 months ago

November 11, 2023

Rising interest rates continue to slow the number of homes changing hands. Photo by iStock /GETTY IMAGES

For a brief moment the week before last, it seemed there may be a glimmer of a sliver of hope on the horizon for the real estate market.

All it took was Jerome Powell, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, announcing that the Fed would be holding interest rates.

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Markets rallied, bond yields began to fall, and agents and mortgage brokers across the land found some pep in their step as they ran to dust off the old ring light and film some content to share the good news: the bottom was in!

Surely this meant that we would see fixed rates start to drop, which is exactly how last spring’s market rally got started. All it took was a little optimism that the worst was over and the buyers came out to play.

But ten days later, the fixed mortgage rates remain largely unchanged and the bond yields are trending back up again. And, of course, lest the markets be confused about his hawkishness, Powell came back out on Thursday and announced the Fed’s position that the battle against inflation may not yet be won and more hikes are on the table.

Hopefully this settles once and for all that anyone attempting to paint a rosy picture out there is either stuck in the denial phase or quite literally has something to sell you. Or perhaps both?

Here in Canada, prospects feel pretty bleak.

With a recession looming and real estate markets appearing to be in a deep freeze everywhere but in Alberta, many are sharing prognostications about where we go from here. Will we see prices start to drift downwards or will the levy break at some point?

Social media abounds with side-by-sides of listings of properties bought during the run-up now being sold at gasp-worthy discounts – in some cases landing back in the ballpark of 2018 pricing.

So far these aren’t the norm. For now, they’re one-offs reflecting the desperation of highly-leveraged sellers forced to capitulate.

But one can assume the desperation is mounting in every single over-leveraged Canadian who has up until now hoped to white knuckle their way through and wait out the storm. Whether that looks like pulling the property to relist in the spring, or opting to rent out the house rather than sell in these market conditions, at a certain point something will have to give.

The prices and the power that home sellers had grown accustomed to won’t be returning any time soon.

In October’s Market Watch, released last week by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, the data clearly shows a market seized. We have sales down 12% from September – a month that already felt apocalyptically quiet – and inventory up 38%.

Prices appear to be holding but with so few transactions and among them a few big sales on the upper end of the luxury market, it seems like those average sale prices might be a little wonky.

One publication declared this market to be the toughest in 25 years.

There is no escaping these interest rates. And if they hold as long as it seems like they will, prices have nowhere to go but down.

The bottom feels quite a ways off yet.

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Real eState

Homelessness: Tiny home village to open next week in Halifax suburb

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.

Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.

Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.

The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.

Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.

The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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Real eState

Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

Published

3 weeks ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Real eState

B.C. voters face atmospheric river with heavy rain, high winds on election day

Published

3 weeks ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.

Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.

More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.

Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.

An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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