Millennials living with baby boomers to afford homes

Myles Shane
REM

Many millennials believe they may never be able to afford a home unless they have family that can help them out financially. But baby boomers, many of whom are now seniors, are also being significantly affected by the rising costs of living. With no relief in sight from the escalating costs, some Canadians have been adopting different housing models in order to cope. The 2016 Canadian census shows 28.2 per cent of all households consisted of just one person – the most since confederation in 1867. The 2016 census also shows a noteworthy growth of multi-generational households, with a 37.5 per cent increase since 2001.

A concept that is picking up steam is intergenerational home sharing.

Most home-sharing programs match adults aged 55 and over, who have a spare room in their home, with university or college students seeking affordable housing. In exchange for reduced rent, the student provides companionship and/or assistance, completing light household tasks such as preparing and sharing meals, tidying up, carrying groceries or walking a pet.

The benefits of these joint living agreements provide much more than monetary advantages. One of the longest-running operations in the United States reports that 81 per cent of seniors participating feel happier, 74 per cent feel more secure in their homes and 74 per cent feel less isolated.

In Toronto, a pilot project called Toronto HomeShare was created in May 2018 as a City of Toronto initiative, with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Seniors Affairs. The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) implemented the pilot in partnership with the city and the Toronto Seniors Strategy Accountability Table, a group of seniors, caregivers and other community partners dedicated to adequately and effectively supporting Toronto’s aging population, says Laura Martinez, the program manager.

“The purpose of the pilot was to empower older adults wishing to remain in their homes with a means of obtaining additional income, help around the home and companionship, as well as to address the lack of affordable housing in the city, particularly among students,” Martinez says. “Among the 12 senior home providers and students matched during the HomeShare pilot, many reported experiencing benefits from their participation, such as a decrease in both social isolation and financial burden. Based on the success of the pilot, City Council voted to expand and continue HomeShare.”

Martinez says the program has “received some referrals from real estate agents whose clients may be experiencing trouble remaining in their homes as they age, either due to needing a bit of extra income or because they could use some extra help around the home.”

Another company that recently entered the home-sharing market is Happipad. CEO Cailan Libby says Happipad is “a Canadian social enterprise who believes home sharing is an important solution to address housing affordability and social isolation. We do this through the creation of a home-sharing platform, which makes it safe and simple for anyone to find a compatible person to share their home with.” Currently Happipad is only available to B.C residents.

Libby discussed the method that Happipad uses to match their clients: “The registration process involves a thorough questionnaire, which is used to create a matching profile that captures personality traits, interests and lifestyle characteristics. The matching profile is similar to what a dating website would use, although catered towards home-sharing arrangements.”

Safety is a major concern and top priority for the company, he says. “Happipad uses an industry-leading screening process for both the host and guest. Hosts have additional checks done including a check of utility records and lease terms if they are not the registered owner of their property.  ID verification compares their government ID against a live picture, which is then compared against databases to test that the identity is real, current and that their facial features match,” Libby says.

He provided a few examples of home sharing where his older female clients have been extremely satisfied with their choices. “A match in Chilliwack quickly became a success when the younger lady started showing her culinary expertise by cooking most dinners. Each lady lives independently and has their own daily routine, however they both enjoy grocery shopping together, sharing dinners and watching television. The older lady feels much safer in her home now and the younger lady is very grateful to have a comfortable home at a great price.”

Libby says one of the longest matches, which has lasted more than two years, is a senior woman who was matched with a 24-year-old man from Israel. “He moved to West Kelowna for a job opportunity but was struggling finding a home he could afford on his entry-level income,” says Libby. “The arrangement has been amazing for both of them, each helping the other however they can. The host offers reduced rent for help maintaining the garden and other chores while they also enjoy attending church together. When the host heard that her guest may have to leave the country because of his work visa she was very sad and even offered to sponsor him. In the end it was all sorted out and they are very happy.”

Regardless of the economics in play, it appears both the millennials and baby boomers are gaining something from intergenerational living that money can’t buy – friendship and experience.

