Toronto Real Estate and Neighbourhoods Blog | Move Smartly

Is green roof bylaw valid or a cash grab?

Bob Aaron in Legal

Late last month, Toronto became the first city in North America to adopt a bylaw requiring the construction of green roofs on new developments. It comes into force Jan. 31, 2010.

A green roof is a system where a vegetated area becomes part of the building's roof. It includes plant life, a growing medium, a filter layer, a drainage layer, a root resistance layer and a waterproof membrane.

Under the new rules, a green roof will be required on all new buildings with more than 2,000 square metres of gross floor area. The area of the green roof will range from 20 per cent to 60 per cent of the roof, depending on the size of the development.

Green roofs have been used for years in Europe and the United States, but they are relatively new to Canada.

They are said to reduce stormwater runoff, energy consumption, the local ambient temperature and associated cooling costs. As well, they have been touted as beautifying the city, creating more green spaces and providing opportunities for food production.

Media Roundup June 26th 2009

Media Roundup

Real Estate News

Is Canada's housing market tanking or taking off? (National Post)

Don’t believe the housing hype (Macleans)

Pace of decline slows (National Post)

‘Irresistible' rates drive Canada's recovery (Globe and Mail)

Denial of MLS data key to landmark suit (Toronto Star)

Realtor violated listings agency rules, board says (Toronto Star)

Economic News

OECD says 'worst scenario' averted (Globe and Mail)

They could be weeds (National Post)

Converging Storms (National Post)

Urban Planning and Neighbourhoods

Toronto council finds money to save streetcar deal (National Post)

Streetcar deal led by parade of fools (Toronto Star)

Huge British studio takes on management of Toronto's Filmport (CBC)

Chinese drywall creating crisis

Bob Aaron in Legal

The issue of toxic Chinese drywall may well become the biggest environmental crisis to hit North American homeowners and builders in decades.

The defective Chinese drywall emits toxic hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and other gases. It is believed that humidity in the air causes the sulphur in the drywall to off-gas, or migrate into the indoor air. This creates a noxious odour, and can result in serious health conditions and illnesses, such as breathing problems, eye irritation, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, sore throat, bloody nose, and headaches.

When the sulphide gas comes into contact with normal home humidity, it gives off a rotten egg smell, and begins to corrode any exposed copper or lead in the home. Affected homeowners have reported blackened and scorched wiring behind wall plugs and switch plates, and corroded evaporator coils on air conditioning units. Light bulbs and fixtures may also stop working.

Appliances and other electrical equipment may fail prematurely, and personal jewelery and silverware as well as the wiring in cable televisions and converters can turn black.

Hundreds of millions of sheets of the defective drywall were imported into the United States between 2001 and 2007. It has been reported in as many as 14 states, and may have been used in an estimated 100,000 renovated and newly-built homes, with up to 40,000 in Florida alone.

Media Roundup June 19th, 2009

Media Roundup

Real Estate News

Canadian home resale prices rise to record in May (Reuters)

Real estate recovering, economists say (Globe and Mail)

Housing prices recovering: CREA (Globe and Mail)

Worst of real estate slump in Canada is over (Property Wire)

Condo resales are on a roll (Globe and Mail)

Pre-Approvals: A Dying Breed? (Canadian Mortgage Trends)

CMHC’s 2009 Mortgage Consumer Survey (Canadian Mortgage Trends)

A huge gamble on Markham Asian mall (Toronto Star)

Economic News

Household debt emerges as greatest risk to Canada's financial system (Globe and Mail)

Royal Bank forecasts 2.4% contraction (CBC)

Urban Planning and Neighbourhoods

Putting the garden back in the Gardiner (Globe and Mail)

How to fight the development NIMBYs (Toronto Star)

New global ranking confirms Toronto's status as comfortable, not sexy (National Post)

Vision of a transformed Entertainment District (National Post)

What Yonge and Bloor could be (Toronto Star)

 

Toronto Real Estate Sales Up 19 Per Cent in the First Half of June

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

From the Toronto Real Estate Board's Press Release:

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 5,185 transactions in the first half of June – an increase of 19 per cent compared to the same period last year.

"Households in the GTA have become more confident in purchasing a home over the past three months," said TREB President Maureen O’Neill. "Affordability, due in part to very low borrowing costs, has played a key role."

The average price for MLS® sales was $407,716, up by two per cent compared to last year. "Heightened interest in ownership housing this spring has solidified resale home prices," according to Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The number of home buyers has been high relative to the number of listings, pushing the average price above last year's level.”

 

John Pasalis is the Broker owner of Realosophy Realty Inc in Toronto. Email John

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Are you Still Waiting for Toronto’s Real Estate Market to Crash?

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

In August 2008 we ran a poll on our blog asking readers if Toronto would be spared a major real estate correction.  The Bears won the poll with 73% answering “Smart home owners should sell their houses now and start renting”.

A lot has happened since last August.  From October 2008 to February 2009, the peak of the financial crisis, real estate sales plummeted by almost 50% in Toronto with prices declining by as much as 10%.      A period with too many sellers and not enough buyers is very characteristic of a declining real estate market.

