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: Is it cheaper to buy a house than a condo in the GTA, Toronto and Vancouver move in drastically different directions and a transit miracle on King Street.
Elsewhere: Liberals drop pledge to waive GST for new rental-housing construction, Multigenerational households in the United States and tough sledding for Britons.
Toronto
Is it cheaper to buy a house than a condo in the GTA? This expert thinks so (BuzzBuzz News)
A transit miracle on King St. shows how it can work: Keenan (Toronto Star)
At least, for a start. Even on a partial holiday, there was still a lot of room for obvious improvement. It was interesting to get off the streetcar and observe from the sidewalk, where what was most noticeable was not how well the streetcars were moving but how oblivious to the road signs and markings motorists are.
Cancellation of 10-storey Toronto condo tower throws buyers back into pricey market (Financial Post)
The Museum FLTS condominium cancelled earlier this month is the latest condo project to be shelved. Developer Castlepoint Numa cited lengthy delays in obtaining the necessary approvals, building permits and, in turn, financing, as reasons for the halt.
Canada
Toronto, Vancouver housing markets move in drastically different directions (The Globe and Mail)
Greater Toronto Area home sales fell 27 per cent in October compared with a year earlier, while Greater Vancouver saw home sales climb 35 per cent in October on an annual basis, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Liberals drop pledge to waive GST for new rental-housing construction (The Globe)
The federal government is dropping a campaign pledge to waive the GST on the construction of new rental units, claiming research has shown there are better ways to boost the supply of affordable housing.
Canada’s Housing Agency Targets Shadow Lenders as Debt Ratios Rise (Bloomberg)
“We are concerned about increasing levels of riskier mortgage activity by non-federally-regulated financial institutions," Siddall said in the text of a speech he gave in Montreal Tuesday. “We have a responsibility to isolate sound, solvent institutions from the contagion that can erupt when a lender fails."
Opinion: Surtax needed to bring fairness to Vancouver real estate (Vancouver Sun)
The NDP was largely elected in Metro Vancouver: Housing was the top issue in the election and the NDP promised to tackle foreign speculation with a property surtax. This is still early days for the new government, and they should make sure to design the surtax properly. But a lot is at stake. They can either do the principled thing they were elected to do or they can sell out many of their supporters and miss a generational shot at fixing our housing market.
Foreign buyers overlooking Vancouver, heading to Seattle at 'frenetic' pace (CBC)
"A lot of people who were looking in Vancouver are automatically looking further south now to Seattle," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist with Windermere Real Estate in Seattle.
November 17, 2017
This Week In Real Estate |