Learn what government incentives are in Canadian real estate, how they support buyers, and what programs are available for cost savings and home ownership.
A government incentive is a program, rebate, or financial support offered by a federal, provincial, or municipal government to assist homebuyers, builders, or investors.
Why Government Incentives Matter in Real Estate
In Canadian real estate, government incentives help reduce the cost of homeownership, support first-time buyers, and promote energy efficiency or regional development.
Eligibility criteria vary by program and may include income thresholds, residency status, property type, and principal residence use. These incentives are often time-limited or budget-restricted.
Understanding government incentives helps buyers access financial support, plan budgets, and take advantage of cost-saving programs during a real estate transaction.
Example of a Government Incentive in Action
A first-time buyer uses the federal incentive program to reduce their mortgage payments and receives a $4,000 provincial land transfer tax rebate.
Budgeting in real estate refers to the process of forecasting and managing income and expenses associated with owning, operating, or developing a property.. more
Tenant improvements refer to custom modifications or build-outs made to a leased space to suit the tenant’s operational needs, often negotiated as. more
Rendering of 3736-3750 Bathurst Street/WZMH Architects
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted a receivership order over a series of development land parcels in North York, the likes of which were set to accommodate a 10-storey mid-rise and a 32-storey flatiron tower with a shared six- to eight-storey base.
The June 18 appointment order stems from an application made in April, which refers to around two dozen entities as the collective “lender,” and an indebtedness of around $28,450,456 as of March 31, 2025, “with interest, legal fees and disbursements continuing to accrue.”
According to the application, the debtor is Grmada Holdings Inc., an Ontario corporation with a registered head office in Richmond Hill whose sole officer and director is Roman Zhardanovsky. The properties that are subject to the receivership order include 3750 Bathurst Street, 3748 Bathurst Street, and 3742 Bathurst Street.
Grmada Holdings doesn’t appear to have a large development presence in the Greater Toronto Area, however, it is the firm behind a pair of 60-storey towers proposed in the City of Markham in late 2023. However, a report that went to city staff in early 2024 contested the development, and it was ultimately refused.
Site plan/WZMH Architects
Meanwhile, the 10- and 32-storey development slated for Bathurst Street, at the southwest corner of Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue, was approved without amendments or debate by City Council at its February 2024 session.
The report that went to Toronto City Council in February 2024 notes that a mixed-use development consisting of an 11-storey mid-rise and 30-storey tower was proposed for the site in September 2024. The tower element was increased in height in response to community consultation, in which some of the participants expressed that additional floors would help to meet more housing need.
Timeline Snapshot
February 1, 2024 — Original loan maturity date
May 1, 2024 — Interest payment missed
July 25, 2024 — Demand letter issued
October 1, 2024 — Forbearance deadline
March 31, 2025 — Indebtedness calculated at ~$28.4M
June 8, 2025 — Fire incident reported
June 18, 2025 — Receivership granted by court
The most recent rendition of the plans call for building heights of around 112 and 330 feet and a total gross floor area (GFA) of around 404,077 sq. ft. Of the total GFA, around 9,181 sq. ft would be non-residential, and the remainder, at around 394,896 sq. ft, would be residential, with 479 condo units planned. The development would replace a former gas station, a former retail store, a coffee shop, and two single-detached houses.
Rendering of 3736-3750 Bathurst Street/WZMH Architects
Rendering of 3736-3750 Bathurst Street/WZMH Architects
By the time the redevelopment plans received City Council’s approval, Grmada had already made the arrangements for a loan, with a Commitments Letter dated July 10, 2023 cited in the application for receivership. The loan advanced was in the principal amount of $25,383,000. As security, the debtor put up the development property, personal property, and a general assignment of rents.
Although the loan matured on February 1, 2024, an amendment was made to the initial Commitments Letter extending the term to July 31, 2024. In the meantime, however, the debtor failed to pay interest due on May 1, 2024, putting it in automatic default. A demand letter was issued on July 25, 2024, and on September 1, 2024, the debtor agreed to forbear on receivership proceedings until October 1, 2024. To date, the debtor has failed to repay the loan or make further interest payments, according to the court filings.
In addition, according to an endorsement of Justice J. Dietrich from last month, an active fire was reported to the City of Toronto Fire Services on June 8, 2025, at which time Zhardanovsky was informed and was reportedly unwilling to deal with the matter.
TDB Restructuring Limited was appointed as receiver over the properties at 3750 Bathurst Street, 3748 Bathurst Street, and 3742 Bathurst Street shortly after that, on June 18, 2024. STOREYS reached out to Zhardanovsky for comment on the proceedings on Tuesday morning, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
In a real estate industry that’s notorious for being stuck in its ways, a new Toronto-based proptech company is serving up a fresh way to spark the agent-seller relationship — and ushering in just the right amount of innovation in the process.
