Abbotsford lot sells $400K over assessed value at $1.4 million

London Pacific Property Agents Inc.
Western Investor

First tri-mix building underway in False Creek Flats

WI Staff
Western Investor

 Vancouver’s first real estate development considered a ‘tri-mix,’ combining residential apartments with offices and industrial space has launched in the False Creek Flats.

Hungerford Properties and QuadReal Property Group say the new, ultra-mixed-use project at the corner of Main and East 1st Avenue offers a model for future developments as it combines purpose-built rental housing with a variety of commercial uses in what was formerly an industrial zone.

False Creek Flats is a 450-acre parcel bounded by Main Street to the west, Prior and Venables streets to the north, Clark Drive to the east, and Great Northern Way to the south. It is home to the National Works Yard and an array of businesses, ranging from food wholesalers to manufacturing and big-box retailers.

Rezoning of the Flats more than two years ago encouraged development of work places rather than market strata housing. Today the Flats is home to the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, a number of office and retail buildings and is the site for the new $1.9 billion St. Paul’s Hospital, which is expected to start construction this year.

The new development, Archetype, designed by GBL Architects, will include 35,000 square feet of light industrial strata, 69,000 square feet of office strata and 200 rental homes. It will be anchored on the east and west by two mid-rise commercial towers bridged by an eight-storey residential building, with ground-level industrial space wrapping around the entire development.

Pilot marketing of the commercial and industrial space is underway and the project is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2023. Commercial strata prices have not yet been released.

“Archetype is the first of its kind under the new local area plan for the False Creek Flats and a model for true mixed-use future developments in Vancouver and across North America,” said Michael Hungerford, partner with Hungerford Properties.

Vancouver’s FC-2 zoning under the False Creek Flats plan supports a variety of creative uses, including food and beverage production, fashion, product design, retail and manufacturing. Archetype’s industrial strata units, from 1,175 square feet to 11,000 square feet, have street exposure with mezzanines, full-height sliding glass doors and laneway units with glass overhead doors, and are aimed at “creative designers and manufacturers.”

The AAA-class office spaces are offered in floor plates from 8,850 square feet to 9,650 square feet and feature 11 -foot ceilings. Spaces can be expanded into 20,000 square feet or more for multi-level offices, and each of the units can be subdivided, according to real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield.

The residential rentals range from one to three bedrooms and come with balconies and a private rooftop garden.

B.C. economic recovery plan misses Main street: CFIB

WI Staff
Western Investor

Province’s $1.5 billion pitch falls short on the immediate needs of many small businesses, says Canadian Federation of Independent Business

any B.C. retailers forced to close during pandemic: Chung Chow

The B.C. Economic Recovery Plan, introduced September 17, includes $1.5 billion in new spending, $660 million in new tax incentives and $500 million for a new strategic investment fund. But critics say it fails to offer short-term help for many small business struggling with the pandemic crisis.

The money could start to flow right away, according to Premier John Horgan, who added that government ministers need not be involved in coordinating the spending because that work will be done by the civil service.

Among the big direct-spending priorities for the province is a $300-million recovery grant for small and medium-sized businesses that includes what the province describes as an “enhanced amount for tourism operators.”

A separate $50 million is being allocated to a new tourism taskforce charged with boosting an industry hit harder than most by travel restrictions.

That particular funding is expected to roll out this year and is part of $100 million being earmarked specifically for the tourism sector, with grants for local governments and tourism development initiatives also on the table.

The tourism industry had been seeking $680 million in support.

“We appreciate the funding announcement and assembly of the task force,” Science World CEO Tracy Redies told BIV after the province’s announcement.

“It’s much less than the tourism industry needs to recover, but it’s a start. Science World cannot wait much longer to receive government funding as the results of shutting down and low visitor attendance have already had serious, negative impacts on our organization,” Redies said.

Tourism Industry Association of British Columbia CEO Walt Judas sounded a stone of appreciation while being clear that more support is needed. 

