Business
Toronto apartment rents soar 20% to record with market tightening – BNN
Toronto tenants are saying goodbye to the era of COVID-19 discounts, with rents fully recovering pandemic losses and reaching record levels, according to new data.
Average monthly rents on newly-leased one-bedroom apartments in Canada’s largest city rose to $2,269 in the second quarter, up 20 per cent from a year earlier, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Thursday.
Rents on two-bedroom homes, at $2,979, were up 15 per cent from year-ago levels. The cost of three-bedroom apartments rose 13 per cent.
The double-digit price gains reflect a decline in the number of leased listings, which are down 11 per cent from a year ago, according to the report.
The pandemic led to a sharp increase last year in apartments listed as people left city centers. Now, as the COVID crisis eases, some of them are returning. Rising interest rates, meanwhile, will price many potential homebuyers out of the market and keep demand elevated for rental units.
“Expect rental market conditions to tighten further in the coming months,” Kevin Crigger, president of the real estate board, said in the statement.
Rents hit four-year lows last year as demand dried up and listings surged. The previous record for one-bedroom rents was $2,262, reached in the third quarter of 2019.
Justin Wu, a realtor in Toronto, said that it’s been challenging to find apartments for even the most qualified tenants, and that some landlords have been closing offers with down-payments of four months to one year worth of rent.
“We had one client that was very qualified, had excellent credit and income but we couldn’t find her anything,” Wu said by telephone. “Everything we tried to put an offer on had nine to ten offers. We had some where the competing offers were offering 12 months of rent up front.”
Homebuilding delays and cancellations — the result of rising construction costs, higher rates and labor shortages — are putting further upward pressure on rents.
Out of the 30,000 condo units that were supposed to be built this year, approximately 10,000 have been canceled or paused, according to a note by Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets.
Business
Roof blown off Mercedes-Benz dealership in Regent Park, police urge caution in the area – CP24


Part of the roof of the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Regent Park has blown off and landed on a nearby roadway, according to Toronto police.
The dealership is on the southwest corner of Dundas Street East and Bayview Avenue, near the Don River and Don Valley Parkway.
Police say it happened just after 11:30 a.m. and are urging drivers and pedestrians to use caution in the area and consider using alternate routes.
Dundas Street East is closed in the area in both directions, as is the southbound lane of Bayview Avenue.
Police say all Don Valley Parkway on-ramps remain open.
It’s unclear what exactly caused the dealership’s roof to become detached, however a special weather statement remains in effect for Toronto due to rain and high winds gusting at up to 80 km/h.
Business
Windsor-Essex brewers lament impact of looming 6.3% alcohol tax
|


Chapter Two Brewing Company in Windsor is celebrating a milestone this weekend.
“Five years! We’re pretty pumped that we got this far and we’re still going strong,” said brewery co-owner and general manager, Cheryl Watson. “It’s good news, I mean, we’ve gone through a lot.”
From the impact of lockdowns during the pandemic to recent inflationary pressures and wage increases, Watson notes the cost of doing business has been steep.
And that anniversary celebration will clouded by a looming alcohol excise tax increase on all alcohol producers.
“I think everything is just, it’s been unpredictable for suppliers and buyers alike,” Watson said. “We have to look at and figure out what part of it you’re going to cover and what part of it you’re going to ask your customer to cover.”
That question will get harder on April 1 when the 6.3 per cent federal excise tax goes into effect on beer, wine and spirits producers.
Taxes already make up 50 per cent of the cost of beer, 65 per cent of the cost of wine and 75 per cent spirits, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“The screws are tightening and we don’t have as many places to play anymore,” said Watson.
The increase on the table is triple the usual jump — a number tied directly to inflation — and has alcohol manufacturers wondering who is going to pick up the tab.
“You’re going to see probably a six to 10 per cent increase on the price of your beer,” said Shane Meloche, the owner of Frank Brewing Company in Windsor. He’s weathered the storm that is the past few years in the hospitality industry and doesn’t want to raise prices but worries this time, he may have no choice.
“We’re here to make money. We’ve got 20 to 30 people that work here. We need to stay in business,” Meloche said. “We want to keep everybody employed. So the only way to do that is to pass along that price to the consumer.”
Restaurants who sell alcohol will also feel the effects. A recent Restaurants Canada survey found about half of Canadian restaurants are operating just at or below profitability levels, noting the tax increase will cost Canada’s food-service industry about $750 million a year.
“Their profit margins are very slim. And then when you have a six per cent increase, it’s slimmer,” said Paul Boots, who along with business partner John Conlon launched Suds Runner just a few months back.
It’s a licensed manufacturing representative retailer for nine different Breweries in Ontario where customers can go online and order flights of beer from them that you can’t get at the LCBO or Beer Store — and they bring it to your door.
They started the venture to support local breweries and give their less popular brews more exposure for customers who can’t make it out to craft breweries as often as they’d like.
They hope the increase doesn’t crush their suppliers, customers, or them.
“It’s important, I think, for people to understand that if the price is going up a little bit, it’s not because they’re making more money,” said Conlon.
“They’re just trying to work, trying to make it work.”