Launched today (and already long buzzed about), Hyyve is a platform that invites homeowners to seek bids from real estate agents — whose IDs, regulatory compliance, and accreditations have been screened for legitimacy by Hyyve — to ultimately win the role of selling their home. With careful curation and vetting running behind the scenes, the platform provides choice, data, control, and intentionality from every angle.
It all starts with the listing; the piece of the home-selling puzzle that "drives everything," according to Hyyve Co-Founder and President Kirstin Thomas, who launched the company alongside Co-Founder and CEO Patrick Armstrong.
The seller's onboarding process is pretty straightforward. It involves crafting that to-be listing, including the property specs and selling points (think: a notable bedroom count or a recently replaced roof). From there, agents that have been (rigorously) vetted by Hyyve can bid on the right to represent the homeowner.
And here’s the kicker: sellers get to keep the winning bid — an upfront payment, no less, which Thomas points out can be used to offset the land transfer tax or insurance or legal fees, or even put towards a home improvement, like the design of a nursery.
“This process is akin to selecting three quotes from trades to carry out a home reno,” she says. “You make your selection based on who is best suited to complete the project — not solely on price or an agent referral someone used ages ago. Referred agents often don’t bring their A-game, since they treat it as found business. But when agents compete, as they do in Hyyve’s model, it drives stronger performance and better overall value for sellers."
Thomas adds that sellers can view information on agents’ accreditations, expertise, sales plan, and commission structure, all to ensure they’re making the most informed decision possible.
Patrick Armstrong, Co-Founder and CEO; Kirstin Thomas, Co-Founder and President, Hyyve
From the agent’s perspective, Hyyve offers a smarter alternative to traditional advertising — which often delivers cold, recycled leads with low ROI and poor conversion rates. Instead, Hyyve gives agents direct access to real, ready-to-list sellers. Agents only pay when they win the listing, ensuring 100% conversion on spend. There’s no cost to register or view opportunities, making it a performance-based model where agents invest in actual business — not empty impressions.
“Agents can play with their commissions, enter into a Buyers Representative Agreement as part of the bid, add in commissions on chattels, or the like,” Thomas explains. “Agents pay to advertise on park benches, and they pay with their time — by cold calling, for example. These methods do not convert the way actual listings do with Hyyve. Homeowners registered through Hyyve are motivated to sell their home, and the listing is a true business l that translates to a sale.”
And it’s not just sellers who are getting empowered by Hyyve’s model. The platform is also expanding to support residential buyers, adding a brand-new dimension to its offering.
Through a partnership with Frank Mortgage, buyers who get pre-qualified can post their ideal property criteria — whether they’re seeking a condo downtown or a detached home in the suburbs. From there, vetted agents bid for the opportunity to represent them, offering upfront cash or perks to win the business. The buyer selects the winning agent and signs a standardized Buyer Representation Agreement; the bid is then held in trust until either a purchase is made or the agreement expires.
This approach brings transparency, incentives, and agency to what’s traditionally been an opaque process. It not only empowers sellers through agent competition, but also benefits agents by connecting them with qualified buyers — where mortgage pre-approvals must align with the cost of the neighbourhoods they’re targeting. That means agents aren’t chasing cold leads, but engaging with serious, financially vetted clients.
Even more, agents who may not have capacity or coverage to support a buyer lead can use Hyyve’s referral network to connect that client with another agent — and lock in a formalized, trackable referral agreement up front. For agents, this means guaranteed referral income on buyers they otherwise may not have been able to support, with all closing details transparently managed through the platform and Hyyve’s legal partner, Ownright.
Thomas shares that they are currently seeing some 20 to 30 agent registrations per day (and counting), and that Hyyve has been “well received” by the Toronto market so far. This sentiment is echoed by Right at Home Realty Co-founder Howard Drukarsh, who joined Hyyve’s Advisory Board earlier this year.
Drukarsh sits on the board alongside other real estate leaders, including Christopher Alexander (Former President of RE/MAX Canada), Matthew Campoli (Agent at The Agency and host of Priced To Sell podcast), Daniel Foch (Chief Real Estate Officer at Valery.ca and co-host of The Canadian Real Estate Investor podcast), Brooke Hicks (Broker at Royal LePage and co-host of The Canadian Homefront podcast), Adam Price (Former Director of Realtor Technology at Peerage Realty Partners), Dorian Rodrigues (Partner at PSR Brokerage and Founder of The Rodrigues Group), and Peter Torkan (Founder of The Agency Toronto and star of Luxe Listings Toronto).
