Toronto Real Estate Roundup - March 13 2015

Two of the three brokers who shut down their online service this week after receiving a threatening letter from the Toronto Real Estate Board have decided to get back in the game. 

The International Monetary Fund is raising red flags about Canada’s housing market, warning that moves by Ottawa in recent years to tighten mortgage lending standards and boost oversight of the country’s financial system haven’t gone far enough.

Vancouver's problem isn't high housing costs, it's stagnant incomes (BC Business)

Housing affordability has been a Vancouver preoccupation for three decades, and not without reason. High housing costs take a toll on the well-being of residents, on the texture of the city, and not least on the economy, by distorting labour markets and diverting capital from more productive investments. Following last November’s municipal elections, in which the cost of housing and associated ills bubbled to the forefront, the topic appears set to blossom as a major civic debate and may even precipitate action. Before that happens, there are a few misconceptions that should be cleared up.

In a broad show of support for increased scrutiny of foreign real estate buyers in the United States, 17 nonprofit organizations on Tuesday urged the Treasury Department to require that the real estate industry verify the identities of buyers and screen them for potential money-laundering risk.

Why America's Racial Wealth Gap Is Really a Homeownership Gap (City Lab)

People of color continue to face barriers to homeownership. They are less likely to own a home (below) and less likely to get returns from the homes they do own, says Catherine Ruetschlin, senior policy analyst at Demos, a public policy organization. Ruetschlin and her colleagues have authored a new report showing the extent to which inequality in homeownership drives the racial wealth gap, and how eliminating this disparity could significantly reduce U.S.wealth inequality.

US Mortgage Applications Dip, Housing Market Seeks Revival (Yahoo)

A 120-square-foot nook is nobody's dream apartment. A new housing development in Seoul built around such tiny units might,in fact, cause some folks nightmares. Yet the Songpa Micro-Housing project could totally work for people who don't mind the prospect of living as if they were suspended in a giant vat of bubble tea.

How do you fix a housing crisis in a time of austerity? (The Guardian)

Although housebuilding in England last year rose by 10% to 137,000, that figure is 25% down on 2007 levels. These numbers are just over half of what housing campaigners estimate we should be building to make a dent in the housing shortage. With big cuts to public investment in housing under the coalition – and little sign of a big pot of cash on the horizon after the general election – how can we get anywhere near the number of affordable homes we really need?