July 2012 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Toronto housing market frothy; new home prices rise in May




OTTAWA (Reuters) - Strong growth in Toronto's housing market helped push up the prices of new homes in Canada by 0.3 percent in May, a month before the government announced it was tightening mortgage rules, according to Statistics Canada data released on Thursday.




The Toronto-Oshawa area posted a 0.5 percent increase on a monthly basis and 5.5 percent on the year. The annual increase for all of Canada was 2.4 percent, slightly down from 2.5 percent the month before.





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[Ally]

Toronto's priority neighbourhoods: Money to stem poverty, violent crime about to dry up




In the seven years since Toronto`s deadly summer of the gun, an estimated $210 million has poured into 13 priority neighbourhoods across the city.




Violent crime is down.




Kids are picking up basketballs instead of guns and community hubs are built or planned in eight of the neighbourhoods.




Champions of Toronto`s strong neighbourhoods strategy are adamant it has sparked change and laid the groundwork for the future.





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[Ally]

RBC Pembina home location study




How much does affordability of neighbourhood influence your decision about where to live? If home price wasn't an issue, would you prefer to live in a more location-efficient neighbourhood? These and other questions form the basis of this study designed to examine preferences for home location attributes in the Greater Toronto Area.





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[Ally]

Ottawa women investing more than ever in real estate




More women than ever before are buying real estate, a trend that might be explained by increasingly equal pay for women, women who are putting off marriage, and a high divorce rate, says one local observer.




According to Sandra Perez Torres, senior market analyst at the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Ottawa`s employment picture is looking good for the coming year, with an expected rate increase of about two per cent. And that contributes to what she says is a healthy housing market, because stable employment means more people are able to buy.




Although Perez Torres says families headed by single women have an average yearly income of $41,529, as opposed to families headed by couples, whose income is an average of $96,000, Ottawa real estate agent Marnie Bennet says one in five real estate purchases are made by a woman, up from what she guesses might have been one in 20 a decade or so ago.





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[Ally]

New mortgage policy may create supply-demand issue in Toronto housing market




As new mortgage rules were introduced this year in order to cool down the red hot market, Toronto was highlighted as the most worrisome spot. This was largely due to the hot condominium market in the Greater Toronto Area. Despite the above average price in the area, the sales remained high up till now. In order to meet the rising demand, a huge number of units were built and many projects are still underway. However, Toronto Mortgage expert from Syndicate Mortgages indicates a serious danger sparked by the new mortgage rules.




While the stricter mortgage policy didn`t have an immediate impact on the mortgage rates as expected, it has greatly affected the market by reducing the number of buyers. With shorter amortization period and lenders being forced to make their criteria strict, a great number of buyers do not qualify for a mortgage. As a result, the number of buyers even in the GTA has reduced by a significant level.





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[Ally]

Ghost town in a city: Toronto military neighbourhood set to be dismantled to make way for condos






William Baker Park is like a ghost town. A whole row of empty houses sits with overflowing mailboxes and weathered, unused phone books on the porch. The only sound you can hear other than a passing airplane is the buzz of cicadas and the wind blowing through the thick canopy of mature trees. A deer sits peacefully on the grass between two houses. An emaciated tomcat slinks up a driveway nearby.




This is the last Canadian military housing area in Toronto. It is set to be bulldozed as early as this fall to make way for condos after the military completes its eviction process.





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[Ally]

Hot Toronto market lures sellers to cash in as Vancouver cools off





Toronto`s booming housing market is enticing more sellers to list their homes, but the flood of new listings is not dampening prices.




But in Vancouver, new sellers are increasingly scarce ` as prices in the once-overheated market show signs of weakness.




New listings jumped 12.3 per cent in Toronto over the 12 months leading up to June, as strong sales encouraged Sandra and Pete Davis in Toronto to put their home on the market.






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[Ally]

Toronto condo rents soar in the second quarter



"Strong condominium apartment completions over the past year resulted in many investor-held units being listed for rent in the second quarter,` said Toronto Real Estate Board President Ann Hannah. `While prospective renters did benefit from more choice compared to last year, market conditions remained tight enough to prompt annual average rent increases above the rate of inflation."




That`s good news for Toronto condo investors, worried about the possible super-saturation or rental units on a slowing market. But they still have some reason to be concerned.




The number of apartments listed for rent in the second quarter grew at a faster pace compared to the number of rental transactions -- up 15 per cent year-over-year.







That suggests rent increases may slow as Canada`s largest city heads in the fall.





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[Ally]

GTA realtors release mid-month resale figures




TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 18, 2012) - Greater Toronto REALTORSÂ reported 3,679 sales through the first 14 days of July 2012, representing a 5.6 per cent increase compared to the 3,484 sales reported for the same period in 2011. New listings were up by 14.4 per cent over the same time frame.




"Housing demand remained strong in the first half of July. Sales growth occurred in the regions surrounding the City of Toronto. In the City of Toronto, where sales were down, the relatively higher cost of home ownership likely prompted some buyers to purchase elsewhere in the GTA. Higher costs in the City of Toronto include the upfront payment of the additional land transfer tax," said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Ann Hannah.





