Amson Group takes a ‘very contemporary, modern approach to the design’ of its Amson Square development in Surrey

Simon Briault
The Province

Amson Square is nothing if not striking. Designed by DF Architecture, this 90-unit residential development in Surrey has had buyers marvelling at the modern lines, the multi-coloured panel siding and the heritage brick that will surround the project’s two buildings.

“We have taken a very contemporary, modern approach to the design of this community,” said Hardeep Sahota, director of operations at Amson Group, the developers behind the project. “You won’t see too many buildings like this south of the Fraser River.”

“We’ve incorporated big squares that cantilever off the side of the buildings, which is one of the reasons why we called it Amson Square,” Sahota added. “There are beautiful, 25-feet high glass lobbies on each side lit by grand chandeliers and we’ve put a lot of effort into the amenity spaces in the buildings too.”

Jag Athwal, a realtor from Surrey, recommended Amson Square to two of his clients. In fact, he was so impressed with what he saw that he also bought one for himself.

“I really liked the look of the buildings once I saw the renderings,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a very nice addition to that neighbourhood. The other reason I thought it was a good investment was that there will be commercial space at the bottom, which adds a lot of convenience for residents.”

“With clients, our starting point is to assess what they’re looking for and in what area,” Athwal added. “Once we have a better understanding of what their needs are and what they’re looking for in a condominium, then we show them some options. Amson Square really fit my clients’ needs perfectly.”

Amson Square will be situated at 72nd Avenue and 144 Street, within walking distance of a wide range of restaurants, shops and services. Local highlights include Browns Social House, Planet India, Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Surrey Lake Park is also close by, offering a 1.5-kilometre nature walk and 90 acres of tranquil green space that has become a haven for wildlife.

Amson Square is close to a YMCA, a community centre and no fewer than 12 local elementary schools. Local grocery options include Real Canadian Superstore, Costco, Save-On-Foods and Fresh St. Market. Kwantlen Polytechnic University is also listed on the project’s website as one of the local educational institutions, the Guildford Golf & Country Club is a five-minute drive away and transit connections are easily accessible.

“There’s a direct bus service to UBC that goes right past our development – a public-private partnership between Translink and a private company,” said Sahota. “If you have kids that eventually go to UBC, you’ll be able to wave them off on the bus right from your window.”

“I grew up just down the street from this project,” Sahota added. “We designed this development so that it would be somewhere people would want to raise a family. It’s a very family-oriented neighbourhood here and our building reflects that for sure. We’ve had interest from lots of first-time homebuyers as well as investors who feel strongly about the community, live close by and see the potential in the local rental market. We’ve also had downsizers looking to purchase as well.”

Homes now on sale at Amson Square have either junior two or junior three bedrooms ranging in size from 665 to 1,176 square feet, with prices starting at $429,900.

The development features two shared rooftop amenity spaces. These include community garden beds, outdoor barbeque and dining areas and two play structures. There are also interior amenity spaces with lounges, full kitchens, washrooms and entertainment areas.

“When you walk into our sales centre, what you see is what you get,” said Sahota. “You get the premium appliances, air conditioning in every home, all the millwork, and a premium lighting package too.”

Kitchens will have soft-close fixtures on all cabinetry, engineered quartz countertops and polished tile backsplashes. The appliance packages are by Bosch, Samsung and Panasonic. Bathrooms will have floating-look vanities, continuous floor-to-wall tile, undermount porcelain sinks and frameless walk-in showers with hand-held faucets.

“I’ve lived nearby for while now, long enough to know about all the amenities we have in the neighbourhood,” said Athwal. “I’ve seen Surrey grow so much over the years and the convenience that’s built into the community.”

“Having renderings for Amson Square really helps people visualize what they’re going to be getting,” Athwal added. “They look amazing. It’s going to be such a beautiful development. Then when you can walk through the display suite and see the materials and finishes, it just completes the picture for you.”

Construction has just begun on Amson Square and the developers expect people will be able to start moving in by the spring of 2022. The sales centre at unit 102, 15385 56th Ave. is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Fridays.

Amson Square

Project location: 14412 and 14462 – 72nd Ave.

Project size: 90 homes with either junior two or junior three bedrooms ranging in size from 665 to 1,176 square feet, with prices starting at $429,900.

Developer: Amson Group

Architect: DF Architecture

Interior designer: Collaborative Design Studio

Sales centre: Unit 102, 15385 56th Ave., Surrey, B.C.

