Condo madness on Lake Shore Boulevard

The first phase of Beyond the Sea, located just west of Park Lawn Road, sold out in just two days last June; it’s likely phase two’s 279 suites will be snapped up quickly. Both towers won’t be ready for another three years. In the spirit of Toronto’s seemingly insatiable appetite for real estate, a line-up for Beyond the Sea was already growing at 9:30 a.m. yesterday. It ended shortly after noon today, when the developer started handing out numbers for a first-come, first-served process. Aside from a few words from people guarding against budders, the night went by smoothly.

Alternative routes to real estate riches

As an asset class, real estate tends to play second fiddle to stocks and bonds. Apart from their homes, average Canadians are likely underexposed to bricks and mortar.
The classic route to real estate riches is to buy a second home, perhaps a condo or triplex apartment, rent it out and get your tenants to pay the mortgage on it. But this is not a highly diversified approach. It can be a problem finding good tenants, collecting rents and keeping properties maintained.

Out of town buyers love ...Toronto

It may not look like London ... yet. But more international buyers have spotted Toronto and started to snap up our luxury real estate."As expensive as our real estate is," says Elise Kalles, whose agency is affiliated with auction house Christie's international real-estate arm, Christie's Great Estates, "you could never have a two acre lot, close to downtown, with an indoor pool, tennis courts [except in Toronto]. There's nowhere else like it."

The War of the Houses

It seems designed to boost uncertainty for potential buyers, inflate housing prices (not to mention commissions) and reduce overall transparency.A hot sellers' market is partly the cause. But there seems to be more quality control and consumer protection when buying a car or a litre of milk than when making the biggest purchase in most people's lives.The way bidding wars are conducted in Toronto is at the heart of the problem. There don't appear to be any rules. In one case we were asked to re-bid because several of the offers were "similar." Similar?

Two new taxes vital for Toronto property's

Intense behind-the-scenes pressure is being applied to city councillors in the run-up to a vote expected tomorrow on imposing two new taxes on Torontonians. Money from these taxes is crucial to the city's future, but the measures face staunch opposition. A proposed land transfer tax would take $300 million from people buying homes or other property in the city. And a new motor vehicle levy would drain $56 million from owners of automobiles and motorcycles. That has generated charges of a "tax grab" at city hall. If only it were so simple.

Trump (Tower) Gets Chopped Down

What's to blame for the slow sales? Back in March Trump called Toronto's Real Estate Market 'soft'. In response the Toronto Real Estate Market proceeded to have record sales in April, May, and June. Most likely the astronomical prices of the suites combined with the questionable location (dead-centre in the financial district) were important factors explaining why sales were so poor.

Pandox SA Pays $46M for InterContinental Montreal

MONTREAL-Swedish hospitality firm Pandox SA has completed its acquisition of the InterContinental Montreal, a 357-room inn that traded for just over $46 million. Located near the city’s Financial District, the operation will retain its current flag under a 30-year management contract with InterContinental Hotels Group, the new owners announced in a release.

Canada's Legacy Hotels to Be Snapped Up in $2.5B Deal

Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada's largest lodging REIT, has entered into a support agreement with Cadbridge Investors L.P. and InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust to be acquired in an all cash transaction valued at an estimated $2.5 billion.

Canada's housing market had another record month in June

The Canadian Real Estate Association said the average cost of a home was $335,180 last month, compared to $303,472 in June last year, an increase of 10.4 per cent. Also in June, existing home sales rose to a new seasonally adjusted high of 31,300 – up 0.3 per cent from May and 10.9 per cent from a year ago. It was the highest monthly sales level on record and the third consecutive month in which activity scaled new heights, CREA said.

Forest Hill home with two wine cellars may be most expensive piece of toronto residential property

In what is believed to be a record selling price for a residential property in Toronto, an opulent Forest Hill mansion has been purchased for $15.8 million.
The 16,000 square foot Dunvegan Rd. home has eight bedrooms, 13 washrooms and an indoor six-car garage. The sale of the home in one of the city's toniest neighbourhoods demonstrates the strength of the luxury home market in Toronto, fuelled by stellar returns on Bay Street as the Toronto Stock Exchange hits record levels.

Canadian real estate Building permits jump 21%

Most of the action was in Western Canada, where Calgary and Vancouver were responsible for most of the gain. Excluding the two areas, the value of permits – considered a leading indicator of construction and economic activity – would have rose by just over 7 per cent, instead of more than 21 per cent.

An increase in Greater Vancouver home sales

Greater Vancouver recorded 3,951 sales on the Multiple Listing Service in June, a 7.4-per-cent increase from sales in June 2006 -- and the second-best June on record, according to statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Canada Real Estate Market Continues to Boom

Realtors sold one hundred and 20 million dollars worth of residential real estate last month. That's up 95 percent from June of 2006 when almost 62 million dollars worth of residential real estate changed hands.

City of Toronto's sweeping tax proposal

A proposed City of Toronto tax would effectively double the land transfer taxes that he would have to pay, meaning that he will potentially pony up close to $2,000 on his small, 600-square-foot bachelor loft that is on the site of a former garment factory.

Canada Independent and strong

Forty-two years ago, George Grant pronounced that Canada had ceased to exist. In Lament for a Nation, he argued that the distinctive aspects of our culture and politics could not withstand the integrating forces of continental capitalism and universal modernism radiating from the United States.They too are wrong, for Canada is a powerful country. We have the world's second largest expanse of real estate.