Howard Drukarsh, Co-Founder, Right at Home Realty
Drukarsh says the response to Hyyve within his (expansive) agent network has been “totally positive.” As for what speaks to him about the platform, and what prompted him to join the Advisory Board, he points to the way the platform puts control in the hands of the sellers — and opens up the network of agents available to them.
“Traditional listing presentations are in-person and limited to a few agents that the seller knows, or knows of, in their neighbourhood. Now, the choice is expanded,” Drukarsh explains. “And the business model — offering agents a way to secure the listing by paying the seller upfront for the right to market the property — assures the seller that the agent is committed to success.”
Meanwhile, he says, “agents get a source of serious sellers, which is the ultimate goal for an agent.”
Alexander, who joined the Board in March, shares he's encountered some scepticism to Hyyve in his network, something he chalks up to the premise being unfamiliar. He credits Hyyve for being the first seller-focused lead platform that “has some legs” in his 15 years in the industry.
“Some agents have expressed concern that it’s simply a commission-based ‘race to the bottom.’ Plainly put, it’s not,” says Alexander. “The platform gives agents a chance to demonstrate their value. It's been proven over and over again that sellers aren't just interested in the cheapest deal, they want to work with an agent that's credible, trustworthy, experienced, and can get the job done, and you don't accomplish that just by cutting your commission.”
Christopher Alexander, Former President, RE/MAX Canada and Active Consultant, RE/MAX Europe
One of the reasons Alexander's on board with Hyyve is because he sees it giving agents a more direct return on investment than traditional marketing avenues would. “With Hyyve, you can place a bid on a listing, and if you win the listing, that's a direct ROI. And if you don't win the listing, you get your money back,” he adds. “So I see that it has a potential to be a much more efficient form of advertising spent.”
As innovative as Hyyve might be, the platform is not meant to replace the traditional real estate model — in fact, Hyyve is hands-off once the agent-seller relationship has been established. The listing agreement is signed through the platform, and Hyyve steps back, holding any upfront funds in trust. This ensures all parties remain focused on selling the home. Hyyve is designed to enhance what has long been the status quo in real estate — where sellers typically rely on referrals, which aren’t always a recipe for success. By introducing transparency, competition, and accountability into the selection process, the platform elevates the traditional model without disrupting it.
“I think the average consumer who has bought and sold real estate doesn’t really understand how much work goes into getting a home sold in a slower, uncertain marketplace like we're in today,” says Alexander. “And when you have a platform that allows you to showcase all of what you do to get homes sold — like showcasing your average days on market if it’s better than the average, your average list-to-sale ratio if it's better than the average, your unique marketing plans that get homes sold faster than the average — it has the potential to be a much more efficient way to win business.”
It’s a better way to go about the first step ahead of the traditional home sales process, giving homeowners and homebuyers more control, and giving agents exposure to listings they may not have otherwise been privy to, says Thomas. “It makes for a more rewarding, informed, measured, and transparent experience.”
In a city known for its architectural ambition, few addresses exude the sense of poise found at 221 Forest Hill Road.
Tucked into one of Toronto’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, this custom-built estate is as much an ode to old-world craftsmanship as it is a contemporary showpiece. Conceived by a dream team of local luminaries — including JTF Homes, Lorne Rose Architecture, and interior designer Dvira Ovadia — the home is a study in elegance, symmetry, and thoughtful consideration.
From the curb, the property’s presence is immediately cinematic. Its stately limestone façade, symmetrical proportions, and gently arched windows recall the refined romance of the French countryside. Weathered-blue shutters lend a painterly touch, while a turreted corner and sweeping loggia gesture toward chateau-style grandeur.
The grounds, designed by Fitzgerald and Roderick, carry through the sense of cultivated grace, with manicured gardens, a lap pool, and a private sports court unfolding in serene sequence.
Inside, the residence is a masterclass in materiality and proportion. The main level opens with soaring ceilings and a spiral staircase that appears sculpted from air. Chevron-laid white oak floors and tailored wall treatments guide the eye from one room to the next, each moment anchored by hand-picked finishes and natural textures.
A formal dining room, scaled for 20 guests, flows effortlessly into a designer kitchen where hand-painted Portuguese tiles meet bespoke millwork by Emanuele Furniture Design. Just beyond, the family room invites unhurried living — with a hand-carved fireplace and French doors that dissolve the line between indoors and out.
The primary suite offers a moment of quiet majesty. Here, vaulted ceilings and arched accents set the tone for a space that feels both private and palatial. An intimate fireside lounge adds to the atmosphere, but the crown jewel is a two-storey dressing room, inspired by couture ateliers and connected by a spiral staircase beneath a glowing chandelier. The ensuite bath, finished in stone and sculptural fixtures by Shirley Wagner, completes the suite’s spa-like sensibility.