Hours: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Fridays

Sales phone: 604.372.2510

Website: www.amsonsquare.com

© 2020 Postmedia Network Inc.

Tenant and landlords re-thinking rental agreements

Michelle McNally
Livabl

While April 1st has historically been a day reserved for practical jokes and gags, in 2020, there’s little to laugh about, especially when the rent is due.

The first day of April this year was not only when Canada surpassed 9,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide, but the first of many months in which tenants and landlords will likely face rent payment difficulties. With the forced closure of non-essential businesses across Ontario, alongside layoffs and reduced staff hours, thousands of residential and commercial tenants have seen their source of income shrink or evaporate entirely. As tenants continue to grapple with forced unemployment, landlords of all sizes must also find the right approach to payments in the weeks and months to come.

“It looks like April seems to be okay, for now,” said Nawar Naji, a Toronto real estate investor and broker with Chestnut Park Real Estate. “The issues are possibly with May and June. As more companies lay off, more people go on EI, I think there will be more issues down the line.”

Naji has four residential tenants, along with clients who have tenants of their own. For April, Naji explained that rental payments don’t appear to be an issue, but some of his tenants have expressed concerns about rent as the shutdown drags on. In the weeks and months ahead, he plans to take a customized, one-on-one approach to his tenants’ rental payments.

“We’re going to talk to them the second, third week of April and see where everybody is at,” said Naji.

For Mark Kenney, President and CEO of Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT), tenant payment issues are not a new concept. The ongoing coronavirus crisis has left some tenants within CAPREIT’s 65,000 rental units mired in financial uncertainty, but for those who are facing difficulties, Kenney says that most of them have been open to working on an arrangement with property managers.

“Our compassion hasn’t changed,” said Kenney. “We’ve always, since our inception, made payment plans if somebody has economic disruption, and the pandemic, it’s not the first time people have experienced economic disruption, it’s just on a bigger scale.”

Payment solutions with landlords have varied, ranging from portional monthly payments — in which the remainder of the rent is paid later in the year — to using the tenant’s last-month deposit sum. Greenrock Real Estate Advisors (GREA), a Toronto-based property management and real estate services company with multiple rental buildings, developed a rental assistance program that allows their tenants to use their last month’s rent deposit as a credit towards their regular payments, either in portions or in full.

“GREA is also cognisant of the financial hardships its residents may face during this time,” GREA stated in a press release. “While our three levels of Government have promised various measures of support, it will take time for these relief funds to be disbursed.”

Amid forced closure, commercial tenants are also experiencing rental payment uncertainty, with restaurants and small businesses being among the most vulnerable. The federal government has offered up to $40,000 in interest-free loans to small businesses and not-for-profit organizations in response to COVID-19, though some business owners have argued that this would tack on more debt than many companies can bear. To provide relief, some larger commercial landlords have granted rent deferral options. Ivanhoé Cambridge confirmed to Livabl that it would be providing deferral solutions to certain Canadian retail tenants on a case-by-case basis.

While some landlords have been able to negotiate rental payments with their tenants, others have not been so empathetic. Governments across the country have intervened to varying degrees, with British Columbia banning most evictions during the pandemic and Ontario closing the Landlord and Tenant Board.

“Landlords can still give eviction notices, however, landlords are encouraged to work with tenants to establish fair arrangements to keep tenants in their homes, including deferring rent or other payment arrangements,” reads the Ontario.ca website.

However, there are exploitive outliers.

“I heard a story about a landlord who was coming up with a loan program to tenants, charging them interest. It’s disgusting,” says Kenney. “All landlords are not the same. We shouldn’t be painted with one brush. And all tenants aren’t the same, and they shouldn’t be painted with one brush. I think it’s really important that people exercise compassion and decency.”

Kenney, who said that he is vehemently against evictions right now, believes that more leadership needs to come from the government to protect tenants from landlords, such as those who could issue large rent increases on new construction units in the current environment.

Meanwhile, there have been calls for rent strikes by housing activists, such as Parkdale Organize, who advised residents not to pay rent on April 1st so tenants can “make the reasonable and responsible choice to keep the money they need to live in these uncertain times need support,” according to the Keep Your Rent webpage.

Both Kenney and Naji shared concerns about a possible rent strike’s impact on landlord mortgage payments. Not all landlords are eligible to defer mortgage payments, and Kenny explains that some tenants feel that they don’t need to meet rental obligations, even if they’re still working. He is worried about the 80 percent of small landlords across Canada who are not protected by income from a large volume of units.

