Perhaps the hardest thing about doing a PhD in Toronto is finding decent housing and paying for it with the kind of income the university’s funding package and TA work provides. Since the 2008 financial crisis, governments around the world have undertaken exceptional monetary and fiscal stimulus to try to sustain employment and economic growth. Those ultra-low interest rates, however, have affected asset prices in at least two ways. First, since they cannot even earn the rate of inflation from savings accounts, people have been prompted to invest in all manner of speculative assets, from frothy tech stocks to bitcoin to the housing bubbles inflating around the world. At the same time, low interest rates have facilitated massive borrowing for house purchases, also helping to drive up the level of house prices.
Those dynamics have several unwanted current and future impacts. For one thing, I worry that the sense of affluence it fosters among house owners is contributing to an erosion of empathy. It is also worsening the intergenerational inequalities between people who bought houses decades ago and have experienced a huge jump in wealth as a result and the younger people who in past generations would have been entering the housing market now. When interest rates do finally need to rise (once inflation rises above target levels) many home owners risk being in the unfortunate position that the 2008 crisis caused for so many: being ‘underwater’ with a mortgage now larger than the market price of their home.
I think it would be prudent for governments to pay more attention to asset price levels alongside the inflation and employment rates when setting policy. Their efforts to juice their way out of the last crisis seem to be setting up the next one. It would also be desirable for countries to start requiring comprehensive disclosure of wealth as a prelude to wealth taxation.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on Toronto’s rental market since it first arrived last March — resulting in rent prices not seen in several years — and the latest data shows this month is no exception.
A new report from Padmapper indicates that the median one-bedroom rent in Toronto now sits at just $1,750, continuing the downhill trend that has shaken up the city’s rental market following years of uncontrollable exponential growth.
The last time Toronto saw rental prices this low was in February of 2017, according to the report, when it was at $1,700.
https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2021/03/rent-prices-one-bedroom-unit-toronto-four-year-low/
Toronto rents were supposed to drop as people fled the city during COVID-19. The data tells a much different story | The Star
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/03/20/toronto-rents-were-supposed-to-drop-as-people-fled-the-city-during-covid-19-the-data-tells-a-much-different-story.html
Canada’s Housing Bubble Is Getting Way Worse, And Young People Are Screwed
Experts warn that overall wealth inequality is only going to worsen without real interventions to cool housing prices.
A primer on supportive housing and Housing First
Feb 20, 2021
Certain landlord applications to increase rent rose following Ontario’s rent freeze legislation
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/above-guideline-rent-increase-applications-rent-freeze-1.5956415
New Zealand moves to rein in runaway housing market with billion dollar plan
Jacinda Ardern announces more support for first homebuyers and measures to dampen property speculation but admits its no ‘silver bullet’
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Measures have also been introduced to dampen speculation, after property investment reached record-highs due to low interest rates and New Zealand’s speedy economic recovery from the pandemic last year. In 2020 15,000 people who already owned five or more properties, bought houses.
The finance minister, Grant Robertson, announced an extension to the “bright-line test” – the holding time of investment properties to get tax offsets – from five to 10 years to curb the flipping of residential homes by speculators. New-build homes would be exempt to encourage more construction.
The government has also removed the ability for property investors to offset their interest expenses against their rental income when calculating tax. More loopholes that favoured investors would be closed, with the Reserve Bank due to report back on possible measures in May.
“Housing bubbles are unstable by their very nature, and we cannot afford to put the current economic recovery at risk by allowing house prices to spiral out of control,” said Robertson.
First, let’s start with down payments in Gangster’s paradise — Greater Vancouver. At February’s prices, the GVA would require 307 months of savings (31 years) to save the minimum. If you plan to flee to Fraser Valley, you’re looking at 128 months of savings (11 years). For those not from Vancouver, Fraser Valley is the adjacent real estate board to the GVA. It’s basically a suburb of a suburb.
