police say organized crime groups involved, crimes tied to identity theft Real-estate title fraud — a bizarre practice where scammers steal a person's identity to refinance or sell their home without the homeowner even knowing — was one of CBC Toronto's most-read subjects of 2023. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg) In the spirit of looking back on 2023, CBC Toronto is revisiting some stories that captured our audience's attention the most. One of those, undoubtedly, was an inside look at real-estate title fraud — a bizarre practice where scammers steal a person's identity to refinance or sell their home without the homeowner even knowing. The practice first reared its head back in January, when Toronto police notified the public about a complex mortgage fraud investigation, where the homeowners left Canada for work and learned months later that their property had been sold. According to police, a man and a woman used fake identification to pose as the homeowners. They then hired a realtor who listed the house for sale. Later that month, CBC News reported on a similar instance, where a woman recounted how her great uncle moved into a long-term care home before running into what she called "the ultimate real estate nightmare." There, the family had learned that tenants who were going to rent the uncle's house had used fake identity documents and bogus references on their lease application, before someone posed as the 95-year-old and attempted to sell the home without the family ever knowing. Luckily, the family was able to put an end to the attempted scam before the house could be fraudulently sold. It later turned out these were not one-off instances. CBC Toronto learned that a handful of organized crime groups were behind frauds like these, in which at least 30 homes in the Greater Toronto Area were sold or mortgaged without the real owners' knowledge.  You can read an in-depth look at how this sort of crime can happen — involving stolen IDs and "stand-ins" posing as tenants and homeowners — right here. Police did make some arrests linked to cases like these this year. So how can you protect yourself from falling prey to this sort of scam? CBC Toronto laid it out for you in this story — including getting title insurance and knowing who you're dealing with. Seeing as stealing a person's identity is often the first step in title fraud, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre offers these tips for preventing identity theft: Be wary of who you share personal information with. Regularly check credit card reports, bank and credit card statements and report anything irregular. Shred documents containing personal information before placing them in the garbage. Limit mail theft by regularly retrieving mail. Notify the post office, financial institutions and other service providers of your new address when you move.

Another day, another newly built home is torched. Toronto Fire Services responded to a residential fire on Thursday morning around York Mills. The newly built, sprawling mansion, listed for sale at $14 million, was mostly lost by the time they could put the fire out. Toronto Police are now looking for four suspects caught on video torching the home to the ground.  Toronto Fire Services Respond To 2-Alarm Fire At York Mills Mansion On Thursday morning, Toronto Fire responded to a call at 27 Dempsey Crescent. The two-alarm blaze was so large, it required evacuating homes in the immediate area. They get the fire under control quickly, but accelerants were used and the fire had been burning for at least an hour before they were alerted. No one was injured, but not much of the home was left standing by the time it was out.  Mansion Burned Down Was Recently Listed For Sale At $14 Million The burned down mansion is currently on the market, listed for sale less than two months ago at $13.8 million. The sprawling 6+1 bedroom French chateau-style home had over 10,000 sqft, excluding the 3,000 sqft underground garage. The property’s listing was still up as of Friday morning, with a list price comparable to similar properties in the area.  Toronto Police Seek 4 Arsonists In Relation To The Fire Arriving in masks, hoodies, and carrying Jerry cans of gasoline—4 suspects set fire to the back of the home. They were caught on security cameras arriving at 4am in a dark Mercedes. Toronto Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.  Neighbor’s security camera catches 4 people fleeing the scene with gas cans. The home is owned by Realtor and homebuilder Alireza Afzaz, who told CP24 he has no idea why he was targeted.   Greater Toronto has recently experienced a string of new home arson. It’s become so common that earlier this month, a commercial insurer released a warning to home builders to take extra safety measures to reduce the chance of arson, even suggesting 24-hour guards—something not typically observed in Canada.

Variable rate borrowers have paid 63% more in interest than fixed over past two years Variable-rate mortgage borrowers have seen thousands go up in smoke as interest rates rose. PHOTO BY POSTMEDIA   Remember when variable-rate mortgages were all the rage.   Canadians have traditionally tended toward a fixed-rate, but when the Bank of Canada lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.25 per cent during the turmoil of the pandemic the popularity of the variable-rate soared.   Even as late as July, 2022, 57 per cent of mortgage quotes on comparison site RATESDOTCA were for variable-rate. “Variable-rate mortgages only surged in popularity when interest rates were rock-bottom during the pandemic,” said Victor Tran, RATESDOTCA mortgage expert.   Some may now be regretting that choice.   “As the Bank of Canada began hiking the overnight rate to combat rising inflation, this choice has cost these homeowners dearly. But by how much?.”   To find out RATESDOTCA compared the interest paid on a fixed-rate mortgage with a variable-rate over the past two years.   The study created two profiles for $500,000 mortgages taken out in the low-interest days of July 2021. Bob, as the study names him, took out at five-year variable-rate mortgage at 1.25 per cent, and Lucy took out a five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 1.99 per cent. Both had a 25-year amortization.   All was good until March of the following year when the central bank began raising its rate.   By May of 2022, Bob’s variable rate had risen to two per cent, surpassing Lucy’s fixed.   By December of that year, Bob’s mortgage rate had jumped to 5.25 per cent and he had paid $14,793 in cumulative interest — more than $1,000 more than Lucy had paid on her fixed-rate mortgage. Fast forward to September 2023. The Bank of Canada has hiked its rate 10 times, taking it to five per cent and the prime rate is 7.2 per cent. Bob’s mortgage rate has risen to six per cent and he has paid 63 per cent more in interest — $13,200 — on his variable-rate mortgage than Lucy paid on her fixed-rate.   In total that’s $33,968 in interest on the variable-rate mortgage and $20,768 on the fixed.   Bob’s monthly mortgage payments, which started at $1,941 a month in March 2022 went to $2,921 by March 2023. Lucy on a fixed-rate has paid $2,114 a month throughout.   The amount going to interest on Bob’s variable-rate loan soared from about $500 a month to more than $2,000, a fourfold increase in less than two years, said the study.   Moreover, the variable-rate borrower has paid $23,579 more in cumulative interest — a 227 per cent jump — than they would have had the Bank of Canada not raised its rate at all.   Mortgagors on variable-rates often have the option of switching to a fixed-rate, or even refinancing their loan. But the stop and go of central bank rate hikes this year has made decision-making more difficult. “For some, the benefits of variable rates, such as potential lower penalties compared to fixed, and the potential to gain from future rate decreases will be attractive,” said Tran.   That decision depends on the homeowner’s financial circumstances and where lending rates are when a mortgage is renewed, he added.   And sorry to say, there is always the chance the Bank of Canada will hike again.   The bank held its rate this month but left the option open. Hotter than expected inflation data this week did nothing to quiet the nerves.   After the data came out Tuesday, chances of an October hike doubled to 41 per cent with markets fully pricing in another increase by the first quarter of 2024, said mortgage analyst Robert McLister in his newsletter MortgageLogic.news. Cuts were off the table for the next 12 months.   The bank’s deputy governor Sharon Kozicki in a speech the same day said the “ups and downs” of inflation in the past couple of months “are not that unusual,” and there is evidence higher rates are working to cool the economy.   Her comments seemed to suggest policymakers were still comfortable with their decision to stay on the sidelines earlier this month. But as McLister points out, there is still another inflation report before the bank decides on rates on Oct. 25, and with oil prices surging, it could be another scorcher.   Behold the Federal Reserve ‘dot plot’ — it might not look like much but it can move markets. The Fed left its key interest rate unchanged yesterday at 5.25-to-5.50 per cent but as the projections in the quarterly chart above show, policymakers still expect one more hike this year. Each dot represents one Fed official including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, amounting to 19 individual anonymous projections. Twelve of 19 on the Federal Open Market Committee expect one more rate hike this year to be appropriate; seven favour holding rates steady.   The dot plot also shows that Fed members expect rates to stay higher for longer as projections for 2024 and 2025 each rose by a half-percentage point. “The FOMC now expects to hold the policy rate about 50 bps higher by end-2025 than it expected in June,” said CIBC economist Ali Jaffery.