Since then we’ve seen a dramatic turnaround in the Toronto market.  We moved from a strong Buyer’s market in the winter to a strong Seller’s market in the spring.  Today, the demand from buyers outweighs the supply of homes from sellers and as a result we are seeing bidding wars for many Toronto homes.

In May 2009, real estate sales increased by 2% over the previous year, the first increase since December 2007.  I expect to see a double digit increase in sales for the first half of June 2009.

With sales clearly on the rise and bidding wars on many Toronto houses are the economists right when they say that the worst of Canada’s real estate slump is over? 

Related Posts

Toronto Real Estate: A Seller's Market

John Pasalis is the Broker owner of Realosophy Realty Inc in Toronto. Email John

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Canada's Real Estate Market Rebounds

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

From the Canadian Real Estate Association's Press Release:

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National resale housing market activity returned to pre-recession levels in May 2009. The rebound in activity is being led by an increase in transactions in some of the most expensive markets in the country, which is skewing the national average price upward.

According to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), actual (not seasonally adjusted) home sales via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) of Canadian real estate boards totaled 49,521 units in May 2009. This is less than one per cent below activity in the same month one year ago. Year-over-year declines have been shrinking since the beginning of the year.

The seasonal increase in activity continues to be stronger than normal. As a result, seasonally adjusted home sales rose eight per cent to 37,649 units in May compared to April. This marks the fourth consecutive monthly increase in seasonally adjusted activity. Seasonally adjusted activity in May was 43 per cent above where it stood in January 2009.

Seasonally adjusted sales were up on a monthly basis in about 70 per cent of local markets. Monthly activity gains in Toronto (nine per cent), Calgary (25 per cent), Montreal (10 per cent), Vancouver (eight per cent), and Edmonton (12 per cent) contributed most to the overall increase in monthly activity.

Case must be strong if you decide to sue lawyer

Bob Aaron in Legal

Sonia James learned the hard way that it's not always a good idea to sue your lawyer and blame your misfortunes on him or her.

In late 2002, James signed an agreement to buy a house under construction in Whitby. Just before closing the following September, two mortgage commitments were cancelled due to her poor credit rating.

Closing was postponed so that a new mortgage could be arranged. That mortgage, which eventually resulted in litigation, was for $232,000 with interest at 8 per cent for the first month, and 9 per cent for the rest of the one-year term.

Legal and brokerage fees came to about $3,600. Lender's fees on the mortgage were between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on when the mortgage was paid off. If the mortgage was renewed, the interest rate went up to 12 per cent, and a 5 per cent renewal fee was payable.

The year after closing, the mortgage went into arrears and the lenders sued James to recover payment of the outstanding loan. She, in turn, sued her lawyer, alleging that he deliberately sabotaged her ability to finance the purchase using traditional lenders.

Media Roundup June 12th, 2009

Media Roundup

Real Estate News

Too late to refinance your mortgage? (Globe and Mail)

Luxury home sales hit record high in Toronto in May (CTV)

Suit puts real estate fees in spotlight (Toronto Star)

The dominant multiple listing service (National Post)

Builders see hopeful signs (Toronto Star)

Construction on rise in upbeat sign (Globe and Mail)

Canada housing starts rise 9.2 percent in May (Reuters)

Home builders cut prices to spur sales (Globe and Mail)

Economic News

Bond markets bet rate rises on the way (Globe and Mail)

BoC will shift gears on rates: Scotiabank (Canada.com)

Urban Planning and Neighbourhoods

Sexy Simcoe WaveDeck Waves Hello (blogTO)

Simcoe Wavedeck opens ahead of schedule (Spacing)

East vs. West: It’s time to pick a side (National Post)

On Bloor Street, the debut of a building like no other (National Post) +

$65M PATH expansion raises hopes of waterfront-to-Bloor system (National Post)

How to create a legal second suite

Bob Aaron in Legal

One of the biggest mysteries of the local real estate market is the legality of basement apartments – also known as granny flats, in-law suites, accessory apartments or non-retrofit units.

Toronto bylaws permit basement apartments in all single detached and semi-detached homes, subject to certain requirements. Determining just what those requirements are, and whether any of the tens of thousands of basement apartments in Toronto are legal, is a tall order.

The City of Toronto has prepared a kit that provides information on how to create a legal second suite. It's available at the Access Toronto desk at municipal offices (or 416-338-0338). It's somewhat shy on the actual physical requirements, including unit size, fire protection, zoning, parking, window area, ceiling height, exit requirements, etc. Recently I came across a superb explanation of the basement apartment issue. It's on the website of Carson Dunlop, a well-known firm of home inspectors and consulting engineers (carsondunlop.com/OBS/basementRetrofit.htm).

The report starts off with the big Catch-22: "Homeowners with a basement apartment would like to find out what it would take to 'legalize' the apartment," it says, "but they want to find this out without tipping off the authorities."

The answer, according to Carson Dunlop, involves five issues:

• Do the local bylaws permit you to have a basement apartment?
• Does the apartment comply with the Fire Code?
• Does it comply with basic building code requirements?
• Does it comply with basic electrical safety requirements?
• Has the apartment been registered?