The two-storey dressing room is nothing short of theatrical. With its spiral staircase, chandelier, and boutique-like layout, it transforms a private routine into a daily ritual of luxury.
Downstairs, the home’s lower level takes leisure seriously: a rec room, games lounge, gym, sauna, and home theatre offer comfort and escape in equal measure.
Whether you’re hosting dignitaries or retreating in solitude, this Forest Hill address offers a bespoke backdrop — and a lifestyle — that’s as rare as it is refined.
A rendering of the Burnaby Lake Village master-planned community. / Hariri Pontarini Architects
The Burnaby Lake Village master-planned project has officially exited creditor protection, according to filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, resolving a conflict between the two local developers that partnered on the project.
Burnaby Lake Village is set for the 19-acre property at 6800 Lougheed Highway in Burnaby, directly adjacent to the Millennium Line SkyTrain's Sperling-Burnaby Lake Station, where Peterson and Create Properties were planning nearly 6,000 new homes across 14 mixed-use buildings between the heights of 12 and 25 storeys.
The partners — who owned the property through 1112849 BC Ltd. and Sperling Limited Partnership — had received final approval for their master plan rezoning application and Phase One of the project was advancing through the approval process by the time the project was placed under creditor protection on November 28, 2024.
The lender on the project was a syndicate comprised of RBC, TD Bank, BMO, and Scotiabank, who sought to place the project into creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) after internal conflicts between the two developers resulted in Sperling Limited Partnership defaulting on their $210,000,000 loan agreement with the syndicate, as first reported by STOREYS on November 29. The amount owed as of November 21 was $207,601,972.89 plus interest.
In a press release at that time, Peterson said that it had the ability and intention to repay the debt owed to the RBC-led syndicate, but that Create Properties refused to provide consent for Sperling Limited Partnership to do so or to seek a loan extension. That appears to have been the final straw that forced the lenders to step in and take action.
After the partnership was formed in 2018, conflicts between the two partners began emerging around Fall 2023, including disagreements about how to move forward with the project and its budget. The partners eventually sought out mediation, then arbitration, the latter of which was stalled because the two sides could not agree on the terms of the arbitration process.
Timeline Snapshot
Nov 28, 2024 – Project placed under creditor protection
Feb 6, 2025 – Peterson completes buyout
June 23, 2025 – Peterson enters new credit agreement
July 3, 2025 – Project exits creditor protection
The partnership defaulted on their loan in September and Peterson subsequently called a meeting to approve a plan to issue additional units in the partnership, in order to raise capital. This led to more conflicts with Create Properties, who believed Peterson was trying to dilute Create's stake and push them out.
Both sides acknowledged that they would no longer be able to work together and that the partnership should be dissolved.
Shortly after the project was placed under creditor protection, the court-appointed Monitor began planning a formal sales process. Before the sales process was approved by the Supreme Court, however, Peterson and Create Properties reached an agreement that would see Peterson buy out Create's stake in the project.
According to court documents dated from before the buyout, Peterson's equity in the project amounted to $35,292,000, while Create Properties' equity amounted to $33,908,000, which translated to a 51% and 49% ownership split.
Court documents do not provide details about the buyout, except that the transaction was completed on February 6 and that Peterson now owns 100% of Sperling Limited Partnership. Reached for comment, both Peterson and Create Properties declined to share financial details about the buyout.
Since the buyout, Peterson has also secured refinancing. According to court documents, Peterson entered into a new credit agreement on June 23 with the existing lender syndicate for a new land loan facility with a two-year term in the amount of $207 million that will payout and replace the existing loan with the lenders. The new loan agreement also includes a $19 million pre-development loan facility and a $13 million letter of credit facility.
The Monitor notes that one of the conditions of the new loan agreement is the termination of the creditor protection proceedings, which was granted by the Supreme Court on July 3.
Create Properties
Although Peterson and Create Properties are now no longer partners, they remain neighbours, as Create Properties owns the 14-acre site next door at 7000 Lougheed Highway, after acquiring the site for $151 million in 2021. They have advanced their own master-planned project called Burnaby Lake Heights, which is set to include over 3,500 homes across 12 buildings.
A rendering of Create Properties' Burnaby Lake Heights (left) and the 6800 Lougheed Highway site now solely-owned by Peterson (right). / Create Properties
The Burnaby Lake Heights project has advanced about as far as the Burnaby Lake Village project has: the master plan rezoning application has been granted final approval from the City of Burnaby and Phase One is currently making its way through the approvals process.
Create Properties has launched a project website for the first building, Forest Walk One, but it's unclear when the project will proceed.
