The federal government has announced a $4.6-billion package to help millions of Canadians struggling with decades-high inflation. 

The plan, announced Tuesday, includes three temporary support programs: dental care payments for children of uninsured parents, a doubling of the existing GST rebate and a one-time increase in rental support.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday that these supports will give hundreds of dollars to millions of Canadians over the next two years.

Here is some of what’s on offer, and how to apply. 

Calgarians will soon get a better of idea of just how much they will pay on their property taxes this year. On Wednesday, city council voted on an overall property tax increase of 3.61 per cent. That number is a combined rate of both municipal tax as well as the provincial education tax.

The provincial government increased how much it is requisitioning for the education tax from the City of Calgary by 1.7 per cent — or $12.8 million — this year.

“We have no control over the provincial requisition (and) we have no control over assessed values, so we really have to work with what we’re given,” said Ward 1 councillor Sonya Sharp, who chaired the meeting as deputy mayor because Mayor Jyoti Gondek is in Vancouver for a conference.

Inventory levels in major Canadian real estate markets have been dwindling over the past decade, with active listings in July running below the 10-year average in almost all markets surveyed based on Canadian Real Estate Association data and insights from the RE/MAX network. This, despite softer overall real estate activity, according to a report released today by RE/MAX Canada.

RE/MAX examined active listings in July from 2013 to 2022 in eight major Canada real estate markets—Greater Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton-Burlington, the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, Montreal (CMA) and Halifax-Dartmouth—and found inventory levels have fallen short of the 10-year average in seven of those markets in 2022. Double-digit declines are noted in Halifax-Dartmouth (65.5 per cent below the 10-year average); Ottawa (down by almost 42 per cent); Montreal (down 40 per cent from the nine-year average); Calgary (running 26 per cent below average inventory levels); Winnipeg (down 23 per cent), and Greater Vancouver (down 16 per cent). The housing inventory shortage was less-pronounced in the Greater Toronto Area, where supply was down almost seven per cent from the 10-year average. Hamilton-Burlington was the only market to buck the trend, reporting a nominal 3.2-per-cent increase over the 10-year average.

Experts, the industry and governments all agree that Ontario’s current housing crisis — centred on the GTA — is firmly rooted in insufficient housing supply.

To address the issue, Ontario will need to build many more new homes over the next 10 years: 1.5 million more new homes, to be precise. Building that number of new homes in a decade is a monumental challenge. That’s why Ontario’s home-building industry recently released a five-point plan to advise governments on how to get there.

The target of 1.5 million new homes was set out in the report of Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force (HATF) in February, and was confirmed in a report by Smart Prosperity Institute (SPI) this month. For context, building 1.5 million new homes in a decade will require increasing the number of annual housing starts in Ontario by 50 per cent over the highest number we have been able to achieve since 1987 — approximately 100,000 in 2021 — and maintaining that level for 10 years. According to SPI, the need for homes will be greatest in the GTA, with Peel Region needing to build 277,000 new homes, Toronto, 259,000 and York, 180,100.

August sales activity was comparable to the strong levels recorded last year and well above long-term trends for the month.

While sales have remained relatively strong, there continues to be a shift towards more affordable options as the year-over-year pullback in detached sales was nearly matched by gains for multi-family product types.

“While higher lending rates have slowed activity in the detached market, we are still seeing homebuyers shift to more affordable options which is keeping sales activity relatively strong,” said CREB® Chief Economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “This makes Calgary different than some of the larger cities in the country which have recorded significant pullbacks in sales.”

At the same time, new listings continue to trend down, preventing any supply gains or a substantial shift in the months of supply.

Canada’s rate hikes are finally beginning to slow unemployment, but the losses are being carried by young adults. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows the unemployment rate increased in July as job losses came in. Breaking it down, most of the jobs lost are young adults, or people in the education and construction industries. Higher interest rates are finally slowing down the job market, but not for seniors, the only employment demographic to grow in Canada.  

The cost of renting a home in Ontario rose more than almost every other province in Canada last month, according to a new national analysis of online listings.

The latest National Rent Report, released this week by Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research and Consulting, found Ontario ranked second when it comes to the highest average rent for all types of dwellings in July.

The only province that surpassed Ontario was British Columbia with a 19 per cent year-over-year increase.

Read More: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/this-is-how-much-the-average-rent-in-ontario-rose-in-july-1.6026749

New condominium sales in the Greater Toronto Area declined in the second quarter of 2022 as prices climbed to a record high in April, May, and June.

The data collected in a recent market research study by Urbanation Inc. showed that 6,792 units were sold in Q2, marking a drop of 19 per cent from the first quarter and 24 per cent year-over-year.

At the same time, prices for those new units rose to a historic $1,453 per square foot, which the firm says is partly the result of an increase in inventory in higher-priced projects in the city.

Read More: https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/new-toronto-condo-sales-slump-but-prices-keep-climbing-survey-1.6010807

Residential mortgage debt grew last year by the fastest pace since 2008 says a new report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

The federal housing agency says that mortgage debt grew by nine per cent for the year, and topped 10 per cent in the early months of this year before rising interest rates started to slow the market.

“The levels of investments of households are quite high. So it is a source of vulnerability,” said Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, a senior economist at CMHC and co-author of the report on mortgage trends.

Read More: https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/cmhc-says-residential-mortgage-debt-grew-last-year-by-fastest-pace-since-2008-1.5976834

Greater Toronto Area (GTA) new condominium sales totaled 6,792 units in the second quarter, declining 19% from the first quarter and 24% year-over-year but remaining above the 10-year average of 6,302 sales. Activity was supported by the launch of 9,924 new presale condos in Q2, which represented the third highest volume of new units brought to market on record, exceeding the 10-year average (6,937) by 43%. The absorption rate for new projects launched in Q2 declined to 57% — down significantly from the 81% rate recorded during both the previous quarter and in the same quarter last year but only slightly below the 10-year average of 60%.

At 11,703 units, the number of unsold new condominiums in the market rose 36% from the 18-quarter low in Q1 (8,630), although declining 6% annually and remaining 20% below the 10-year average (14,579).

New condo prices for available units continued escalating to reach a record-high average of $1,453 psf in Q2-2022, up 4% quarter-over-quarter and 20% year-over-year, partly the result of an increase in inventory at higher-priced projects. As developers grapple with quickly rising construction costs, labour shortages, large increases to development charges, higher interest rates, and lengthy approval timelines, there appears to be little, if any, room for new condo prices to adjust lower in the current environment. Furthermore, the mild decline in condo resale prices thus far, which decreased 4.9% from a high of $988 psf in Q1 to $940 psf in Q2, and still low inventory levels aren’t creating an urgency for price reductions for new units.

Read More: https://www.urbanation.ca/news/351-gta-new-condo-sales-slow-q2#:~:text=Greater%20Toronto%20Area%20(GTA)%20new,year%20average%20of%206%2C302%20sales