Canada’s seniors happy where they are

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Canada’s seniors may be left disappointed by the costs and savings from downsizing their homes in retirement.

Of 1,870 homeowners over 55 polled by Ipsos for HomeEquity Bank, 39% said they were skeptical that they would save money by downsizing and 27% who had already done so said the costs were greater than expected.

Nearly half of those polled said they are not planning to downsize, with 93% of them happy with their current living arrangements.

“There are real costs to downsizing… financial, emotional and personal ones,” advises Yvonne Ziomecki, HomeEquity Bank’s Executive Vice President, Marketing. “From a financial perspective if you had to move outside your cherished neighbourhood or further away from family and personal support networks, it may mean you’ll spend more resources to maintain relationships, to develop reliable new connections and to navigate life in a different setting.”

Regrets, I’ve had a few Even among those who have downsized with 88% saying they are happy with their decision, they admit that there were unknown sacrifices and some regret.

Although only a third had intended to move to a new city/town when they downsized but almost half end up outside their current network and community. Older retirees are more likely to move to a new area when downsizing.

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

Cressey?s Chelsea will take its place directly opposite Queen Elizabeth Park

Kathleen Freimond
The Province

Chelsea

Where: West 31st Avenue and Cambie Street,

Vancouver

What: 79 homes

Residence sizes and prices: Studio, 1-, 2-, 3-bedrooms, penthouses and townhomes; 461 — 1,733 square feet; 2-bedrooms from $1,269,900; 2-bed-and-dens from $1,699,900; 3-beds from $1,749,900; townhomes from $2,050,900; penthouses from $2,149,900 (plus GST for all)

Developer: Cressey Development Group

Sales centre: 3130 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

Hours: by appointment only; 604-736-3898

Chelsea, Cressey Development Group’s low-rise residential project at West 31st Avenue and Cambie Street, is part of the transformation of the Cambie corridor that is seeing more multi-unit developments in the neighbourhood.

Chelsea comprises two six-storey buildings with 79 units in a range of sizes.

True to Cressey’s philosophy of focusing on livability, the team spent a lot of time working on furniture placements and the floor plans, says Jason Turcotte, the company’s vice-president of development.

“We always design with the homeowner in mind, so whether the person is in their thirties and buying for the location, is new to the market or moving out of a single-family home in the area, the range of homes all have a comfortable scale,” he says.

“Chelsea is immediately across from Queen Elizabeth Park and being toward the top of the rise as Cambie climbs the hill, it affords great views towards the city, ocean and mountains in the distance and the western-facing units have views across to the park.”

The presentation centre shows an example of a Chelsea home with two bathrooms, two bedrooms and a den. Homebuyers can choose from two colour palettes created by Insight Design Group: the lighter Uptown scheme – used in the show suite – or Parkside, with its darker floors and finishes.

A distinctive wide-plank hardwood floor laid in a classic herringbone pattern makes an immediate impression.

“We see floors like this in some old character homes, but in those instances, it is often a narrow plank in yellow oak. At Chelsea, we have used a wide plank in a brushed finish, a light oak for the Uptown palette and a darker oak for Parkside. It’s a nod to tradition, but done in a contemporary way,” says Linda Gallo, associate at Insight Design.

The major kitchen appliances are by Wolf and Sub-Zero. The refrigerator and freezer drawers are behind integrated panels, while the cooktop is flush with the counter with the knobs on the front face of the cabinet panel and not on cooktop itself, Gallo notes.

In the show suite, the peninsula with a waterfall edge is an elegant design feature that provides a large working surface that also doubles as a place where the family can pull up a few kitchen stools for a quick meal.

In the ensuite bathroom, elongated hexagonal tiles on the floor of the shower extend up the wall in another modern interpretation of a traditional feature. The shower has a bench covered with the same stone as the bathroom counter, while a linear drain and rainshower head give the space a sophisticated ambience.

Turcotte says the premium finishes reflect the significance of Chelsea’s location.

“During the planning process, I visited the area and took walks in Queen Elizabeth Park. It was a reminder how amazing it is and how fortunate we are in Vancouver to have such a fantastic amenity in our city,” he says.

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Toronto residents want affordable housing

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Residents in the Greater Toronto Area want more new homes and a review of zoning rules to help ease housing affordability.

A survey has revealed that 87% of respondents said building more homes was important to addressing affordability, this view is strongest in the 416.