“It’s a very good start,” he said. “We appreciate that the province recognized the needs of the tourism and hospitality sector with specific measures to help address major challenges including liquidity. We are also counting on additional funding to help our industry as part of Budget 2021.”

However, Muriel Protzer, senior policy analyst for B.C. at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said “CFIB is very concerned that these [spending announcements] will not likely have an immediate impact on the ground, and an immediate impact is really what we need right here.”

Business activity remains far below normal, she added in an email to Western Investor.

“Small businesses are in no position to create additional jobs or expand their operations. In summary, the Economic Recovery Plan falls short on the immediate needs of Main street today.”

Highlights of the Economic Recovery Plan include:

• A 15 per cent tax credit on new payroll for low to medium-income jobs; 

• A 100 per cent property sales tax rebate on machinery and equipment for businesses expanding operations. The program runs until September 2021;

• A $30,000 small and medium-sized business recovery grant program. Eligible businesses must have 50 per cent revenue loss and can demonstrate a viable path forward;

• A $10,000 additional loan top-up for tourism businesses; and 

• $100 million in funding to support the tourism industry .

CFIB survey data shows 22 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses in B.C. are making 50 per cent or less in revenues than usual this September. However, Protzer said the plan’s loan structure will exclude an additional 24 per cent of businesses who are making 50 to 75 per cent of normal revenues.

“CFIB strongly encourages the BC government to rethink the design of its loan program. Expanding eligibility could help thousands of more businesses who desperately need help. Even as mandated business shut-downs are lifted, small business owners are struggling to pay off debts and piling bills,” Protzer said.

 

 

 

 

© Copyright 2020 Western Investor

Landlords squeezed as insurance premiums skyrocket

Frank O’Brien
Mortgage Broker News

Palihapitiya finds next ?10x idea? with $4.8 billion SPAC deal for real estate start-up Opendoor

Leslie Picker
other

 Chamath Palihapitiya pioneered taking private unicorns public by reverse merging them into special purpose acquisition companies — an idea he’s called “IPO 2.0.” 

After his first iteration of doing so last year with space-tourism company Virgin Galactic, he’s found his next target: Opendoor, an online marketplace for buying and selling houses. 

“These guys are my next 10x idea,” Palihapitiya said in an interview with CNBC, noting the prospect of generating returns worth 10 times the original investment. 

The investment, announced Tuesday, amounts to more than $1 billion. Opendoor will receive $414 million from the capital generated from the April initial public offering of his SPAC, Social Capital Hedosophia II. Additionally, a group of investors, including Palihapitiya and funds managed by BlackRock, agreed to infuse another $600 million through a PIPE, or a private investment in public equity. 

The deal values Opendoor at $4.8 billion — nearly equal to its 2019 revenue. The company’s earlier investors include General Atlantic, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Lennar Corp. 

 “This is one of many milestones towards our mission and will help us accelerate the path towards building the digital one-stop-shop to move,” Eric Wu, who founded Opendoor six years ago, said in a statement. Wu will continue to lead the company, while Adam Bain, former chief operating officer at Twitter and director at Social Capital Hedosophia II, will join the board after the transaction is completed. 

 

How Opendoor works

Here’s how Opendoor often works: Homeowners get a quote, through an algorithm, and can sell their houses directly to the company. Opendoor may make some fixes and then put the house on the market to sell. The spread between what the home is bought for and sold is a part of how Opendoor generates revenue. Opendoor, which operates in 21 markets, says it sold more than 18,000 homes last year. 

It also provides services, such as a mortgage product, home repair and home warranty that users can purchase. (Opendoor ranked No. 35 on last year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list.)

 “The company is transforming the $1.6 trillion residential real estate market by combining superior user experience, streamlined operations and machine learning to create a seamless digital experience,” said Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia II. 

The move is a bet on two secular tailwinds — greater homeownership in America and the digitization of commerce. 

Sales of existing homes jumped nearly 25 percent in July from June, according to the latest National Association of Realtors report. That’s the strongest monthly gain in the history of the survey, going back more than half a century.