In April, Create Properties also received a notice from the landlord of their head office that they have defaulted on their lease agreement and failed to pay the sum of $25,782.40, according to an image of the notice that was shared with STOREYS. Create Properties' head office was located at 1580-505 Burrard Street in Vancouver and the landlord is Hudson Pacific Properties, who said in the notice that they were terminating the lease and asked Create Properties to vacate the premises and turn in their keys.
The company remains operational, but at least three staff members that held leadership positions have left the company this year.
A massive new master-planned community planned directly north of the Gardiner Expressway in Etobicoke aims to deliver 7,360 new housing units, alongside 64,501 sq. ft of commercial space, a 49,998-sq.-ft elementary school, and around 2.5 acres of public parkland.
An Official Plan Amendment application was filed by Fig Tree Construction Ltd. in late June seeking the height and density increases necessary to redevelop 1255 The Queensway in Etobicoke with the proposed master plan.
If constructed, the development would span more than 18 acres and comprise 15 towers with heights ranging from 12 to 65 storeys, dramatically transforming what is currently a low-rise commercial plaza containing three single-storey retail buildings, including the Kipling-Queensway Mall, and 542,985 sq. ft of surface-level parking. Divided into six development blocks and two park blocks, the ambitious project would occupy the southeast corner of The Queensway and Kipling Avenue.
Much of the surrounding area has historically been home to a mix of lower-rise industrial, commercial, and residential buildings, but in recent years the neighbourhood has welcomed newer mid- and high-rise residential and mixed-use buildings, as well as new parklands.
There are numerous high-rise development applications currently approved or under review in the surrounding area, the most substantial of which include a 50-storey mixed-use tower at 5359 Dundas Street West, a 49-storey mixed-use tower at 25 Mabelle Avenue, and an 18- to 46-storey master-planned community that would be located directly east of the proposed development at 1025 The Queensway.
These proposed developments, alongside the expansive Fig Tree Construction project, will be supported by a wealth of transit options, including existing TTC bus routes and both Kipling and Mimico GO stations, which are within a 10- and 15-minute bus ride from the site. In particular, 1255 The Queensway is located directly between the Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue onramps to the Gardiner Expressway, providing motorists with easy access to Downtown Toronto and Highway 427 and beyond.
Proposed and approved developments in the surrounding area/StudioJCI
Finalized renderings have yet to be shared, but preliminary site design and 3D modelling from Toronto-based architecture firm Studio JCI help demonstrate how the proposed community at 1255 The Queensway could take shape.
The designs show the development would spread across six development blocks and contain two public parks, in addition to a number of new roadways. The blocks are generally laid out in a backwards C shape, with blocks C, A, and B flowing west to east along the north half of the site, Block D in the middle-east of the site, and blocks F and E located in the southeast corner. Directly to the west of Block D would be the smaller 10,910-sq.-ft Park B, while the larger 97,359-sq.-ft Park A would be located in the centre of the development.
As for the roads, the development would contain three new streets and one private road between blocks B and D. Street A would run north to south, connecting The Queensway to Caven Street after curving west, and Street C would jut south from Street A to provide access to blocks E and F. Street B would start at The Queensway and curve around Block A to connect with Street A.
As you move from the eastern edge of the site to Kipling Avenue, and from The Queensway in the north to the Gardiner Expressway, the building heights generally increase, with some of the tallest located directly on these major roadways. Block C, for example, fronts onto Kipling and would contain a 65- and 45-storey building with a five-storey podium, while blocks A and B front onto The Queensway and have significantly lower heights due to the lower-rise buildings located on the north side of the roadway.
Site layout/Studio JCI
Block A features a five-storey podium with a 12-storey element along The Queensway and 40- and 37-storey towers in the southern portion of the block. Similarly, Block B would have a 12-storey element in the north and 33- and 30-storey towers in the rear.
Moving to the eastern edge of the site, Block D would front onto the new Street A and private road and would contain the proposed elementary school with adjoining 26,199 sq. ft of outdoor space. This building would feature a two-story portion containing the nearly 50,000-sq.-ft school, a seven-storey podium, and 42- and 38-storey towers.
Finally, Block F would consist of a seven-storey podium with 42- and 48-storey towers fronting onto Street C, alongside Block E, which would contain three towers with heights of 55, 50, and 47 storeys atop a shared seven-storey podium with a one-storey element facing the Kipling Avenue onramp.
In terms of landscaping, planning materials envision nature-filled streetscapes and design elements, including tree-lined streets, public parks, hardscaped courtyards, planter boxes, and green roofs.
Looking ahead, the developer intends to move forward with a Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Application, at which time more detailed architectural and landscape renderings would be be released. While it's still early in the application process, the plans thus far for 1255 The Queensway seem they would completely transform the site, intensifying development in an emerging growth area and supplementing the housing needs of an expanding city with over 7,000 new units.
