Realosophy Team in Media Roundup, Toronto Real Estate News
All you need to know regarding the housing market in Toronto, Canada and abroad.
This week in Toronto: The housing market may need a Vancouver style cooling, home prices are in line with other world cities and sticker shock sets in.
Elsewhere: Canada's big banks warn of housing market corrections, the U.S. housing crisis is a building crisis and OECD flags domestic speculation driving unsustainable housing price appreciation in Sydney, Australia.
Toronto
Toronto’s housing market may need a Vancouver-style cooling: RBC (The Globe and Mail)
In an interview, Royal Bank of Canada CEO Dave McKay said he has grown increasingly concerned about the country’s largest housing market, where average detached-home prices have soared more than 26 per cent in the past year, while condo prices have jumped more than 14.5 per cent.
Toronto’s home prices in line with other world cities (Toronto Star)
"In Toronto, I would say the majority of foreign interest on residential, especially high rise. . . It's families. They've got students in university here, they've got other relatives here, they've got one spouse here. They're buying additional residential real estate because they believe in the investment grade quality of the product," he said.
Sticker shock sets in (The Globe)
Scott Wilson of Bosley Real Estate made note of the sale for his Facebook followers. In no time, his casual mention had burgeoned into a fervent debate about Toronto’s real estate market, with neighbours, prospective buyers and other agents joining in.
Why Toronto's condo rental market is described as 'ridiculous' (CBC)
At the end of January, Nicole Meredith got a big, unpleasant surprise. The rent on her one-bedroom condo apartment in Queen West was jumping in just 90 days from $1,275 a month to $1,700 — a $425 spike. "It was totally shocking," says Meredith, 25.
Can anything be done to cool Toronto's hot rental market? (CBC)
A look at the data on the cost of renting in Toronto over the last 30 years shows other steep rises in rent in the late 80's and then again in the late 90's and early 2000's, she said in an interview.
What Toronto's average monthly rent of $1,800 gets you in cities Canada-wide (CBC)
For just shy of $1,800 per month, you can settle into a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, 535-square-foot unit in Yaletown in downtown Vancouver. According to the PadMapper listing, the unit includes a washer, dryer and dishwasher. The building amenities include a gym and playground.
Protecting purchase history data: What would virtual office websites do with it? (REM Online)
The brokerage’s desire to display the sold data, “(Is) rooted in this idea that the more information consumers have at their fingertips, the better decisions they can make,” says Pasalis.
Canada
Another of Canada’s big bank CEOs is warning about housing market corrections (Financial Post)
Brian Porter, who was asked about his outlook for the Canadian mortgage market during a conference call to discuss the bank’s first-quarter results, said he’s supportive of recent government changes introduced to reel in house price growth.
Canada’s banks are pushing back against taking on more mortgage risk (Financial Post)
“This submission has questioned whether a deductible is the most effective way to rebalance risks within the housing finance system,” the Canadian Bankers Association said in a report Tuesday. “The industry believes that policy alternatives should be considered to achieve the same ends, but are simpler and less disruptive to the existing lending structure.”
Homeless Find a Champion in Canada’s Medicine Hat (NY Times)
Medicine Hat is on the leading edge of a countrywide effort to end homelessness through the “housing first” strategy, developed nearly 25 years ago by a Canadian in New York by which anyone identified as homeless is offered a home without preconditions for sobriety and other self-improvement that keep many people on the street elsewhere.
USA
The Housing Crisis Is a Building Crisis (City Lab)
There’s at least one thing many urbanists and Donald Trump appear to agree about: America is indeed stuck in a building crisis. Its infrastructure is dilapidated and failing, and housing prices are surging in a superstar economy in part because we don’t build enough of it.
Ben Carson Is Confirmed as HUD Secretary (NY Times)
Mr. Carson’s views worry many of his critics who believe the federal government should be doing more, not less, for the nation’s cities, where glittering downtowns and increasingly gentrified neighborhoods are often surrounded by areas of poverty and violence, with predominantly residents of color.
Russia in Top Position for Miami Real Estate Second Month in a Row (Yahoo)
In an unprecedented situation, that has never before happened in history. Russia outranked all Latin American and International countries, searching for real estate in Miami, second month in a row, according to Miami Association of Realtors.