Premier Clark has ‘new plan’ to keep Metro Vancouver homes affordable

Michael Smyth
The Province

Premier Christy Clark has been slammed for doing little about spiralling Metro Vancouver real estate prices that have put the dream of home ownership beyond the reach of non-millionaires.

But with prices up more than 40 per cent in the last year, Clark says she now has a new plan to deal with the situation.

“We’re going to see prices go up and our government needs to take action,” Clark told a $500-a-plate Liberal party fundraiser this week.

She said the government has already imposed a new tax on homes over $3 million, eliminated the property-transfer tax on new homes under $750,000 and is building 2,000 new affordable-housing units.

More measures are coming, she said.

“In the coming weeks, you will see our plan to do everything that we can … to make sure the dream of home ownership remains in the reach of those in the middle class, especially in the Lower Mainland.”

This is a new tone from a government that has resisted intervention in the overheated market.

NDP housing critic David Eby is dubious.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into the premier’s mind, other than the latest poll shows she’s taking a kicking on this issue and if she wants to get
re-elected she better start pretending that she cares about it,” Eby told me Wednesday.

Why “pretending”? Because the government’s moves so far have been “laughable,” the NDP critic said, including those 2,000 new affordable-housing units.

“That’s over five years and that’s for people with serious mental-health and addiction issues,” Eby said. “That’s nothing to do with middle-class housing.”

He also thinks the governing Liberals are too beholden to the whims and wishes of big real estate companies and property tycoons who have donated more than $12 million to Liberal party coffers as they reap record profits.

“I have a hard time imagining she will do anything to distress this industry,” Eby said.

Clark said her plan will require co-operation with municipal governments. That likely means it will involve new measures and incentives for municipalities to fast-track approvals of new home construction.

That will not satisfy critics demanding an anti-speculation tax or controls on foreign property buyers. Anything less risks economic damage to the region because highly skilled workers won’t move here, Eby argued.

“These talented folks can go anywhere and they choose to go to a place where they can actually afford to live with their family. Vancouver is increasingly not one of those places,” Eby said. “We have an economy that’s really at a fork in the road — between an economy based on clean-tech and high-tech jobs in Metro Vancouver and one that’s basically a resort community for the super-rich.”

This one is shaping up as a key election issue. Clark’s next move will be interesting.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

VANCOUVER HOUSING: Federal finance minister says ?we need to consider the evidence? before any decision

PETER O?NEIL
The Province

The Trudeau government was accused Wednesday of foot-dragging after Finance Minister Bill Morneau said his department is still weighing evidence on the role of foreign buying in Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis.

“If you are in Vancouver today, it’s challenging for people to think about how they can get into the market and how their children can get into the market,” Morneau acknowledged at a Toronto conference.

But he said his officials are still in the process of doing a “deep dive” as they study the role of foreign investors in the skyrocketing prices.

“As we get at the challenge of around whether there are foreign ownership issues, we need to consider the evidence,” he said.

“We are going to remain focused on this, using real evidence to think about what are the measures that we can do in order to ensure that this market stays healthy for Canadians.”

Morneau’s position was questioned by critics who said it’s obvious that offshore buying is playing a key role in bringing the average Metro Vancouver detached home to more than $1.5 million last month.

“Mr. Speaker, we don’t need another study to prove that water is wet,” New Democratic Party MP Don Davies said in Question Period.

He said Morneau, who boasted again Wednesday he’s already taken action by bringing in tougher down-payment rules in December, actually hurt aspiring Canadian middle class homeowners with that move.

Those changes “target the wrong buyers,” said Davie, MP for Vancouver Kingsway.

“This is a crisis. Where is the real action from this government?”

Mayor Gregor Robertson, in Ottawa this week to lobby the federal government on both the housing and Kinder Morgan pipeline issues, has blamed the problem on “unregulated, speculative global capital flowing into Metro Vancouver’s real estate.”

In an interview Wednesday, he gently urged the federal government, as well as that of B.C., to move more quickly from studying trends to taking action.

“It’s been a slow response from both the federal and B.C. governments to intervene at the higher end of the market,” Robertson said.