“Everybody’s got to pay their obligations and if there’s circumstances where people can’t pay rent or can’t pay a mortgage then they need to work it out together as a team, because we’re all in this together,” said Naji.

© 2019 BuzzBuzzHome Corp

Spring house hunting cancelled this year

Sean MacKay
Livabl

Canada’s spring house hunting season — typically the busiest time of the year for home transactions — will be effectively cancelled this year.

The strict social distancing measures that are critical to the fight against COVID-19 will make it all but impossible to follow through with the activities that the conventional home sales process necessitates.

That’s the takeaway for the near term Canadian housing picture from RBC Senior Economist and housing market expert Robert Hogue from a thought leadership piece published earlier this week.

“We expect realtors to suspend open houses and cut any private showings to a bare minimum,” he wrote. “There will be plenty of reasons for sellers to wait and see as well. A shock like this one is an inauspicious time to get full value for a property. We expect for-sale inventories to shrink, which will further contribute to stall activity.”

While the outlook for the spring months is bleak, Hogue delivers some much appreciated optimism about a timeline for a housing market recovery. This message is you shouldn’t expect activity to resume overnight, but RBC is currently “penciling in” an early summer “restart.”

Of course, as with all things during this uncertain period, the exact timing is highly dependent on the duration of the COVID-19 crisis and how soon the strict measures are lifted or gradually relaxed.

“We think the recovery will come in stages — taking buyers up to a year to regroup and rebuild confidence amid high unemployment,” wrote Hogue.

Even in an optimistic recovery scenario, Canadian home sales will take a huge hit on the year, with Hogue projecting a nearly 30 percent dive as sales reach a 20-year low at the national level. But looking to 2021, the economist sees a massive sales surge on the horizon when the “temporary shock” of the pandemic sits comfortably in the rearview mirror.

“Exceptionally low interest rates, strengthening job markets and bounce-back in in-migration will generate substantial tailwind. We project home resales to surge more than 40% to 491,000 units in 2021,” wrote Hogue.

© 2019 BuzzBuzzHome Corp.

What programs are available? Who qualifies for financial assistance?

REW

In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian government has announced a number of new aid policies designed to help people and businesses across the country. Unfortunately, with news coming at a breakneck speed nearly every day, it can be difficult to fully understand which program (or programs) are meant for you.

Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, our friends at the Premiere Property Marketing Team (PPMT) have got you covered. They’ve created the helpful infographic below, with the most current (as of April 2, 2020) information on who qualifies for what relief program, when to talk to your mortgage provider about deferred payments and more. Visit the PPMT site to learn more about their services.

© 2020 REW. A Division of Glacier Media.

 

Home sales heading for 30% drop on virus disruptions

Doug Alexander
The Vancouver Sun

Real estate listings are drying up, open houses have been cancelled, and buyers are staying home. One more pillar of the Canadian economy is under threat from the coronavirus pandemic.

What was a roaring start to the spring house-hunting season has ended in a whimper. By the time the dust settles on what’s likely to be months of disruption, Canada could see resales plunge 30 per cent to a 20-year low and the first nationwide drop in prices since 2009, according to Royal Bank of Canada.

“This is freezing the market,” John Pasalis, president of Toronto property brokerage Realosophy Realty, said in a phone interview. “The best-case scenario is we see an improvement in activity in the fall. I don’t think anyone’s really expecting anything before that.”

Real estate, along with residential building construction, accounted for almost 15 per cent of Canada’s output last year, ahead of energy at about 9 per cent. It has been a key driver of growth in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, where an influx of immigrants has fed a boom in activity in everything from architecture and design to insurance and lending.

The buoyant market has also been central to the massive wealth effect that has been driving consumption in recent years. The value of real estate assets owned by households has risen by $2.5 trillion (US$1.8 trillion) over the past decade, an increase of 80 per cent.

Now it’s just another casualty of mandated shutdowns to fight the spread of a virus that has infected more than 9,000 in Canada and led to 105 deaths. While construction has still been allowed to operate in Ontario and British Columbia, it’s all but shut down in Quebec.

‘No Buyers Are Out’

It’s a big change from early March when markets were soaring. In Toronto, sales rose about 50 per cent in the first two weeks from a year ago, and prices were surging, according to Pasalis. By last week, sales were down 37 per cent and new listings were cut by a third in Toronto, he said.

