Wahi’s Weekly Roundup of Top Real Estate Stories

Mortgage rates, cooling-off period, landlord-tenant disputes and more.

By  Jared Lindzon | 2 minute read

Every Friday, Wahi brings you the most important real estate stories from the past week.

Mortgage rates left on pause?   

The Bank of Canada left the interest rate just where it is, at 4.5%, on Wednesday despite a particularly strong March jobs report. The country added 35,000 new jobs last month, well above the expected 7,500. In normal times that would have central bankers considering a rate hike — upping mortgage rates in the process — especially as inflation remains uncomfortably high. Then again, prices have been trending downward in recent months, thanks to prior rate increases. For now, the bank says it will continue to wait and see how things play out before making any moves, in either direction.

Early data from B.C. cooling enthusiasm for Ontario’s proposed cool-off policy

On March 31, the Ontario government asked for input as it pondered a cooling-off period for new home purchases, and on paper it made sense. The province already has a 10-day cooling off period for new condo sales, and B.C. recently extended a three-day cool-off to new houses, so what could go wrong? Plenty, according to early results from B.C.’s experiment, which began three months ago. While it hasn’t led home buyers to reconsider, it has added a ton of extra paperwork and made it easier for investors to game the market. Ontario, take note. 

Ontario cities are about to get bigger — at least on paper    

What’s a government to do when it promises to add more houses to cities that have little room left? Expand the boundaries of the city, of course! Last Thursday the province announced some of the steps it would take to reach its goal of adding 1.5 million homes by 2031. Among the proposed changes includes giving municipalities more flexibility to expand their “settlement area boundaries,” but declined to offer much detail. Some speculate the policy will expedite urban sprawl, making it easier to develop farmland that’s just outside city limits — at least according to the current boundaries.

Province throws more money at landlord-tenant dispute backlog    

Tensions have been brewing between landlords and tenants as skyrocketing home values and rents led more owners to give their renters the boot, using tactics like “renoviction.” It now takes the Landlord and Tenant board (LTB) an average of seven to eight months — and as much as 10 — to hear disputes. To help tackle the backlog the province is injecting $6.5 million into the LTV. The money will be used to hire 40 more adjudicators and five back-office staff members, and follows a prior investment of $1.4 million in November.  

Toronto Crane City      

Gaze upon the Toronto skyline and you’ll see towering blocks of concrete, tall rectangles of glass, and way more cranes than any city in North America. According to construction consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall’s Crane Index Toronto had 238 operating in the first quarter of 2023, far surpassing second place Seattle’s 51. In fact, Toronto had more cranes in the sky than Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington combined. So what are they doing up there? According to the report, 139 are building residential projects, 35 commercial, 33 for mixed-use, and 10 dedicated to hospitality.