By Staff
November 22nd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
There are tough times all around – and the development industry is hurting like many others.
The number of developments that have been put on hold; facing foreclosure by their lenders or being sold to a group that can complete what someone else started is quite long.
These financial bumps impact people looking to buy property – there is still a lot of speculation in the small-unit condo market. Money to be made for sure – but the speculation isn’t helping people who need housing with two and three-bedroom homes – with a decent park reasonably close.
Storey, an online news source focused on the development industry provides the details.
It’s been a hot minute since we heard anything about The One. But it turns out no news doesn’t mean good news, as the latest buzz is about a potential lawsuit that’s been brewing and could end up halting construction.
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- New data shows that 2024 has not been a particularly productive year for homebuilding in Ontario. Unfortunately, the same can also be said for the past six years. The Gazette reported on this earlier in the week
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Three years after the condo project was first placed under receivership, a buyer has been found for Central Park Ajax, bringing an end to a saga that included legal action involving the Town.
Meanwhile, Chacon Developments is facing a quadruple-whammy, including two receiverships and two powers of sale over properties in Brampton and Caledon.
On a brighter note, leading purpose-built rental developer Fitzrovia has dipped into a new $1.1-billion fund to acquire the rights to redevelop a 24-storey office building in midtown Toronto.
In a move that’s being applauded by industry stakeholders, the City of Vaughan has slashed their sky-high DCs. In particular, charges on low-rise residential have been decreased by over $44,000.
You’ve probably heard of office-to-residential conversions, but have you heard of prison-to-residential conversions? That’s a separate story.
By the numbers:
This week’s real estate news, according to the numbers.
| 240,761 — The number of housing starts in October, marking an 8% annual rise. Even so, starts remain “well below” what is needed to restore affordability in Canada’s urban centres. |
2%
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The year-over-year rise in the Consumer Price Index in October – a “minor setback” for the BoC and future rate cuts, but not enough to completely derail the chance of a 50-bps cut in December.
$1.8B
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The investment sales volume of multi-suite rental properties in the third quarter, marking the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2022.
35%
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The percentage of Canadian renters searching for more than two weeks for their rental as of November, down from 57% as of March.
60%
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The year-over-year decline in GTA new home sales in October, with 765 transactions recorded.
624 Acres
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The size of a Greenbelt property in Caledon that Ontario students are being invited to submit creative design concepts for as part of a $100,000 competition.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
CIBC Economist Katherine Judge had this to say about the economy: “Although this report will be a disappointment for the Bank of Canada, it follows a string of reports that showed more progress than expected. While that makes the December meeting a closer call in terms of a 25bp or 50bp cut, the slack in the Canadian economy that we expect to be confirmed in upcoming labour market and GDP reports has us retaining our call for a 50bp cut in December for now.”
The Sawett golf course in Bronte/Oakville also ended up being developed. They also tried to develop the famous Glen Abby golf course when l lived north of there. Fortunately it didn’t happen then but one never knows about the future. The greedy developers have been eyeing the Burlington golf and Country club, but this hopefully will never happen. As a tree hugger I’m still trying to figure out when the Pallettas culled all the trees at their Alinea site and how l missed this.
Editors note: When were the trees culled on the Alinea site – and, to be more specific, which site are you talking about. And while I am at it – what are the criteria you use to describe a developer as “greedy” The last time I hear about Tyendaga being developed the words came from the lips of the then City Manager.
Kudos to the COB I.T. dept for producing and maintaining the P2P web information platform.
According to the P2P dashboard there are 43,538 units in the pipeline, until you do the math and subtract the 20,508 units that are in the pre-approval stage, which means there are 23,230 active units in the works.
If you care about how COB is going to achieve it targets:
From 1/1/23 to 12/31/23 COB approved 669 units of which 328 or 49% of the total units came from tall buldings.
From 1/1/24 to 11/22/24 COB approved 1186 of which 1086 or 90% of the total units came from tall buildings.
If the development industry virus were to hit tall bulding development in COB, we will never make our targets.
Due to the prized locations of the tall buldings in the COB, I doubt the virus will hit here.
The so-called Greenbelt property in Caledon? To become a 27 hole golf club? Just what we need – wasting real greenbelt to turn into the artificial nature that is a golf course. Golf is not a growth industry anymore. Young people are just not interested in the time, the cost, the effort. Why are we allowing “greenbelt” golf courses? They are morphing into housing (see Burlington and Millcroft Golf Club) eventually.
Golf is part of the culture of a city. Just because one doesn’t golf doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have golf courses. Although I don’t patronize the Theater or play hockey or soccer the arenas and venues that accommodate these make up the culture of our city which is usually ranked at or near the top 5 cities to live in. Strip its culture and it will just be urban sprawl like Milton
The golf course actually serves a vital public purpose. Doug Ford needs someplace to entertain his rich developer friends and campaign donors when they are in the neighbourhood.