Ontario June 2011 Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Optimistic hiring expected for Kitchener and Cambridge





Exchange Magazine, June 15, 2011 ` Kitchener and Cambridge area employers expect an optimistic hiring climate for the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.







Survey data reveals that 25 per cent of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter (July to September), while two per cent anticipate cutbacks, stated Lane Burman of Manpower`s Kitchener office. Another 73 per cent of employers plan to maintain their current staffing levels for the upcoming quarter.







`Kitchener and Cambridge`s third quarter Net Employment Outlook of 23 per cent is an increase from the previous quarter when area employers reported an outlook of 22 per cent,` said Burman. `It is also a 10 percentage point increase from the outlook reported for the same time last year indicating a healthy hiring climate for the third quarter of 2011.`



Strengthened by an active Outlook in the Western Region, the national Net Employment Outlook for the upcoming quarter indicates a respectable hiring climate for the July to September time frame,` says Lori Procher, Vice President and General Manager for Manpower Canada. `Overall, Canadian employers are telling us that they plan to increase their payrolls during the upcoming summer months which is a good sign for job seekers. And looking at longer term hiring trends, compared to last year at this time, Outlooks are stable or improved.`







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Why it's crucial to invest in Scarborough




Depending on your point of view, the timing couldn`t be better ` or worse.




Thursday`s release of a new report on the inner suburbs of Scarborough comes at the same time as Toronto Mayor Doug, er, Rob Ford`s core services review. This from a politician who promised no service cuts. The city, he told voters, has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.




`We need to see the mayor do some work,` argues University of Toronto associate professor Deborah Cowen, who, with PhD student Vanessa Parlette, wrote the 80-page document. `He needs to go to the upper echelons of government to make sure that urban issues and Toronto issues are issues of national importance. The more we let him off the hook, the more we`re going to deepen the problem. And these problems aren`t just in Scarborough; they`re in Etobicoke, North York and communities across the inner suburbs.`




As the study found, these post-war highrise neighbourhoods have become the new face of poverty, and worse still, racialized poverty. Though planned for car-driving middle-class whites, they are now largely enclaves of low-income immigrants.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

MPP issues bill to address rent control exemption





After receiving a complaint from a constituent about a steep rent hike, Norm Sterling introduced a bill late last month to address a little known part of the Residential Tenancies Act that prevents rent control on properties constructed after 1991.



`Overall, the tenant protection legislation introduced by the Harris government is working well because it strikes a balance between protecting most tenants from unexpected increases while allowing landlords to increase the rent when one tenant moves out and a new tenant moves in,` says Sterling, MPP for Carleton-Mississippi Mills. `There is currently an exception for new units occupied after 1991. My bill (Bill 204), if passed, would eliminate that exemption.`




The issue came to Sterling`s attention when a constituent living in Almonte, about 50 kilometres west of Ottawa, complained about a 25 per cent increase levied by her landlord. She was shocked to learn that because her building was completed and first occupied after Nov. 1, 1991, her landlord could demand any increase, regardless of the maximum increase set out in the Rent Increase Guideline





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[Ally]

Boring project excites Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford




With the flip of a massive electrical switch, dignitaries from throughout the Greater Toronto Area launched a $2.6-billion subway boring project ` but not without a few puns first.




`I`m delighted today to acknowledge, for the first time in my career life, I`m about to deliver boring remarks, which are in fact very exciting,` cracked Peter Kent, federal minister of environment.





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[Ally]

Carney warns on housing markets




Mark Carney is issuing a sharp warning that the housing market may be overheating, as his ultra-low interest rates, combined with too much optimism on the part of buyers, fuels prices in the country`s hottest markets.




Even as growth in mortgage credit has started to slow and prices are expected to moderate, investment in residential properties nationwide is now near peak levels, Mr. Carney said in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Toronto condo sales set May record




The Greater Toronto Area condo market set a sales record for the second month in a row, with May sales up 37 per cent compared to a year ago.