© 1989-2020 REM Real Estate Magazine

New generation of modular steel homes will be on display at B.C. Home and Garden Show this month

Joannah Connolly
Western Investor

Modular shipping-container homes such as the Honomobo are suitable for sites that could otherwise be difficult to build on, as well as remote and off-the-grid locations. | Image submitted

The largest of the Honomobo models is the H06, made up of six recycled shipping containers and containing four bedrooms. | Image via Honomobo.com

The M1 one-bedroom model, which will be on display at the B.C. Home and Garden Show, has 419 square feet of living space and is often used as a laneway home or vacation cabin. | Image via Honomobo.com

The company offers a choice of interior finishings, with the white-gloss cabinets and pale flooring options shown here in the H06 unit. | Image via Honomobo.com

The Honomobar has been placed in public plazas all over North America, and will be the bar used at the B.C. Home and Garden Show in late February 2020. | Image via Honomobo.com

Modular, recycled-shipping-container homes may be widely thought of as a practical and sustainable, but also temporary and often unattractive, living solution – perhaps best suited for housing short-term workers or transitioning homeless people into long-term housing.

But this myth is being gradually busted, as such homes can be beautiful as well as extremely long-lasting, according to modular home company Honomobo.

The firm’s co-founder Daniel Engelman told Glacier Media in an interview, “It’s a new type of home, so there’s still sometimes that psychological mindset that it’s a shipping container, so it’s meant to be shipped, it’s a temporary thing. But our clients no longer come to us with that mindset – we’re past that. These homes are incredibly durable – they can last hundreds of years, as opposed to the less-sustainable, 100-year lifespan of a typical wood-frame home.”

Shipping-container homes represent a housing opportunity that’s just as real as any house or condo, says Engelman, with banks willing to offer mortgages, and CMHC backing them as certified steel-framed modular homes. And, although this has not happened yet, Engelman says it will also be possible to resell the homes and the land they sit on in the usual way on the MLS.

Honomobo is only five years old, and interest in the company blew up about four years ago when it hit local media headlines for its innovation and flexible range of home models, and the story got picked up by some top architectural magazines. “The interest from the public really hasn’t let up since then,” said Engelman.

The models range from the M-1 one-bedroom/one-module unit priced at $157,772 (not including land costs, consultation fees and construction fees) all the way up to the six-module/four-bedroom, 1,920-square-foot HO6 model, which has a base cost of $499,362. The M1 will be featured at the B.C. Home and Garden Show, along with a smaller studio unit that Engelman says is popular as a guest or office space.

There are a number of suppliers of shipping-container homes across North America, but Engelman says what makes Honomobo stand out is primarily the design. With the choice of one entire wall made up of glass, and two walls in the larger units, the homes look more like contemporary architecture than recycled shipping containers. And yet, says Engelman, the design of the home embraces its roots, with a “minimalism and authenticity” that he says is appropriate to the shipping container shell.

The glass wall also allows for indoor-outdoor living, and these huge windows can be upgraded to sliding doors – “which makes the homes live larger than they actually are,” says Engelman.

As well as being durable, modular homes are extremely sustainable. These particular homes are highly energy-efficient and run 100 per cent off electricity, so they can be carbon-neutral if the owner runs it off solar power or hooks up to a green hydro supply.

Although Honomobo is based out of Edmonton, most of its customers are in B.C. and the Western United States. Engelman said there tends to be two kinds of customers. The first are those who choose smaller one- and two-module units as laneway homes (known in the States as “accessory dwelling units” or ADUs) placed in urban environments. The second are those who own land, often in somewhat more remote or island locations, and want an easy-to-build home for that site, either as a permanent residence or a vacation property.

Of the first type, Engelman said that most of his customers are in California, in pricey cities such as San Francisco, or in areas close to Metro Vancouver. He said, “The smaller modules are often used by multi-generational families, where either the kids or the parents are moving into the ADU and the other part of the family is moving into the main house. It really helps with affordability and helps people stay in their neighbourhood, which in turn keeps neighbourhoods vibrant.”

Engelman added that he was disappointed Honomobo has not yet been able to do this in the City of Vancouver, which has the same affordability issues as cities like San Francisco. “The regulatory environment of Vancouver is really difficult to get anything done, so it just hasn’t been possible for us yet, which is sad,” he said. “Instead we’ve done laneway homes in places such as Whistler, Squamish, and Port Coquitlam.”

