Our weekly round-up of real estate news in Toronto, across Canada and the world for the week ending Jan. 20, 2017.
TORONTO
Toronto condo buyers feeling the squeeze (Globe & Mail)
One of the big surprises of the resale market in 2016 in the Greater Toronto Area was the strength of the condo segment. The shortage of listings in the single-family home category persuaded many potential buyers to take another look at high-rise living.
The trend appears set to continue in 2017.
Downtown Toronto home appreciates 62% in two years (Toronto Star)
In a sign that Toronto’s real estate market is off to a hot start this year, a home on Palmerston Ave. north of Bloor St. near Bathurst St., has sold for 62 per cent more than the sellers paid two years ago.
The three-bedroom semi went for $1.375 million on Tuesday. In December 2014, it sold for a mere $851,750 — $523,250 less.
January is the best month to buy a house in Toronto: TheRedPin (Metro)
The choice of homes may be limited in the dead of winter, but consumers waiting for the hot spring market should know that January actually provides the best chance for snagging a bargain.
Seven years of sales data on about 650,000 Toronto-area transactions, shows Tuesday is probably the day this year when buyers will pay the least for a home, according to an analysis by TheRedPin real estate brokerage.
CANADA
CMHC to raise mortgage insurance premiums (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA—Canada’s federal housing agency is hiking the cost of mortgage loan insurance for homebuyers starting March 17, as part of new regulatory requirements requiring it to hold more capital to offset risks in the country’s red-hot real estate market.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday it doesn’t anticipate the increases will have a major impact on new home owners.
Councillors call for vacancy tax, foreign buyer tax in Victoria (CBC)
Two Victoria city councillors are calling on the province to extend the foreign home buyers tax to the capital region and grant municipalities the power to tax vacant homes.
Council is slated to debate the proposal by Coun. Ben Isitt and Coun. Jeremy Loveda at its next meeting on Jan. 19.
Still affordable to buy a home in Winnipeg (Winnipeg Sun)
Winnipeg remains among the most affordable cities in Canada in which to buy a home, with a large percentage of sales coming in below listing price, an industry gathering heard Wednesday.
Sales across the board hit a 10-year high in 2016 in a year that had the Conference Board of Canada “bullish” on Winnipeg as a marketplace, WinnipegRealtors director of public affairs Peter Squire told the annual gathering of local members.
USA
Why Donald Trump will be good for real estate developers (New York Post)
Having a New Yorker who is part of the city’s real estate industry become President of the United States could be a boon for the city — in spite of walkability and traffic snafus next to his office and home at Trump Tower.
The center of the tourist universe has already shifted to the blocks surrounding the tower at Fifth Avenue and East 56th Street which are now packed with gawkers, protestors, supporters, media and, yes, even shoppers.
Trump's childhood home in Queens (AM New York)
President-elect Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens was set to be auctioned off on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.
The five-bedroom Tudor, located at 85-15 Wareham Place in Jamaica Estates, is the same home listed on Trump’s birth certificate. Trump lived there until he was 4, when his family moved to a larger place on a neighboring block.
US housing starts up more than forecast in Dec (Business Times)
US homebuilding rebounded more than expected in December, suggesting that the housing market contributed to economic growth in the fourth quarter.
Housing starts jumped 11.3 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. November's starts were revised up to a 1.10 million-unit rate from the previously reported 1.09 million-unit pace.
INTERNATIONAL
China real estate billionaire's video takes shot at Trump (Forbes)
A new video by one of China’s most successful real estate billionaires has taken a shot at incoming U.S. president Donald Trump, though it doesn’t name Trump explicitly.
The annual year-end video by Soho China's chairman Pan Shiyi is cheerful for the first few minutes, highlighting the importance of the environment and advances from the Internet.
London's vanishing real estate market (Bloomberg)
Londoners are optimists, at least judging by what they think their houses are worth.
Asking prices for homes in the capital have held up remarkably despite Brexit and an increase in purchase tax, or stamp duty. In London, the average rose 1.4 percent in January from the year-earlier period, according to data released by property website Rightmove this week.
Dubai registers $3.27bn of real estate deals in January (Arabian Business)
Dubai Land Department (DLD) registered $3.27 billion (AED12 billion) worth of property deals in the first 15 days of 2017, it announced on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, DLD said total property transactions last year declined by 2.99 percent to $70.51 billion (AED259 billion) from $62.69 billion (AED267 billion).