Greater Toronto real estate seems affordable in contrast, but really isn’t. The typical down payment requires 135 months of saving (11 years) for the minimum. Fleeing to Hamilton cuts it down to 105 months of savings (9 years) for the minimum. You’re going to have to stop crying, because we’ve got a lot of numbers to go through.
https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-property-bubble-nears-systemic-failure-and-not-even-a-big-crash-can-fix-it/amp/
In Vancouver, you currently need to earn at least $147,600 to make the payments on a typical home in February 2020. Over in Fraser Valley, you can get away with $143,700 per year. That’s 44% and 40% higher than the current median household income, respectively.
Greater Toronto real estate also requires much bigger salaries to carry the mortgages. The payments on a typical GTA home needs a minimum salary of $148,570. In Hamilton, it’s estimated at $128,100 at minimum. The minimum income is 45% and 25% higher than the current estimated household income, respectively.
The Supreme Court gives Conservatives a chance to move past the carbon tax | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carbon-tax-pricing-climate-supreme-court-otoole-kenney-1.5964328
Toronto rent prices just dropped again for the 15th month in a row
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Year over year, rent prices are down a whopping 16.3 per cent, hitting a new average of $1,986 — and that’s not just for one-bedroom rental units, that’s for all property types of all sizes in all parts of the Greater Toronto Area.
For downtown Toronto specifically, condos and apartments did experience a nearly 20 per cent decline in average rental rates compared to the year previous.
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“The spring rental market is now upon us, and that will be a test for the resiliency of the market, as this period typically experiences the strongest demand of the year,” said Bullpen’s president, Ben Myers, of the market at present.
“Are tenants willing to return downtown in anticipation of a re-opening of offices, or wait until it becomes a reality?”
Our house-price forecast expects the global rally to lose steam
A slowdown looms for booming housing markets, but a global bust is unlikely
Average price of Canadian home rising at fastest annual pace ever, now up to $716,828
Bank of Canada will hold current level of policy rate until inflation objective is sustainably achieved, adjusts quantitative easing program – Bank of Canada
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2021/04/fad-press-release-2021-04-21/
Johnson’s Tories are reaping the rewards of an economy built on rising house prices | Housing | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/26/boris-johnson-tories-economy-rising-house-prices-wages
Bank of Canada offers fresh hints that interest rates will rise next year as economy surges | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/macklem-future-column-don-pittis-1.5995997
Proposing an Alternative To Renting or Owning a House: Publicly-Owned Housing – Slashdot
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/21/04/18/2112249/proposing-an-alternative-to-renting-or-owning-a-house-publicly-owned-housing
Yet no one can blame millennials for not seeing a future here. They’ve been patient, but quite frankly, they’re not so young anymore and need to get on with their lives. The supposedly once-in-a-life-time Great Recession struck just as they entered their adult years, but Canada never fully recovered. Boomer wealth rebounded, but stable employment and good wages didn’t return for many young professionals. The country’s prescribed remedy for this? In 2014, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz told unemployed youth living in their parents’ basements to look for unpaid work. He actually suggested, more than once, that millennials view illegal unpaid internships as “opportunities.”
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sabrina-maddeaux-millennials-are-fleeing-canadas-big-cities-as-big-government-coddles-boomers
“Throughout this entire period, Canadian home prices soared to such levels that even the IMF became concerned. At first, Canada denied there was a problem and lectured millennials to save more and stop buying avocado toast. Then, they conceded there might be a problem, but said anyone concerned with foreign influence in the market was xenophobic. Finally, this month, MP Adam Vaughan, parliamentary secretary for housing, admitted Canada built a housing market that’s better for foreign investors than local buyers. However, after a year that saw house prices skyrocket by 30 to 40 per cent, he wouldn’t tolerate a drop of even 10 per cent.
This commitment to preserve overinflated boomer assets to the detriment of everyone else was followed by a federal budget that all but ignored the housing crisis. You know what the federal budget did include though? Huge increases for spending on boomers, already the wealthiest generation in history. By 2025, the price tag to support seniors’ retirements will be almost triple that of the proposed new child care plan. This new money isn’t even aimed at low-income boomers; it’s a blanket generational handout.”