Also being featured at the B.C. Home and Garden Show is Honomobo’s Honomobar, which is a bar made out of part of a shipping container. Engelman says this “fun side project” has been a hit in areas where it has been placed as a pop-up bar in public plazas and in restaurant patios, and has prompted customers to order them for their own backyards or mini-businesses.

Copyright © Western Investor

Home sales in the Fraser Valley housing market were 7% above the 10-year average

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Home sales in the Fraser Valley housing market were 7% above the 10-year average for the month in January, while listings decreased and prices were higher.

Figures from Fraser Valley Real Estate Board show 974 sales were processed through the MLS last month, down almost 22% from December but up 24% from January 2019.

This included 363 single family detached homes, 241 were townhouses, and 248 were apartments.

“Considering our record-shattering snow and cold, the pace of home sales remained surprisingly balanced in January,” said Darin Germyn, President of the Board. “Sales in our region have steadily improved since July of last year and January’s numbers remained consistent with that trend.”

Active listings were up 9.8% compared to December but down 14.2% year-over-year. New listings were down 15.1% from January 2019 at 2,216, although this was up sharply from December’s 948.

“Where the weather may have had an impact in January, is on our housing supply,” observed Germyn. “For certain property types, listings in the Fraser Valley are not keeping pace with sales.  In areas of Surrey and Langley for example, for every two townhomes listed, one is selling.”

MLS® HPI Benchmark Price Activity Single Family Detached: At $960,800, the Benchmark price for a single-family detached home in the Fraser Valley increased 0.7% compared to December 2019 and, also increased 0.7% compared to January 2019.

Townhomes: At $518,000, the Benchmark price for a townhome in the Fraser Valley in the Fraser Valley increased 0.6% compared to December 2019 and decreased 0.8% compared to January 2019.

Apartments: At $408,400, the Benchmark price for apartments/condos in the Fraser Valley increased 0.7% compared to December 2019 and decreased 0.1% compared to January 2019.

Copyright © 2020 Key Media Pty Ltd

Vancouver residential market lacking inventory

Gerv Tacadena
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The residential market of Metro Vancouver started the new decade with a substantial jump in home sales; however, the current supply of dwellings up for grabs is becoming thin, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

Home sales in Metro Vancouver hit 1,571 in January. While this represents a 42.4% jump from the sales recorded in January 2019, the total number of sales dropped by 22.1% from December.

REBGV figures shows annual growth across property types: detached homes at 29.5%, apartments at 45.6%, and attached homes at 55.1%.

However, looking at the 10-year average for sales in January, the recent turnaround was 7.3% lower. Still, the spike in home sales indicates steady homebuyer demand close to the region’s long-term average, said Ashley Smith, president of REBGV.

On the supply side, however, concerns are starting to show. During the month, there were 3,872 new listings in Metro Vancouver, representing an annual decrease of 20.1%. The volume of new listings was 17.4% below the 10-year average.

Overall, the total number of homes listed in the region is 8,617, down by 20.3% from a year ago and 13.7% below the 10-year average.

“Looking at supply, we’re seeing fewer homes listed for sale than is typical for this time of year. As we approach the traditionally more active spring market, we’ll keep a close eye on supply to see if the number of homes being listed is keeping pace with demand,” Smith said.

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for the month is 18.2%. Smith said prices usually increase when the ratio hits 20% over several months.

Metro Vancouver recorded a 1.2% annual decrease in the overall benchmark price for residential properties in the month, down to $1.01m. The decline was consistent across property types:

Copyright © 2020 Key Media Pty Ltd

B.C. stratas on edge over looming hikes

Ross McLaughlin
other

There are dire warnings that the condo real estate market in B.C. could collapse unless the province steps in to stop it.

A representative of a condo owners’ association says recent changes to insurance rates mean that not only are buildings having to pay more for coverage – some are being denied altogether.

“This is something no one had foreseen,” said Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium and Homeowners Association of B.C.

