Nov 24 (Reuters) – Insurer Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) said on Thursday it will outsource its property operations in Canada to focus on its entrepreneurial investment management unit.
Real eState
Manulife to outsource real estate operations in Canada
The company said it will outsource leasing services to the commercial real estate brokerage firm JLL Inc (JLL.N) under a short-term contract, following which services will be provided by a range of brokerage firms.
“As part of this repositioning, our teams working in Canada property operations will move to JLL in March 2023,” Manulife said. The company did not say how many people would be affected.
Manulife Investment Management’s real estate arm uses a pool of capital to invest in real estate in 29 cities across the United States, Asia and Canada.
Spooked by rising interest rates, companies across the globe have rushed to rein in costs and shed workforce. The Bank of Canada has hiked its benchmark rate by 350 basis points since March to 3.75%, a 14-year high. Another increase is expected in December.
Earlier this month, Manulife reported a drop in third-quarter profit, as escalating worries of an economic downturn impaired earnings at its wealth and asset management unit.
Reporting by Niket Nishant and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru and Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; editing by Jason Neely
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Housing starts up in six largest cities but construction still not closing supply gap
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says construction of new homes in Canada’s six largest cities rose four per cent year-over-year during the first half of 2024, but housing starts were still not enough to meet growing demand.
The agency says growth in housing starts was driven by significant gains in Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal.
A total of 68,639 units began construction, the second strongest figure since 1990, however the rate of housing starts per capita meant activity was around the historical average and not enough “to reduce the existing supply gap and improve affordability for Canadians.”
The report says new home construction trends varied significantly across the markets studied, as Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa saw declines ranging from 10 to 20 per cent from the same period last year.
Apartment starts in the six regions increased slightly, driven by construction of new units for rent, as nearly half of the apartments started in the first half of 2024 were purpose-built rentals.
But condominium apartment starts fell in the first six months of the year in most cities, a trend which the agency predicts will continue amid soft demand as developers struggle to reach minimum pre-construction sales required.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Mortgage rule changes will help spark demand, but supply is ‘core’ issue: economist
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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National housing market in ‘holding pattern’ as buyers patient for lower rates: CREA
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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