Almost 9 in 10 said that zoning by-laws should be reviewed and changed to allow for greater flexibility for middle-density housing types.

In the joint poll, the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Building Industry and Land Development Association have been asking for opinions ahead of municipal elections.

“Building more new homes is seen, overwhelmingly, as a critical part of the solution to housing affordability,” said TREB president Garry Bhura. “However, overcoming resistance to change and ‘not in my backyard’ sentiment in existing neighbourhoods is a huge barrier that municipal leaders can help overcome by taking a leadership role.”

Build, but somewhere else Despite the strong sentiment for more new homes, many people are not keen to have development in their neighbourhood.

Asked about homes being built within half a kilometre of their home, 30% would be opposed to a single-family home, rising to 59% for a high-rise condo apartment building.

“In order to build a livable GTA for the future, we need to be able to build more homes, faster. Clearly we need to have a broader discussion on how to accommodate growth, particularly in established neighbourhoods. I encourage citizens and municipal candidates to learn more about this at www.buildforgrowth.ca,” said Dave Wilkes, President and CEO, BILD.

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

B-20 under review in light of NAFTA

Neil Sharma
REP

Interest rates have been expected to rise all year, but ongoing negotiations for a new North American Free Trade Agreement have quashed the latest planned hikes.

“The Bank of Canada indicated that if there were another increase of the interest rate and then there was a collapse of the trading relationship with North American partners, that would significantly negatively impact the economy,” said Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association. “Certainly from our point of view, that’s bad for the housing market, so the Bank wisely took a wait-and-see approach until the trade negotiations are completed.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland has been on the file for the Trudeau government, but working diligently behind the scenes is Canada’s Ambassador to the United States David MacNaughton. While that could abet a favourable outcome for Canada, rising rates in conjunction with the mortgage stress test open up another can of worms.

“Every economist may not agree on the timing, but interest rates are heading up, which means mortgage rates are heading up, and if you add 200 basis points onto every increase, you’re really pushing a lot of first-time homebuyers out of the market and impairing the dreams of move-up buyers who have kids and want a little more space,” added Hudak.

Hudak believes the tribulations surrounding a new NAFTA agreement illuminate a looming problem for Canadians, and that the time is nigh to revisit the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institution’s B-20 stipulations, notably the mortgage stress test.

“In an era of rising interest rates, whether that rise is stalled by uncertainty in NAFTA or not, we need to drive home the importance of revisiting the stress test. It doesn’t make sense to keep piling up more expensive mortgages on top of rising rates from the Bank of Canada.”

Guideline B-20 was put in place largely to curtail exorbitant price escalation in Toronto and Vancouver, however, it’s chilled the Canadian housing market from coast to coast, with smaller markets bearing the brunt of what Croft Axsen calls restrictive policies.

“I’m not saying they shouldn’t be trying to address housing prices in Toronto and Vancouver, but I think most of that has to do with supply,” said Axsen, owner of Dominion Lending Centres Jencor Mortgage Corporation in Calgary. “There’s this overall restriction throughout the entire economy about who can get a mortgage, how many people can get a mortgage, and how big the mortgage they can get is. I don’t think they understand what they’re doing. It makes me nervous that bureaucrats are making these decisions and not bankers.”

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

TREB says townhouse market slow in September

Ephraim Vecina
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board revealed that the city’s townhouse market has seen a notable slackening in sales numbers, going down by 25% on a year-over-year basis in the first half of September 2018.

This accompanied the introduction of 40% more listings in the market’s townhouse when compared to the same period last month.

Other housing types across the region have experienced robust activity, real estate information portal and brokerage Zoocasa stated in its analysis of the new TREB data.

Detached home sales went up by 11% annually in the City of Toronto and by 9% in the GTA. Inventory expanded by 81% month-over-month.

On the semi-detached side, the segment saw 9% growth in sales in the City of Toronto, and 5% across the GTA. Supply increased by 63% from the first half of August.

Condo apartments had good sales figures as well, with a year-over-year growth rate of 7% in the City of Toronto and 8% across the GTA. Supply expanded by a significant 30%.

“While buyers may be taking their time, sellers have entered the September market in full force, with a flood of new listings across every home type. That’s pushed the market into an easy buyer-friendly environment, from the relatively balanced market in August,” Zoocasa wrote in its analysis.