The eternal zero
The pandemic will leave a legacy of even lower interest rates—and even higher asset prices
Low interest rates leave savers with few good options
The covid-19 pandemic has only sharpened the dilemma
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Savers around the world face the same problem. Bank accounts, money-market mutual funds and other short-term instruments used to offer a decent return. Not any more (see chart). Rates are lower in nominal terms than they were 30 years ago because of a long-term decline in inflation, but they are also lower in real terms. The pandemic has made the dilemma acute. This year American, British and German nominal ten-year bond yields have all touched their lowest levels in history.
Globe editorial: How to douse Canada’s housing mania when you can’t raise interest rates – The Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-how-to-douse-canadas-housing-mania-when-you-cant-raise-interest-rates/
‘There are times I sit here and cry,’ renter says of housing situation
‘Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to live, yet our policies allow the housing market to behave like this,’ says Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness official
Red-hot and rural: Small towns grapple with fallout from big-city-like real estate boom | Calgary Herald
https://financialpost.com/real-estate/red-hot-and-rural-canadian-towns-grapple-with-big-city-like-real-estate-boom
Bank of Canada flags debt risks as some Canadians overpay to get into hot housing market
In its latest financial market review, the central bank says real estate markets in Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal are highly overheated, while Ottawa is nearing that level
Renters under pressure in Canada’s active home resale market as owners look to cash in
Housing advocates say more investor owners looking to cash in on the boom are asking tenants to leave
Renters are getting burned in Quebec’s red-hot housing market
Housing crisis spreads well beyond Montreal, but the CAQ still won’t act
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Landlords are increasing rent well beyond legal limits and they’re turning aside tenants on the basis of race, marital status and physical impairments. They’re getting away with this because there’s no real incentive for them to stop.
Soaring real estate prices and low vacancy rates have shifted the balance of power almost entirely into their hands.
This isn’t just happening in Montreal. Cities like Rimouski, Joliette, Sherbrooke and Gaspésie have seen an unprecedented demand for emergency shelter as the summer nears.
And while renters’ rights groups have implored the government to increase funding for emergency housing, the province has been unresponsive.
In fact, Premier François Legault refuses to call it a crisis and his government has blocked legislation that would provide oversight of rent increases.
Oddly enough, the vacancy rate in Montreal’s rental market is up to 2.7 per cent this year — still low but not enough to set off alarms.
Even so, the city’s poorest tenants are in crisis mode.
“The problem is that the new units aren’t affordable. Landlords would rather have their properties sit empty than charge less,” Laflamme said. “It is especially bad for families.”
She points to her organization’s research, which found that vacant two-bedroom apartments are 43 per cent more expensive than a two-bedroom apartment that’s currently being rented.
“The average rent on a two-bedroom right now is $907 a month and so that’s not that bad,” Laflamme said. “But if you had to move, for whatever reason, the average cost on the open market is $1,300. There’s clearly abusive practices going on and Quebec isn’t doing much, if anything, to enforce its own rent controls.”
To Laflamme’s point, the vacancy rate may be 2.7 per cent across the island but for units under $925 a month, that number sinks below 1 per cent.
“It’s essentially a two-tiered market,” she said. “In one of them, where people have resources, there’s vacancy. In the other, where people don’t, it’s a scramble to find anything.”
‘My landlord wants six months’ rent upfront’ – BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57289888
I’m a millennial with a good income. In Toronto’s housing market all I can afford is a parking space or storage locker
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/08/im-a-millennial-with-a-good-income-in-torontos-housing-market-all-i-can-afford-is-a-parking-space-or-storage-locker.html
Rent control provision quietly softened by N.S. Liberals two days after announcement | The Star
HALIFAX – Two days after Nova Scotia’s Liberals announced temporary rent caps in response to evictions and fast-rising rents amid the pandemic, they quietly decreased how broadly the controls applied.
On Nov. 25, Chuck Porter, who was at the time minister of municipal affairs and housing, signed a minister’s directive that limited rent increases to two per cent annually until the conclusion of the state of emergency, or February 2022 — whichever came first.
It included a provision that rent controls would apply both to existing tenants and new tenants coming into the same accommodation.
The provision for new tenants, which advocates say is key to discouraging landlords from finding ways to evict tenants, was dropped in an amendment to the Emergency Management Act by Porter on Nov. 27, with no news release issued about the change.
