In Toronto: COVID-19 have altered preferences in the housing market and one couple decides to stick with their 'tower' Toronto home.
Elsewhere: Canadian real estate breaks records in July, evictions are down across American cities, and the German housing exception.
Toronto
Nearly 1 in 3 Ontario home buyers say COVID-19 concerns have altered preferences: report (The Globe and Mail)
Around one-third of adults active in Ontario’s real estate market say that the pandemic has changed what they want in their next home, according to the Ontario Residential Real Estate Monitor’s July report, a collaboration between the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) and Nanos Research. The report surveyed 1,005 Ontarian adults active in the real estate market between June 26 and 30.
This Toronto couple listed their 5-storey ‘tower’ home for $2.2M so they could move to the country. Then COVID-19 hit (Toronto Star)
Now on the other side of what Dyck calls “lockdown, disbelief, sourdough and Netflix,” they have changed course. While others reconsider urban living in favour of more space outside the city, Dyck and Humphries have re-committed to their downtown location as a base for their expanding jewelry business.
This tiny Toronto house just sold for $800K over asking (CTV)
"There's still a huge trend towards getting a top urban location," Brown told CTV News Toronto on Thursday. "So, just ignore the fact that a bungalow is on there on the property and concentrate on the fact that this is land value."
The post-pandemic future: Modular housing can end homelessness (Toronto Life)
This is just the beginning for Toronto. The current action plan includes a target of 1,000 modular homes by 2030. The city wants to speed up delivery of these new homes, which we’ll only be able to accomplish with further support from the federal and provincial governments. While broader action is still needed, the pandemic helped us realize what we can do in a relatively short time frame: a stronger and more resilient city—one where homelessness is a thing of the past.
Opposing groups demonstrate on same city street to express views on midtown homeless shelters (CBC)
"I think a primary concern with our group is to educate the people in this neighbourhood. They may have some concerns, which we don't want to be ignoring. However, we are in favour of people understanding the concerns of people who are experiencing issues with homelessness," Macnutt said.
Canada
Average Canadian house price rose 14% in year up to July, CREA says (CBC)
The July figure was 26 per cent higher than June's figure. July is not typically the busiest time of the year for home sales, but as it has with just about everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the old ways out the window.'
Torrid rate': Canadian real estate breaks records in July (Yahoo)
The country’s three largest markets led the way in month-over-month gains. The Greater Toronto Area was up 49.5 per cent, Greater Vancouver was next at 43.9 per cent, followed by 39.1 per cent in Montreal.
Immigration to Canada Drops 64%, Threatening Economic Growth (Bloomberg)
The country accepted only 34,260 permanent residents in the three months through June, with border closures still in place to curb the spread of Covid-19, according to the latest government data. That compares with 94,275 in the same period last year, representing a drop of 64%.
USA
Across American Cities, Evictions Are Down (City Lab)
Rent collections at the 13 single-family homes that Love owns were down 30% over the course of the pandemic before he was forced to sell one. Under federal and state rent protections, Love could have filed an eviction at any point, though he would have to wait for it to be processed under a Florida moratorium. So far, he hasn’t taken that step.
There's a record number of vacant rental apartments in Manhattan (Yahoo)
“In the beginning of March, April, we saw a tremendous outbound migration. About over 400,000 people left Manhattan, 40% of the occupants, essentially,” Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, which prepared the report for New York City residential brokerage Douglas Elliman, told Yahoo Finance. Renters in Manhattan “became first-time buyers, they lived with relatives, they rented — they did anything but come into the city,” he said.
For Japanese-Americans, Housing Injustices Outlived Internment (NY Times)
The public sentiment that had driven the decision to remove Japanese-Americans from the West Coast in 1942 hadn’t miraculously disappeared. Los Angeles County refused to hire Japanese-Americans until 90 days after the end of the war, and private-sector discrimination led to former shop owners becoming domestic servants, Robinson said.
International
The German housing-market exception (Financial Times)
After a temporary “eerie silence” on property websites during Germany’s lockdown, the Duncans are again scouring the internet for their own place in Hamburg, where they moved last year. But any hopes they had of capitalising on a flat market or other buyers’ uncertainty have been abandoned.
Millions in India face eviction amid coronavirus recovery push (Reuters)
Thousands of people were evicted across India during lockdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic, with millions more at risk of being uprooted as the authorities push infrastructure projects to spur economic growth, housing rights campaigners said.
Top Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images
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August 21, 2020
This Week In Real Estate |