Toronto
Housing groups sue Facebook for allegedly allowing landlords, real estate companies to discriminate (Toronto Star)
Have you ever posted photos on Facebook of your kids at soccer practice? Have you talked about being a stay-at-home mom, the single parent of a toddler, or a disabled veteran? Have you ever “liked” Telemundo or written about learning English as a second language?
If any of the above are true, advertisers on Facebook may have been able to target you — or exclude you — from seeing housing ads, a new lawsuit alleges.
Toronto's Beaches becoming investor hot spot (Canadian Real Estate Magazine)
The Beaches in Toronto’s east end has so much growth potential that investors are taking note. And unlike the typical condo cluster downtown, the lifestyle the neighbourhood offers is as much a draw as the homes.
And according to Cara Hirsch, locals are leading the charge, with some purchasing units at WestBeach Condominiums.
Toronto And Vancouver See Cost Of Living Rise Over 20% Faster Than The Rest Of Canada (Better Dwelling)
First housing, now everything else. Statistics Canada (StatsCan) numbers show the cost of living is rising faster than anticipated. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a common measure of inflations, showed a huge jump over the past 12 months. This jump was spread across the country, but Toronto and Vancouver observed even higher than average increases.
The Consumer Price Index And The Cost Of Borrowing
CPI is the most widely used measure of inflation in Canada. They take a basket of goods and services, i.e. things the majority of people use, and track the changes in costs. When the CPI goes higher, it means the cost of living in Canada is rising. When it goes lower, it means the cost of living is getting lower (that doesn’t happen often). The number is then used to adjust the real value of wages, pensions, and most important – interest rates.
Canada
Foreign buyers are starting to drive up home prices in Quebec (Financial Post)
Foreign buyers of real estate in Quebec are putting “marginal” pressure on prices while still accounting for a tiny sliver of the market relative to Vancouver and Toronto, according to new data released by the French-speaking province.
Non-Canadian residents generated 1,307 property transactions in Quebec last year, representing 1 per cent of all deals, finance ministry documents show. That’s little changed from 2008, when they made up 0.8 per cent of the total. Foreigners mostly purchased high-end properties, averaging $559,000 (US$434,343) apiece, the finance ministry said Tuesday.
Benefits of cannabis legalization to spill over to real estate (Canadian Real Estate Magazine)
The latest study by real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle stated that prices of commercial real estate in all major Canadian provinces will almost certainly be pushed upward by marijuana legalization.
“We strongly believe that the legalization of marijuana will provide solid opportunities to the wider business community, especially in the commercial real estate sector. Less established players could look to lease some of the smaller, hard-to-rent spaces in order to gain more control over remodeling and design plans,” JLL wrote in its report titled “Fertile Ground for Canada’s Marijuana Industry”.
The best residential destinations for single-income households (Canadian Real Estate Magazine)
While Canadian residential property prices have trended upward in recent years, home ownership on a single income is still very much within the realm of possibility, according to the latest report from real estate portal Zoocasa.
In its most recent study, Zoocasa calculated the home-price-to-income ratio – that is, the indicator of how long it would take an owner to fully pay off their home if they contributed 100% of their annual income to shelter costs – in Canada’s major markets.
USA
Apartment Industry in U.S. Applauds Passage of Omnibus Spending Bill (World Property Journal)
The National Multifamily Housing Council and National Apartment Association issued the following statement on passage of the Omnibus Spending Bill this past week.
"The National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association applaud the passage of the Omnibus Spending Bill. This bipartisan legislation takes important steps to address the nation's affordable housing shortage.
U.S. Homebuyer Demand Index Fell 14 Percent in February (World Property Journal)
According to Redfin's latest Housing Demand Index, homebuyer demand in the U.S. fell 14.1 percent month over month to 110 in February 2018. This represents the lowest level of homebuyer demand in 11 months and the largest month-over-month decline on record for the Demand Index, for which Redfin has data going back to January 2013.
The Demand Index is based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers. The Demand Index is adjusted for Redfin's market share growth. A level of 100 represents the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.
Residential Rents Accelerating in US, Fastest Pace in 21 Months (World Property Journal)
According to the February 2018 Zillow Real Estate Market Report, residential median rent across the nation is accelerating at its fastest pace in 21 months. Over the past year, the median rent in the U.S. rose 2.8 percent to a Zillow Rent Index (ZRI) of $1,445.
The fastest appreciating rental markets are along the West Coast in Sacramento, Calif., Riverside, Calif., and Seattle. This is the seventh month in a row that Sacramento has topped the list of markets with the fastest rental growth. Median rent in Sacramento rose more than 8 percent since last February to a ZRI of $1,849.
International
Global Hotel Inventory Grows 18 Percent Over Last 10 Years (World Property Journal)
According to global hotel industry consultant STR, there are 184,299 hotels comprising 16,966,280 million rooms around the world in the first quarter of 2018. That number of rooms represents a 17.7% increase over the last 10 years.
"The hotel sector and its rate of return continue to attract real-estate investors--that is evident through the substantial growth in performance metrics and development we have seen over the past decade," said Robin Rossmann, STR's international managing director. "While the story is rarely the same for any two markets around the world, the industry as a whole continues to perform at robust levels, and we expect continued growth over the coming years."
Britain's Co-Living King Has Raised $400m To Take On WeWork In America (Forbes)
New York’s multibillion dollar property market will soon have a new challenger on the block.
British co-living property startup The Collective has revealed its bold plans to more than double the size of its portfolio with a huge expansion into the U.S. and Germany – a move that could place it among the largest co-living providers in the world.
New analysis suggests global prime property prices will depend on domestic economies (Property Wire)
Price growth in key global prime property markets will continue to be strongly linked to domestic economic performance and wealth creation in 2018, according to new research.
But buyers will need to monitor markets carefully for further policy interventions, which look set to increase in a new phase of higher interest rates, according to the analysis from international real estate firm Knight Frank.