A spokeswoman for Service Nova Scotia, which oversees the Residential Tenancies Act, said in an email Wednesday the directive “was amended as it went further than the policy intent of protection for existing tenants.”
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“By allowing landlords to raise the rent between tenants, the government incentivized landlords to evict long-term tenants or those with below-market rents, which is contributing to the wave of evictions that ACORN is seeing now.”
Renting Is Cheaper Than Buying, Almost Everywhere – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/realestate/renting-cheaper-than-buying.html
‘Very frightening’ plan by developer to buy $1B in homes will price renters out: anti-poverty group | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/toronto-developer-buying-homes-anti-poverty-group-1.6066903
Inflation: The housing market is on fire. The Fed keeps adding gasoline – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/19/business/inflation-housing-market-federal-reserve/index.html
Anger about soaring house prices could influence Canadian politics, civility between generations and even mental health
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-anger-about-soaring-house-prices-could-influence-canadian-politics/
Montreal rents up an average of 8%, study of Kijiji ads shows | Montreal Gazette
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-rents-up-an-average-of-8-study-of-kijiji-ads-shows
Rental hell in Montreal: Caught in a renoviction nightmare | Montreal Gazette
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/rental-hell-in-montreal-caught-in-a-renoviction-nightmare
Bathroom with bed inside listed as “micro studio” apartment for rent in Vancouver
https://boingboing.net/2021/07/06/bathroom-with-bed-inside-listed-as-micro-studio-apartment-for-rent-in-vancouver.html
Bidding wars to rent a house? In Ontario, tenants and agents say it’s a new reality | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/bidding-wars-to-rent-a-house-in-ontario-tenants-and-agents-say-it-s-a-new-reality-1.6094412
Canadian house prices and home sales hit records in March — but have fallen every month since
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-june-stats-1.6103715
Another price with plenty of room to run is rent. During the pandemic low interest rates and a demand for more space triggered an extraordinary house-price boom across the rich world: in April American homes were 14.6% more expensive than they had been a year earlier. Yet in America, the euro area and Britain rents remain beneath their pre-pandemic trend; in Australia rents have fallen throughout the pandemic. Renters are more likely than homeowners to have lost their job over the past year, and rents are highly cyclical, moving with the fortunes of the economy. But as economies and labour markets rebound, there might be some catching up and—if house prices are anything to go by—some overshooting yet to do. Rent accounts for one-fifth of core inflation in the index targeted by the Federal Reserve.
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/07/10/surprising-levels-of-inflation-are-increasingly-being-driven-by-wages-not-goods
Federal party leaders are pitching their plans to address housing affordability, but according to one economics expert, the key solution is one that wouldn’t be popular among homeowners.
“Canadian housing is not in crisis, it’s where Canadians want it,” said John Rapley, a political economist at the University of Cambridge, noting that Canadians value the gains they’ve made from a soaring housing market.
But in order to make housing more affordable, more homes must be built — and that could mean taking a hit on returns from existing properties, he told Cross Country Checkup.
“You can’t actually just say we’ll build cheap houses here and [have] all the other houses keep their same value. Once you add supply to the market, the price and everything comes down, and that’s not popular.”
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/how-affordable-is-your-housing-situation-right-now-1.6155647/measures-to-make-housing-more-affordable-wouldn-t-be-popular-with-voters-economist-1.6155683
This tenant fought renoviction and won. Here’s how.
Rebecca Bain withstood developer pressure and pays just under $800 a month for a two-bedroom, while rents around her have doubled
https://ricochet.media/en/3763/this-tenant-fought-renoviction-and-won-heres-how
Can Any Campaign Promises Stop Canada’s Out-of-Control Housing Crisis?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj89ww/can-any-campaign-promises-stop-canadas-out-of-control-housing-crisis
None of the Parties Are Willing to Drive Down Home Costs
They don’t want to admit their ‘fixes’ mainly fuel zooming land prices.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/09/07/No-Parties-Willing-Drive-Down-Home-Costs/
None is willing to propose policies to drive housing prices down. Indeed, virtually all of their plans will do the opposite. Providing incentives for first-time homebuyers, low interest loans to developers and so on, all fuel out-of-control asset price inflation driven by the tsunami of central bank cash flooding the financial system. And the cancerous consequence of all this is the ballooning asset value of urban land.