But earlier this year, the pandemic and shutdown of the economy took its toll on the housing market. The company in April laid off 600 employees or roughly a third of its staff as the uncertainty caused many Americans to pause housing-related transactions. 

Around that same time, Palihapitiya was getting his SPAC off the ground. Virgin Galactic, which he took public through a separate vehicle, has produced returns of nearly 70 percent over the last year.  

Social Capital Hedosophia II used that momentum in its search for a new target. Shares surged 34.5% on Tuesday following the announcement.

The deal for Opendoor came together somewhat quickly, a person close to the process said. Two months ago, the two sides started talking. 

And much like Opendoor’s digitized tenor, so too was its own sale, with the bulk of the negotiations taking place over the internet. 

 

 

© 2020 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. 

Bank of Canada’s 4.79% benchmark rate expected to increase home buyers’ purchasing power

Duffie Osental
Mortgage Broker News

Vancouver considering sanctioned camps for homeless

Mike Howell
Western Investor

A City of Vancouver homeless count conducted over 24 hours in March found that 2,095 people were without a home. Mayor Kennedy Stewart now says the homeless population has grown since then, largely due to the pandemic, with the city thinning out it shelters for physical distancing, no-guest polices at some single-room occupancy hotels and job loss.

This week, Vancouver city council directed city staff to examine a radical series of proposed measures to address homelessness, including creating temporary sanctioned homeless camps and providing permanent city space for low-income people living in recreational vehicles.

The push from council was in addition to three options Mayor Stewart outlined, including, leasing or purchasing hotels and converting city-owned buildings into emergency housing or shelter space.

A “disaster relief shelter” network, as proposed by councillors Rebecca Bligh and Michael Wiebe, that works as an emergency triage centre for homeless people, was also incorporated into council’s requests of staff to study.

“It’s time for this council to step up and really showcase that we do need to find these supports,” Wiebe said.“We are in a dire situation that has our neighbours and friends in really difficult situations.”

The move by council comes as the Strathcona Park encampment continues to grow while residents in Strathcona and across the city, particularly in Yaletown, urge politicians and police to respond to a rise in drug use, crime and street disorder.

In putting forward the proposed actions, councillors emphasized that whatever temporary measures city staff recommend that they do not let the provincial or federal government off the hook to fund permanent housing.

None of council’s measures requested the city seek a court injunction to clear the Strathcona Park encampment, which would have to be done in cooperation with the park board, which is on record of not wanting to take such action.

Council’s decision came after hearing from 23 people September 11 who lined up on the telephone and some in the council chamber to weigh in on the mayor’s motion and wider issue of homelessness.

Residents from Strathcona and Yaletown, along with homeless people residing in Strathcona Park whose repeated mantra was “permanent housing saves lives,” spent four hours outlining their concerns.

Jason Trudeau, who lives in a tent with his wife in Strathcona Park, fought tears while telling his story of homelessness to council. A commercial fisherman, Trudeau, his wife and three children left Winnipeg to begin a new life in Vancouver.

He and his wife stayed in the tent city that popped up earlier his year in a parking lot near CRAB park before moving to Strathcona Park. He described the Strathcona camp as “not a pretty place to be” and that it breeds violence.

“I’m a desperate father…. I don’t want to be in tent cities, anymore,” Trudeau said.

He  said the options outlined in the mayor’s motion couldn’t help him because his children wouldn’t be allowed in a shelter or sanctioned camp.

Claudette Abraham, a 45-year-old Indigenous woman also living in Strathcona Park, said she had a room in a single-room-occupancy hotel but was evicted for being unable to pay rent. Abraham said she came to Vancouver in 2015 from Winnipeg to flee violence.

Katie Lewis, vice-president of the Strathcona Residents’ Association, told council that she supported the mayor’s move to have city staff examine options to address homelessness.

“We know that in the last 12 weeks that our day-to-day life [in Strathcona] has changed dramatically,” she said, noting it’s not just about seeing more garbage on the streets. “We’re finding firearms in our parks. There’s a drug turf war going on. Our kids are not safe.”