“It’s frustrating to not see more deliberate actions when there are examples in Hong Kong and Australia and in Europe where governments did intervene to address rampant price escalation.”

Robertson has called on Victoria to bring in a speculation or luxury tax, and wants Ottawa to more strictly enforce tax laws to ensure that buyers aren’t dodging capital gains taxes.

Robertson said it’s more than just “challenging” — as Morneau put it — for young families to get into the market. In fact, Robertson said it is likely too late for the vast majority of young families to dream about living in a detached home in Vancouver.

Instead, he said, he has stressed in his discussions with federal officials the importance of getting more support to build more rental housing.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

BC sees sharpest annual growth in new housing price index of any of the provinces or territories, reports statistics agency

Joannah Connolly
REW

The new housing price index for Metro Vancouver saw another annual rise in April, Statistics Canada reported June 9 – although the increase is nowhere close to the leaps seen in the resale market

The purchase cost of a new home in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) increased 3.9 per cent year over year in April. As has been the recent trend, this was again the second-highest annual growth of any CMA in Canada, after Toronto–Oshawa.

Month over month, new home prices in Vancouver rose 0.2 per cent above March 2016.

Across BC, new housing prices in April were up 3.8 per cent year over year – largely driven by the Vancouver market. This overall provincial rise meant BC overtook Ontario in terms of seeing the largest annual increase of any of the provinces or territories. The BC price index also rose 0.3 per cent month over month – uncharacteristically, more than even Vancouver’s.

The province’s capital city provided the answer to that equation. Victoria CMA’s new home price index, which had been sliding until January this year, continued the recovery that began in February. The index for the CMA in April was up a modest 1.3 per cent compared with the same month last year, which StatCan highlighted as the largest 12-month price advance in Victoria since April 2008.

Victoria’s new home price index was also up 0.8 per cent over March 2016, the joint-highest monthly rise of any CMA in the country, and the reason for BC’s overall monthly rise outstripping that of Vancouver CMA.

Canada’s overall new home price index rose a steady 2.1 per cent year over year in April – an average that was pulled down by declines in Alberta and Saskatchewan, among other regions.

Changes in new home prices often do not mirror those seen in the resale market, as the price paid for a new home is only measured when the transaction is completed and registered with the Land Registry, rather than when the home is originally purchased off-plan. Because of long lead times on home construction, new home prices registered today are often those homes sold many months or even years ago – whereas MLS® resale home prices are much more up to date.

This could mean that the new home price index in the Vancouver and Victoria CMAs can be expected to surge much further over the coming months and years as they catch up with today’s market and land prices.

To see Statistics Canada’s full report and interactive tables, click here. 

© 2016 Real Estate Weekly

BC governor issues stark warning on country?s hottest housing markets, saying buyers shouldn?t rely on future price increases and should factor in a possible drop

Joannah Connolly
REW

Canada’s hottest two real estate markets are at significant risk of a correction in prices, according to a strong statement issued June 9 by Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz.

In the Bank of Canada’s June issue of its semi-annual report the Financial System Review, the governor was generally optimistic about the future of the overall economy, but added that there was a “caveat” when it came to the housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver.

Poloz wrote: “The pace of house price increases in Toronto, and especially Vancouver, is unlikely to be sustained, given underlying fundamentals… Indeed, the potential for a downturn in prices in these markets, although difficult to quantify, is growing.”

Poloz warned that home buyers need to take this into consideration when budgeting for their home purchase, adding, “[The potential for a downturn] suggests that prospective homebuyers and their lenders should not extrapolate recent real estate price performance into the future when contemplating a transaction.”

However, Poloz’s note suggested that he was not concerned that such a correction would trigger a wider recession. He added, “A significant decline in house prices could have material consequences for some individuals and for some entities in the mortgage business. However, the financial system as a whole is resilient enough to handle the potential impact.”

The report came as many in the industry are calling on the federal government to come up with measures to cool Canada’s most active housing markets.

Last week, major banks including the National Bank called on Ottawa to raise the minimum down payment to 10 per cent across the board – a proposal that has received criticism for penalizing mostly first-time buyers.