All three parties propose to pour more gasoline into the out-of-control dumpster fire of urban land value inflation — an inflation that has seen Vancouver area land values more than triple since 2010 while the values of the buildings on that land barely budged.
Prices that go up forever may make homeowners sleep soundly in their heavily leveraged bedrooms, but many of those paper gains are built on a foundation of debt.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/debt-mortgage-feature-1.6162668
Ontario rent freeze expires on Jan. 1
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/10/04/ontario-rent-freeze-expires-jan-1.html
N.S. government extends 2% rent cap until Dec. 31, 2023
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6217778
Parents gifted $10B to adult children in past year to buy homes: CIBC
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/parents-gifted-10b-to-adult-children-in-past-year-to-buy-homes-cibc-1.5637498
This is the busiest year ever for the housing market, with prices up 18% | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-housing-october-1.6249145
‘Twilight’ for Australia’s housing boom as prices to fall 10% in 2023, CBA says | Housing | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/22/twilight-for-australias-housing-boom-as-prices-to-fall-10-in-2023-cba-says
‘Bank of Mom and Dad’: Affluent families giving average of $145K for kids’ first home, report finds
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/bank-of-mom-and-dad-affluent-families-giving-average-of-145k-for-kids-first-home-report-finds-1.5677823
Average home costs are up 30% since before the pandemic, a spike CMHC links to speculative investors
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-cmhc-worried-about-speculative-investment-in-housing/
Priced out: Young professionals making $60,000 — even $120,000 — say they can no longer afford Toronto and will likely have to leave
https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/12/03/young-torontonians-cant-afford-to-live-here-any-more-we-spoke-to-three-to-find-out-where-their-money-goes-and-why-theyll-likely-have-to-leave.html
Investors now make up more than 25% of Ontario homebuyers, pushing prices higher, experts warn
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/investors-in-ontario-real-estate-market-1.6258199
More than half of young potential buyers in Toronto have given up on ever owning a home, survey finds
https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/12/08/many-young-would-be-homebuyers-have-already-given-up-on-canadas-urban-housing-market-survey.html
I like to believe that after my years as an adjudicator at the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB), I tend to look at things from a reasonably balanced perspective, which seems attractive to nobody in these polarizing times.
But Toronto’s rental crisis has reached the point of complete madness. So let the darts fly but I need to speak up on the current state of Toronto’s real estate market that pits profit-taking from investment properties against tenants.
Rents for vacant units have gone up about 12 times faster than inflation in recent years. Nowadays, there’s no such thing as a lateral move for an evicted tenant.
Add to the mix buyers who have absolutely no interest in inheriting a tenant protected by rent control and you have a recipe for a perfect storm.
In 2021, no rent increases were allowed in Ontario. In 2022 the provincial guideline was set at just 1.2 per cent. But market rents on an empty unit can be $1,000 a month more than for an existing tenant in a one-bedroom apartment.
https://nowtoronto.com/news/the-real-foe-fuelling-torontos-rental-housing-crisis
When Canada’s Housing Bubble Pops, It Will Cause Misery and Ruin
The price of Canadian homes has increased faster than those of any other member of the OECD. Rising interest rates now threaten to bring the market crashing down, destroying the lives of millions in the process.
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/canada-housing-market-real-estate
In the last two decades, home prices have gone up by 375 percent in Canada. These increases have been especially marked in in Toronto and Vancouver, where prices have swelled by 450 and 490 percent respectively. This rise far outstrips any other developed markets in the world. In recent years, an incredible gulf has opened between house prices and real income. Even high-level investment bankers such as David Doyle, head of North American Strategy & Economics at Macquarie Group, have rung alarm bells. “Prices,” according to Doyle, “are totally disconnected from the fundamentals.”