Realnet Canada Inc. said there were 4,289 new homes and condos sold in May in the Greater Toronto Area, with sales of low-rise housing up 25 per cent and high-rise condos up a `whopping` 50 per cent.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

All signs pointing up: TREB



All signs were pointing up in the first part of June, according to the latest data released by TREB.





Both average selling price and the number of sales rose during the first two weeks of June; sales totalled 4,787, which represent a rise of 16% year-over-year. The average selling price was up 9%, resting at $477,853.





The spring has always been the busiest time in the resale market, but the results for May and the first two weeks of June represented a marked improvement over last year. Low mortgage rates have kept affordability in check and buyers have felt confident in paying for a home over the long term,` said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Bill Johnston.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Toronto condo sales set May record




The Greater Toronto Area condo market set a sales record for the second month in a row, with May sales up 37 per cent compared to a year ago.




Realnet Canada Inc. said there were 4,289 new homes and condos sold in May in the Greater Toronto Area, with sales of low-rise housing up 25 per cent and high-rise condos up a `whopping` 50 per cent.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Why Rob Ford won Toronto: Car lovers



Long plane rides can be a drag ` I`m on one as I type this between Ottawa and Vancouver en route to cover the NDP convention this weekend ` but having a few political science papers on the ol` hard drive to pass the time with sure helps.



And so it was that I finally had a chance to read a fascinating analysis of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford`s electoral success by Zack Taylor, a doctoral candidate in the department of political science at the University of Toronto. Taylor presented a paper [pdf] this spring to the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference and, while he cautions that the techniques he uses are `exploratory` and his analysis `preliminary`, it all smells about right to me.




Taylor is the first to use what he calls an `ecological` analysis of a municipal electoral event. Rather than take ward-by-ward or census tract data and match that to how the votes went, Taylor breaks it down further on a poll-by-poll basis and then uses GIS software to match poll data with a variety of economic, social, and geographic data to try to find some common characteristics about the kind of voter that swept the populist, small-c conservative Ford to victory over the big-name, big-spending, Bay Street favourite George Smitherman.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Want cheap housing? Move to Windsor




Executives or down-sizers looking to relocate to relocate their families in Canada would do well to avoid Vancouver and think Windsor.




The price of an average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Vancouver is $1.5 million, compared with only $144,456 in recession hit Windsor, a difference of more than $1.3 million according to realty company Coldwell Banker in a report released Wednesday.




Vancouver ranked as the third most expensive place in North America to buy a four-bedroom home, behind only California`s Newport Beach at $2.5 million and Pacific Palisades at $1.6 million.




The last year has seen an astounding 25.7 per cent increase in home appreciation in Vancouver, according to figures also released Wednesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Anxiety as condo sales hit record high




Are too many condominiums being built in Toronto?




Analysts have been sounding warning bells for more than a year that the market is being seriously overbuilt. But so far, sales and prices have been chugging merrily upward.




According to the Building, Industry and Land Development Association, last month was the best May ever for sales. High-rise sales are up by a staggering 50 per cent in May to 2,433 sales. This comes on the heels of an April that was also the best on record.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Toronto poised for Bollywood boom




If all goes according to plan, Hollywood North might soon become Bollywood West.




Toronto`s film industry is hoping that continuing talks between Canada and India will result in a federal co-production treaty that will bring more Bollywood production work here.




Discussions initially began between the two countries last September, but the arrival of the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) later this week is adding to the buzz. Film industry and government leaders from both countries are expected to continue negotiating at the IIFA Global Business Forum on June 24.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

BlackBerry's hometown down, but not out




WATERLOO ` The mood is grim in Thirsty`s, the tiny blue-collar pub across from Research In Motion`s low-rise block of manufacturing buildings.




Barmaid Debbie said a trio of workers came in Monday afternoon to drown their sorrows, among the first to pay the price as the BlackBerry maker trims fat to better compete with larger rivals spitting out more popular devices.




Yet in a gastro-bar a few blocks east, where white-collar RIM staff meet daily, owner Jody Palubiski shrugs off concern that RIM`s belt-tightening will hurt his sales.