Canadian rents continued to slide in June, with the most pronounced declines reported in BC and Alberta and in Canada's largest cities. Driving the decline is a combination of low immigration and over supply leading to higher vacancy rates and longer vacancy terms, under which landlords are beginning to cave.
“Rent decreases at the national level have been mild so far, with the biggest declines mainly seen in the largest and most expensive cities," said Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation. "However, it appears that the softening in rents has begun to spread throughout most parts of the country.”
At the national level, rents fell 2.7% year over year to $2,125 in June, according to the latest rent report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. June marked the ninth month in a row to see annual decline, and the report reveals that sliding rents were driven largely by secondary market units.
The secondary market (i.e., not purpose-built rental apartment buildings) saw condo apartment rents fall 4.9% and single-family home and townhome rents drop 6.6%, while the primary market (purpose-built rental apartment units) experienced a lesser dip of 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Purpose-built rentals have also seen more marked growth over the past three years, with asking rents up 24.6%, compared to a 1.6% increase for condos and a 0.2% dip for homes and townhomes.
According to today's 2025 Mid-Year Rental Market Update from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), both purpose-built rental and secondary market landlords are struggling to fill units, but the latter group is more likely to respond by lowering rents while the former is more inclined to use measures like incentives to fill units, hence the discrepancy in year-over-year rent declines between purpose-built and non-purpose-built rentals. At the same time, CMHC reports that some operators have said they may need to lower rents in the coming years as they continue to compete with a well-supplied secondary rental market.
For now, purpose-built rental completions remain well above 10-year historical averages in most markets, creating a build up in supply. And meanwhile, immigration continues to slow, further driving down rental rates as newcomers, especially temporary foreign workers and international students, typically rent upon arriving in Canada as opposed owning.
According to CMHC, regions most impacted by slowing immigration include Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax, while international student caps are generally hitting marks in BC, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. In light of current realities, CMHC predicts vacancy rates will continue to climb over the course of 2025.
Coming back to the Rentals.ca and Urbanation data, BC and Alberta saw rents fall further than any other provinces last month, posting 3.1% year-over-year declines each, followed by Ontario at 2.3%. Meanwhile the Prairies were calling last month as rents in Saskatchewan jumped 4.2% year over year, making it the only province to see an annual increase.
On the municipal level, four out of Canada's six largest cities experienced yearly rent declines, with the exception of Edmonton and Ottawa, which both posted "modest increases" of 0.6% and 1%, respectively. Bringing up the rear, according to the report, were Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal at -7.9%, -7%, 4.7%, and 2.3%, respectively.
Across unit types, one- and two-bedrooms struggled the most in June, with both seeing rent drops of 3.5% year over year, while three-bedroom purpose-built apartments rose 4.4% year over year to an average of $2,755, which according to the rent report was the strongest performing segment last month.
Asking rent for shared accommodations continued to decline in June as well, with rents falling 5.1% annually to $939. In Ottawa, where there is a shift to more expensive co-living units, rents rose 12.8%, while Vancouver drove the overall decline with a 11.6% drop.
NorthStar Development's 40-unit Estrella rental project in Prince Rupert, BC.
Developer Gordon Wylie has worked on office buildings, all types of residential, real estate investment, and major shopping mall redevelopments, including project lead on the early iteration of Oakridge Mall during his tenure as Vice President, Development, for Ivanhoe Cambridge.
He was also key in the company’s purchase of Metrotown Centre, an expansion that helped transform Burnaby. Wylie says he’s always up for a challenge, and so it fits that he’s now one of the rare developers who’s embraced modular construction to bring desperately needed rental housing to BC’s northern city of Prince Rupert. The five-storey, 40-unit Estrella rental project is a test case for his company, NorthStar Development Corp., which handled the financing, development, and construction management of the new rental building. NorthStar builds office, retail, industrial, mixed use, and rental and condo housing, and partners with non-profits to deliver below-market housing.
NorthStar Development's 40-unit Estrella rental project in Prince Rupert, BC.
Volumetric housing, or modular, involves factory built, Canadian Standards Association approved, enclosed units that are transported to site. Some units even include built-in furnishings such as Murphy beds. Because they’re built precisely, often with machine tool automation and within a temperature-controlled factory setting, the modules are extremely energy efficient.
For Prince Rupert, NorthStar assembled a construction team that’s skilled in factory-built construction, and they’ve acquired the modules from a long-established factory based in Winkler, Manitoba. Within five days this month, the modules were stacked on the city-owned site, and the residences should be ready for occupancy by the year’s end, says Wylie.