‘Tax Me,’ Says Prof Whose Home Jumped $500,000 in One Year | The Tyee
https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/01/07/Tax-Me-Says-Prof-Home-Jumped-Price/
House Price Index rose 26% in 2021, fastest pace on record
Average home price hit $713,500 in December, Canadian Real Estate Association says
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6317503
House hunters in Canada face tightest market on record
There are so few homes for sale in Canada that people are starting to call it a housing crisis.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/17/house-hunters-in-canada-face-tightest-market-on-record
Ontario housing market so red-hot most buyers are skipping inspections, say home inspectors
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-home-inspectors-housing-market-1.6327262
But listed in those records is another notable piece — one that’s received little public attention in the debate around the escalating rental crisis in parts of Canada. Each time one of more than a dozen BlackBay apartment buildings has been renovated and rented out at much higher rates, the company has been rewarded by a federal Crown corporation whose stated goal is to “make housing affordable for everyone in Canada.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/a-landlord-hiked-rents-again-and-again-canada-s-housing-agency-rewarded-him-every-time-1.6375768
‘Explosion’ of above guideline rent increases pricing out some Toronto tenants, advocates say
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/above-guideline-rent-increases-pricing-out-tenants-1.6381522
Toronto-area condo and apartment rents continue to recover from a pandemic price slump with prices up 11 per cent year over year in February to $2,206 on average.
As people prepared to return to the office, the city of Toronto saw one of the region’s largest hikes in asking rents — up 15.7 per cent annually to $2,317 on average, according to a report from Torontorentals.com, part of national listings site Rentals.ca.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/03/29/toronto-area-rents-soar-11-per-cent-in-february.html
Here’s why you should ask landlords for reference letters | CTV News
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One man from Sydney made this exact request earlier this year in Australia. In a TikTok video posted in January, Tom Cashman explained that in his search for an apartment to rent, he had asked a landlord to provide a reference letter from a previous tenant.
“I’ve never heard of anyone asking for this, but they ask me for, like, three references to see if I’m a good guy,” Cashman said in the video. “What about them? Are you a good guy?”
According to Cashman, his application was initially approved but in a follow-up video, he informs viewers that his rental application was withdrawn, even though Cashman said he did not ask for it to be cancelled.
Lasse Hvitved, a legal advocate with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre in British Columbia, said he has yet come across a similar story involving a Canadian renter who requested that a prospective landlord provide references from past tenants.
“I’ve heard a lot of tenants express anxiety about their new landlords and not knowing how they’re going to treat them [or] whether they’re a good person,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview in March. “But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone specifically requesting a previous tenant reference from the landlord.”
Housing prices are an ‘intergenerational injustice’, says Canada’s deputy PM | Canada | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/12/canada-housing-prices-chrystia-freeland
Typically defined as those born between 1981 and 1996, millennials make up the largest generation ever in America. As more of them reach their peak buying years, they are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the property market. In America they represent the fastest-growing segment of buyers and have accounted for more than half of all mortgage applications over the past two years. CoreLogic, a research firm, estimates that millennial homebuying was responsible for more than 60% of property-sales growth in 2020. British millennials are now more likely to own their home than to rent. And nearly half of adults aged 25-35 in Canada have bought property.
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Remote work is also opening up more affordable places to live. In America buyers are flocking to sunbelt hotspots, like Phoenix and Tampa. Zillow, a property firm, estimates that a typical renter in San Francisco would have to set aside 2.4% of their income for six or seven years to save enough for a 20% deposit on a starter home in Austin or Phoenix. For a similar property in San Francisco they would have to save for more than 70 years.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/03/26/millennial-demand-helps-stoke-the-housing-boom
Roughly one-third of Liberal cabinet ministers own rental, investment real estate: records
https://globalnews.ca/news/8754119/canada-budget-2022-home-prices/
Ursula Franklin’s former Toronto home is on sale for $6 million
https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2022/04/41-lonsdale-road-toronto/
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As interest rates head up, many Toronto homeowners will see mortgage payments jump by thousands, experts say
Even those with fixed-rate mortgages could see monthly payments jump to $6,000 or more in the coming years as a series of planned rate hikes hit home.