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[Ally]

City or suburbs? Urban centres become more desirable




Does a commute to work dampen your dreams of a backyard? Does instant access to amenities win out over sharing a wall with your neighbours? With real estate sales in Canada's urban centres imploding, it could be an opportune time for potential home buyers to venture into the heart of the city. But the dollars you put down on your next abode, are just one of the many factors that will influence your purchase.




Eight-in-10 GTA residents (79 per cent) highlight affordability as being the major factor that influenced where they chose to live, according to an RBC-Pembina Institute study.





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[Ally]

Real estate advice: Toronto condo market gives renters plenty of choice and better prices




For the first time in more than a decade the GTA condo market is showing signs of slowing down. Bad news for those trying to sell their unit perhaps, but great news for renters.




There so many new units coming on stream, prices are softening. Many owners who bought them as investments may have no choice but to rent them out rather than sell. This means plenty of choice, room to bargain and better prices if you want to rent.





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[Ally]

Up on downsview park






The transformation of Downsview Park, with its new green spaces and housing, gets a lot less attention than the waterfront development, but it`s just as important to the city`s long-term growth and prosperity.




At about 320 acres, the park (bordered by Keele, Allen, Sheppard and roughly Wilson) includes a mix of terrains and a large body of water.But despite its proximity to the Downsview subway stop and the new line to come, it`s still considered by some to be isolated.





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[Ally]

Battle begins over prime Yonge-Wesley green site




The stage is set for a battle between the City of Toronto and private developers over two prime acres of provincial land at Yonge St. and Wellesley St. W.




Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray and city staff may bring a new park to the bustling area ` but only if they can persuade the province that trees trump profits.




The land, just west of Yonge St. and south of Wellesley St. W., is up for sale, meaning the city will have to compete for it against deep-pocketed developers.





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[Ally]

Toronto developer touts cottage condos within GO transit commute of city




Earl Rumm may go down in history not so much as the first developer to reinvent cottage living, but as the first to bring it within a GO Transit ride of Toronto.




But it`s doubtful he will be the last.




This fall his Markham-based company Geranium Corp. will launch sales of its boldly renamed Friday Harbour development on Lake Simcoe ` a $1.5 billion project which boasts a Doug Carrick-designed golf course, a hotel, mega-marina and 2,000 residential units.





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[Ally]

If Justin Trudeau likes the oil sands, why can't you?




Though certain anti-oil lobby groups make it seem like there are profound divisions in this country over the oil sands, the truth is that, historically, the responsible development of Canada's oil sands have been championed by both liberal and conservative governments. In fact, it's the Liberals, under Jean ChrÃtien, who deserve much of the credit for recognizing early the potential of the resource, and ensuring that government policies didn't impede the private sector development of the oil sands. The current Conservative government has only maintained the vision for the oil sands that the Liberals first hatched.




Liberals, as distant as they are right now from their old majority government days, still take the Canadian economy seriously. They are, of course, a party that plans -- and not necessarily unreasonably -- to govern this country again at some point. So it's worth noting that the man many expect to soon be leading the party is standing up for the oil sands.





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[Ally]

Condo sales still above average




Numbers may not lie, but they can certainly tell different versions of the truth.




Take the year-to-date sales numbers released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) for new homes and condos sold across the Greater Toronto Area between January and May. During that time, 8,924 new high-rise units were sold - down 22.4% from last year. Low-rise sales during the same period, though, were up 1.6%, at 8,040 sales.





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[Ally]

York Region condo market remains hot





The condominium apartment market in the GTA remains hot, despite a slowing trend in the second quarter of 2012.





The Toronto Real Estate Board reported today 6,435 condominium apartment transactions in the GTA during the second quarter of 2012.





That`s a 2.6-per-cent drop from 6,609 transactions reported in the second quarter of 2011.





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[Ally]

Redford's energy vision gains traction with premiers





Alberta Premier Alison Redford is quietly building support among her provincial colleagues for a national energy strategy, saying Canada`s prosperity hinges on forging a united front to exploit the country`s vast resource riches.




Ms. Redford has lined up the support of other premiers in Western Canada ahead of next week`s Council of the Federation meeting of provincial and territorial leaders in Halifax.






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[Ally]

Toronto condo prices to cool, not crash





TORONTO ` Prices will cool in Toronto`s booming condominium market in the year ahead, but concern about a bubble is overblown as demographics and strong investor demand will insulate the market from a crash, economists at Canada`s largest bank said on Tuesday.




The research department at Royal Bank of Canada waded into the debate over whether Toronto`s roaring real estate sector represents a bubble with a seven-page report predicting prices in the city`s condo market will cool by between 2% and 7% in the next year but will not collapse.








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[Ally]

Northern Ontario's housing market is booming





TORONTO ` Average Ontario home prices have risen 17% over the past four years, with the most significant growth seen in the province`s north, according to a report released Tuesday.




The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, which tracked home sale prices in Ontario between Jan. 1, 2008 and Jan. 1, 2012, said the figures are good news for Ontario homeowners as they suggest a strong real estate market.




`Increasing property values reflect positive economic circumstances,` said MPAC`s Chief Assessor Larry Hummel.





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