‘We’re seeing people stuck in the shelter system longer than we ever have,’ housing director says The city will invest millions more this year to help get people off Hamilton’s streets. And council has referred additional millions in potential efforts to tackle homelessness to next year’s budget talks. But that array of emergency fixes and longer-term initiatives won’t be enough to solve the deepening crisis, city staff say. “It’s a difficult solution to arrive at, and I don’t have any quick wins for us,” housing director Michelle Baird told Wednesday’s general issues committee. A confluence of factors — lagging social-assistance rates, spiking rents, eroding affordable stock, enduring addiction and mental-health crises — has created “bottlenecks” in packed shelters. “We’re seeing people stuck in the shelter system longer than we ever have,” Baird said. Homelessness continues to surge in Hamilton, with 1,985 accessing services, such as shelters and drop-in centres, as of July 31 — an increase from 1,723 the month prior, a staff report notes. “Although some of the rise is as a result of data-cleaning issues, this increase is our largest month-over-month increase in the last year.” City politicians backed a series of immediate measures to respond to the problem: $4.1 million for emergency overflow hotel rooms for families; $600,000 for non-profit housing operator Indwell to provide support services to future tenants at CityHousing’s soon-to-open 24-unit building on King William Street; $2.3 million toward the construction of Indwell’s Acorn Flats, a 23-unit affordable-housing complex for families on Robert Street; $876,000 for overnight drop-in centres this winter is up for discussion at Thursday’s emergency and community services committee. On Wednesday, city politicians also queued up for discussion millions more in potential initiatives in 2024 budget talks, including: $952,000 to keep operating 20 overflow beds in the women’s shelter system; $333,000 for support efforts to assist people make their way out of shelters; a $2-million boost in housing benefits to scale up a program to 500 households that helps cover rent in the private market. As well, city politicians approved “in principle” a $31-million commitment over three years to foster the creation of 200 supportive-housing units. That shows the city has “skin in the game” when it vies for funding from the provincial and federal governments to realize those projects, Mayor Andrea Horwath said. Hamilton is Home, a coalition of non-profits that includes Indwell, has told the city it can start building 418 supportive units if it has the city’s support in lining up senior government co-investment envelopes. Horwath noted she and other city officials recently pushed for those dollars at the Association for Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in London, Ont., and hopes to meet again soon with key ministers. During 2023 budget talks, council approved a $58.7-million spending plan to address homelessness. Of that, the province has a $27.9-million stake and the federal government $9.9 million, staff noted. Council later tapped an additional $22 million from reserves for homelessness and housing initiatives, bringing the total expenditure to about $80 million. But the potential for tens of millions more in coming budget talks has some councillors fretting about taxpayer sticker shock. In addition to the spectre of such an “unfavourable hit,” Coun. Tom Jackson noted he was “dismayed” to hear from staff that the millions of dollars in measures won’t spell the end of encampments in parks. Housing outreach and bylaw staff have started applying a new council-approved “protocol” that guides how the city should handle people who pitch tents in parks and other public spaces. It includes a limit of five tents per cluster and a host of spatial restrictions. Spending $4,200 a month to lodge someone in a hotel room isn’t ideal, but it’s a necessary “emergency safety net” amid a dearth of adequate supportive housing, said Baird, noting new units aren’t going to “happen overnight.” City politicians also backed up to $1 million in temporary emergency support for “urgent” staffing and program needs in Hamilton’s family shelter system. Good Shepherd, which operates the city’s sole family shelter, is operating at double its funded capacity. And since January, families were turned away 488 times, despite added hotel overflow space. “Hamilton is in the midst of an unprecedented family homelessness crisis, which demands an urgent and immediate response,” chief operating officer Katherine Kalinowski told council. “We’ve never experienced the demand for shelter space like it exists today in this community, or witnessed the level of desperation that we now see in families.” Shabeeh Ahmad, a director with the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, could attest to that. A lack of affordable housing has left families in the lurch with few options to get back on their feet, said Ahmad, who previously worked in the shelter system. “Of course, families are going to lose hope,” she said. “Our system is forcing people to suffer, adding to their trauma and pain.”

Housing markets may stagnate despite rate pause TORONTO - One Bay Street economist says it's unlikely the housing market will flare up, despite the Bank of Canada's decision to keep its key interest rate on hold on Wednesday. An economist says the housing market would not see a flare-up similar to the spring despite the Bank of Canada pausing on interest rates on Wednesday. A real estate sale sign is shown in a west-end Toronto neighbourhood Saturday, March 7, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy TORONTO - One Bay Street economist says it's unlikely the housing market will flare up, despite the Bank of Canada's decision to keep its key interest rate on hold on Wednesday. Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said softer job markets, new listings on the housing market and a restrictive mortgage market are all working against the housing market this fall. "The lowest mortgage rate available today would still be about (one percentage point) higher than the lowest rate we saw available back in the spring," Kavcic said in an interview. "That makes a big difference," he added. Earlier this year, Kavcic said, the market was expecting a recession, the bond market rallied and pulled the yields down. Those factors, combined with the Bank of Canada's pause on interest rate hikes, filtered through the mortgage market to heat up the real estate sector. "But right now, we're not getting that relief," he said. Kavcic said the Bank of Canada's decisions on interest rates affect the sentiment among the homebuyers and sellers. TORONTO - One Bay Street economist says it's unlikely the housing market will flare up, despite the Bank of Canada's decision to keep its key interest rate on hold on Wednesday. Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said softer job markets, new listings on the housing market and a restrictive mortgage market are all working against the housing market this fall. "The lowest mortgage rate available today would still be about (one percentage point) higher than the lowest rate we saw available back in the spring," Kavcic said in an interview "That makes a big difference," he added. Earlier this year, Kavcic said, the market was expecting a recession, the bond market rallied and pulled the yields down. Those factors, combined with the Bank of Canada's pause on interest rate hikes, filtered through the mortgage market to heat up the real estate sector. "But right now, we're not getting that relief," he said. Kavcic said the Bank of Canada's decisions on interest rates affect the sentiment among the homebuyers and sellers.   Bank of Canada keeps interest rate at 5% "The minute the Bank of Canada started to raise interest rates, the housing market went extremely quiet," he said. On the flip side, he added, the market strengthened overnight when the central bank paused its rate hikes in the spring (it then hiked by a quarter-percentage point in both June and July before holding steady once more on Wednesday). Kavcic said the Bank of Canada's decision could give a psychological boost to the real estate market again, but without the same mortgage rate relief seen earlier this year, it won't have the same effect. "I don't think it's going to translate as forcefully to the market picking up in the second half of the year," Kavcic said. In his opinion, the pause could give buyers more confidence psychologically, but the financing is not nearly as cheap as it was back in the spring. In a Re/Max report released Tuesday, 33 per cent of Canadians who were interested in buying and/or selling a property in the next 12 months said they would wait and see how interest rates play out. About half of the respondents said their decision to buy or sell a home would not change with the central bank's change in interest rates. Kavcic predicted high volumes of new listings this fall but that the prices will continue to struggle, stagnating the market for the rest of the year and well into 2024. Re/Max's forecast for fall showed the country's real estate market will soften with average home prices predicted to remain flat as the housing market deals with high interest rates and a lack of homes for sale. "The market has to adjust to these higher rates," Kavcic said. "There's not a whole lot of room for prices to move." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2023.

