Top Ontario real estate developments in 2020

Mark Weisleder
other

So many of us are happy to put the year 2020 behind us and look forward to a better 2021. Still, there were positive developments in the real estate industry in 2020 that we should all be grateful for. Here they are:

 

1. Real estate was designated as an essential service by the provincial government.

 

Not many realize it but there was a brief period in March of 2020 when the province of Ontario was considering closing down the entire real estate industry, meaning that no agreements of purchase and sale could be completed and registered until the end of the pandemic. This did not happen, partly because the real estate industry, the law society and law firms took the lead to make sure that properties could still be sold safely and then closed safely, with minimal client interaction.

 

2. Making lemonade out of lemons

 

Although the pandemic presented all kinds of initial hardships on trying to close real estate deals safely, law firms quickly adapted to signing clients up on Zoom calls, transferring money between law firms digitally, exchanging closing documents electronically by e-mail and using lockboxes to transfer keys on closing, all with the effect of minimizing client contact. Even when the pandemic ends, it is hoped that these processes will be continued to make the practice of real estate law more efficient. It also seems that one of the final aggravations and arguments between law firms, about which client pays the $17.50 wire fee, has been decided by the law society. Amen to that.

 

3. Real estate agents were given the right to incorporate.

 

This was a major development for real estate agents in Ontario, as they have now been recognized as true professionals and can take advantage of tax benefits of incorporating their businesses, similar to doctors, lawyers and accountants. Our law firm has already assisted over 200 real estate agents in completing their incorporation, including complying with all requirements of the Real Estate Council of Ontario.

 

4. It is more difficult to sell a home occupied by a tenant during a pandemic.

 

As many of you know, it was not easy to evict a tenant even before the pandemic when trying to obtain vacant possession to close your real estate agreement. The effects of the pandemic have made this process even harder. The province has now suspended all evictions during this latest lockdown period. Unfortunately this has allowed tenants to take advantage of these delays. Some tenants have demanded one year’s rent as compensation to leave in a timely manner, even when the landlord seller properly served the eviction notice and the buyer was intending on moving into the property on closing. My advice to real estate agents is now make a deal with the tenant first to find them another place to live, pay any incentive now and then once the tenant vacates, put the property up for sale. Then there will be no delays in showings, ability to stage, selling and closing.

 

5. Real estate lawyers working together more to solve problems.

 

I have noticed in the past year that while there may be on average the same number of “difficult” real estate deals, whether it is buyers needing extensions due to mortgage issues, resolving title problems, assisting with the typical damages or missing chattels discovered at the final walkthrough by the buyer, there is a less adversarial nature going on, as real estate lawyers are doing our best to try and resolve problems amicably. Maybe we are just more grateful for what we do have, even if the file is aggravating.

 

From my partners and staff at Realestatelawyers.ca LLP, I wish you all to be healthy and stay safe and a very successful 2021.

 

Mark Weisleder is a senior partner with the law firm Real Estate Lawyers.ca LLP and is also an author, newspaper columnist and keynote speaker. He has practised real estate law for over 30 years and has written best-selling industry books for homebuyers and sellers, residential landlords and real estate salespeople. Reach him at [email protected].

 

Photo credit /  Pict Rider ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

 

Interested in writing for us? To learn more about how you can add your voice to The Lawyer’s Daily, contact Analysis Editor Peter Carter at [email protected] or call 647-776-6740.

Related Articles

• Encourage compromise when selling home occupied by tenant
• Why Ontario landlord-tenant relations not doomed by Bill 184
• Closing real estate deals during COVID-19
• Seller refusing final visit before closing due to COVID-19: Now what?
• Modernizing how real estate is sold: Counting the ways

 

 

© 2021 LexisNexis Canada

Pandemic housing boom means affordability is no longer just a big-city problem

Erica Alini
The Vancouver Sun

Ocean-view residential development near Port of Prince Rupert looking for investors

WI Staff
Western Investor

Photo via District of Port Edward — District of Port Edward

 

The District of Port Edward has recently released a Request for Proposals inviting submissions from experienced developers for a 7.25 acre ocean view residential development on Alder Avenue, in Port Edward, British Columbia.  The seaside community of Port Edward is located in Porpoise Harbour, near the rapidly growing Port of Prince Rupert.  The size and location of this property offer a uniquely strategic opportunity in a high demand housing market.

Source: Image via District of Port Edward

The RFP is inviting submission of non-binding proposals for the purchase of this property, design of a residential development and construction of single and multi-family homes.  The successful respondent will be invited to proceed with negotiations for the first phase of the Alder Avenue residential development.