Gioventu says he knew higher rates and deductibles were coming. Some insurance companies are pulling out of B.C.’s real estate market, and they’ve struggled to keep up with claims from global disasters.

What he says he didn’t see coming was buildings not being able to get insurance at all.

“This will collapse our real estate industry because no one will be able to get mortgages and there will be no buyers and no sellers,” Gioventu said.

Gioventu knows of a handful of buildings currently unable to get insurance, and said there could be more out there.

A lack of insurance puts buyers looking to get back in the market at risk of losing their financing, and means sellers may struggle to sell their homes.

Zafar Khan is one of those sellers.

Khan had an offer on his condo in Surrey, B.C.’s Cloverdale neighbourhood, and the deal was to close Feb. 3. But at the last minute it all fell apart, as the buyer pulled out of the sale.

“I found out the strata ran out of insurance,” said Khan.

He said he had no idea, and only learned about it later from the buyer’s real estate agent.

The agent, Sevin Atilla, explained what happened.

“We found out the strata’s insurance came up for renewal and they were not able to renew it,” said Atilla, who works at Oakwyn Realty.

“I don’t blame the buyer at all,” Khan said.

Banks won’t finance uninsured buildings and that’s what happened with the loan the buyer had secured.

“As soon as they found out there was no insurance in place, they retracted the mortgage approval,” explained Atilla.

CTV News reached out to the property manager, Crossroads Management Ltd. The company said it tried five different insurance brokers, all of which were unable to find an insurance company to insure the complex.

Crossroads said it’s still looking.

Owners are now at risk if disaster strikes; their banks could pull their financing and they will be unable to sell their properties.

“This affected our deal and we will see more of these deals collapsing in the future,” said Atilla.

And massive insurance premiums are adding to the pressure.

The strata president of one Burnaby condo told CTV News their annual insurance premium has quadrupled, from $200,000 a year to $810,000, and they can no longer afford to pay it.

High premiums coupled with extremely high deductibles are also resulting in massive increases in maintenance fees or special assessments.

“This is not a small number of buildings now. We’re now looking at several hundred buildings throughout the Lower Mainland that are seeing such dramatic increases,” said Gioventu.

Doug Whicker, a strata president of a New Westminster condo complex facing a 40 per cent insurance premium increase, has sent a letter to Premier John Horgan asking for intervention. He says it’s reached a crisis and suggests that B.C. set up a non-profit strata insurance corporation similar to ICBC.

“Immediately. We can’t wait,” said Whicker.

“Government intervention is necessary and it’s imperative,” added Khan.

CTV News reached out to B.C. Finance Minister Carole James, who has acknowledged the problem.

“We think there are good opportunities to be able to talk with the industry, to talk with condos, to talk with insurance companies, and look at how we can address this issue,” she said.

Robert de Pruis with the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s western office told CTV News the IBC has been in contact with insurance brokers, underwriters and condo groups and is planning to hold regional meetings across the country to address the condo insurance issues — including one in B.C. in March — to try to find creative solutions to address the problem.

In a statement released Friday, the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. is calling for consultations among all stakeholders with a “focus on proposed achievable legislative action.” The IBABC is also recommending two changes to the Strata Property Act. The first would see a $50,000 cap on loss assessments, which the organization says might not apply in cases involving negligence. The second change would see the addition of a standard definition of a strata unit.

“IBABC recognizes these changes won’t directly address the rising strata-building premiums and deductibles, but they are foundational pieces to that issue and the long-term stability of the B.C. strata insurance market,” the organization said in a statement.

“These two recommendations could protect millions of strata unit owners from further risk of losing their homes and likely help mitigate future insurance market cycles.”

If you’re a condo owner reading this and are worried about how to protect your investment, there’s little you can do except to try to find insurance to cover high deductibles. But without a master condominium insurance policy, you’re out of luck.

The buildings that are being hardest hit are those that are the most expensive: buildings with a high number of recent claims and strata corporations that have failed to keep up with maintenance and repairs.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says it’s a complex issue that won’t be solved quickly.

However, for Khan and others in his situation without insurance it’s an emergency.

“If my lender finds out they’ll pull the mortgage,” he said.