Blaming immigrants for the housing crisis in Canada is something that all political parties say they’re keen to avoid, yet there have already been risky remarks on that score, across the board, Susan Delacourt writes. Much has been made in recent years about how Canada has avoided the anti-immigration backlash that has arisen in other countries. Is that about to end, Susan Delacourt writes. If politicians in this country are going to be seized with housing in the coming months — as they are all promising — they’re going to have to learn to tread carefully around the minefield of immigration. Blaming immigrants for the housing crisis in Canada is something that all political parties say they’re keen to avoid, yet there have already been risky remarks on that score, across the board. And there will probably be more. New Housing Minister Sean Fraser embarked into that perilous territory a few weeks ago when he said Canada might need to crack down on universities attracting foreign students without the means to house them properly. Fraser, to be clear, said he wasn’t blaming the students and indeed stressed: “we have to be really, really careful that we don’t have a conversation that somehow blames newcomers for the housing challenges.” That didn’t stop Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre from accusing Justin Trudeau’s government of whipping up resentment against immigration. “I think Justin Trudeau would love Canadians to blame immigrants for the housing crisis that he has doubled. But immigrants are just following the rules that he put in place. So how can we blame them and not him?” Poilievre told reporters. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues to pin the housing crisis in his province — not to mention his Greenbelt scandal — on the desperate need to accommodate Ottawa’s abrupt increase to the number of newcomers to Canada.   If politicians in this country are going to be seized with housing in the coming months — as they are all promising — they’re going to have to learn to tread carefully around the minefield of immigration. Blaming immigrants for the housing crisis in Canada is something that all political parties say they’re keen to avoid, yet there have already been risky remarks on that score, across the board. And there will probably be more. New Housing Minister Sean Fraser embarked into that perilous territory a few weeks ago when he said Canada might need to crack down on universities attracting foreign students without the means to house them properly. Fraser, to be clear, said he wasn’t blaming the students and indeed stressed: “we have to be really, really careful that we don’t have a conversation that somehow blames newcomers for the housing challenges.” That didn’t stop Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre from accusing Justin Trudeau’s government of whipping up resentment against immigration. “I think Justin Trudeau would love Canadians to blame immigrants for the housing crisis that he has doubled. But immigrants are just following the rules that he put in place. So how can we blame them and not him?” Poilievre told reporters. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues to pin the housing crisis in his province — not to mention his Greenbelt scandal — on the desperate need to accommodate Ottawa’s abrupt increase to the number of newcomers to Canada. “I didn’t know the federal government was gonna bring in over 500,000 (newcomers),” Ford said at a testy news conference this week. “I didn’t get a phone call from the prime minister saying, ‘Surprise, surprise. We’re dropping these many people in your province and by the way, good luck, you deal with them.’” To hear Ford tell it at that news conference, most of the unhoused people in his province are people who weren’t born in Canada. He talked of a phone call he got from a new Canadian in danger of losing his house and about the refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in church basements. As my Queen’s Park columnist colleague Martin Regg Cohn put it, “if tolerance is truly his goal, the premier is playing with rhetorical fire … It’s not a dog whistle. It’s a bullhorn being blown from Ford’s bully pulpit.” Much has been made over recent years about how Canada has avoided the anti-immigration backlash that has arisen during the Brexit debate, not to mention Donald Trump’s rise to power in 2016 in the U.S. It is a testament to tolerance in this country, most certainly, as well as to the fact that political success has often hinged on who best can attract the cultural communities in Canada. That was part of Stephen Harper’s big break from opposition to power and then a majority from 2006 to 2015, and it was the flirtation with anti-immigrant sentiment (barbaric cultural practices) that helped get the Conservatives booted from power. Little wonder, then, that Poilievre walks quickly backward from any argument with the Liberals over immigration numbers. The current Conservative leader hasn’t minded lifting a few pages from Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada — globalist conspiracies included — but he hasn’t joined the “no mass immigration” chorus of the Bernier crowd. Trudeau was asked at the cabinet retreat last month in PEI whether he was worried about the housing crisis taking a dark turn into anti-immigration sentiment. He said the housing crisis also includes a labour shortage; that for every suggestion that Canada doesn’t have enough homes, there is the reply that Canada doesn’t have enough people to build them. “That’s why immigration remains a solution.” Most Canadians, or at least many of them, would say it’s possible to have a political debate this fall about housing without reopening a conversation into how many is too many when it comes to newcomers. But the foreign interference fixation, which dominated political debate in the first half of this year, bodes ill for that kind of optimism. At many points in that debate, one could well have concluded that Chinese interference was the only kind of meddling we should be worried about. Some Chinese Canadians expressed justified concern that the whole foreign meddling conversation was going to make any kind of political involvement from them suspect. I continue to wonder why there wasn’t similar outrage being voiced about Russian meddling or even Americans messing around in Canadian politics. This is all to say that when political debates get intense, as the housing one is shaping up to be, it can create collateral cultural damage. Right now, all the politicians are saying they can keep anti-immigration talk out of the housing crisis. We’ll see whether they’re up to that this fall.

40 per cent of respondents pointed the finger at the federal government and 32 per cent at their provincial government Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters in Cornwall, P.E.I., Monday, August 21, 2023. PHOTO BY DARREN CALABRESE/THE CANADIAN PRESS   Despite what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said recently, a new poll suggests 40 per cent of Canadians think his government is to blame for the country’s housing crisis. Leger surveyed 1,537 people between Aug. 18 and 20, asking a series of questions about the rising cost of housing and what should be done about it. When asked which level of government deserves the most blame for the crisis, 40 per cent of respondents pointed the finger at the federal government and 32 per cent at their provincial government. Just six per cent of those polled felt their municipal government was to blame and another 22 per cent said they were not sure. Renters were more likely to blame the province, while those who own their homes were inclined to blame the feds.   Trudeau was criticized by opposition parties and experts after he told reporters earlier this month that “housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility,” suggesting that the provinces and municipalities should step up.   Even so, this week the Liberal cabinet has been meeting with two experts who published a report on housing that sets out 10 recommendations for how the federal government could tackle the problem.   One of those is a national housing accord that would see all three levels of government agree to work with builders and non-profit agencies to co-ordinate their efforts. The government hasn’t detailed its plans yet but ministers at the meetings in Prince Edward Island have been clear that housing is a top priority. The Leger poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.   Overall, 95 per cent of respondents said the rising cost of rents and lack of affordable homes are serious problems.   And more than half of the people polled — 55 per cent — reported that they worried at least once or twice about being able to pay their own mortgage or rent in the last couple of months. That includes 16 per cent who say they worried “frequently’ about being able to make the payments.   Respondents from rural areas were most likely to say they never worried about paying their rent or mortgage, as were those over the age of 55.   People between the ages of 18 and 24 were most likely to fret, and the proportion of people worried was highest in cities. Regionally, Albertans and British Columbians were most likely to be concerned about making their payments, while Quebecers were least likely.   The poll also listed possible solutions governments could implement, and asked whether respondents agreed with them.   The top choices, with 79 per cent support each, were building more government-supplied housing and offering incentives to developers to build affordable homes. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents agreed with tightening rent controls, and 68 per cent said there should be income-based rent subsidies. The lowest support, 56 per cent, was for discouraging short-term rentals and offering homeowners incentives to provide rental suites, at 64 per cent.   Renters were more likely than homeowners to support each of those choices.   Overall, homeowners were less likely than renters to support any of the proposed solutions.   The poll also asked whether the 1,019 respondents who owned their homes had any available space to rent. Only five per cent said they do rent space out, with just one per cent saying they have a short-term rental space.   Fifteen per cent said they have a space that could be rented that is vacant, and another 15 per cent said they have space that could be turned into something rentable.  

Featured Image Credit: RMA Long Island IVF / Google Maps A man is suing a company after he returned to his land to see a house being built he had no idea about. Dr Daniel Kenigsberg bought the half-acre strip at 51 Sky Top Terrace in Connecticut back in 1991. Just outside of New Haven, the spot was close to the site of his childhood home, which his dad bought in 1953 for $5,000. However, what started out as a relatively innocuous purchase turned into an absolute nightmare when he was told by a close friend that some building work had begun on the parcel of land. Recalling the conversation, he told CT Insider: "I said, ‘I own that and I never sold it'. I was shocked." Intrigued by what was going on, during a trip to Long Island, Dr Kenigsberg decided to swing by and see what was going on. And when he arrived, he found construction underway on a huge house.   Dr Daniel Kenigsberg was stunned when he found a house on his land. Credit: Daniel Kenigsberg According to official records, the land was sold to 51 Sky Top Partners LLC for $350,000 back in October 2022. Dr Kenigsberg says he had absolutely nothing to do with the bogus sale and had no idea it was happening. He is now suing the firm involved on nine counts including trespass, statutory theft, and unfair trade practices. The lawsuit is seeking to make the sale of the land void and Dr Kenigsberg is looking for damages in the sum of $2 million. He is also demanding that the company in question removes 'any structures and/or materials from the Property and restore the Property to the condition that it was in prior to Defendants' trespass upon it'. According to a listing, the four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot house, which was valued at $1.45m, was subject to an offer following its listing back in March. Speaking about the bizarre case, Dr Kenigsberg said: "I'm angry that so many people were so negligent that this could have happened. "It's more than obnoxious — it's offensive and wrong." A four-bedroom house was built on Dr Kenigsberg's plot. Credit: Getty The lawsuit claims that a 'Daniel Kenigsberg', from Johannesburg, South Africa, had forged a power-of-attorney to steal real property. The power of attorney, it's claimed, was granted by Anthony Monelli of Trumbull, Connecticut. Gina Leto and Greg Bugaj of 51 Sky Top Partners have now said they too were the victim of a scam. A statement from 51 Sky Top Partners reads: "We learned to our shock and dismay that Kenigsberg, had not, in fact, sold the property to us. "Rather, a third-party had impersonated Kenigsberg and — through the carelessness and neglect of the various real estate professionals involved in the transaction — managed to list, market, and sell the property without anyone ever catching on." UNILAD has contacted representatives for 51 Sky Top Partners, Dr Kenigsberg, and Anthony Monelli.  