On June 8, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the federal government was conducting a “deep dive” of research into the factors affecting Canada’s major real estate markets, in order to come up with effective measures to help Canadians get into home ownership.

And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told BNN June 9 that high housing costs in Vancouver and Toronto are putting a drag on Canada’s economy. 

He said, “Rising home prices and uncertainty around being able to buy your first home or upgrade as you want to grow a family is a real drag on our economy and a real drag on Canadians’ opportunities.”

© 2016 Real Estate Weekly

Now is the perfect time to make your move.

Sarah Goulding
other

The recent economic growth performance in Canada has many Canadians worried, but for foreign investors and companies looking to expand, this is an opportune time. Over the past few years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been on the rise in Canada, with the United States accounting for a significant portion of direct investment. More recently, investors from Asia have advanced their positions, increasing their Canadian investments by more than 90 percent in 2014. China accounted for almost 60 percent of this growth, according to Stats Canada.

Last year, foreign direct investment peaked in the third quarter of 2015 at $31.4 billion, coinciding with a drop in the Canadian dollar in July to US$0.77. Looking at the commercial real estate market, total sales volume by foreign investors also peaked in the fourth quarter of 2015, totaling CDN$736.3 million, a significant increase from the fourth quarter of 2014 when sales volume reached $537.3 million.

With the Bank of Canada reporting a low of US$0.69 in January, the Canadian dollar has recovered slightly to US$0.78. The low loonie has attracted interest from foreign investors who are looking to enter the market while there is a cost advantage. In the past six months, inbound commercial real estate investment activity has totaled US$1.6 billion, a 385 percent increase since last year, according to Real Capital Analytics. The United States, China and Europe have been the main sources of international investment activity, with the highly sought-after markets of Toronto and Vancouver being targeted. The strong demand from both local and international buyers will boost competition for premium assets this year.

Canada’s Domestic Economy Dependent on Oil?

There’s been plenty written about Canada’s exposure to the downturn in oil prices and the resulting plunge in the Canadian dollar. Canada has the third-largest oil reserves in the world and with the price of oil refusing to budge, you can continue to expect a lower Canadian dollar. However, Canada’s service sector accounts for approximately 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); therefore, Canada’s economy remains stable due to its strong financial, business and real estate services industries. Other big economic drivers in Canada are its manufacturing, agriculture and export sectors.

The Upside: Canada, a Haven for Foreign Investors

Even in the face of current economic challenges brought on by deteriorating oil prices, Canada is still considered to be a safe place to invest. Global uncertainty has resulted in foreign investors seeking more stable markets; this trend is particularly evident in China, where capital outflows reached a record $159 billion in the month of December, according to Bloomberg News. The plunge in the Canadian dollar has boosted the attractiveness of Canadian real estate assets to foreigners looking to park their capital in a safe place. Investors are bidding for trophy assets that have low vacancies and a proven track record in revenue-generating performance.

True North Strong and Free

Global uncertainty and further weakening of the Canadian dollar continue to shine a beacon on Canadian real estate assets. But what else is fueling interest? Here are just a few reasons why Canada is a good place to invest in this year:

An Economy to Bank On

Canada ranks number 13 out of 144 economies on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2015–2016, moving up from its 15^th position in the 2014 ranking. Canada’s competitiveness has been fueled by its strong financial market development, ranking first for having the soundest banking system.

Canada’s Got Talent

Canada ranks fourth in the world and first in North America for economies successfully developing and leveraging their human capital, according to the World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Report for 2015. Compared to its U.S. counterpart, which ranks 17^th, Canada can expect to remain highly competitive in the global talent pool this year. Looking forward, innovation and talent will be a major driving force for advancement in the world economy. Companies looking to hire the best talent can rest assured knowing that Canada ranks number one in the world in the 15–24 age group, which has 100 percent primary education attainment and 97 percent secondary education attainment. The quality of a Canadian education is ranked seventh in the world, with its management schools ranking fifth.

The Place to Be

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Global Liveability Ranking surveys 140 cities across the globe, and the ranking is calculated through category weights. The categories are stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Three of the five top most livable cities in the world are Canadian cities, with Vancouver ranking third; Toronto, fourth; and Calgary, fifth.

