Many homeowners have extra space they may want to convert into rental suites, such as an unused basement, or a garage that could be converted into a laneway home. Historically, the cost of renovating, combined with municipal red tape, has made this both difficult and expensive.

Recent municipal zoning reforms in Canada’s major cities, made possible through Housing Accelerator Fund agreements, are creating new opportunities for homeowners to add additional suites and increase density. New rental suites would provide more homes for Canadians and could provide an important source of income for seniors continuing to age at home.

In Toronto’s Bridle Path, Bayview Village, and Willowdale neighbourhoods, the average resident can expect to live past 84 years of age—higher than even Japan’s world-leading life expectancy. Meanwhile, in less affluent parts of the city, such as Rexdale, Oakridge, and Moss Park, death comes more than a decade earlier—on par with countries like Tunisia and Nicaragua.

Those stark numbers, published here for the first time, are the results of a monthslong collaboration between The Local and researchers at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital. The project uses the latest available data from the 2021 census and 2020 and 2021 provincial death records to examine life expectancy at birth in all 158 neighbourhoods of Toronto—that is, how long a child born in a particular corner of the city would live if current patterns of mortality remain unchanged.

One of the GTA’s leading real estate companies has lowered its year-end forecast for Toronto-area home prices to reflect the “soft” fall market. Royal LePage said it now expects the aggregate price of a home in the GTA will increase 6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter last year.

“The previous forecast has been revised downward to reflect current market conditions,” the report said. In July, Royal LePage had said it expected the price to rise by 10 per cent. The GTA is slightly ahead of the national price forecast of a 5.5 per cent increase, which was also lowered from 9 per cent.

Thinking that you might need to file bankruptcy can lead to many sleepless nights, but even more stressful is the thought of losing your home if you can’t keep up with your mortgage payments.

At a time of high home equity line of credit (HELOC) payments and increased mortgage payments due to higher interest rates, I’m hearing the word “foreclosure” more often than I have for quite some time. If you’re worried about the possibility of foreclosure, the best thing you can do is arm yourself with information so that you can either avoid it altogether or navigate it as successfully as possible.

Hopeful Canadian homebuyers may well have their pick of the litter when it comes to condos in many housing markets across the country, a new report from Re/Max Canada shows. The national brokerage said in its national condo outlook released Wednesday that listings in this segment of the market have “soared” in recent months.

A glut of condos in Toronto — now sitting around seven months’ worth of inventory — has been well documented over the summer. While Re/Max noted that Toronto’s condo listings were up 52.8 per cent year-over-year as of August, the city isn’t alone. B.C.’s Fraser Valley led the way with a 58.7-per cent increase over the same period, with Calgary’s inventory up 52.4 per cent and Ottawa’s rising 44.5 per cent.

The other cities included in the report, Edmonton, Halifax and Vancouver, saw annual gains between 7.3 and 17.7 per cent.

As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, the second Category 4 storm to hit the Gulf Coast in two weeks, many Canadians are grappling with uncertainty. More than half a million own homes in the Sunshine State, making them the top foreign buyers of property there. The impending storm raises critical questions about protecting real estate investments in the face of natural disasters. The Financial Post’s Shantaé Campbell explores an increasingly complex foreign ownership landscape.

Canada’s economy grew 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis in July, Statistics Canada said on Friday, more than analysts had expected. However, quarterly growth is still tracking well below the Bank of Canada’s forecast, leaving the possibility of a jumbo-sized rate cut on the table.

While July’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was more than the 0.1 per cent rate analysts had expected, advance estimates show GDP was unchanged in August, as increases in oil and gas extraction and the public sector offset decreases in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing.

OSFI has confirmed that it will remove the requirement for lenders to apply the Minimum Qualifying Rate (MQR) to straight switches of uninsured mortgages.

Superintendent Peter Routledge confirmed that OSFI will formally announce this change on November 21, 2024, as part of the regulator’s quarterly release pilot, with the change coming into effect that same day.

Condo living in 2024 is about more than just space; it’s about the carefully curated amenities that turn buildings into communities.

Gone are the days of a gym, party room, and concierge being most-appreciated amenities – today, they’re considered must-haves. And they’re now joined by things we once may have never imagined in our condo-dwelling lives, like remote offices, wellness spas, pet washes, and cold plunges.

Toronto’s housing crisis is on track to get “far worse” without government intervention as the region sees a “serious decline” in development applications, according to a new study commissioned by a group representing GTA developers.

According to the study, which was developed by Altus Group Economic Consulting on behalf of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the number of new homes being built in the Greater Toronto Area is “lagging significantly behind” population growth.