Our weekly round-up of real estate news in Toronto, across Canada and the world for the week ending November 18, 2016.
TORONTO
Toronto Condo Nominated for International Architecture Award (Metro)
A new condo development in Toronto has been nominated for one of the world’s most prestigious architecture awards. 12 Degrees, a midrise condo development near Queen and Beverley, is on the shortlist for World Architecture Festival, taking place this week in Berlin, Germany.
Councillor Proposes Earmarking Condo Development Fees for Downtown Infrastructure (Toronto Star)
With the city continuing to rubber stamp massive new residential developments in the downtown core, local councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has a message for her colleagues on council: show me the money. The Ward 27 councillor represents some of the fastest growing neighbourhoods in Toronto—18,200 condo units are planned or under construction on Yonge St. alone, between Dundas and Bloor—and says it’s time the downtown received its “fair share” of funding to support that density.
What You Need to Know About the Overseas Investors Scooping Up Toronto’s Skyline (Toronto Life)
Forget low interest rates and the lack of single-family homes. Agents and analysts are pinning Toronto’s real estate insanity on a new scapegoat: a wave of wealthy foreign investors who swoop into showings over Skype, toss cash around like Canadian Tire money and leave their luxury penthouses empty. They’ll do whatever it takes to call Toronto home—even if they never plan to set foot in the city. Who are they and how do they do it? Here, our everything guide to the buy-from-abroad phenomenon.
Ontario Increases Tax Refund for First Time Buyers (Globe & Mail)
Ontario will refund first-time home buyers up to $4,000 from the land-transfer tax, a small step to ease the pain of the exploding Toronto housing market.
The pocketbook measure may buy the governing Liberals some goodwill among younger middle-class voters, but observers dismissed it as a marginal move that will not really make it easier to break into the market. The refund takes effect Jan. 1, 2017.
CANADA
Zoocasa’s New Owner Aims to Make it the Uber of Real Estate (Financial Post)
Zoocasa, resurrected last year by Lauren Haw after it failed against the real estate establishment, now aspires to be the Uber of the Canadian housing market.
Haw, now CEO of Toronto-based Zoocasa, contends her team can disrupt the real estate industry by infusing technology into a multibillion-dollar agent-dependent model, with big-name players who have succeeded on the same formula for decades
Vancouver’s Housing Market Has Seen 42% Of Its Money Vanish (Huffington Post)
Six months ago, Toronto and Vancouver were Canada's twin hot housing markets.
Now, they couldn't look more different.
As Toronto and surrounding regions hit new heights, Greater Vancouver's market is crumbling. After peaking earlier this year, the amount of money flowing through it shrank by 42.1 per cent this October from the same month last year.
USA
Here’s How a Trump Presidency Could Impact Real Estate (Business Insider)
A number of clients have asked me how a Trump presidency could impact property values and real estate markets. Putting aside the politics of the election, real estate is a critical sector of the economy that affects buyers, sellers, renters, landlords and homeowners.
INTERNATIONAL
Chinese Home-Buying Frenzy Coming to a City Near You (Bloomberg)
If they were anywhere else in Beijing, the five young women in cowboy hats and matching red, white, and blue costumes would look wildly out of place. But here at the city’s biggest international property fair—a frenetic gathering of brokers, developers and other real estate professionals all jockeying for the attention of Chinese buyers—the quintet of wannabe Texans fits right in. As they promote Houston townhouses (“Yours for as little as $350,000!”), a Portugal contingent touts its Golden Visa program and the Australian delegation lures passersby with stuffed kangaroos.
