Since I’m spending a lot of time at home these days, I decided to professionalise my home made food skills. Who’s my teacher? YouTube of course. Today I learnt the difference between Sauerkraut and Pickled Cabbage. Apparently, the cabbage I massaged with salt will turn sour on its own after 14 days.
Short-term rental zoning bylaw amendments are in effect. The amendments now permit short-term rentals (any rental that is less than 28 consecutive days) across the city in principal residences. Within their principal residence, people can rent up to three rooms or their entire home.
Licensing and Registration Of Short-Term Rentals bylaw has also come into effect. Municipal Accommodation Tax: 4%
Short-term rentals would be allowed only in landlords’ principal residences for up to 180 nights a year for an entire house or apartment. Homeowners could also rent up to three bedrooms year round on a short-term basis — a term defined as less than 28 days.
Basement apartments wouldn’t be allowed to use as short-term rentals. Only the full-time resident of those suites could let those units for less than 28 days.
There are 2 main proposals for housing affordability which were introduced; The First-Time Home Buyers Incentive Program and an increase to the Home Buyer’s Plan.
The First-Time Homebuyer Incentive Program is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2019 and we expect further details in the coming months as the program gets finalized. Once we receive the final program and have an opportunity to assess we will certainly share this with you and your valued clients.
Here, we will focus on the increase to the Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP), the final report was submitted, now it is in active and eligible for qualified buyers. This increase to the HBP withdrawal limit will apply in respect of withdrawals made after March 19, 2019 given that the Purchase and Sale agreement was also signed after this date.
First-Time Home Buyers’ Plan:
Currently, the Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP) allows first-time home buyers to withdraw up to $25,000 from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan to purchase or build a new home without having to pay tax on the withdrawn amount. Budget 2019 proposes to increase the HBP limit to $35,000 per first-time home buyer or $70,000 per couple. Buyers that are going through the breakdown of marriage or common-law partnership will be permitted to participate in the HBP even if they are not first-time home buyers provided that the separated person lives separate and apart from their spouse or common law partner for at least 90 days.
Here’s an example of some of the ways this program could help you:
01: Increased Eligibility:
Buyers that have access to this program can benefit from the flexibility of increasing their purchasing power by $10K. This provides leverage and further opportunities for you being First-Time Home Buyer.
02. Decreased Payment:
An increase to the down payment by $10K will provide you approximately $50 in savings on the monthly mortgage payments.
03. Reduced Income Qualification:
An increase to down payment allows buyers to qualify for slightly more home. In this specific circumstance a buyer looking to buy for $500,000 would need about $3K less in income by increasing their down payment by $10,000. This will help borrowers that are on the cusp of qualifying.
It should come as no surprise that new listings, sales and active listings dropped o substantially in December. It is part of the usual winter market blip that we experience each year around this time. Included in the slowdown in activity are increases in the number of days on the market and the average selling price versus the list price. But December is an oddity of the Toronto market which has experienced tremendous suc- cess in 2016. Against all odds, such as a tightening of lending requirements, the Toronto Real Estate Board recorded 12,000 more sales than 2015, a nearly 12% increase in total homes sold. Remarkably this was achieved at the same time as recording a increase of over $100k on the average price of a home. According to TREB, the condo market was a major factor in sales volume growth and our own numbers bear witness to the demand in this sector.
OVERHEARD BUZZ
Despite a record year for property sales, supply of listings remained extremely tight. In fact, active listings by the end of December were at the lowest levels since 2002. This December there was more buyer activity in the 905 where 2662 freehold semis, detached and town homes sold in the 905 compared to just 836 in the 416. The condo market is still king in the downtown core with sales outnumbering the 905 by better than 3 to 1. New construction sales ended the year with new records. While inventory levels stayed consistent, the average price for a highrise condo is closing in at $500k while a lowrise property is just a shade lower than $1m. This is likely to continue in 2017 as we apply the old adage…they aren’t making any more land!