RENTS Across Canada Moving HIGHER
REMI
The median monthly rent across Canada increased nearly 6 per cent in January over December to $1,747, according to the February National Rent Report created by Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting. The National Rent Report charts and analyzes national, provincial and municipal monthly rental rates and market trends across all listings on Rentals.ca for Canada.
As per the report’s findings, the median rent in Ontario was $2,091 in January, a full $1,000 per month higher than neighbouring Manitoba ($1,070) and Quebec ($1,039). Newfoundland remains the least expensive province in Canada, with a median rental rate of $843 per month, a slight increase from $830 in December.
"Low supply and High Demand = Higher Rents"
Toronto had the highest one-bedroom rents in Canada at $2,149 per month on average in January, an increase of 0.6% from a month earlier. A number of GTA suburban markets were among the most expensive cities for rents in Canada, with one-bedroom units going for $2,050 per month on average in Thornhill, $2,042 in Vaughan (includes Woodbridge and Concord), and $1,999 in Oakville.
There have been about 10,000 apartments completed over the last five months in the GTA, and this increase in supply could keep rents stable.
The vacancy rate in Winnipeg has been 3% or lower for 20 years, and rental rates have increased by 2% or more for 19 consecutive years (per Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data). Developers have taken notice, building about 1,400 rental apartments in each of the last three years, the highest levels of annual rental apartment construction over the past 30 years.
Despite the consistent rental increases, rates are still very affordable in relation to other Canadian cities.
Rental rates have been increasing over the past four months in the combined area of Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, Spruce Grove and St. Albert from $1,207 per month to $1,255 per month.
On a provincial level, Ontario had the highest average rental rates in January, with landlords seeking $2,164 per month on average, an increase of 2% from December ($2,123). In British Columbia, the average asking rent was $1,583 per month, an increase of 4% from December ($1,520).
Alberta was also up month over month by 2%, rising from $1,257 in December to $1,285 in January.
“The resale housing markets in several major cities in western Canada have slumped over the last six months, however, rental rates continue to increase in many of those municipalities,” said Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting. “Edmonton, Red Deer, Saskatoon, Regina, and Vancouver all experienced month-over-month increases in average rents for one bedroom units in January.”
“With rising rents across the country, it is important when searching for a rental home to give yourself plenty of time to score a good deal — Rentals.ca recommends starting your rental search three months in advance,” said Matt Danison, CEO of Rentals.ca. “A lot of people begin the process too late, and unless they get lucky they might be forced to go with something either out of their budget or in an undesirable location.”
The report suggests rent across Canada could increase further if credit availability remains tight, other economic data such as employment growth remain positive, and the stress test continues to delay first-time buyers from entering the real estate market.
Tenancy In Common OR Joint Tenants??
PELORUS
Many times when reviewing a person’s financial affairs, I ask how their properties are held. The typical response is a list of names on title. When I question if the individuals on title are joint-tenancy or tenants-in-common, the response is, “I don’t know. Is there a difference?” My response is, yes.
The primary difference between joint tenancy and tenants-in-common is the right of survivorship. Only joint tenancy has the right to survivorship. Property held by tenants-in-common becomes the ownership of the deceased’s estate leading to probate fees being charged before transferring to the beneficiary(ies) through the Will. When property is held in joint tenancy, the shareholder’s interest is transferred to the remaining shareholders in the event of death until the last shareholder has full control. Only the last person can use his or her Will to give the property to someone else.
For example, let’s say Adelle, Sarah and Robert are joint tenants of a house. Robert passes away. He wants to leave his share to his wife. He can’t because he’s a joint tenant. Adelle and Sarah now own the property equally. Sarah dies. Adelle now owns the whole property. Since she is the only name now on title, she can leave the property to her husband and children. There is nothing for Sarah’s and Robert’s families.
Some people transfer property to joint tenancy to avoid probate fees. There can be a series of complications with this approach:
• Land transfer tax
• Income tax triggered on the disposition of one’s interest
• Possible loss of control of the property
• Concern of creditors from new joint owner
Typically a husband and wife will hold property such as a matrimonial home as joint tenants. When the first spouse dies, the other one will automatically inherit the home without having to go through probate. (Keep in mind, joint tenancy is not always done with second marriages.)
Tenants-in-common has a different outcome. The share ownership doesn’t have to be equally distributed. Someone can own 60% and the remaining individuals, 30% and 10%. Typically, this occurs based upon the amount of investment capital made at time of transaction. Each shareholder can appoint their share in their Will or sell it without the permission of the other shareholders.