“If we are going to tackle housing the way Carney is, we need to get greater efficiency, and that is through a bigger body of knowledge, of people who understand modular well,” says Wylie. “And scale is everything. If the government is pushing scale through their funding programs, then that will create an industry that becomes more efficient. We already have quality — we just need efficiency by scale.”
The Conservative Party of Canada has criticized the Liberals' plan, arguing that if prefabricated building was so much cheaper developers would have already been building that way.
NorthStar’s approach differs from the usual approach that developers take to modular, he says, which is to design a building and then try to adapt it to modular construction, bringing in a general contractor to cost it out. Ultimately, they deem the cost of modular too expensive.
“One of the reasons people don’t do modular is they find it too expensive, and they don’t understand it. It does take a deep dive to do it well,” says Wylie. But the conventional approach is inefficient, he says.
“Modular offers time efficiency, and that’s easy to get, but the cost efficiency is harder.
“Our approach was to deeply understand modular as a business and understand how we could deliver it at scale, by doing a smaller project like [the one in] Prince Rupert, to perfect our model. And so, our construction manager has a huge amount of experience in the industry building both at the factory level and on site. We were able to tender out the modular building once we had designed it with a set of modular experts, so we have consultants that only do modular. By taking that approach, we took out the middleman. That made it affordable.”
But there remain obstacles to growing the industry. One challenge is that conventional financing is released for each major phase of construction. That model doesn’t fit with a factory order that requires a hefty upfront payment. And only recently has the CMHC pivoted to allow loan insurance on modular construction, starting with the construction loan on a 90-unit modular apartment building in Lucan, Ontario, in the fall of 2023.
Wylie said the only way they could finance the Prince Rupert project, for example, was through BC Builds, a rental housing supply program that provides low-interest loans to developers. The idea is to develop on publicly owned land, such as the land owned by the city of Prince Rupert. NorthStar helped create the independent non-profit Aurora Housing Society, which has a board of non-profit and real estate professionals, and will be the owner-operator of the Estrella. Some 20% of the building will be below-market rate.
Without the provincial program, it would have been impossible to get the financing, says Wylie.
“The CMHC in our opinion doesn’t have a good policy to finance modular. They need to address this,” he says. “And banks do not have a funding model to finance modular… The CMHC and banks need to recognize the funding model is different with modular because of the inherent product type.
“One big thing to understand is that it’s a product, not a building.”
At the time, CMHC wouldn’t finance the project at the factory stage. And without CMHC backing, lenders refuse funding because it’s too risky, says Wylie.
“You need to pay a large deposit… so we would have had to fund that with equity and then fund all the modular construction with equity.”
Ottawa-based Atul Bhatt is founder of the new ModuRisk Inc., a tech company that helps insurers and lenders underwrite risk in modular construction projects. Bhatt, who worked on housing innovation with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, hopes his start-up will play a role in making the Carney government’s initiative a success.
“The problem is that the major developers have to put up too much upfront equity into factory development projects, because when the building construction happens in a factory, beyond the foundation, the developer will not get money from the lender,” he says. “Or the CMHC insurance will not be available for the progress, because the progress is all in a factory.
“Every bank underwriter in Canada will need to learn how to vet a modular project,” says Bhatt.
Also, varying building codes between provinces makes it difficult to use standardized modular units across Canada. Antonio Manchisi is pre-construction manager for a UK-based designer and manufacturer of modular balcony cassettes, called Sapphire Balconies. He is working on several projects in Canada, such as Vancouver’s modular affordable housing community, the 123-unit Vienna House.
“We have disjointed building codes all around Canada. It’s hard for a company to modify, to standardize and become modular with components nationally,” says Manchisi. “A proper national building code that’s not amended by locale is a big deal. When we talk about the $25 billion, let’s set aside a couple of bucks to fix the building codes. If you can do that, you unlock broader adoption across the board.”
A rendering of Vienna House in Vancouver
And the other obstacle that’s been around since factories started churning out pre-built homes is public bias about the look of them. Modular housing has come a long way over the years, says Manchisi.
“It’s not the 1980s concrete boxes anymore,” he says.
“Vienna House has three different[ly] sized balconies, three different aesthetics, and all three are modular,” he says. “We are building the same thing over and over again, but it looks different on the outside and everybody loves it,” says Manchisi.
Japan and European countries have been building innovative modular designs for years, and YouTube is full of time-lapse videos of buildings going up within hours. Canada just needs to adapt its policies and its financing systems to a way of construction that saves time, is less wasteful, offers greater energy efficiency, and could help address the supply issue while growing a Canadian manufacturing industry.