Large fires burning in Western Canada might last longer into fall, and even smolder through winter A firefighter from an Alaska smoke jumper unit uses a drip torch to set a planned ignition on a fire burning near a highway in northern British Columbia, Canada on July 11, 2023. The province is currently experiencing its most destructive fire season on record in terms of area burned. (Jesse Winter) The wildfire records in Western Canada just keep falling.First, this spring was the most destructive in Alberta's history in terms of area burned. Now, it's the province's most destructive year on record, with more than 1.7 million hectares blackened and charred by nearly 900 fires.  Just two weeks ago, British Columbia blazed past its annual record for area scorched. Right now, the biggest of the nearly 500 fires raging across the landscape has burned an area larger than Prince Edward Island, breaking yet another record for the size of a single fire.  Mike Flannigan, a fire science expert at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., describes this year as "uncharted territory."  "We've never seen fire like this in our modern record," he told CBC News in a recent interview. Keep in mind: It's only the middle of summer. There are months left for wildfires to burn.As the toxic smoke from these fires drifts across the continent, at times creating the worst air quality conditions on the planet, experts say that fire seasons in places like Alberta and B.C. are sparking earlier in the spring and burning longer into fall. This, in turn, is changing how provincial governments are planning to fight and prevent them. 'Fire year' According to Flannigan, this new reality brought about by climate change may soon have Alberta facing a "never-ending fire season."  "People in California don't use the term fire season anymore, they call it 'fire year,'" he said."To be honest, Alberta is close to that." Indeed, recent years have seen flames hibernate in the soil over winter, smoldering beneath the snow for months, only to re-emerge in dry vegetation come spring. That's what happened in the Fort McMurray fire, which started in spring 2016 and wasn't declared out until the following summer.  More recently, the shift to an El Niño weather pattern is increasing the chances that an already water-starved Alberta experiences drier-than-normal and warmer-than-normal conditions come fall and winter.  The Donnie Creek wildfire is burning north of Fort St. John, B.C. This massive blaze has scorched almost 6,000 square kilometres of land. (B.C. Wildfire Service) Ellen Whitman, an Edmonton-based forest fire research scientist with Natural Resources Canada, says Alberta has historically had fires in every month of the year.  "Even in December, we have some famous examples when there wasn't very much snow," she said.  What's changing now, Whitman explained, is that the increasingly hotter conditions in tinder-dry forests have led to wildfires becoming more destructive, even as the overall number of ignitions hasn't changed much over the years.  "It's really the weather conditions that are allowing these events to become so extreme," she said. B.C. hiring more year-round staff This increased threat of destructive wildfires has officials in B.C. changing their response.  "We're going through huge changes right now as an organization because of the current climate," said David Greer, director of strategic engagement and partnerships for B.C. Wildfire Service. "It's happening very quickly in real time." Last year, the agency got a $243-million budget boost, an historic uplift to address wildfire prevention. One major investment was to hire over 100 permanent staff to work in year-round operations.  Wildfire fighter in B.C. dies on front lines of largest fire in province's history Some relief for residents as evacuation order reduced for wildfire burning near Osoyoos, B.C. According to Greer, these workers' duties include conducting prescribed burns and working with local communities on fire prevention and mitigation.  They can also be tapped to respond to other disasters, such as floods.  "It's such a shifting situation with the climate right now," Greer said. "Who knows, next year could be flooding and tons of precip, so we have to be ready for everything."  B.C. Wildfire is investing in hiring 100 permanent staff to work in year-round disaster operations. (Jesse Winter) Typically, during the warm months in Western Canada, B.C. and Alberta rely on armies of college-aged people to battle forest fires.  But with blazes burning beyond the confines of the academic break, it poses recruitment and staffing issues. What the new approach in B.C. offers, Greer said, is a clear path to a career fighting wildfires — something that wasn't available to him when he was a young firefighter decades ago.  "Our labour pool in the summer, a lot of that comes from university students, and it's time-limited," he said. "Then there's people that leave university, and they still want to work for [us]. So there's more opportunity now."In Alberta, there's a legislative fire season, which runs from March 1  to Oct. 31 each year. LISTEN: World on Fire Podcast Melissa Story, a spokesperson for Alberta Wildfire, says the agency hires over 700 wildland fire positions each season, with contracts able to be extended should fires linger late into fall.She said that the province also has roughly 300 year-round staff, a component of which respond to wildfires over winter.  What more destructive fires means for forests  Should the coming years continue to break wildfire records for total area burned, it could end up changing the look and nature of Western Canada's forests, possibly affecting industry and recreation.  According to Whitman, the forest fire researcher, if areas of Alberta's boreal forest are repeatedly devastated, the trees in those spaces could change from dense collections of conifers to more spaced-out broadleaf species.  "In some cases, these areas that are very severely burned in a very short time period could convert into a sort of grassland," she said.  "Those changes are going to affect the habitat on the landscape and the forests that are available for people to use." Like 'losing a family member': Firefighters mourn colleagues killed on the job Wind, hot dry weather fan flames of wildfires in B.C.'s Interior Still, Whitman noted that wildfires have shaped Canada's boreal forest for thousands of years, since the retreat of the glaciers that once covered Western Canada. In the short term, she said, recently burned woodland areas provide a reduced wildfire risk, which could potentially curb out-of-control fires on the landscape even at times when weather conditions are dangerously warm and dry. Flannigan, the fire scientist, said some agencies in North America are increasingly working with nature and letting large fires burn on the landscape, as long as they don't threaten communities or infrastructure. "We often cite area burned, because we have the numbers," he said. "But we should be really concentrating on impact." "Just because you have a lot of area burned isn't necessarily a bad thing, aside from the smoke, because the boreal forest, typically, has survived and thrived in a regime of semi-regular … high-intensity crown fires." In both B.C. and Alberta, wildfire agencies respond to every fire. While Alberta takes a "full suppression" approach, B.C. might simply monitor a fire, depending on its location and behaviour.   source: Cbc News 