© 2020 BellMedia

Rezoning proposal envisions four-storey building along Granville Street and West 32nd Avenue

Naoibh O’Connor
Vancouver Courier

A market rental building may be coming to Shaughnessy.

A formal rezoning application has been filed for a four-storey project on a site that includes 4750 Granville St. and 1494 West 32nd Ave.

Domus Homes and Stuart Howard Architects are behind the proposal, which envisions 81 apartments.

Single-family homes currently exist on the two properties.

Last June, city council rejected, in a 7-4 vote, a different rezoning application for a property near by at 4575 Granville St. after Vancouver Hospice Society objected. Stuart Howard Architects was also involved in that proposal.

Domus Homes’ plans will be presented at an open house March 5, but the developer already held a pre-application open house last September.

The chair of Arbutus Ridge Kerrisdale Shaughnessy (ARKS) Vision Implementation Committee told the Courier at that event that the plan appeared to conform to its community vision. Members of Abundant Housing Vancouver also attended in support of the project — the group has lobbied in favour of more purpose-built rental housing given the housing crisis.

A handful of Shaughnessy residents were also on hand. They told the Courier they opposed it for myriad reasons ranging from it will lower property values to it will lead to further redevelopment in the area to it will clash with older homes in the neighbourhood.

The project is being pitched under the city’s Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy.

While rents for new rental buildings on the West Side are on the high end, Domus Homes’ Richard Wittstock told the Courier at the open house that it’s to be expected unless government subsidies are provided.

“We’re not demolishing any old, existing rental stock here. To deliver affordability, it’s really the older apartment stock that delivers that. It’s pretty hard to expect a new market building to be affordable to the broad range of the market,” he said at the time.

The rezoning application includes 70 underground parking spaces and 154 bicycle spaces.

Existing hedges along Granville will be retained. Ten three and four-bedroom apartments are proposed, along with 19 two-bedrooms and 52 one-bedrooms.

The upcoming open house runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at VanDusen Botanical Garden, March 5.

Glacier Community Media © Copyright ® 2013 – 2020

British Columbian homeowners can go online to defer property tax

Steve Randall
REP

British Columbian homeowners who want to apply for deferment of property tax will soon be able to do so online.

The property tax deferment program provides low-interest loans that allow qualifying BC homeowners to defer their property taxes until they sell or transfer ownership of their home. The taxes can be deferred for any year the homeowner lives in the home and meets the criteria for the program.

The provincial government says that the new process, launching in May 2020, will lead to quicker application reviews and, for the first time, allow for automatic renewals.

This will be a significant improvement on the current system where application reviews can take up to 5 months, sometimes meaning late penalties and fees.

The new system means that eligible homeowners will be able to opt in to annual renewal if they continue to meet program requirements.

Municipalities will no longer be responsible for collecting applications although they will continue to handle homeowner grants and utility payments.

For those homeowners who need more support there is information at www.gov.bc.ca/propertytaxdeferment and by phone: 1 888 355-2700 (toll-free within Canada) or 250 387-0555 (outside Canada). They can also visit any ServiceBC Centre.

Copyright © 2020 Key Media Pty Ltd

Home sales activity in the Metro Vancouver housing market continue to improve

Steve Randall
REP

Home sales activity in the Metro Vancouver housing market continue to improve on 2019’s slump.

Data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver shows a 42.4% increase in sales year-over-year with 1,571 homes sold. This is also up 22.1% from December.

Although sales remain weak by historic standards – missing the 10-year average for January by 7.3% – the significant improvement from last year sets up a better year ahead.

“We’ve begun 2020 with steady home buyer demand that tracks close to the region’s long-term average,” Ashley Smith, REBGV president said. “Looking at supply, we’re seeing fewer homes listed for sale than is typical for this time of year. As we approach the traditionally more active spring market, we’ll keep a close eye on supply to see if the number of homes being listed is keeping pace with demand.”

Although new supply in January improved on the previous month – with 3,872 listings representing a 143.8% increase from December – it is a 20.1% decrease from January 2019 and new listings were 17.4% below the 10-year January average.

