Wednesday Links: Mortgage Rules in the Media

Reckless speculators get a cold shower – The Globe and Mail
Ottawa’s decision to hike minimum down payment required to obtain insurance on investment homes likely to have immediate effect.

Don’t worry, home loan rules can still be bent - The Montreal Gazette
The good news or bad news, depending on your perspective, is you can still buy a home in Canada with almost no money…

Home buying rush expected in spring - The Globe and Mail
That may be the calm before the storm. Analysts expect a hot spring real estate market given Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s move to tighten mortgage standards yesterday.

The trouble with bubbles: They’re elusive – The Globe and Mail
Some say government spending has overinflated global assets; but even the best minds have missed calling most collapses

L’économie se rapprocherait de la reprise- La Presse

This was an article published at La Presse today.

L’économie mondiale se rapproche «du moment de la reprise» a affirmé lundi le porte-parole des dix grandes banques centrales mondiales (G10) Jean-Claude Trichet lors d’une conférence de presse à Bâle.

«Il y a un très fort engagement des autorités, des gouvernements à ne pas laisser sombrer des institutions d’importance systémique», ce qui représente «un très fort engagement qui n’a pas été totalement pris en compte par les marchés», selon M. Trichet.
«La plupart des observateurs s’attendent à une croissance négative pour les pays industrialisés» cette année, a précisé M. Trichet, à l’issue de la réunion bimestrielle du G10 au siège de la Banque des règlements internationaux (BRI).La croissance mondiale devrait être proche de zéro en 2009, avec une «reprise» en 2010, a précisé M. Trichet, par ailleurs président de la Banque centrale européenne.

Les élements «positifs» – les mesures prises par les différents gouvernements pour contrer la crise économique et la baisse du prix du pétrole – «n’ont pas totalement été pris en compte» pour l’heure, a-t-il poursuivi.

At this point it looks like the glass is half empty. Let’s see what changes they come up with once the government measures against the economic crisis are considered into the equation.

Friday Blogwrap and News

Last summer in Le Plateau. photo: Deya Bautista

• McTavish Revisited…after $9M in security measures.[Spacing Montreal]
• St Laurent block to be rebuilt as an “eco-friendly showcase of art.” [Montreal City Weblog]
• Gare de la future navette ferroviaire: 25 millions investis sans garantie [La Presse]
• New hypothetical airport train station [Same subject by Spacing Montreal]
• Arrests made in murder of Canadian developer in Thailand [CTV.ca]
• Quebec CAA declares war on potholes for the ninth year on the row [Daily Commercial News]
• Gossip: Vince Vaughn engaged to a Calgary real estate agent [The Star]

Thursday Real Estate News & Blogwrap

Photo: Graffiti on Rue Duluth by Deya Bautista

• Property investors in Canada likely to see sliding property sales and prices [Property Wire]
• Housing market to rebound for 2010 [ The West Island Chronicle]
• Women homeowners value financial security, personal space, poll says [Calgary Herald]
• Mont Royal: un patrimoine culturel en péril! [Le Devoir]
• Projet Montreal proposes the creation of Sidewalk squads. [Montreal City Weblog]

Griffintown: A no-go without the city’s financial help

Just two weeks ago we had news about the Griffintown Project scaling down to 30% from its original size.
Yesterday we had news via La Presse, that Devimco is asking the city of Montreal to step in with financial help, otherwise the project won’t be finished until 2013.

The city’s response: “We’ll evaluate the request and see what we could do”.

Be sure to read more on that soon.

Builders and Land Developers facing challenges right now

With financial markets roiling, oil and gas prices gyrating and the extent of the fallout in the Canadian real estate market uncertain, many current and aspiring homeowners seem content to stand still and wait out the turmoil.

Home builders don’t have that option.

“This whole industry is a big ship and it doesn’t turn on a dime,” says Niall Haggart, vice-president at Daniels Corp.

Builders and land developers face a battalion of challenges right now: Spillover from the collapse of the U.S. housing market is starting to drag down real estate sales and prices in Canada but no one can predict how long or steep the slide will be.

In Ontario, the government’s official plan to curb urban sprawl is making land available for building scarce and therefore more expensive, developers complain.

At the same time, higher materials costs for builders are also pushing up the cost of even a modest townhouse in the suburbs out of the reach of first-time buyers.

Meanwhile, immigration brings potential new buyers into the housing market just as the looming retirement dates of baby boomers could lead to a wave of downsizing.

Builders buy land several years before they ever have a house or condominium unit ready for a buyer. Many are trying to adjust to the shifting landscape and predict where the market will be a few years out.

Read the complete article

Canadian Market News: Credit Crunch & Stock Market Effects

• Canadians ‘should not be too worried’ – [Financial Post]
  Wall Street may be imploding while financial markets around the world are in retreat, but as far as most Canadians are concerned, it’s business as usual.
  (…) Canadians need to be cautious in making financial decisions in the months ahead as the economic environment becomes more challenging. For instance, they should be aware that credit conditions could get tighter as the banking system responds to the global credit crunch.
• Credit crisis pushing up vacancy rates (Toronto) – [The Star]
  It’s going to be a “bumpy road ahead” for the Greater Toronto office market, according to sober forecasts released yesterday by leading Canadian brokerage firms.
  The office market is expected to see slower than average growth over the remaining half of the year as the finance, insurance, real estate and commercial services sectors digest the Wall Street implosion, caused by the weakening economy and the failure of the U.S. investment banking sector, says a Colliers International study.
• Montreal housing advocates rally for federal funding program [CBC News]
  About 100 people rallied in downtown Montreal on Thursday to protest planned cuts to federal funding of homeless support programs.
  Advocates against homelessness, joined by federal candidates, gathered in front of the Guy-Favreau federal government building on René-Lévesque Blvd. for the protest.
• Canada’s boom in the housing markets is definitely over – [The Star]
  Canadian existing home housing prices are decelerating quickly with the steepest decline in more than a decade recorded in August, as analysts say homeowners in some cities should prepare for further depreciation

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