The sudden surge in population over the past year is sending the province into unfamiliar territory since 2000 More than six million people are projected to live in Alberta by the end of the next decade as the economy zooms forward and the population boom continues. Newcomers to Alberta — from other provinces and other countries — are helping to fuel the province’s economic resurgence, filling thousands of vacant jobs. The population surge is also amplifying an economic conundrum that can’t be ignored: Alberta is seeing a housing crunch that is sparking hefty rent increases in several cities and pushing up home prices. And it’s happening while housing affordability, compared with other provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia, has remained a key draw into the province. “Housing supply is failing to keep up with population growth, putting pressure on house prices (especially in Calgary) and rents (across Alberta),” states an economic report released last week by the Business Council of Alberta. The business council, a group that represents the heads of more than 130 large companies across the province, wants to see more people attracted to Alberta, but also recognizes that a housing challenge is mounting and needs a broader discussion. It’s prepared a chart that illustrates the dilemma. Since the beginning of this century, the number of new houses built in Alberta has closely tracked population growth, except for a brief period of undersupply during the energy boom a decade ago, and oversupply when oil prices collapsed and at the start of the pandemic. However, the sudden surge in population over the past year is sending the province into unfamiliar territory since 2000. The business council estimates 20,000 households (each one representing about 2.6 people) moved to Alberta during the fourth quarter of 2022, and another 17,000 during the first three months of this year. Yet, only 7,000 to 8,000 new homes were completed during each three-month period. “The demand for new homes in Alberta is skyrocketing . . . There’s a gap there of roughly 10,000-plus homes being needed compared to homes being completed,” said council vice-president Scott Crockatt. “People moving to Alberta is fantastic. It is exactly what our economy needs. But the housing challenge is not going to go away if we ignore it, and it won’t solve itself.” After several years of losing people to other provinces last decade while the economy stumbled, the trend has reversed course. Alberta’s population grew by 165,000 people last year and topped 4.7 million earlier this year. The province added nearly 57,000 people between January and March. It has become a magnet for newcomers, many relocating to find work or attracted by the more affordable housing options, compared with eye-watering prices in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. But it’s also becoming tougher to find a place to live, with renters and homebuyers feeling the crunch first-hand. “In Calgary and in Alberta, we have an incredible shortage of housing,” said Christian Twomey, chair of the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB). “We are at inventory numbers that are so low, we have not seen (them) for a couple of decades now.” Last month, Alberta was the leader among provinces for annual growth in rents, according to a Rentals.ca report. Average rents for purpose-built and condo apartments shot up by 18 per cent to more than $1,550. In Calgary, average rents also jumped 18 per cent from a year earlier, exceeding $2,000 a month for the first time. Calgary is now the fourth-most expensive place to rent among the country’s biggest centres, although still well behind the average of $3,300 in Vancouver and $2,800 in Toronto. In Edmonton, rents have increased 14 per cent to average $1,368. For those facing hefty rent increases or looking for a new place to live, the search for shelter has become a frustrating exercise. Calgarian Krislyn Jagt received a rent increase slipped under the door of her two-bedroom apartment in Acadia earlier this year, effective in May. It ultimately pushed her monthly rent up to $1,580 from $1,375. “I was told that in order for (them) to stay competitive on the market, they had to implement rent increases to match what other units are going for,” she said in an interview. “I’m not planning on living in that apartment forever. I thought about the future and I thought about how this is making that dream of owning a home in Alberta more unattainable.” After unsuccessfully looking for another place, she agreed to accept the hike. Similar situations are unfolding across the province. In Edmonton, Jay Couling and her partner have been searching for a new place since May, but are facing a steep jump from their current rent. They’ve looked at about 30 different places. “The more I look, the more disheartened I’m becoming,” Couling said in an interview, after speaking at a news conference last week held by NDP Leader Rachel Notley to highlight housing concerns. “At this point, I’ve had to sit down and re-evaluate the budget multiple times.” According to a report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) in January, vacancies in the purpose-built rental market in Calgary fell to just 2.7 per cent earlier this year, its lowest point since 2014. “What we’re seeing right now in the community is a lot of panic, in terms of the ability to secure housing,” said Meaghon Reid, executive director of Vibrant Communities Calgary. “Even when people do have fairly sufficient income, that’s not enough anymore because there just isn’t sufficient supply.” Calgary in the midst of ‘extreme seller’s market’ It’s not just the rental market that’s escalating. The Calgary Real Estate Board reported record sales in June of 3,146 units, surging 11 per cent from a year ago. Even with 10 interest rate increases from the Bank of Canada since early 2022 to cool down inflation, the residential benchmark house price in Calgary climbed to $564,700 in June, up more than four per cent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale last month tumbled 36 per cent from a year ago, dropping to the lowest point in June in almost two decades. CREB‘s Twomey, a local realtor, calls it an “extreme seller’s market.” “All of the booms that Calgary has gone through before have been directly associated (with) the price of oil and gas. In this situation, that’s not the case,” he said. “There are simply not enough homes right now, not only in Calgary and not only in Alberta, but right across the country.” Alberta’s population is expected to keep growing, increasing by 2.5 per cent annually between last year and 2025, states the province’s latest population outlook forecast. With demand looking strong, the building of new homes hasn’t kept pace. Housing starts in the province dropped to 14,000 units in the first half of the year, down 18 per cent from the same time last year, CMHC reports. In Calgary, it’s remained flat year-over-year, although a number of larger apartment developments are moving forward. “With what we’re seeing with construction cost and interest rates, it’s definitely become a more challenging environment for developers to build,” said Michael Mak, a CMHC specialist in housing economics. “There are around 20,000 housing units under construction right now in Calgary and that’s at an all-time high . . . The vast, vast majority of that is in the apartment units.” Michael Brown, president of Trico Homes, noted the ability of the industry to build more homes has been constrained by a lack of available labour, including skilled tradespeople. The timeline to build a new home has improved, although it’s sitting just under a year, he noted. With migration levels into Calgary expected to remain strong, Brown expects robust demand for new homes will continue over the next five to seven years. “One thing I am quite concerned about is our actual ability of the industry itself to meet the demand of the new Calgarians and new Canadians coming in. We have a limited (amount) of labour,” he said. “It takes a person maybe one month to move into a community. It takes them a year to build a home. It’s just going to take us some time to catch up.” Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, who made an affordable housing announcement on Monday, said there’s no doubt Alberta is short housing, calling it a complex issue that will require diverse solutions. Nixon said the province’s focus on affordable housing may also need to expand, “to deal with more broader market issues in housing across the province, particularly in Calgary as we continue to see our economy surge, and more and more people move to our province.” The NDP has called for the provincial government to form an all-party committee to find solutions to address the housing crisis. Governments at all levels need to respond to housing challenges with various policies, such as opening up new areas for building, zoning property for lower-cost and multi-generational housing, and speeding up the municipal building-permit process, said economist Ron Kneebone of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. “Over 100,000 people in the next two or three years will be coming to this city and we better be prepared for it,” said Kneebone. “We are all in this together and we all have to talk about solutions.” Source by calgaryherald.com

Higher interest rates aren’t cooling Calgary’s hot housing market. The real estate firm told Global News not only is Calgary headed for another record-setting sales month in July, but many of the homes listed are also still receiving multiple offers. “We have no signs of a slowdown,” CIR realtor Melanie Cantius said. Cantius said while that is great news for sellers, buyers are facing some big challenges. Cantius said those challenges include homes being sold as soon as they’re listed and multiple bids that lead to bidding wars. “Gone are the days of being able to take your time to consider properties,” she said. The Fielder family didn’t have to try that many times, but did get shut out three times. “It was challenging,” Darren Fielder told Global News. “Things would go up on market and would be sold within a day.” The local teacher was looking for a home close to his current rental so his son could stay in the same school. He was also looking for a home under $400,000 — a tough find these days in Calgary. Fielder said he pulled out all of the stops on the fourth home he saw. He said they paid $25,000 over asking. “We also put $60,000 down as a down payment.” His aggressive approach worked. The Fielders got the home, just blocks from his current one and are set to move in next week. Fielder said the family is making a quick move but added his “hand was forced.” “We looked at everything, and anything,” he said. “We put bids on anything and everything — even if it wasn’t ideal.” Cantius helped seal the deal for the Fielders. She said this kind of competitive market can take many Calgarians by surprise. “Calgarians aren’t typically used to having to compete with a lot of people writing cash offers over asking price,” she said. “Calgary has kind of been like a little bubble where we’ve been able to have pretty static pricing.” But she said that has changed, especially with the rise of interest rates. “With the high interest rates, we’re seeing a lot of people not being able to afford their properties in the more expensive markets (across Canada). Calgary is very accessible, it’s a very appealing city, and it’s still affordable compared to a lot of other cities. So people are moving here because they can afford a really nice, quality lifestyle.” Her suggestion for those looking to buy a home? Get all of your financing and approvals in order, and most importantly get ready to bid. July’s final sales numbers will be released by the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) next week. Source by https://globalnews.ca/