Total inventory was also down more than 20% year-over-year and more than 13% below the long-term average for the month. There were 8,617 homes available to buy listed on the MLS in January.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,008,700, 1.2% below January 2019, but up 1.4% over the past six months, and up 0.8% from December.

Stats by property type Sales of detached homes in January 2020 reached 439, a 29.5% increase from the 339 detached sales recorded in January 2019. The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,431,200. This represents a 1.7% decrease from January 2019, a 1% increase over the past six months, and a 0.5% increase compared to December 2019.

Sales of apartment homes reached 814 in January 2020, a 45.6% increase compared to the 559 sales in January 2019. The benchmark price of an apartment property is $663,200. This represents a 1% decrease from January 2019, a 1.5% increase over the past six months, and a 1% increase compared to December 2019.

Attached home sales in January 2020 totalled 318, a 55.1% increase compared to the 205 sales in January 2019. The benchmark price of an attached unit is $782,500. This represents a 0.7% decrease from January 2019, a 1.6% increase over the past six months, and a 0.5% increase compared to December 2019.

Copyright © 2020 Key Media Pty Ltd

Frustrated developers call for fast-track permits, end of rezonings, and rolling back of recent market-cooling measures

Peter Mitham
Western Investor

One thing was clear at the January 23 Urban Development Institute’s (UDI) annual forecast luncheon: local developers are not happy with government. The mood was sour, the anger was palpable, and it’s all government’s fault.

“I’m getting sick of this bullshit,” exclaimed Beau Jarvis, the institute’s chair and president of Wesgroup Properties LP, in the clearest expression of discontent.

Together with Chuck We, senior vice-president, Western Canada, with Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., and past UDI chair Jon Stovell, president of Reliance Properties Ltd., the audience was treated to calls for the end of rezonings, rolling back the market-cooling measures of the past four years and railing against well-intentioned policies that are at cross-purposes with reality.

We offered the most positive take on the year ahead, thanks to the solid state of commercial real estate. With landlords like Oxford Properties Group taking lease rates approaching $70 a square foot, the commercial market is enjoying good times that seem set to only get better thanks to development well below what forecasts say is needed.

Vancouver alone claims to need 57 million square feet of additional commercial development by 2050, We said, of which 50 million square feet would be office space. That would more than double the city’s current office inventory, and then there’s the question of where to house the 175,000 workers who will occupy the space.

“If you go to Disneyland, you get a FastPass. There has to be a way to make it simpler,” said We, going on to propose elimination of rezonings.

“Just agree that it’s going to be a more dense community.”

Jarvis took up the strain, saying community planning processes should determine what’s allowed and obviate a need for developers to seek rezoning. Anything else creates uncertainties (this columnist remembers city staff remarking towards the end of the Mount Pleasant planning process that whatever the plan said, it could change at rezoning).

“Once you’ve done the consultation for the [official community plan], the neighbourhood plan … you implement from that point forward,” Jarvis said. “Our housing problem is significantly fixed if we just attack that one piece of low-hanging fruit. Get rid of rezonings.”

The real cost of housing

Prices at the local farmers market are typically higher than the grocery store charges, and consumers are often told they’re simply being asked to pay “the real cost of farming.” But many shoppers who’ll gladly hand over their hard-earned cash to a farmer likely take issue with the high cost of housing, claiming Vancouver is increasingly unaffordable.

Jarvis told UDI members during their annual forecast luncheon that it’s about time people faced up to the real cost of housing people. He took particular aim at policies designed to create affordable rentals.

“The private sector is being forced to keep old buildings standing that are at the end of their useful lives, all the while operating in an environment of capped revenues and increasing taxes and costs with no ceiling whatsoever,” he said.

This year’s seven per cent increase in property taxes within the City of Vancouver and a 30 to 50 per cent rise in property insurance premiums are two examples that stand in stark contrast to the 2.6 per cent increase in rents the province allows landlords to charge tenants this year.

This month, the City of Vancouver has decreased the maximum rent builders can charge tenants of three-bedroom units built under its rental incentive program. (The rents reflect average rents reported by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.)

“At a point in time on the graph, your costs outpace the revenues,” Jarvis said, “so it’s a losing proposition. It’s a death sentence.” 

Copyright © Western Investor