`As much as RIM helps add to my business, whether my business is going to survive is up to me and how dedicated I am,` he said from a booth at the back of Wildcraft.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Unintended consequences of removing Toronto's land transfer tax





`We believe the mayor when he says he will get rid of the land transfer tax. He`s committed to doing that in his first term, and we fully support that,` Von Palmer told CRE Online. `But I think the mayor`s office has to be careful because once they start rolling out timelines, it can potentially affect people`s behaviour.`







Palmer said he`s seen indications that the removal of the tax could be part of the 2012 budget.







Real Estate Investment Network President Don Campbell agreed that city hall should be cautious when making this announcement, adding that if it`s made too early, it could cause some buyers to hold off from making a home purchase until the tax is completely phased out.







Those who`ve signed contracts for new homes still under construction would likely stall the closing process until the tax is eliminated, he added.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Ontario economic snapshot for June 24, 2011




TORONTO, ON, June 25, 2011/ Troy Media/ ` Retail sales in Ontario increased 0.4 per cent in April, partly rebounding from last month`s 0.8 per cent decline. Sales totalled $5.5 billion in (metro) Toronto in April, up 0.5 per cent from March. In the rest of the province, sales totalled $7.8 billion, up 0.4 per cent month-over-month. These figures are seasonally adjusted.






Consumer spending has been under pressure recently from rising household debt levels and a below potential rate of economic growth. Retail sales have been trending down in Ontario from a post-recession high in November last year. The trend has been up in metro Toronto although the rest of the province, in aggregate, has seen a declining trend since then.




Consumer spending in Ontario is higher this year than last, although the annual growth rate has slowed. In the first four months of 2011, retail sales totalled $47.7 billion, up $1.6 billion (3.6 per cent) from the same period last year. Year-to-date sales are up 4.9 per cent year-over-year in metro Toronto. In the rest of the province, sales are up 2.6 per cent on the same basis.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

New Toronto Real Estate Board policy will let consumers browse MLS data





The Toronto Real Estate Board has released a new policy it says will allow consumers to search information on the Multiple Listing Service. The new policy, which board members have 60 days to review, comes on the heels of the Competition Bureau suing TREB over "denying consumer choice," which includes stopping real estate agents from giving customers full access to the MLS database. TREB's virtual office website policy would allow members to use secure password-protected websites to access MLS data. "This policy demonstrates TREB's receptivity and responsiveness to new and innovative business models -improving the level of service for consumers and providing realtor members with greater flexibility," said Bill Johnston, president of TREB.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Geographer's ring alarm bell for Toronto's inner suburbs





A new report from the U of T Cities Centre says that without significant investment in infrastructure and community-building in Toronto's most precarious neighborhoods, the city's social geography is in danger of becoming permanently divided economically, as well as along the lines of race, ethnicity and immigration status.



"Social polarization and spatial segregation are clearly visible in the landscape, and our inner suburbs are home to more and more concentrated and racialized poverty," said Deborah Cowen, a professor of geography and co-author of Inner Suburbs at Stake: Investing in Social Infrastructure in Scarborough and the companion summary, Toronto's Inner Suburbs.




The report notes that the past 30 years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of low-income neighbourhoods in Toronto and there is an urgent need to invest in social infrastructure ` including transit, community services and public spaces ` in order to improve the quality of life in those neighbourhoods and to reverse the decades-long trend.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Montreal Moving Day: City a Renter's Paradise No More




MONTREAL - When Francesco Viglione began handling leases for a new 15-storey rental building, he received several inquiries from an unexpected group: buyers.




`They would ask us to make an exception, whether we could sell them an apartment,` recalled the 27-year-old vice-president of Viglione Properties, a family-based owner-operator of 350 rental units and 60,000 square feet of office and commercial space in St. LÃonard.




`They didn`t understand that you can`t just sell apartments like that.`




While condo construction is under way at a record-breaking pace in Montreal, new rental apartments ` like the recently completed Viglione II building on Jean Talon St. E. ` are such a rare sight they are occasionally mistaken as being `for sale.`





Read the full article here.