The availability of office spaces in the downtown Calgary market rises but demand is sustained by employee attendance, leading to a vacancy rate of 28.5% Office vacancy rates in downtown Calgary have stabilized as employees return to in-person work. The stronger demand has pushed asking rents for A-class properties in the core to their highest level since the second quarter of 2015 — when oil prices collapsed — found a report by commercial real estate company JLL. The news comes as employers increasingly require employees to work from the office. Based on building access card data recently tracked by a landlord with Class A assets in the core, the report found between 65 and 70 per cent of employees attended office on Mondays. Attendance rises to between 75 and 85 per cent on Tuesdays through Thursdays, and dips to 65 to 70 per cent on Fridays. “Calgary has the highest return to office across North America,” said Mason Lam, vice-president at JLL. However, the return of workers hasn’t affected the city’s overall office vacancy, which is at 28.5 per cent — 0.2 percentage points lower than in the first quarter. But the overall trend heralds a brighter future for offices, according to Lam, who noted that as more employees return to work, nearby establishments flourish, energizing the economy. Greg Kwong, executive vice-president and regional managing director for CBRE, said the data shows the market for offices in Calgary has stopped bleeding. “I think the overall sentiment is that we’ve kind of stopped the decline into a higher vacancy,” he said. “Now we have to recover.” More office space taken up as availability rises Despite a lower vacancy, availability crept slightly higher. The availability rate in the second quarter stands at 21.4 per cent, 0.4 percentage points higher than in the first. Five floors at Western Canadian Place South and eight at AMEC Place recently arrived on the market, the report stated. Both spaces have been leased by Canadian oil giant Cenovus, which will sublease the two properties to help rightsize its operations as it emerges from the pandemic. The pattern of subleasing office spaces is not uncommon, said Lam. But it has had the unintended consequence of keeping rents low. Landlords are motivated to charge higher rents to grow the valuation of their properties. Meanwhile, tenants such as Cenovus, with leases of about two or three decades, are more concerned with offsetting their rent payments, Lam said. “So landlords now have to compete against all the sub-landlords.” The report estimates the asking gross rent for office spaces in Calgary to be $32.71 per square foot in the second quarter, nearly a dollar higher than the previous quarter. But compared to its global peers, it is “still fairly cheap in the grand scheme of things,” said Lam. “You’ve got to look at a more macro perspective.” The pricing advantage in Calgary has led many to occupy Class A properties, a trend commonly known as flight-to-quality. But rents are set to become more expensive as leases end in the next two or three years. The prospect of higher rents hasn’t stopped the flow of major companies into Calgary. Technology firms, including Teknol and Eventcombo, have recently decided to build their headquarters in the city. And with WestJet making the Calgary airport its international hub and absorbing the operations of its budget airline, Swoop, JLL expects demand for office space to further rise when employees return to their parent organization. The report also predicts that an announcement by Flair Airlines to set up its base in Calgary, and investments by the government to boost the city’s aviation industry, may attract more talent. Although Calgary’s economy is largely driven by oil and gas companies, growth in the cleantech industry may spur more demand for office space. Meanwhile, a report by Avison Young found that industrial market activity has slowed as the vacancy rate in the city edged up by 0.15 percentage points to 2.46 per cent. The pre-leasing of several large warehouse completions will boost absorption, although vacancy may continue to creep up, the report stated. Despite higher vacancy, the demand for industrial spaces remains stable. Source by calgaryherald.com

People and companies across the world continue to embrace the potential of remote work, and a lot of those workers are fitting travel into their new lifestyles. “Digital nomads” is the term used to describe people who travel freely while working remotely, and it turns out, a lot of them are turning their sights on Calgary! CommercialSearch, a real estate company based in the US, compiled data on every city around the world with populations of more than 400,000 people to establish the best options for digital nomads. The study considered two main factors in the rankings: affordability and internet access. Calgary took the top spot as the travel destination for digital nomads in North America, while ranking seventh worldwide. It was the only North American city that made it into the top 10. Bangkok ranked number one globally, followed by Shanghai. Calgary has the fastest internet speed out of all the cities considered in the study, outranking other major destinations like San Antonio, Singapore, Shanghai, and Madrid.  The city also has competitive coworking costs at $292, even beating Panama City’s $299 average fee. Calgary’s good safety rating also played a role in the city’s popularity, scoring 9.5 out of a maximum of 15, but it scored lower in affordability. Source by dailyhive.com

Higher borrowing costs are turning home buyers to more affordable housing types, shows trend noted by the Calgary Real Estate Board. Calgary real estate market remained red-hot to kick off the summer, seeing surging demand for condominiums that are driving sales to record heights last month. Calgary Real Estate Board numbers reveal the city’s resale market set an all-time high for June sales with 3,146 transactions across all housing types. Driving sales, however, were not single-family detached homes, which traditionally make up the majority of transactions in the city. Rather, condominium apartments are seeing fever pitch demand due in part to the segment’s relative affordability to other parts of the market, says Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist with CREB. “Prices have really just come back to where they were (at the peak in 2014) — not adjusted for inflation,” she says, referring to the benchmark price of a condominium in Calgary finally breaking through the previous historical high set nearly a decade ago. The previous benchmark high price for apartment condominiums in Calgary in June 2014 was about $299,000. In June, the benchmark jumped about nearly 12 per cent year over year to reach $303,200, CREB data shows. The current price levels for condominiums is also likely to lead to more inventory in the coming weeks, says Corinne Lyall, broker/owner of Royal LePage Benchmark. “I know there have been a lot of people wanting to sell their condo apartments, but there just hasn’t been the right time.” Now might be that time, she adds. With the high demand last month, however, inventory for condominiums fell in the city 27 per cent year over year. That said, it is the smallest slide percentage-wise among all segments. Row homes saw the steepest drop of 47 per cent, which might have held back sales in the second least costly segment behind condominiums, Lurie says. To that point, townhome (row) sales fell six per cent year over year, the only segment to see sliding sales in June. “For every housing type, there is just not much supply,” she adds. Townhome and apartment segments, however, have the highest sales-to-new-listing ratios, reflecting conditions favouring sellers the most. Their price points (townhomes’ benchmark at $400,000, up 11 per cent year over year) make them more accessible for first-time buyers, Lyall says. Interest rates are a driving factor for these buyers, she adds. But higher rates are also a challenge for move-up buyers. “People don’t want to move because they already have a good interest rate.” Lyall further notes that these individuals do not want to sell unless they must because, even if they can port their current mortgage, they still end up paying a higher interest rate. That’s led to a dearth of choice among single-family homes priced less than $600,000, Lurie says. As a result, the benchmark — the typical price for the segment — was $685,100 in June, up six per cent year over year. “Choice in the lower priced end of the detached market is disappearing,” she says. “The under $600,000 price range is now about 24 per cent of the segment.” But only two per cent of supply is priced under $400,000, she adds. What’s more, single-family detached home sales made up 48 per cent of all sales last month. “This a new trend,” Lurie notes. And as prices climb, that share of activity is likely to decline even more. “This tends to happen as cities grow over time,” she adds, pointing to Toronto where condominiums make up the largest share of sales. Still, single-family detached homes are likely to remain the largest segment of activity for some time in Calgary. Even though their share has fallen, single-family home sales counted 1,525 in June compared with 857 sales for apartments. Although it is harder for new builders to add single-family homes in lower price ranges, current conditions do not foretell “the end of detached,” she says. “There is still a lot of land left to develop in Calgary.” Source by calgaryherald.com

Canada’s luxury real estate markets have shown varying performances in the first half of 2023, signalling a departure from the unified national trends witnessed during the recent housing boom and market normalization period. Sotheby’s International Realty Canada’s Top-Tier Real Estate: 2023 Mid-Year State of Luxury Report sheds light on the distinct dynamics that have shaped each major metropolitan market. Vancouver The ultra-luxury residential real estate market in Vancouver experienced a notable upswing in the first half of 2023, buoyed by improved consumer sentiment and increased sales transactions. Legacy wealth planning and generational wealth transfer have contributed to enduring demand in the city’s luxury segment, leading to a 38 per cent rise in sales of properties priced over $10 million on MLS. However, chronic housing shortages have limited potential transactions, and rising mortgage rates have affected some prospective buyers, resulting in a 25 per cent year-over-year decline in residential sales over $1 million. Toronto Despite a slow start to the spring market, Canada’s largest luxury real estate market, Toronto, gradually gained traction in the first half of 2023. The city’s position as the nation’s economic hub and primary destination for immigration has continued to attract buyers and investors. However, housing supply challenges have persisted, impeding potential sales and frustrating prospective homebuyers. Residential real estate sales over $4 million in Toronto declined by 32 per cent year-over-year, and properties sold over $10 million on MLS reduced to five from seven properties in the same period last year. In the GTA, an influx of spring inventory led to more balanced market conditions, resulting in a 35 per cent year-over-year decrease in residential sales over $4 million and a 29 per cent decline in sales over $1 million. Montreal The luxury real estate market in Montreal experienced a slowdown in the first half of 2023, with residential sales volume over $4 million declining by 39 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. The market also saw a 28 per cent decline in residential sales over $1 million. Active listings remained below historical averages, and luxury buyer activity waned, particularly in the city’s condominium market. This shift prompted an increase in conditional offers, price adjustments, and days on the market, as prospective buyers gained negotiation leverage. Calgary In contrast to the other major cities, consumer sentiment in Calgary remained optimistic throughout the first half of 2023. The city’s luxury housing market continued to remain active, with steady momentum in the spring driven by strong buyer and investor demand. Economic optimism and attractive luxury housing prices have also attracted in-migration and real estate investment from other parts of Canada. While overall residential real estate sales over $1 million and $4 million declined nominally by 10 per cent and 20 percent, respectively, the luxury condominium market in Calgary experienced an impressive 100 per cent gain in $1 million-plus sales compared to 2022 levels. Don Kottick, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, noted that the Canadian luxury housing market demonstrated resilience despite rising interest rates and economic uncertainties. “Canadian luxury market performance has started to diverge, at times unpredictably, between major cities, neighbourhoods and housing types. Vancouver and Toronto’s urban luxury single-family home markets experienced some of the most pronounced improvements in spring activity; however, inadequate supply continued to frustrate potential sales and to undermine the housing needs of locals,” Kottick says. “Over the past few years, Calgary has emerged as one of Canada’s most upbeat luxury real estate markets, and in the first half of 2023, its condominium market surpassed expectations with annual percentage sales gains that outstripped other major cities’ performance.” He highlighted a growing disparity between luxury and conventional buyers’ behaviour since the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates in March 2022. Wealthier luxury buyers have been quicker to adapt to rising mortgage rates, re-engaging in property searches and strategic investments. In contrast, conventional buyers have been more cautious, waiting for greater certainty and more favourable market conditions, which experts caution could carry considerable risks given the current unpredictability of the housing market. Source by realestatemagazine.ca

