WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 23 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
The Trudeau government, while recently announcing mortgage changes also updated the federal Renters’ Bill of Rights and managed to impress no one, not even advocates....
read moreWHY ARE CITIES LIKE VANCOUVER STILL BANNING APARTMENTS IN MOST AREAS?
Vancouver is the epicentre of B.C.’s housing crisis and shortage. So why does the city still effectively ban new apartment buildings on most of its residential land, reserving it exclusively for low-density housing While there have been small steps toward reforming single-family zoning in Vancouver in recent years, apartments are still not allowed on more than three quarters of the city’s residential land. Much the same is true in other big, expensive cities in British Columbia and across...
read moreHOW P.E.I. RENT INCREASES COMPARE TO INFLATION OVERALL
Rents were a major driver of the post-pandemic inflation surge on P.E.I., but a number-crunching exercise shows they may not yet have reached the point of being unreasonable — at least compared to how much it costs landlords to own the buildings being rented out. P.E.I.’s consumer price index rose 17.7 per cent from 2020 to 2023. A look at where the consumer price index breaks down to rent specifically shows an increase over that same period of 22.7 per cent. This led to complaints from...
read moreEDMONTON RESIDENTS EVICTED BY FEDS FROM AFFORDABLE GRIESBACH RENTALS
Rows on rows of aging red brick townhomes sit around a quiet grassy courtyard in a residential area of north Edmonton. Empty, lifeless.Until a few months ago this part of the Griesbach neighbourhood was bustling with activity: groups of children playing and roaming the vast green space, birds singing, adults walking dogs after work. One of these townhouses was Laidler’s home for more than a decade.Hers and 173 other families were evicted by their landlord, federal Crown corporation Canada...
read moreSASKATCHEWAN HOUSING INDUSTRY LEADERS RELEASE POLICY BLUEPRINT TO MEET DEMAND FOR NEW UNITS
Saskatchewan needs between 60,000 and 80,000 new housing units by 2030 to keep up with population growth and demand, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Housing leaders in the province say there needs to be some policy adjustments to make that happen, and on Monday, the Saskatoon and Regina home builders’ associations, the Saskatchewan Landlord Association and the Saskatchewan Realtors Association released their blueprint to achieve it. Nicole Burgess, CEO of the...
read moreWEEK OF SEPTEMBER 16 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
James Carville famously said it’s the economy stupid – well, headlines for the past couple of weeks haven’t been that cheery regarding the economy – starting with the latest jobs report....
read moreALBERTA POPULATION SURGE CAUSING RAFT OF POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FOR THE PROVINCE
Alberta’s classrooms are crowded. Housing costs are expected to climb, propping up inflation. Economic growth will lag population growth. The province started its most recent fiscal update with good news: It expects a surplus of $2.9-billion this year, more than eight times larger than it originally predicted. Then came the bad: “The rapid and unexpected growth in population has added pressures on government programs and services,” the government said. This clinical description, contained in...
read moreSASK. NDP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO ADDRESS RENT AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS
With an eye toward rental rates, the NDP has made another campaign promise — this time to bring 500 Saskatchewan Housing Authority units online within its first year in government and to cap annual rent increases. NDP Leader Carla Beck made the announcement in a downtown Regina park Tuesday morning, flanked by nominees and current MLAs. She said affordability has been the No. 1 issue expressed by the public during her party’s pre-election, door-knocking sessions in anticipation of the coming...
read moreINVESTORS CONTINUE TO DEMONSTRATE CONFIDENCE IN MULTI-SUITE RESIDENTIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SECTORS
According to Morguard’s 2024 Economic Outlook and Market Fundamentals Second Quarter Update, the Canadian commercial real estate sector showed positive momentum in the second quarter, the multi-suite residential rental property investment remained largely stable due to healthy fundamentals and there was a surge in industrial investment property transactions. In terms of the rest of 2024, further rate cuts by the Bank of Canada and a continued easing of inflationary pressure are anticipated and...
read moreMARKETS ARE UNDERESTIMATING HOW MUCH THE BOC IS GOING TO CUT RATES: CIBC ECONOMIST BENJAMIN TAL
Investors are on edge, with growing recession fears and uncertainty surrounding corporate earnings growth. These concerns, along with high valuations, are fuelling rising volatility in the stock market. To help investors determine if the economy is normalizing or materially deteriorating, I recently spoke with CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal. He provided his assessment of the economy, updated his policy interest rate forecast and discussed potential implications for...
read more