More Than Just Good Manners

According to Transparency International, its Corruption Perceptions Index uses a country’s or territory’s score to indicate the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). A country’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries in the index. This year’s index includes 168 countries and territories.

Canada ranks first in North America as least corrupt and ninth in the world on the index. The United States ranks 16^th least corrupt and China ranks 83^rd in the world.

Canada’s Pretty Forward (Looking)

The Bloomberg Innovation Index ranks the world’s 50 most innovative countries based on research and development, manufacturing, high-tech companies, education, research personnel and patents.

Canada ranks 12^th in the world for most innovative country in 2015, but ranks fifth in the world for having the largest high-tech sector. South Korea comes in first in this year’s overall ranking, the U.S. ranks sixth, and China comes in at 22^nd. 

Canada Means Business

Forbes’ Best Countries for Business list ranks 144 countries in the world based on the following categories: trade freedom, monetary freedom, property rights, innovation, technology, red tape, investor protection, corruption, personal freedom, tax burden and market performance.

Overall, Canada ranks seventh in the world as the best country to do business in. Canada ranks first in the world for personal freedom, third for red tape, sixth for investor protection, seventh for trade freedom, and ninth for both tax burden and property rights.

In a resource-rich country that grooms a highly educated workforce, invests in infrastructure and technology, and continues to build a globally competitive and secure banking system, long-term growth is certain. For foreign investors, the low Canadian dollar combined with strong investor protection, low tax burdens and little red tape will ease entry into the Canadian market. For these reasons, it’s a great time to think about your Canadian strategy.

Copyright © 2016 Colliers International Canada

SROs, shelter on Downtown Eastside to be remade into mixed-use property

EVAN DUGGAN
The Vancouver Sun

The City of Vancouver is seeking public feedback on a redesign of public space in the Downtown Eastside’s historic Blood Alley Square and Trounce Alley.

The project will also have Westbank Corp. and B.C. Housing convert a derelict shelter and singleroom occupancy hotel backed by the alley into a new mixed-use property that will include social housing, market rental apartments and commercial spaces.

The area is currently home to two historic Downtown Eastside hotels in disrepair — the Stanley and New Fountain hotels at 27 West Cordova and 36 Blood Alley. The property now comprises a 78-unit single-room occupancy hotel and a 56-bed shelter operated by the PHS Community Services Society.

“The buildings are in really poor condition, and it was right for redevelopment,” said B.C. Housing CEO Shayne Ramsay. “This is about improving 78 crappy SRO rooms and replacing them with self-contained suites.”

He said the project is a publicprivate partnership between Ian Gillespie’s Westbank Corp. and B.C. Housing, which now owns the property after purchasing it for $2 million from Gillespie — the same figure he paid the City of Vancouver for the property in 2013 after a purchase option from PHS.

“Our expectation is the construction will start late this year, or spring of 2017, with completion targeted for early 2019,” Ramsay said in an interview last week. He said the shelter would be relocated to a refurbished site on East Hastings, while the SRO residents would also be relocated to other PHS homes in the area.

Henriquez Partners Architects has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop the 33.5-metre-tall structure, which would have two tower components rising seven and 11 storeys above street level, including a common commercial podium. Ramsay said the project would include 80 units of social housing and 134 rental market apartments.

He said B.C. Housing is financing the construction of the buildings. “Westbank has the option to purchase back both the market rental building and the commercial space,” Ramsay said.

Profits from the rental apartments would help subsidize the social housing units that would be rented for a so-called shelter rate.

“All of these 80 units will be rented out at $375 a month, that’s the shelter component of income assistance,” Ramsay said. “That means that folks who are on income assistance, they get $375 to pay for their shelter, and this is exactly pegged at that level.”

Westbank declined to make anyone available for an interview. But Gillespie, Westbank’s founder and president, told The Sun last June that he wants to build a 15,000-square-foot music hall in the basement of the development, called Blood Alley.

He said the name is inspired by the property’s backside — the gritty, treed square that is owned by the city and now slated for an upgrade.

Gillespie said he wanted to see small, low-rent businesses as tenants on the street front instead of high-end retailers.