Alberta’s provincial government has announced $68 million in grants for affordable housing projects. The money, announced on Monday, will go to successful applicants from public, private and non-profit organizations who apply before the Oct. 16 deadline. It’s the second installment of the Affordable Housing Partnership Program. The first round wrapped up in January, approving $124.7 million in funding for 30 projects, according to the ministry of seniors, community and social services. The province says those approvals resulted in 1,100 additional affordable units across Alberta. The announcement was made by minister Jason Nixon in Sundre. The City of Calgary received $15.2 million from the first round of grants to complete the Bridgeland Place retrofit. The city says the existing building went up in 1971 and the redevelopment will increase energy efficiency and add more two and three bedroom units. Housing affordability has been an increasing issue in Alberta, the result of rising real estate prices, high in-migration, inflation and interest rates. Source by calgary.ctvnews.ca

A house in Guelph that was recently listed by agent Aimee Puthon of Coldwell Banker Neumann Real Estate.COLDWELL BANKER NEUMANN REAL ESTATE The spring buying spurt in Canada’s real estate market has likely run its course but sellers continue to hold sway in many cities. Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada, believes the slower pace of sales growth in recent weeks marks a shift in the Canadian housing market’s recovery. National sales edged up 1.5 per cent in June from May, while Ontario diverged from the trend with a 1.3-per-cent dip in the same period. Mr. Hogue points to the Bank of Canada’s resumption of its rate hike campaign and the unexpectedly solid price gains in some markets in the spring as two reasons for diminished buyers’ enthusiasm. In June, new listings grew faster than sales for the second straight month in Canada, but much more supply is needed to bulk up historically low inventories, he adds. “Buyers still face a scarcity of options in the majority of markets, tilting the scale in favour of sellers,” Mr. Hogue says in a note to clients. For now, prices continue to appreciate at a rapid clip, Mr. Hogue says, pointing to the 2-per-cent jump in the aggregate composite MLS home price index in June from May. He expects that pace to moderate through the remainder of 2023 as higher interest rates trim the purchasing budget of many buyers. Faisal Susiwala, broker at Re/Max Twin City, says buyers in the Ontario cities of Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge are hesitant. “Right now people have retracted. They’re on the sidelines waiting to see what happens.” In addition to the uncertainty surrounding rate hikes, the market typically becomes somnolent in July, he adds. “These two weeks of July are virtually non-existent when it comes to sales.” Even in a slow market, some sellers are continuing to receive multiple offers, but the ferocity of the bidding has calmed down since April and May. Mr. Susiwala says sellers are disappointed when showings and sales slow to a trickle but he advises against signalling desperation by cutting the price after two weeks. The asking price for 24 Winston Cres. is $1,150,000.COLDWELL BANKER NEUMANN REAL ESTATE The area west of Toronto saw new listings increase in June from May, while sales remained at about the same level. In Guelph, Ont., the action feels less chaotic as supply rises and days on market stretch out, says Aimee Puthon, real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Neumann Real Estate. “It feels like people have taken their foot off the gas and they’re sitting in their Muskoka chairs.” She is seeing more conditional offers, including some buyers making the deal conditional on the sale of their existing property. Ms. Puthon is urging sellers to remain patient. “When a property doesn’t sell in three days with five offers, people tend to freak out a bit,” she says. But Ms. Puthon reminds homeowners that midsummer is typically a quiet time. She has heard from a few homeowners planning to list after Labour Day but she says it’s too soon to tell how the supply will compare with previous years. “People who really had to sell or wanted to sell came on in the spring.” Mr. Susiwala is seeing homeowners increasingly stretched by the higher rates and strongly advises people who are struggling to pay their mortgage to work with the lender before the sheriff arrives and locks are changed. Lenders send many letters and try to work out a plan with homeowners before they force a sale, he notes, but borrowers need to face the problem head on. “Ultimately they show up and you’re out.” Mr. Susiwa has sold three properties under power of sale in the past four months. “We’ve seen some really nasty things happening.” The problem stems from the fact that homeowners who purchased in the spring of 2018 have been seeing their mortgages come up for renewal if they signed up for a five-year term, he explains. Rates at the time were between 2.8 and 3.2 per cent, he says, but today those homeowners will be facing a rate of around 6.25 per cent. The homeowners who paid down the mortgage each month are not likely to be in trouble, he says. The crisis he sees today is among those homeowners who took out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) in 2021, after their property value had soared, to pay for expensive items such as renovations, swimming pools and cars. Mr. Susiwala is seeing distressed homeowners now that the interest rate on a HELOC is 7.5 per cent instead of the 1.25 to 1.5 per cent they were paying in 2021. If they need to renew or refinance, they grapple with mortgage rates around 6 per cent today and may not be financially stable enough to pass the stress test at a rate 2-per-cent higher. Mr. Susiwala expects to see more such cases and an increase in listings as a result. “That is the sad reality of what we are going to face going into September.” An added pressure is that people who have no choice but to sell are moving to the rental market and sending prices higher in that segment. Mr. Susiwala urges homeowners to try to weather the storm if they can, including borrowing money from family members if possible. “This is not a time to panic and sell at a loss,” he says.