Figures from city real estate boards are expected to show the market fading through March. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Thursday average daily sales fell to 93 in the last ten business days of the month from 138 in the first ten. But sales were still up 46 per cent in the month and prices rose 2.1 per cent over the year. Calgary, also pummelled by the oil price slump, saw sales drop 11 per cent in March from the same month last year to lowest since 1995.

In Vancouver, some sellers haven’t caught up with reality, says Ian Watt, who specializes in condos at Sutton Group West Coast Realty.

“We’re still seeing a dozen listings a day in the downtown core, it’s ridiculous,” he says. “Why would anyone do it? No buyers are out, period.”

Robert Hogue, senior economist at Royal Bank, said the pandemic will be a “tough but temporary blow” to Canada’s housing market. He sees a recovery coming in stages as buyers take as much as a year to regroup and rebuild confidence amid high unemployment. That means home resales will dive to 350,000 units, he said. Prices will fall briefly over the second half by an average of 2.9 per cent from the year before.

How quickly employment picks up will be key. Already, 1.55 million Canadians have applied for unemployment insurance since mass lockdowns began earlier this month.

“The longer this goes, the more it’s eating away at savings, down payments, employment status and income for the year,” said Simeon Papailias, managing partner of REC Canada, a Toronto-based firm that operates under the banner of Royal LePage Signature Realty. “So it’ll affect qualifications.”

The uncertainty is sure to chill the mortgage market, according to Albert Collu, president at M3 Mortgage Group.

“People aren’t comfortable about going into a home and taking a look at it before making a purchasing decision, nor are they well-grounded in the security around their employment situation at the moment,” Collu said in a phone interview. “Purchase activity is going to be curtailed.”

Rebound in 2021?

Still, industry observers expect the market to rebound strongly once the virus is beaten back.

“We see the outlook improving markedly next year,” RBC’s Hogue said, estimating home resales to surge more than 40 per cent to 491,000 units in 2021. “Exceptionally low interest rates, strengthening job markets and bounce-back in in-migration will generate substantial tailwind.”

Papailias at REC said the minute uncertainty is lifted and “you can go outside without getting your children or parents sick — I think the market is going to go bananas.”

Elton Ash, head of western Canada for Re/Max Holdings Inc., also sees markets roaring back. The question is if there’s a broader recession — and that could depend on the U.S. and how it deals with the virus, given how closely the two neighbouring economies are linked.

“There’s the big unknown — the elephant south of the border,” said Ash.

© 2020 Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc

Downturn-resilient companies are defined by speed and discipline in addressing problems

Western Investor

Companies trying to ride out the COVID-19 crisis – an event that may trigger the most severe recession in decades – need to take decisive actions now to come out standing, and the top firms to survive the last recession offers key lessons.

That’s one of the main findings in an executive briefing by consultancy McKinsey & Co., calling on companies around the world caught in the drastic downturn to “act promptly” and “take steps to protect their employees, customers, supply chains and financial results.”

A key aspect for companies to look at in the firms who emerged from “The Great Recession” in the late 2000s, the report said, is those firms’ resilience in addressing near-term cash management while simultaneously dealing with unexpected disruptions affecting the medium to long term.

The McKinsey report pointed to the automotive sector emerging post-2011, where the top 20 per cent of the highest-performers in total-returns-to-shareholders (TRS) significantly outperformed the bottom 80 per cent coming out of the recession.

“Two words… define their success: Speed and discipline,” the report said. “These [resilient companies] didn’t have any particular starting advantage… Instead, they managed to achieve a small lead, which they then extended over the next 10 years.”

What the top 20 per cent “resilients” did, the report said, was to identify/prioritize risks and exposure to the current crisis, develop a company-specific range of scenarios from the highest risks, then implementing tighter cash controls to mitigate. Companies then kept a “dashboard” of indicators that is updated regularly to monitor potential changes in the marketplace as the current crisis evolves.

The cash-control initiatives are separated into three categories: Fast actions that are painful but necessary (such as writing off old stock), immediate cash opportunities (like payment terms re-negotiations), and long-term structural change (like automating reorders/billing systems and standardizing parts).

The key is speed, the report said: “Compared to non-resilients, resilience increased revenue by 30 per cent, reduced operating costs by three times and moved 12-24 months earlier.”

The full report is available at broadcast.mckinsey.com/107/3058/uploads/covid-19-facts-and-insights-march-25.pdf.

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