Home Prices Hit 13-Month High + Buyers Return To Market

Toronto: Home prices at 13-month high amid influx of buyers and Mayor's affordable housing plan misses the mark. 

Elsewhere: Housing affordability at a crisis level in Vancouver, what it will cost to fix New York's public housing and harsh new laws in Denmark's immigrant ghettos. 

Toronto

Toronto home prices at 13-month high amid influx of buyers (BNN Bloomberg)

"It is likely that issues surrounding the supply of listings will persist. This suggests that competition between buyers could increase, exerting increased upward pressure on home prices," said Toronto Real Estate Board Director of Market Analysis Jason Mercer in a release.

Toronto home sales jump most since 2004 as buyers return to market (Financial Post)

Toronto home sales jumped the most in more than a decade last month, a sign that Canada’s biggest housing market is rebounding from the chill brought on by tighter lending regulations and higher borrowing costs in the past few months.

This couple sold their Little Italy home for a small fortune and are living mortgage-free (Toronto Life)

Tiiu and Tarmo were living happily in a semi-detached home in Little Italy when they noticed a spate of remarkable sales on their street. In one case, a house’s value jumped $600,000 within three years.

Mayor’s affordable housing plan ‘missing the mark,’ advocates say (Toronto Star)

And even so-called “affordable” units are out of reach for most low- and moderate-income households, according to the report being released Thursday by ACORN Canada, an advocacy group representing low-income residents in nine cities, including Toronto.

Canada

Housing affordability at 'crisis level' in Canada's most expensive market, say economists (CBC)

Housing affordability in Canada's most expensive market — Vancouver — is at "crisis levels," according to a new study, which says the re-acceleration of home prices, along with higher interest rates, are "slamming" ownership costs again.

Lions player takes to Twitter for help navigating Vancouver's housing market (City News)

Jovan Olafioye has made a career out of protecting CFL quarterbacks from some of the league’s most fearsome pass-rushers, but this season, he felt like he was in danger of being sacked by Vancouver’s notoriously tough housing market.

Move over Toronto and Vancouver, Montreal the new hot housing market for Chinese real estate shoppers (Financial Post)

Montreal was the hot Canadian real estate market for Chinese nationals last year as interest slipped in Toronto and Vancouver following the introduction of foreign buyers taxes, says a report from a website for buyers of overseas properties.

Purplebricks expands into Canada through acquisition (Inman)

Purplebricks launched in the United Kingdom in 2014 and has since expanded to Australia and the United States, courting some controversy along the way with misleading advertising and marketing. It will enter its fourth country with the addition of DPCF.

A Place by a Lake or in the Woods: the Canada Letter (NY Times)

Cottages — I’ll stick with what they’re called around here — are big in Canada, if more prevalent in some parts of the country (like Manitoba) than others (much of British Columbia). And, unlike in much of the United States, going to a summer place is for blue-collar workers as well as for bankers.