https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/04/15/as-interest-rates-head-up-many-toronto-homeowners-will-see-mortgage-payments-jump-by-thousands-experts-say.html
Toronto landlord tries to rent out 3 individual beds in thre same room for $420 each
https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2022/04/toronto-landlord-3-beds-1-room/
Canadian home prices fall 6% in April, down for 2nd month in a row
Number of home sales fell 12 per cent from March
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/housing-prices-april-1.6454728
The pandemic housing boom is winding down. Economists forecast a 10-20% price correction
The number of home sales nationally fell 12.6% from March to April, while the home price index slid 0.6 per cent on a monthly basis
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-pandemic-housing-boom-winding-down-as-canadian-home-prices-drop-for/
Canada’s average home price slides to $746,000, sales plummet amid rising rates
https://financialpost.com/news/economy/canadian-home-prices-post-first-drop-in-two-years-on-rate-hikes
The NDP have promised to go a step further than the Liberals, preventing landlords from jacking up rent between leases.
“Rent control will come back — and I mean full rent control, none of this changing the rent on a vacant unit,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday.
“That was the beginning of the spiral in terms of the rental housing piece. And now, as things are so tight in the market, it’s just gotten worse.”
Housing market slowdown continues, with average selling price down 13% since February
Sales volume now down to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-housing-may-2022-1.6489200
A soaring inflation rate is forcing Canadians to contend with a climbing cost of living, as the prices of groceries and gas are on a steady incline. But for those who rent their homes, a rise in inflation is also likely to send rent prices shooting up over the months to come, experts say.
Moshe Lander, an economics professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said Canadians can expect to see the rate of inflation increase in the near future, as well as a rise in rent prices.
“Rent is one of those things that, because it’s essential, it’s usually going to go up,” Lander told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s perfectly reasonable that if you are a renter, you should be expecting that there’s a big rent increase coming your way in the next six to 12 months if your lease is resetting.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/rent-prices-going-through-the-roof-as-inflation-soars-1.5949990
Average rent prices in Canada have also been climbing for several months before hitting a three-year peak last month, according to data compiled by Rentals.ca. In its latest rent report, the average price of rent for Canadian properties was $1,888 per month in May 2022. Month-over-month, this is an increase of 3.7 per cent, the largest bump since May 2019. Properties include single-detached and semi-detached houses, townhouses, and apartments.
“Rents were already rising in a lot of the major markets in Canada,” Paul Danison, content director of Rentals.ca, told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday in a telephone interview. “But now you add rising interest rates [and] the out-of-control inflation going on, and rents right now are just going through the roof.”
Danison said he advises renters to renew their existing leases whenever possible, instead of signing into new agreements with other landlords.
“When you have to move, you could be talking hundreds of more dollars a month to find a place similar to what you’re living in right now,” he said.
As neighbours move out, this Halifax renter is refusing to be ‘renovicted’ | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/halifax-tenant-fighting-renoviction-1.6507260
Landlords shouldn’t be allowed to raise rents between tenants, says Toronto’s top housing official
Abi Bond wants the province to scrap the rule, saying the move could help prevent ‘renovictions’ in the city.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/07/18/landlords-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-raise-rents-between-tenants-says-torontos-top-housing-official.html
The ‘renoviction’ debate comes to Toronto | Financial Post
https://financialpost.com/real-estate/the-renoviction-debate-comes-to-toronto-as-officials-call-for-stronger-rent-protections
They fought a rent increase and won, then received an eviction notice | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-rent-increase-appeal-evicition-1.6528855
What’s next for Toronto’s housing market? Why experts are predicting the biggest slump in 40 years
All of Canada’s bank economists are in agreement: We’re about to see a big drop in home prices — some say by as much as 20 per cent.
https://www.thestar.com/real-estate/2022/07/30/whats-next-for-torontos-housing-market-why-experts-are-predicting-the-biggest-slump-in-40-years.html
The Star asked Canada’s leading economists to outline their projections for the country’s real estate market in late 2022 and early 2023. Each of them predicted a decline of at least 10 per cent in home prices, with one bank — BMO — going so far as to forecast a 20 per cent decline by mid-2023.