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

Greater Toronto Area Homes selling to Immigrants

Neil Sharma
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Inbound migration to the Greater Toronto Area should allay fears real estate investors may have about how profitable the region’s housing stock is.

“We used to take 200,000 to 250,000 new immigrants, and 100,000 would come to the GTA,” said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker of REMAX Realtron Realty. “Immigration has increased to 350,000, so now about 140,000 people are settling in the GTA every year. If you think about two to three people per household, that’s 30,000 to 40,000 new units of additional housing each year, and that’s what’s being constructed now. Fifteen thousand ground-oriented homes, including detached, semi-detached and townhouses, and about 20-25,000 new condos each year.”

“You can’t recreate the land, so there will be a higher average price increase for detached homes. There will be a good return,” continued Forbes. “It’s just a matter of affordability. They’re at a price point where not a lot of people can afford to buy them anymore in the 416, but it would be a great investment because they’ll go up in price for the foreseeable future and into the long-term.”

According to Canadian Real Estate Association statistics released for the month of August, unit sales are up 8.5% this year over August 2017, and the average selling price of $765,270 is also a 4.7% boost over last year.

Forbes indicated that CREA’s stats are in line with REMAX’s forecasts, which show a balanced market in which buyers can take their time deciding whether or not to tender offers, and also one in which sellers aren’t buckling under the weight of multiple offers.

“The stats coming out on a monthly basis were slow until May, and that’s the result of the foreign buyer speculation tax,” he said. “We’re seeing that the market is good, but it’s been slower than the fast pace we’ve become accustomed to for the last five, 10 years. In those areas that have shown the greatest weakness—the outer parts of the 905—we’re seeing renewed buyer confidence and renewed sales and price increases in the areas that had seen the greatest slowdown.”

According to Cam Woolfrey, a sales representative with Royal LePage Signature, multiple offers are still commonplace in downtown Toronto.

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

How Much Money Do You Need to Buy a House?

John Charbonneau
other

Very interesting map. It takes the average home price by area, and assumes a purchase price with 20% down and calculates the approximate home income required to qualify for the mortgage. For example in Richmond the average home price is $1,669,900 and the required income would be $230,000. The average household income is Richmond is $58,000 This means to buy this type of home, you would need to earn almost 4 times the average family income to qualify for a mortgage with 20% down. Pretty obvious to me that the average person buying a home in Richmond has way more than 20% downpayment. It does emphasize how tough it is to get into any local market with a small downpayment.

If you are interested in looking at the full map that shows more communities in the lower mainland and the average income per community, email me and I can send you the information and larger map.

 

John Charbonneau

604-818-2840

[email protected]

TREB to activate a password protected feed for sales data

REP

The Toronto Real Estate Board says it is still reviewing a handful of issues associated with releasing Greater Toronto Area sales data, but it will make a password-protected feed with the numbers available to realtors by tomorrow (September 18).

In an email to members obtained by The Canadian Press, the board says the feed can only be used to engage with residential real estate brokerage services and any other uses are not permitted under TREB agreements.

The email says the board is reviewing how to handle historical sold price information where consents were given before websites were in existence and looking at how long listing photos should remain active on a broker’s website after the sale of a property has been completed.

The board encountered the issues following the Supreme Court of Canada’s August decision not to hear an appeal from TREB that was trying to prevent realtors from being able to post the information on password-protected sites because of privacy and copyright concerns.

When the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case after TREB fought it at three judicial bodies over seven years, it forced the board to allow the data’s publication.

However, companies who made the information public prior to the board permitting it say they have received cease-and-desist letters from TREB asking for the source of the data and threatening to take away access to such numbers, revoke their TREB membership, or bring legal action. 

The Canadian Press

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

Metro Vancouver needs to accommodate tens of thousands of added residents every year. How to do it has become a popular election issue

Dan Fumano
The Province

North Vancouver

Between 2011 and 2016, the population of the North Shore — West Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver — increased around 0.68 per cent annually, census data show, almost half the regional annual average. During that period, West Vancouver’s population declined.

But zeroing in on the City of North Vancouver, the numbers tell a different story. The city of 12 square kilometres around Lonsdale Avenue had an annual growth rate of 1.96 per cent, about 50 per cent above the regional average.

That pace of development earned four-term Mayor Darrell Mussatto the nickname Density Darrell. And all that densification — and particularly its impact on people’s ability to get to, from, and around the North Shore — figures to be a big part of this election.