On June 1 and 4, the city hosted open-houses in Blood Alley Square where locals talked to city staff and looked at information placards explaining the history of the area and the pressing need for upgrades. Some visitors filled out questionnaires from the city that sought feedback and ideas for the redesign.

“The Downtown Eastside plan identified the work in Blood Alley Square and Trounce Alley as a priority,” said Karen Hoese, the city’s acting assistant director of planning for the downtown area. “There was a bunch of work done back in 2010 and there were some concept designs done at that time,” she said, calling the open house a starting-off point.

“At this point we’re also looking to hear what the public wants. We’ve heard that we need a gathering space for the neighbourhood,” she said. “We’ve heard a lot from the businesses about the elimination of the commercial dumpsters in the lane.”

The alley is also home to a handful of trendy eateries and shops. Hoese said those businesses also need to be heard from before big decisions get made on the space. She said the goal is to repair and upgrade the square while respecting and retaining its heritage character.

Construction of the Blood Alley redesign would begin in March of 2018, if funding and city council approval is secured.

The redevelopment by Westbank of the nearby Woodward’s building is a good example of how blended social and market housing could work, said Gastown resident Sean Orr at the open house on June 1.

“I’m more concerned with doing it sensitively,” said Orr, who works at L’Abbatoir on Carrall Street, which has a dumpster in the alley. “I’ve talked to a few people and they said a few of the right key words like managing the diverse groups that are already here, and integrating it and making it safer for everyone.”

The alley redesign “needs to be both accommodating to everyone, but also a safe place to do business and spend time,” he said. Shirley Wiebe, a resident of the area, stopped by the open house to fill out a questionnaire. “I’ve lived here for five years,” she said. “I just wanted to come down and actually see and hear a little more.”

She supported the concept but said it’s important to bring in commercial tenants who are small, independent businesses connected to the neighbourhood.

“Something unique, maybe smaller items; handmade,” she said. “A lot of people do walk here, people who are visiting Vancouver — the ones who venture off Water Street — so I think it should be distinctly different than what’s available on Water Street, which is very very touristy and not made in Canada.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Timber tower creates buzz

DERRICK PENNER
The Vancouver Sun

Construction on the University of B.C.’s landmark, 18-storey, masstimber Brock Commons student residence has just begun, but in a way, the building is already half made.

For about the last month, Structurlam Products has been busy manufacturing the building’s key components — engineered wood panels and pillars — at its Penticton production facility, where they are being stored before delivery to UBC.

This week, contractors began trucking those components to Vancouver for final assembly in a just-in-time process to build a 53-metre-tall highrise that will be the world’s tallest mass-timber building.

And it is garnering attention in all corners of the construction and wood-products industry.

“If you can panelize (materials) and put things together tightly like a Lego kit of parts, it can be extremely efficient,” said Nicholas Sills, a supervisor at Structurlam. “We hope this project goes up very, very fast.”

It will have to. UBC plans to house more than 400 students in the $52-million building starting in September 2017.

In the evolution of mass-timber construction systems, Brock Commons is intended to stand as a showpiece not only for the sustainability features of wood, but also for its cost-competitiveness with more traditional concrete and steel construction. Brock Commons is being built as a hybrid building — it will have a concrete podium for its first floor, two concrete core structures, and 17 floors of masstimber components consisting of cross-laminated timber (CLT) floors and walls held up by pillars composed of glue-laminated wood, commonly called glulam within the industry.

And while the building will be a bold departure from North American norms, one measure of its success will be a lack of excitement during construction itself.

The nature of mass-timber construction, which relies on the manufacturing of building components with the precision to fit together well, means that Brock Commons has already undergone a high degree of detailed design work between the project’s architects, engineers and production folks at Structurlam.

“Everything was modelled in 3-D before they even dug into the ground,” Sills said, “so we know exactly what is going to be needed, and prefabricate everything in our facilities.”

Sills said Structurlam manufactured panelling specially designed for the project, consisting of five layers of 2×6 lumber laid out perpendicular to one another to perform in the same fashion as the floor plates of concrete and steel construction.