To adapt our example above, Adelle, Sarah and Robert are tenants-in-common of the property and are equal owners. When Robert passes away, he leaves his share to his wife, Clara. Now the owners are Adelle, Sarah and Clara. Sarah passes away and leaves her share to her husband, Richard. Now the owners are Adelle, Clara and Richard. This way, each of the individual owners retains control of his or her share.
Glenn Fabello is Principal and Managing Partner at Pelorus Transition Planning (www.thinkpelorus.ca) and has more than 25 years’ experience developing financial and estate planning solutions for clients.
GTA Residential Market Slowing
BILD
New home buyers finally reached their limit in Toronto last year.
After years of frenzied price increases, sales of new homes in Canada’s biggest city sunk to the lowest in almost two decades in 2018 and the supply of unsold condos piled up, according to a pair of new reports released Friday.
“Greater caution” should be taken when investing in new condo units, particularly over the short-term, as trends point toward slower appreciation, Shaun Hildebrand, president of condo research firm Urbanation, said in the report. The “market has started to normalize after unprecedented activity in recent years.”
Toronto’s housing market is dramatically cooling after higher interest rates and new mortgage regulations bite. The city joins other global metropolises such as London and Sydney seeing a slowdown as international investors retreat and domestic buyers balk at higher prices.
Sales of new homes fell to 25,161 from 2017, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association, which used data from Altus Group Ltd. That’s the lowest annual number since Toronto-based Altus started tracking the figures in 2000.
Condo Swoon
Single-family homes showed the biggest decline, plunging 50 percent to 3,831 from 2017 and 74 percent below the 10-year average. Condos sales fell 38 percent to 21,330, but only 4 percent below the 10-year average.
While the benchmark price of a new single-family home slumped 6.7 percent to C$1,143,505 in December on the year, condo prices surged 11 percent to C$796,815 ($605,000), according to BILD’s report.
RECENT SALES
15 Walmer Road – Toronto – SOLD $30,000,000 / $385,000 per suite / 2.10% Cap Rate
This property is located in central Toronto close to U of T in one of the highers rental areas per square foot in the city. The 10 storey building contains a total of 78 suites with very lows rents. Our information indicates that this was a direct deal and the property was not fully exposed. Most of the building was one bedrooms and bachelor suites. The buyer was a private investor.
1340-1360 Danforth Road – Scarborough – SOLD $155,500,000 / $272,800 per suite / 3.25% Cap Rate
This property comprised of three large apartment towers on over 7 acres of land in a ravine setting. The overall project contained 570 suites and was owned by Bentall Kennedy and professionally managed. These buildings are located at Danforth and St. Clair and were purchased by Starlight Investments.
29-31 Upper Canada Drive – North York – SOLD $23,400,000 / $200,000 per suite
This property is located in the Yonge and 401 area and the 3.37 acre site is improved with two low rise rental apartment buildings with a total of 117 suites. They were a 1950's vintage and was privately owned for over 3 decades. This was not marketed and was purchased by Westdale Properties. This could be a future development site as it appears the present use dose not maximize the site's potential.
680-688 Sheppard Avenue East – North York – SOLD $38,000,000 / $542,860 per suite
This property is located on the north side of Sheppard Avenue just west of Bayview Village Shopping Centre and a five minute walk to a subway entrance (Sheppard Line). The 1.89 acre site is improved with two low rise rental apartment buildings with a total of 70 suites. One building was a co-ownership and the other a purpose built rental building. The property was purchased by Tribute Communities and the buildings will be torn down and the site developed with condo towers of around 325,000 sf GFA. Reportedly one building was empty at the time of sale.
THE APARTMENT GROUP
Together the team has completed over 1,000 transaction and has sold over $5 billion in apartments and development land. Put us to work for you and see the results. NO ONE has sold more buildings then your group. Experience, knowledge and professionalism will insure you get the right deal or the highest price if you are selling.
The Apartment Group is a dedicated team of professionals specializing in the sale of multi-residential investment properties. With over 40 years of combined experience, the team brings together their strengths including strong negotiation and sales skills along with highly technical market analysis and appraisal methods.
We are a boutique Brokerage but have the capabilities of the larger houses without the overhead. We have: an internal database of over 10,500 active apartment and land Buyers; a list of all apartment building owners in the Greater Toronto Area; our web site gets over 50,000 hits a month; we highlight properties for sale through our newsletter which reaches 10,000 investors monthly.
MITCHELL CHANG
President & Owner,
Salesperson
Direct: 416-907-8280
mchang@cfrealty.ca
LORENZO DIGIANFELICE, AACI
Broker of Record, Owner
Direct 416-907-8281
ldigianfelice@cfrealty.ca
JAKE RINGWALD
Salesperson
Direct 416-996-7713
jringwald@cfrealty.ca