That would lower the cost of the average Canadian home from $816,720 in March 2022 to $653,726 in March 2023. The average Toronto home, priced at $1.29 million this past March, would fall to $1.03 million next year.
“Given the exceptional deterioration in affordability — first due to the rapid run-up in prices, then by the rapid rise in interest rates — as well as the sudden turn in sentiment around the market, it’s difficult to see anything other than a meaningful correction ahead for Canadian housing,” said Doug Porter, senior economist at BMO.
By the end of 2022, BMO also expects home sales across the country to drop 23 per cent, with major declines in Ontario and British Columbia.
Renters are feeling the pinch nationwide. These 5 charts break it down | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rental-prices-charts-1.6541203
“While they still account for only a small share of all Canadian households (four per cent), the 663,835 roommate households in 2021 represent a 54 per cent increase from 2001.”
Reaction to B.C.’s capped rent increase for 2023 | CTV News
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/landlords-very-disappointed-by-b-c-s-capped-rent-hike-tenant-group-wants-full-freeze-1.6059295
Real estate slowdown continues, with average price down 22% since February | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-august-housing-1.6583733
Long-term renters evicted during housing boom face homelessness
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/long-term-renters-evicted-during-housing-boom-face-homelessness-2
Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board prioritizing above guideline rent increase hearings for rest of year | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ltb-prioritizing-above-guideline-rent-increase-hearings-1.6643126
Average house price down by more than $170,000 since February
Prices down by 10% since last year and by 20% since the peak in February
Think house prices are too high? The rental market is even worse — with no relief in sight
The average rent in October across Canada was $1,976, according to Rentals.ca
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rent-inflation-november-1.6650777
According to data from rental accommodation website Rentals.ca and analyzed by data firm Urbanation, the average rent in October across Canada was $1,976. That’s an increase of 11.9 per cent, well ahead of Canada’s inflation rate of 6.9 per cent.
The increases aren’t even across the country, either, as Atlantic Canada has seen rents rise at the eye-watering pace of 32.2 per cent in the past year. Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta have seen increases of 17.7 per cent, 15.1 per cent and 13.2 per cent, respectively.
Tenant unions could be the solution to fight rising rents | Ricochet
https://ricochet.media/en/3909/tenant-unions-could-be-the-solution-to-fight-rising-rents
Rent increased more than 18% last year for new tenants, new numbers show
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cmhc-rent-report-1.6726764
$3.85M ‘opulent McMansion’ sits on the market in Toronto as longtime tenants displaced
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-85m-opulent-mcmansion-sits-on-the-market-in-toronto-as-longtime-tenants-displaced-1.6243689
Tenants of Toronto apartment building without heat for days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXEln2q2yE
Tenant Organizers Are Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords… and Winning
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyvdea/tenant-organizers-are-fighting-back-against-corporate-landlords-evictions-toronto
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“When I fought back against the developers, they tried to evict me”: True tales from the rental crisis
https://torontolife.com/city/when-i-fought-back-against-the-developers-they-tried-to-evict-me-true-tales-from-the-rental-crisis/
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Fight Back Against Toronto Slumlord! | Socialist Action Canada
https://socialistaction.ca/2020/07/11/fight-back-against-toronto-slumlord/
More than one third of Toronto’s condos are owned by investors, new StatCan report finds
https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/02/07/across-ontario-the-investor-is-taking-over-the-condo-market.html
Vancouver Needs Vacancy Controls
Landlords get a huge rent jump when they oust tenants. Let’s fix that. Part of a series of voices proposing new housing policies.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2023/02/13/Vancouver-Needs-Vacancy-Controls/
Greater Victoria’s unaffordable housing market is forcing people into extreme situations | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/greater-victoria-unaffordable-housing-1.6756930
Soaring rents in Toronto, Vancouver force residents on modest incomes into ‘deplorable’ conditions
Marketplace exposes the shocking conditions of some rentals
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-rental-units-1.6758477
She complained to CBC Toronto about her living conditions. Now she’s facing eviction
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/she-complained-to-cbc-toronto-about-her-living-conditions-now-she-s-facing-eviction-1.6767634