Our weekly round-up of real estate news in Toronto, across Canada and the world for the week ending January 13, 2017.
TORONTO
Real estate industry pushing for increased supply in Toronto market (Globe & Mail)
Aspiring home buyers in the Greater Toronto Area who are wondering just how they’ll be able to afford to get into the real estate market in 2017 are going to find lots of industry players in their camp.
In 2016, it seemed that government tinkering, mortgage rate hikes and a few economic rough patches dragged down sales in many markets across the country while Toronto just shot farther into the stratosphere. Housing sales in the GTA hit a record for the second consecutive year.
Toronto man allowed to keep ship-shaped tree house (Toronto Star)
It turns out you can fight city hall, as long as you are trying to protect an elaborate ship-shaped tree house in your Toronto backyard.
Last June, a city committee ordered contractor John Alpeza to tear down the hulking $30,000 cedar playhouse he built in his Swansea yard over six years, for his boys Kristian, now 11, and Mateas, 9.
Toronto housing extends surge as Vancouver slump deepens (Globe & Mail)
Toronto’s housing market is chalking up fresh records as Vancouver’s slump deepens.
Toronto prices rose in December at a record pace of 19.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to the latest reading of the Teranet-National Bank home price index Thursday.
Toronto’s Trump Tower up for bids starting at $298 million (Toronto Star)
Commercial real estate company CBRE has officially launched the sell-off of the majority of Toronto’s troubled Trump International Hotel Tower and the Trump Residences at Bay and Adelaide Sts.
The sale being handled by receiver FTI Consulting Canada was approved by the courts on Jan. 4. It comprises 211 hotel and 74 residential units and the building’s retail space, including the spa, the Calvin bar and upscale America restaurant.
CANADA
New forecast says Vancouver home prices to drop in 2017 while Toronto still on the rise (Financial Post)
One of the country’s largest real estate companies says government policies may finally be derailing the Vancouver housing market despite the fact the city is forecast to have the strongest local economy in 2017.
Royal LePage Real Estate Services is calling for an 8.5 per cent price correction this year despite a forecast from the Conference Board of Canada which says British Columbia will lead the pack among municipalities in economic growth because of the construction, finance, insurance and transportation sectors.
Edmonton home prices performed worst in Canada in 2016 (Edmonton Sun)
Average home prices in the Edmonton region dropped more than in any other Canadian city last year, and 2017 doesn’t look much brighter, a new Royal LePage report shows.
During the last three months of 2016, the value of houses in the region declined 2.1 per cent to $378,247 compared to the same period the previous year, according to the real estate company’s national house price survey released Thursday.
Maritime home prices could rise as regional disparities in real estate market narrow in 2017 (The Chronicle Herald)
Royal LePage says the extreme regional disparities that characterized Canada’s real estate markets last year will narrow in 2017 as overheated areas cool and slower markets begin to gather steam.
In its latest report, the real estate company says this trend will be driven by lower prices in Greater Vancouver and strong but moderating price growth in the Greater Toronto Area.
USA
Nashville named as top market for real estate growth in the US in 2017 (Property Wire)
Nashville, Seattle, Orlando and Denver are named as among the top hottest real estate markets for 2017 in the United States with prices and rents expected to rise during the year.
Rising home values, low unemployment rates and strong income growth makes the Tennessee capital top of the list compiled by real estate firm Zillow, followed by Seattle, Provo in Utah and Orlando.
A new red flag for the housing market? (CBS)
With real estate still recovering in many parts of the country, here’s a trend housing experts say bears watching: the rising rate of deal failures.
Home sale transactions have been failing at an increasing rate across the U.S., according to new data from real estate tracking service Trulia. In the fourth quarter, the failure rate on residential property sales rose to 4.3 per cent, compared with 1.4 percent two years earlier. On an annual basis, the failure rate has almost doubled, rising from 2.1 percent in 2015 to 3.9 per cent last year.
INTERNATIONAL
Even Donald Trump building isn't immune to India's real estate woes (Business Standard)
After trying for four months to sell his apartment in a western suburb of Mumbai, Meher Verma decided to cut the price by 10 per cent. With property demand plummeting in the wake of November’s sudden ban on high-denomination notes, he’s not sure the reduction will do the trick.
“I was hoping to sell my house soon,” said Verma, who put his two-bedroom property in Andheri on the market for $400,000 in September. “Now it looks like I might have to cut my price or wait much longer for the market to improve.”
Russians flock to U.S. real estate after Trump victory (CNN)
The number of Russians who have expressed interest in buying luxury properties in the U.S. has spiked by 35 per cent over the previous year following the billionaire's win, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.
Knight Frank said Russians are interested in vacation homes as well as investment properties. Nearly all are looking to spend between $500,000 and $5 million on a residential property, while 10% are hoping to buy commercial real estate.
