New year, new market… er, sorta.

While the rest of the world made its list of New Year’s resolutions, developers made a resolution of their own:

Figure out what’s up with balconies.

New data from Bullpen Research and Consulting shows that the average size of a balcony in a new condo project in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is approximately 72 square feet – 16 per cent of the average unit size. That’s a significant amount of space for a home feature that (it’s okay to admit…) often ends up turning into outdoor storage.

As of this writing, the site is home to a portion of the two-storey Canadian Tire building, a garden centre, and surface parking. The owner’s portion is a northwest section of the area, with frontage along Danforth Avenue. It is about 11,619m² in area and is just east of the four apartments that make up the Main Square complex.

The proposed design by Turner Fleischer Architects for developer CT REIT entails two buildings standing at 115.35m with 33 storeys (Tower A) and 148.25m with 44 storeys (Tower B) containing 905 residential units. They would share a podium of eight to nine storeys. With the existing structures being demolished, the design would result in a new Canadian Tire store, automobile service centre, public park, and new public street running north-south.

New cuts to the fees that local councils can levy against home builders could have a major impact on property taxes in parts of the GTA, a new survey by CBC News has found, with one municipality saying property taxes could more than double.

Late last year, the provincial government passed Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which eliminates some fees that municipalities charge to developers in exchange for the right to build certain types of homes — money that municipalities say they rely on to provide things like roads and sewers, public transit, parks and libraries.

CBC News polled all 25 municipal governments in the Greater Toronto Area Dec. 15 and 16, asking how much money they’ll lose by not collecting the development charges and how much they believe they’ll have to hike property taxes in the years ahead to make ends meet.

The bulk of those municipalities say it’s still unclear how they’ll contend with the dramatic loss of revenue. 

Much of Ontario will be walking — and shovelling — in a winter wonderland today.

Everyone knows (or should know) that big fines are in store if you fail to shovel the snow outside your home. But what if you rent your property? Is it still your responsibility, or your landlord’s? 

That’s the $500 question.

According to Section 20(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, “a landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a residential complex, including the rental units in it, in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and for complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.” And according to court rulings, this includes snow removal. 

Rents continued to climb across the country in November, surpassing the $2,000 mark nationally with renters paying $224 more, on average, compared to a year prior. This is according to a new national rent report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation, based on data from RentFaster.ca.

November’s national average appreciated 2.5% month over month, 12.4% year over year, 4.9% in the past three months, and 10.5% since November 2019, the report says.

Despite delivering a half-point interest rate hike at its final rate decision meeting of 2022, the Bank of Canada offered borrowers a glimmer of hope that this could be among its last.

On the heels of stronger-than-expected GDP growth in the third quarter and persistently high inflation, the Bank opted for the more aggressive of its two rate-hike options on Wednesday. Markets and economists had been nearly evenly divided in forecasting a 25- or 50-bps increase.

“Looking ahead, Governing Council will be considering whether the policy interest rate needs to rise further to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation to target,” read the Bank’s statement.

That was the first major deviation from previous statements, in which it regularly said rates “will need to rise further.”

The real estate market in Toronto neighbourhoods can be very competitive. Some Toronto neighbourhoods boast some of the most expensive real estate in Canada, with homes often selling in the millions of dollars.

Keep reading for details on the most expensive neighbourhoods in Toronto, as well as information on the types of families that live in Toronto’s most affluent areas.

The average household income in Toronto is $78,373, which is required in a city with a high cost of living. According to experts, the typical Torontonian needs to earn at least $22.08 per hour in order to comfortably live in the city. However, living in some of the more wealthy areas often requires much more income.

The Great Canadian Real Estate Slowdown is set to continue into the future. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows the value of building permits fell in October. The drop in permits shows less building activity is planned, especially for residential building. It sounds like bad news, but it might not be. Falling land and building costs mean projects are viable at much lower prices. This can help restore more affordable housing, as long as rates normalize at these levels.

Canadian building permits continued to fall, making its second consecutive decline. Total permit values fell to $10.0 billion in October, down 1.4% from the previous month. In real terms, this worked out to a 0.9% decline, according to Stat Can. Permit values remain elevated compared to pre-2020, so this isn’t an alarming throttle. However, it’s worth noting that the drop in permit value is entirely due to housing.

More cautious criteria for condo project financing could upend some development pro formas and potentially constrain housing starts in the coming months. CBRE Canada’s annual survey of lenders finds them generally less open to loans on high-rise condo projects than they were 12 months ago.

“Headwinds are hitting the condo sector. A tightening in underwriting is on the way,” Carmin Di Fiore, CBRE’s executive vice president, debt and structure finance, warned during the online release of the 2022 survey results earlier this week. “Cost-push inflation and rising interest rates are pencilling out very differently compared to previous years.”

In the period between November 2021 and November 2022, high-rise condos have shifted from being one of the least worrisome underwriting candidates to midway in the pack of 18 categories of commercial real estate assets. More than 30 per cent of respondents — from a total survey base of 29 companies that collectively hold about $200 billion in real estate loans — expressed reservations versus fewer than 10 per cent naysayers last year.

During the pandemic, online house-hunting and virtual tours became the norm for prospective homebuyers. The shift to a digital platform opened a world of possibilities for people who were looking for a home.  

But who exactly is looking (and what are they looking for)?  

According to Point2’s latest data, young Canadians are hungrier than ever for houses.  

Specifically – it’s a young millennial using a smartphone to search for houses online – preferably something with more than 1,000 square feet with 2-3 bedrooms and bathrooms, for a modest price of $200,000 to $300,000.  

Maybe you know one of these people. Maybe you are one of these people. Either way, they make up over 63.51 per cent of prospective homebuyers these days, and one thing is certain – they’re not looking to buy at the top.