January 2013 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

GTA condo, new house price gap soars




Government policies are distorting the real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area, causing the price of new houses to rise by too much in relation to condos, a building industry group suggests.




The index price of new houses (including detached homes and townhouses) rose 16 per cent last year to a record high of $632,868 in the GTA, as buyers chased a dwindling supply, according to a report released Wednesday by real estate research firm RealNet Canada Inc. and the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), which represents developers and builders.





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[Ally]

Chamber site tracks and promotes Hamilton renewal




The problem with boosterism is that it runs the risk of a kind of reverse `Cry Wolf` failing; keep announcing that everything`s coming up roses often enough and people will walk right by your garden when it`s finally in full bloom.




The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce believes that the city`s downtown is, if not on a tear, then certainly on the rise. They want people to hear that story, but it ain`t easy getting everybody to listen.





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[Ally]

Confusion delays Hamilton decision on changing terms of convention centre deal




Councillors have deferred a decision to change the terms of a deal with the Carmen`s Group about running the Hamilton Convention Centre.




For the second time in the past several days, widespread confusion abounded about exactly what city staff and the Carmen`s Group were requesting. As a result, councillors voted unanimously Wednesday to send the issue back to the general issues committee.





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[Ally]

Groups lobby OMB to halt Hamilton aerotropolis expansion






Citizens` groups opposed to the Hamilton aerotropolis spent Wednesday at the Ontario Municipal Board expressing concerns about how industrial development around the airport will harm the sensitive rural ecology and add a crippling burden to city taxpayers.




`There is a minimum of 1,339 acres vacant or underutilized in other areas of the city,` Larry Pomerantz said on Wednesday, explaining why his Hamilton Civic League wants the OMB to stop the city from expanding its urban boundary to create `employment lands.`





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[Ally]

New house prices soared 16 per cent in GTA in 2012: Report




Provincial policies aimed at curbing urban sprawl played out big time in 2012, helping push the price of new single-family homes across the GTA up a record 16 per cent in a year, according to a new building industry report.




At the same time the index price of a brand new house reached an unprecedented $632,868 last year, sales of newly constructed detached, semis, row and townhouses dropped about 20 per cent, to their second-lowest levels since 2000, says the annual report released Wednesday by real estate research company RealNet Canada Inc. on behalf of GTA house and condo developers.





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[Ally]

Toronto condo market returned to normal in 2012




Sales of lowrise homes in 2012 plummeted to the second-lowest level since 2000, while the GTA condo market experienced its fourth best year on record, according to a report released this week by RealNet Canada Inc.




`We`re dealing with a detached reality,` notes RealNet president George Carras, who unveiled the 2012 housing market numbers at a joint press event with the Building, Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) in Woodbridge Wednesday morning.





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[Ally]

What will spring bring for Toronto real estate?




For now, anxious sellers in the Toronto real estate market who are hoping for a spring rebound seem evenly matched by optimistic buyers looking for a deal.




Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter looks at the Toronto housing market and sees a satisfying balance. But February is traditionally the month when the spring market revs up and Mr. Porter says any number of things could upset that balance ` and the tilt could go either way.



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[Ally]

Jen Keesmaat's big idea





If you`ve been paying attention to the battles over urban planning in Toronto over the last year, you may have noticed a slight shift in the debate: while tensions over sky-high towers continue unabated, some of the most notable fights in neighbourhoods around the city are over the more modest `mid-rise` developments`ones in the 5-10 storey range`that have, until now, made up a smaller share of development.





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[Ally]

In Toronto, an erratic real estate market leaves sellers and buyers scratching their heads




Of all the zany things happening in Toronto`s real estate market last week, perhaps the most mind-boggling was the melee that erupted over a pleasant yet unremarkable condo unit near Yonge and Davisville.




Seven parties leapt into the competition and pushed the sale price to $420,000 ` or 8 per cent above the asking price of $389,000.



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[Ally]

Ottawa, Ontario earmark $34 million for Toyota plant




The federal and Ontario governments will provide up to $34-million to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. to help the auto maker upgrade an assembly to make hybrid crossover utility vehicles.




The financing was announced at the company`s plant in Cambridge, Ont., on Wednesday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty and will apply to a project that will cost about $100-million.



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[Ally]

More office buildings needed in Toronto





Toronto`s downtown core is getting an injection of younger and better-educated dwellers, according to a TD Economics report.




Titled, `Toronto - A Return to the Core`, the report suggests that a large wave of Echo Boomers (age 20-39) have been making their way downtown in the last eight years to live, work and play.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Revitalizing the historic Connaught Hotel and historic Hamilton




Developers Valery Homes and Spallacci Group are poised to transform one of the city of Hamilton`s most iconic landmarks, the Royal Connaught Hotel, into a residential development that will reclaim a city block in the historic Gore Park district.





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[Ally]

Ontario firms bullish about own prospects, see glass half-full





Ontario businesses fret about lagging productivity, China and the province`s heavy debt burden.




But companies remain surprisingly upbeat about their own prospects and investment plans, according to a new survey being released Tuesday by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto.








Read the full article here.