Market researcher David Eger, Altus Group’s Vice President for Western Canada, said that concurrent with the $25 billion, government should also open up large tracts of easy-to-develop land parcels in good locations; reduce requirements for consultant reports and studies; fast-track infrastructure for the servicing of the new developments; streamline building standards and approvals; and incentivize developers to build lower-priced but high quality housing.
I believe we may eventually see other larger developers, like Mattamy Homes, build their own modular factories in order to speed delivery and reduce costs for their own projects,” said Eger, in an email. “With Mattamy Homes owning their own factory, they can control all aspects of design, quality, and delivery timelines.
“Of course, large developers will only do this if they can be certain it benefits the overall bottom line.”
Rendering of 1911 Finch Avenue West/BDP Quadrangle
A fixture of Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood for upwards of 50 years, Jane Finch Mall has seen its fair share of change, from updated stores and restaurants to the addition of new grocery offerings to meet the evolving needs of the community. And it’s in for its biggest transformation yet. In the coming decades, the property at 1911 Finch Avenue West will be redeveloped into seven mixed-use blocks with a dozen new mid- to high-rise buildings and over 4,600 new residential units.
The proposed redevelopment, which comes from an affiliate of Southdown Builders Brad-Jay Investments Ltd., got the City's go-ahead in August 2024, around eight months after the company filed plans for Phase 1 of the master plan. Most recently, Brad-Jay has announced that they have brought on prominent investment and development company Hullmark to see the transformation through. The project will join similarly ambitious development endeavours in the company’s portfolio, including Beltline Yards, a master-plan community in the works from Hullmark and BGO.
Towers planned for phases 1 (outlined in pink) and 2 (outlined in brown) of the proposal/BDP Quadrangle
Concept plan/BDP Quadrangle
In a press release from Monday, Brad-Jay revealed that Hullmark has “acquired a minority interest in the Jane Finch Mall property,” and “will act as the Master Development Manager for the project.”
"We've been clear from the beginning that we will take the time needed to find the right partner, and we found that in Hullmark," said Jay Feldman, CEO of Brad-Jay, in the release. "Hullmark brings deep experience in thoughtful, community-minded urban development. We're looking forward to working collaboratively in the years ahead to help shape the future of this site in a way that reflects the needs and aspirations of the Jane Finch community."
"My grandfather, Murphy Hull, played a key role in establishing this neighbourhood — helping bring York Finch General Hospital to life and leaving a lasting legacy in the community,” added Jeff Hull, President of Hullmark. “Today, that same spirit of long-term partnership and community focus inspires us. Taking a minority stake in this site reflects our belief in honouring the community's decades-long vision and building together for the next generation."
View of Jane Finch Crossroads Plaza looking south from Finch Avenue/BDP Quadrangle
View of Jane Finch Crossroads Plaza/BDP Quadrangle
While the Jane and Finch neighbourhood hasn't always had the rosiest reputation and has been known in the past for its high unemployment and crime rates, the development focus from companies like Brad-Jay is indicative of a promising future. The area has been long overdue for better public infrastructure, and the future Finch West Light Rail Transit is expected to answer that need, increasing connectivity from Jane-Finch to other segments of the city. Meanwhile, large-scale projects like the Jane Finch Mall redevelopment will bring new people and jobs to the neighbourhood.
As mentioned, Brad-Jay already has plans in place for the the first phase of the development, which is set to deliver six towers from 28 to 47 storeys in height to the northwest corner of of the site. The site covers around 3.2 hectares, is predominantly made up of surface parking, and is minutes away from the forthcoming Finch West LRT.
View of neighbourhood park looking west from Driftwood Avenue
View of neighbourhood child-care facility and park/BDP Quadrangle
According to a City report from March 2024, the towers would jointly contain 2730 new residential units — including 186 studios, 1439 one-bedrooms, 821 two-bedrooms, and 284 three-bedrooms, for around a 40% share of larger family-sized units — and around 61,010 sq. ft of non-residential gross floor area to accommodate 50,622 sq. ft of retail, 5,000 sq. ft of community space, and a 5,382-sq.-ft daycare. In addition, plans call for the creation of new streets, parks, and public spaces. Per the project website, most of Jane Finch Mall would be retained during the first phase — expected to last between 15 and 20 years — with around 26,909 sq. ft set to be demolished.
Renderings prepared by Toronto-based architectural firm BDP Quadrangle show the six towers that would be delivered through the first phase perched atop a series of mixed-use podiums ranging from two to eight storeys in height. Meanwhile, the base of the towers are shown with lush greenery, networks of walkways, and an open-air plaza. Some of the renderings additionally show four condo towers and two mid-rise buildings that will be delivered in a later phase, although the exact heights aren't specified.
Keep ReadingShow less
TRENDING: Hullmark To Manage Redevelopment Of Jane Finch Mall