Canada’s luxury real estate markets have shown varying performances in the first half of 2023, signalling a departure from the unified national trends witnessed during the recent housing boom and market normalization period. Sotheby’s International Realty Canada’s Top-Tier Real Estate: 2023 Mid-Year State of Luxury Report sheds light on the distinct dynamics that have shaped each major metropolitan market. Vancouver The ultra-luxury residential real estate market in Vancouver experienced a notable upswing in the first half of 2023, buoyed by improved consumer sentiment and increased sales transactions. Legacy wealth planning and generational wealth transfer have contributed to enduring demand in the city’s luxury segment, leading to a 38 per cent rise in sales of properties priced over $10 million on MLS. However, chronic housing shortages have limited potential transactions, and rising mortgage rates have affected some prospective buyers, resulting in a 25 per cent year-over-year decline in residential sales over $1 million. Toronto Despite a slow start to the spring market, Canada’s largest luxury real estate market, Toronto, gradually gained traction in the first half of 2023. The city’s position as the nation’s economic hub and primary destination for immigration has continued to attract buyers and investors. However, housing supply challenges have persisted, impeding potential sales and frustrating prospective homebuyers. Residential real estate sales over $4 million in Toronto declined by 32 per cent year-over-year, and properties sold over $10 million on MLS reduced to five from seven properties in the same period last year. In the GTA, an influx of spring inventory led to more balanced market conditions, resulting in a 35 per cent year-over-year decrease in residential sales over $4 million and a 29 per cent decline in sales over $1 million. Montreal The luxury real estate market in Montreal experienced a slowdown in the first half of 2023, with residential sales volume over $4 million declining by 39 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. The market also saw a 28 per cent decline in residential sales over $1 million. Active listings remained below historical averages, and luxury buyer activity waned, particularly in the city’s condominium market. This shift prompted an increase in conditional offers, price adjustments, and days on the market, as prospective buyers gained negotiation leverage. Calgary In contrast to the other major cities, consumer sentiment in Calgary remained optimistic throughout the first half of 2023. The city’s luxury housing market continued to remain active, with steady momentum in the spring driven by strong buyer and investor demand. Economic optimism and attractive luxury housing prices have also attracted in-migration and real estate investment from other parts of Canada. While overall residential real estate sales over $1 million and $4 million declined nominally by 10 per cent and 20 percent, respectively, the luxury condominium market in Calgary experienced an impressive 100 per cent gain in $1 million-plus sales compared to 2022 levels. Don Kottick, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, noted that the Canadian luxury housing market demonstrated resilience despite rising interest rates and economic uncertainties. “Canadian luxury market performance has started to diverge, at times unpredictably, between major cities, neighbourhoods and housing types. Vancouver and Toronto’s urban luxury single-family home markets experienced some of the most pronounced improvements in spring activity; however, inadequate supply continued to frustrate potential sales and to undermine the housing needs of locals,” Kottick says. “Over the past few years, Calgary has emerged as one of Canada’s most upbeat luxury real estate markets, and in the first half of 2023, its condominium market surpassed expectations with annual percentage sales gains that outstripped other major cities’ performance.” He highlighted a growing disparity between luxury and conventional buyers’ behaviour since the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates in March 2022. Wealthier luxury buyers have been quicker to adapt to rising mortgage rates, re-engaging in property searches and strategic investments. In contrast, conventional buyers have been more cautious, waiting for greater certainty and more favourable market conditions, which experts caution could carry considerable risks given the current unpredictability of the housing market.

Journalists placed 50 heat sensors in homes without air conditioning to measure the impacts of extreme heat As the summer heats up, many people stay indoors to cool down. But for those who live without air conditioning, there’s little escape — even after the sun goes down. That’s why CBC teams across the country are working together to track the heat, and the impacts on people when things go from hot, to sizzling, to seriously dangerous. In dozens of homes across five major cities, CBC News installed temperature and humidity sensors to test exactly how hot it gets. Participants are sharing how they’re handling the heat — and how worried they are about staying safe, especially those living with children, seniors, and people with health conditions. CBC News acquired 50 of these heat sensors that measure temperature and humidity, which were then installed in dozens of homes without air conditioning in five Canadian cities. (Tara Carman/CBC) What are we tracking? CBC News distributed 50 sensors in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Windsor, Ont., Toronto, and Montreal. In each city, we reached out to people living without air conditioning. We installed the sensors in the homes of students and seniors, new Canadians and longtime tenants, and people living with chronic pain and other health conditions. utdoor temperatures collected from the nearest Environment and Climate Change Canada weather station.Source: CBC News, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Dexter McMillan/CBC The devices measure the temperature and humidity in people’s homes every 10 minutes. Local CBC News teams then collect the data which we will use to compare indoor temperatures with outdoor temperatures in each city — like in the graph above showing the temperature in one Windsor, Ont., man’s home. On particularly hot days, CBC News is also asking participants how the heat has been affecting them and what they’ve been doing to keep cool. Why does this matter? The World Health Organization recommends that indoor temperatures remain under 32 C during the day and under 24 C at night. But many countries — including Canada — have no standardized legislation mandating a maximum temperature for indoor heat. Meanwhile, Canada has already surpassed 1.5 C of warming over pre-industrial levels, with national temperature averages climbing by about 1.9 C from 1948 to 2021, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. The rising heat has already had deadly consequences — in 2021, the B.C. heat dome contributed to the deaths of 619 people, according to a report from B.C. Coroners Service. Many were seniors with compromised health, and those who died were twice as likely to be poor. More than two-thirds of people who died did not have air conditioning. “We don’t let people freeze to death in winter,” said Ontario MPP Jessica Bell, who is also the provincial NDP critic for housing. “We shouldn’t be letting people die of heat stroke in summer.” As extreme heat gets worse, expert calls for access to cooling as a human rightResidents and tenant advocacy groups asks city to implement maximum heat bylaw in Hamilton Creating guidelines for maximum indoor temperatures is an idea that is gaining traction, both at the municipal level and among advocacy groups. The City of Hamilton is in the process of drafting a bylaw that would require landlords to keep apartments below 26 C, the first of its kind in Canada. Grassroots group Climate Justice Toronto recently started a petition to the City of Toronto to implement a similar policy. “Air conditioning should be a right for everyone. It is essential,” said Marcia Bryan, leader of the Peel branch of ACORN, an organization of low- and moderate-income people. “I’m really glad that this data is going out there, so the politicians, government — everyone in power or authority — can see this and step up and do something,” said Bryan. “That [way] it’s not just tenants acting or nagging or complaining. There’s actually an issue going on, a bigger picture.”

Housing starts surged in June – but have trended unevenly throughout the year A rollercoaster year to date for home construction in Canada continued last month, with the pace of housing starts unexpectedly seeing a big surge after slowing in May. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said last week that housing starts accelerated at their fastest clip for a decade in June, hitting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 281,373 units compared with just 200,018 in May. That continued the bumpy trajectory for housing starts throughout 2023 to date, with no two consecutive months seeing the same direction of travel. January housing starts fell by 13% over the end of 2022, but February saw the pace of home construction rise by the same percentage. In March, the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate fell by 11% before spiking in a 22% month-over-month April jump and falling in May by 4.2%. Rising interest rates and borrowing costs have weighed down on residential construction throughout the year to date, with CMHC posting a grim forecast for the likely pace of housing starts for the remainder of this year and next. The agency said in April that the number of starts in 2024 isn’t expected to rise above 224,000, a steep fall from the pace of approximately 271,000 units set two years ago. Its chief economist Bob Dugan said that was an “alarming” forecast, with affordability climbing further out of reach for scores of prospective buyers amid a sluggish pace of home construction. How are higher rates weighing down on the pace of home construction in Canada? The outlook doesn’t appear to have improved much in the ensuing months. There had been some optimism that an apparent pause on Bank of Canada rate hikes might light a fire under the housing market and home construction – but the central bank has now increased its benchmark rate twice, in consecutive 25-point hikes, after appearing to hold fire in the spring. That has seen construction costs rise once again, all but copper-fastening the likelihood of a subdued overall pace of home starts by the end of the year, according to the chief executive of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association. “We saw a tremendous slowdown through all of the rate hikes last year in terms of sales and we’re going to see a drop in housing starts this year,” Kevin Lee (pictured top) told Canadian Mortgage Professional. “There’s no question the two [recent] rate hikes are going to contribute to that further – there’s just no way around it. “It’s going to result in fewer purchases. It’s challenging for a builder and developer, and even our renovator members looking at doing new infill work. So we’re going to see less supply coming online, which is the exact opposite of what we need – [that’s] why we’re calling for the federal government to make some moves that’ll offset the effects of these higher interest rates.” Some relief for homebuyers in two surprising locations – Toronto and Vancouver Supply actually appears to be “crawling back up” in Canada’s housing market despite the lacklustre pace of housing starts, according to RBC, with new listings rising at a faster rate than sales for two consecutive months in May and June. Still, 5.5% growth in new listings last month compared with May will do little to address the overall inventory crisis facing the country, the bank’s assistant chief economist Robert Hogue suggested. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the 3.1 months of inventory available on a national basis at the end of June was down by more than a month from January, and well below the long-term average for that measure of about five months. “A lot more supply is needed to bulk up historically-low inventories,” Hogue said. “Buyers still face a scarcity of options in the majority of markets, tilting the scale in favour of sellers.” That said, Toronto and Vancouver – two of Canada’s most notoriously overheated housing markets – are seeing price appreciation at a more modest rate than might be expected this year, Hogue said, with “sizable increases in new listings” and stalled or declining resales helping loosen tight demand-supply conditions. “Their respective sales-to-new listings ratio has returned to a balanced setting,” he noted. “If sustained, we would expect this to moderate [the] rate of price appreciation in the period ahead.”