Business
Shares in Deutsche Bank drop as global banking worries persist – Al Jazeera English
Tumbling stocks dragged down other major banks across Europe, fuelling fears about a banking sector crisis.
Shares in Deutsche Bank have fallen sharply, dragging down other major European banks and reigniting fears about a widening banking sector crisis.
Germany’s biggest lender dropped more than 14 percent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Friday morning trading before clawing back ground in the afternoon to trade 9.5 percent lower, at 8.43 euros ($9.07) a share.
Tumbling bank stocks dragged down markets across Europe on Friday with Germany’s Commerzbank down 7.5 percent, France’s Societe Generale off 5.9 percent and Austria’s Raiffaisen down 5.9 percent.
Deutsche Bank is one of 30 banks considered globally significant financial institutions, so international rules require it to hold higher levels of capital reserves because its failure could cause widespread losses.
The long-troubled bank has become the focus of investor concerns after the collapse of three regional US lenders and the Swiss government-brokered takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS triggered market turmoil this month.


The cost of insuring the bank’s debt against a risk of defaulting, known as credit default swaps, has surged as investors fret about the banking sector’s health.
Rising costs on insuring debt were a prelude to Credit Suisse‘s rescue by UBS. That hastily arranged takeover on Sunday and jitters about Credit Suisse’s long-running troubles led its shares to tank and customers to pull out their money.
Asked whether Deutsche Bank could be the next Credit Suisse, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, “There is no reason to be concerned.”
Scholz expressed confidence in Deutsche Bank, saying it had “modernised and organised the way it works. It’s a very profitable bank.”
Speaking in Brussels after a summit of EU leaders, he also said the European banking system was “stable” with strict rules and regulations.
Deutsche Bank said on Friday that it would redeem $1.5bn in tier 2 bonds early. Such a move is normally aimed at boosting confidence in a bank although its shares plunged regardless.
The bank was hit by a string of problems linked to its attempts before the 2008 global financial crisis to compete with Wall Street investment banking giants.
But it launched a major restructuring, which involved thousands of job cuts and a greater focus on Europe, and has returned to financial health. Last year, it booked its highest annual profit since 2007.
European officials said banks in the European Union’s regulatory system, which does not include Credit Suisse, are resilient and have no direct exposure to the failed California-based Silicon Valley Bank and little to Credit Suisse.
Efforts to strengthen banking regulation in recent years “puts us all in a position to say that European banking supervision and the financial system are robust and stable and that we have resilient capitalisation of European banks”, Scholz said.
European leaders, who played down any risk of a possible banking crisis at their summit on Friday, said the financial system is in good shape because they require broad adherence to tougher requirements to keep ready cash on hand to cover deposits.
International negotiators agreed to those rules after the 2008 financial crisis, triggered by the failure of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. US regulators exempted midsized banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, from those safeguards.
-
Investment5 hours ago
Private-sector investment brings touch of Hollywood to southern Manitoba town – Winnipeg Sun
-
News10 hours ago
Canadian park among world’s most beautiful: Big 7 Travel
-
Investment10 hours ago
Investing isn’t free. But here’s why 20% of investors think it is
-
Business11 hours ago
Windsor-Essex brewers lament impact of looming 6.3% alcohol tax
-
Investment9 hours ago
Should Rowan, 78, and Willow, 58, be more conservative with their investing approach?
-
News23 hours ago
Biden in Canada: Replay coverage of the U.S. president’s trip
-
Science15 hours ago
Bothwell woman gets experience of a lifetime witnessing natural wonder
-
Media23 hours ago
Trans Flight Attendant Famed For United Airlines Ad Found Dead After Emotional Social Media Post