A copy of the RFP is posted on the District website at www.portedward.ca/news/news-releases.

 

Copyright © 2020 Western Investor

Speculation tax a failure, critics contend

Andrew Duffy &Wl Staff
Western Investor

— House prices in Metro Vancouver have increase 10.2 per cent in the last year. | WI files

While popular  – and profitable for the provincial government – B.C.’s two-year old speculation tax and vacancy tax has not met its goals of reducing urban home prices or increasing the supply of affordable rental housing, critics say.

The Ministry of Finance said in a statement January 12 that the tax, which raised $88 million in 2019, resulted in some property owners repurposing formerly vacant properties into rental units.

 “This change in behaviour, and the tax continuing to capture speculators while exempting almost all British Columbians, shows this tax is working for the people of our province,” Finance Minister Selina Robinson said in the statement.

But housing experts doubt that the tax has had much effect on either the rental market or affordability.

Casey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders’ Association, said a Canada Mortgage and ­Housing rental housing report suggested the rental vacancy rate in Greater Victoria dropped to 1.0 per cent in 2019 and that in 2020 any small improvement in the rate was due to university and college students staying home during the pandemic instead of moving into the region.

Edge also pointed out ­housing prices are not moderating, but have been increasing, and the average price of a single-detached home in the Victoria region last month was $992,202 up from $899,782 in December 2019.

In Metro Vancouver, the benchmark price of detached house in December 2020 was $1.5 million, a 10.2 per cent increase from December 2019.

Edge said that flies in the face of the minister’s assertion the tax “has contributed to the ­ongoing moderation of the ­housing market and has not negatively impacted housing supply.”

Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist with the B.C. Real Estate Association, said the impact of the tax on affordability in the ownership market was temporary at best.

“After the remarkable events of 2020, demand in the market is on a record pace while the supply of homes available for sale closed the year at a record low,” he said. “That imbalance of demand over supply means that prices are rising dramatically.”

Last year, the real estate association released an analysis of the tax, which suggested its effect on the rental market was only noticeable in Metro ­Vancouver, and even there it was impossible to determine if the increase in the number of rental properties was due to the provincial tax or the municipal Empty Homes Tax and short-term rental regulations that were implemented around the same time.

The tax, introduced in the February 2018 budget, applies in Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Kelowna and West Kelowna.

The idea behind it was to reduce the number of empty homes and help deal with B.C.’s shortage of affordable housing by encouraging owners of vacant units to put them into the rental market or sell them.

The ministry notes less than 1 per cent of British ­Columbians have to pay the tax as it applies to largely to foreign owners, satellite families (where the majority of their worldwide income is not declared on a Canadian tax return), Canadians from outside B.C. and other non-B.C. resident owners.

The ministry says the $130 million the tax has raised province wide since 2018 goes toward funding housing, shelter or rental initiatives in the five regional districts where the tax applies.

The tax rate is two per cent of a property’s assessed value for foreign owners and satellite families and 0.5 per cent for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Owners are exempt from the tax if it is their principal residence, they rent it at least six months of the year, they are disabled, the property was just inherited, it’s valued at less than $150,000, or a person was away and it was vacant due to medical reasons, residential care, work or spousal separation.

The introduction of a speculation tax targeting foreign and domestic homeowners who pay little or no income tax in British Columbia, and those who own second properties that are not long-term rentals, is endorsed by 77 per cent of B.C. residents, according to a mid-2020 poll conducted by Research Co. and Glacier Media.

 

© Copyright 2020 Western Investor 

Renewed interest in townhouses may solve missing middle

Neil Sharma
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Speculation tax a failure, critics contend

Andrew Duffy
Western Investor

Speculation tax a failure, critics contend

Andrew Duffy
Western Investor

InterRent, Crestpoint pay $292.5M in Vancouver rental deal

Frank O’Brien
Western Investor

Burnaby industrial site worth $9.3 million per acre

Macdonald Commercial
Western Investor

Type of property: Industrial

Location: 3210 Lake City Way, Burnaby, B.C.

Size of property: 38,208 square feet

Land size: 57,456 square feet

Land size, in acres: 1.32 acres

BC Assessment value 2020: $10.5 million

Listing price: $12.9 million

Sale price: $12.25 million

Date of sale: December 31, 2020

Brokerages: Macdonald Commercial, Vancouver; Cushman Wakefield, Vancouver.

Brokers: Nick Goulet and Stuart Wright, Macdonald Commercial and Sean Ungemach,

Cushman Wakefield.

 

© Copyright 2020 Western Investor

December home sales surprisingly up

Tiffany Crawford
The Province