Density Darrell isn’t seeking reelection, but opponents of mayoral candidate Coun. Linda Buchanan paint her as the heir to his legacy. Buchanan said while she has her own vision for the city, she largely defends its direction during Mussatto’s mayoralty.

Her top opponents this year — former Coun. Guy Heywood, sitting Coun. Rod Clark, and local businessman Kerry Morris — have all criticized the pace of development and promised to scale it back.

The key issue appears to be around development’s effect on traffic. While housing affordability is an issue on the North Shore like elsewhere in Metro Vancouver, a poll commissioned this year by the District of North Vancouver found almost twice as many respondents identified traffic and transportation as a top issue over affordable housing.

“We have gridlocked ourselves,” said Morris, who came within 900 votes of unseating Mussatto in the 2014 election. “We haven’t planned our community to deal with the density we are now faced with.”

“If you walk around this community and you look at a person of the age of 45 or 50, and you say: ‘Hey, how do you like your community?’ They will almost to a man or woman tell you: ‘I hate it. I hate this traffic, I hate all this density.”

Asked if he ever hears from North Van residents under the age of 45 who actually like the more urban feel that more density has brought to North Van, Morris acknowledged that “maybe even 50 per cent would give you: yes, they do like it. But, yes with a reservation: yes, but there’s no parking.”

Heywood was a two-term North Van City councillor before deciding not to run for reelection four years ago, to focus on his work in finance. Now, he wants to return to public service as mayor.

Morris and Heywood both say North Van’s city hall has been unduly influenced in recent years by developers.

“We’re not big enough to earn the attention of TransLink, that’s all going to go to the Broadway corridor (subway) and the Surrey light rail,” Heywood said. “Yes, it’s a big problem across the region, but each part of the region has a different ability to take that burden. And up until now, the City of North Vancouver has taken a disproportionate piece of the burden, and North Vancouver as a whole is paying the price.”

For her part, Buchanan said she’s proud of her work on council the past two terms alongside Mussatto, adding: “For myself, as mayor, I’ll want to build on those successes, even as we confront some of the issues of affordability and traffic that, in reality, all communities are struggling with.”

Buchanan pointed to the Shipyards redevelopment, new public spaces, active transportation routes, and cultural amenities that North Van has added in recent years, calling them “all those things that create a really urban, vibrant place to be.”

“I don’t think it’s realistic to think that we can stop, and put the brakes on things,” Buchanan said. “I think most people actually like the vibrancy.”

A long-awaited report on North Shore transportation was released this week. Among other findings, the report noted the North Shore — once a bedroom community for those commuting to downtown — has added more than twice as many jobs as working-age residents since 2011.

The city needs to provide more housing for everyone from downsizing seniors to young workers wanting to live near their jobs, Buchanan said, adding: “We need to find those creative solutions to find the right type of housing … to support the people that want to be living in our community. And it’s going to probably be a different built form than what was in previous generations.”

Dwellings and population, for selected municipalities

• Figures for past years are from census data and municipal governments
• Projections for 2021 are from municipalities’ Regional Context Statements submitted to Metro Vancouver

SURREY

Dwellings

2012 dwelling units: 164,935

2017 dwelling units: 191,790

2021 projected dwelling units (as of 2014): 199,950

2021 projected dwelling units (revised projection as of 2018): 208,320

Population

2012 population: 502,725

2017 population: 557,310

2021 projected population (as of 2013): 593,600

2021 projected population (revised as of 2018): 598,580

VANCOUVER

Dwellings

2011 occupied units: 264,573

2016 occupied units: 283,916

2021 projected units (as of 2013): 309,000

Population

2011 population: 603,502

2016 population: 631,486

2021 projected population (as of 2013): 685,000

BURNABY

Dwellings

2011 dwelling units: 91,383

2016 dwelling units:  98,030

2021 projected dwelling units (as of 2013): 117,800

Population

2011 population: 223,218

2016 population:  232,755

2021 projected population (as of 2013): 270,000

 

NORTH VANCOUVER CITY

Dwellings

2011 dwelling units: 24,206

2016 dwelling units: 24,645

2021 projected units (as of 2015): 25,600

Population

2011 population: 48,168

2016 population: 52,898

2021 projected population (as of 2015): 56,000

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.