Then it is a “tried-and-true” process of delivering materials and putting them in place for assembly, said Russell Acton, one of the project’s architects with the Vancouver firm Acton Ostry Architects.

“Once (this building) is completed, I think it will demonstrate how straightforward a system it is,” Acton said.

The project was a high-profile commission in the construction sector, following from the groundbreaking 29-metre-tall Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George.

And Acton is fielding inquiries about Brock Commons from as far afield as Ontario, California and Taiwan now that it is getting into the heart of its construction phase.

“There’s worldwide interest in mass timber,” Acton said.

In B.C., as well, there are a lot of eyes on Brock Commons, according to Lynn Embury Williams, executive director of Wood WORKS! B.C., an industry group aimed at promoting wood construction.

“I would say the whole wood industry, which is very sizable in B.C., is very interested in this project, very supportive of this project,” Embury Williams said.

One point of interest is the fact that Brock Commons will consume an enormous amount of standard lumber in its components, 1.7 million board feet by Structurlam’s count. While mass-timber hasn’t been widely adopted — its techniques aren’t yet included in building codes, projects are approved by authorities as special exceptions.

Primary lumber producers do see an opportunity to “move up the value chain” in mass-timber products, said Susan Yurkovich, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries, one of B.C.’s main trade organizations for the industry.

“With this type of project, it’s showing the increasing levels of accuracy and prefabrication and precision of assembly,” Acton said. “When people see that, that will catch their eye.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Housing starts trending higher in Vancouver, reports CMHC, as value of multi-family building permits continue to recover, adds StatCan

Joannah Connolly
REW

New home construction starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) saw another welcome increase last month, trending at 28,267 units in May compared with 27,304 units in April, reported the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) June 8.

The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.

“Housing starts are trending higher than last month in all home types,” said Robyn Adamache, CMHC’s principal market analyst for Vancouver.

“So far this year, actual single-detached and multiple starts have outpaced last year’s totals for the period in response to low inventories of unsold new homes and high demand for ownership and rental housing.”

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 1,291 units in May, a slight increase over the 1,278 units in April, but still short of February’s high.

The rise in housing starts in Vancouver and Abbotsford-Mission bucked the national trend in May. Across Canada, the trend measure of housing starts was 191,000 units compared with 194,950 in April.

“Housing starts slowed in May, and are now on pace to reach 191,000 units in Canada – falling within the upper range of our housing market outlook forecast for the year,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “The decline we see in the trend is led by fewer [multi-family] starts in urban areas, particularly in larger centres like Toronto.”

CMHC pointed out that it uses six-month moving averages to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, said the CMHC, analyzing only the monthly seasonally adjusted data can be misleading in some markets, as they can be variable from one month to the next.

Related

·         BC New Home Building Investment up 28%, Second Only to Ontario: StatCan

·         Vancouver Home Sales Forecast to Moderate but Prices to Keep Rising: CMHC

Building Permits

On the same day that the CMHC issued its housing starts figures, Statistics Canada published its monthly residential building permit values report.

New home construction permits issued in Vancouver in April 2016 were valued at a total of $563 million, a rise of 27 per cent compared with the previous April, according to the statistics agency, and an increase of 6.4 per cent over the month before.

The much-needed boost was again driven by condo-apartment buildings, permits for which increased 23 per cent year over year to total value of $329 million in April.

There were $159 million worth of permits for single-family homes issued in April, up 16.2 per cent year over year.

The steepest gains were seen in attached residences (row homes and townhomes, but not duplexes), which leaped 130 per cent over April 2015 but still only totalled a fifth of the permit valuess seen for condos, at $67 million.

Interest in building new duplexes stayed in the doldrums, with just $3.5 million of permits issued in Vancouver CMA in April, although this was a rise of 3.7 per cent year over year.

Residential permits across BC in April were up 35 per cent year over year to $867 million in value, a rise of 13.6 per cent compared with March.

The national picture told a different story in April. Across Canada, $4.1 billion worth of residential permits were issued, a four per cent drop compared with the same month last year, although this was a near-12 per cent rise since March.

To see Statistics Canada’s interactive building permits tables, click here.

© 2016 Real Estate Weekly