She said the encampment at Strathcona Park has grown from 30 tents to more than 400 over 12 weeks. She suggested it was the biggest tent city in Canada and that it was “out of control.”

“Winter is coming, COVID cases are rising, we cannot continue the way we are,” she said, noting she visits the tent city regularly and speaks to campers. “The campers aren’t safe; residents aren’t safe and kids aren’t safe.”

Howard Chow, one of the city’s three deputy police chiefs, told council that encampments typically generate more police calls to the tent city itself and surrounding neighbourhood.

“We’ve seen about a 50 per cent increase in weapons calls around Strathcona, about a 68 per cent increase in break-and-enters, threatening street disorder,” Chow said. “These are concerns that we are talking to residents all the time about and getting the feedback about their sense of fear and security and street disorder that they’re seeing on a fairly consistent basis.”

Many of those same concerns have been raised by residents in Yaletown in recent months, where people have complained about rising drug use, crime, garbage and vandalism.

Some have pointed to tenants residing in the former Howard Johnson hotel on Granville Street as the source of the disorder. The B.C. government recently purchased the hotel for $55 million to house people from the Oppenheimer Park tent city, which was cleared in April under an emergency order.

B.C. Housing, in conjunction with the city and Vancouver Coastal Health, also opened up the Roundhouse community centre to homeless people at the beginning of the pandemic. Tenants moved out June 19.

Yaletown parent Ema Lale, who rents a home and has elementary-school-aged children, told council she’s considering moving out of Vancouver because she feels unsafe in her neighbourhood.

She has called police three times for overdoses behind her building. Drug users have been seen on patios in her complex and discarded needles are a common sight.

“We cannot let our kids play in our backyards,” she said, describing the situation as “really scary” for families. “I’m only concerned about safety. I totally feel for the homeless people, and I really have strong compassion, but I have no compassion for destructive behaviour.”

She told council that allowing the Roundhouse community centre to be used again to house homeless people would be a mistake. Lale said parents rely on the centre for before and after school daycare.

The centre also serves seniors in the neighbourhood and provides programs for children, many of whom attend Elsie Roy elementary school near the Roundhouse.

Vancouver park board commissioners were expected to meet Monday night to discuss motions related to finding a “non-park site” for the Strathcona Park encampment and suspending daily removal of temporary shelters during the pandemic.

There are at least 200 people without a permanent address living in recreational vehicles (RVs) in Vancouver, according to an informal Glacier Media count this summer. A number of these are clustered around industrial and big-box locations near East First Avenue and Clark Drive in East Vancouver.

Since the RV population in the neighbourhood has increased, there have been reports of theft from a business, increases in traffic accidents and near-misses, lack of parking for customers, discarded needles, human waste and garbage strewn across boulevards, local business owners and residents said.

 

 

© Copyright 2020 Western Investor

It’s here: Equifax’s new inquiry process begins today

Clayton Jarvis
Mortgage Broker News

Unless you’re one of those unique Mortgage Broker News readers who has been living in a hole for the past five months – and, considering the state of the world, who can blame you if you were? – you are likely aware that Equifax’s new mortgage inquiry process came into effect today.

Word of the updated process first made its way into industry ears in April, when Equifax first announced its intention to have all mortgage brokerages authorize an amended broker contract to ensure that Equifax information can be shared only with credentialed lenders. In May, the company said it would be requiring all lenders to be assigned a unique Equifax Member Number if they wish to continue accessing credit files through industry connector platforms. July 1 was the original deadline for lenders to have their Member Numbers in place, but it was delayed to provide lenders more time to get in line with the new requirements.

On the off chance that some readers are still unaware of what Equifax’s new requirements are, here’s a quick rundown:

• As of today, Equifax requires all lenders to have an identifying Member Number in order to continue receiving files from brokers.
• Only brokers who have signed amended contracts with Equifax will have access to credit files through the industry’s connector platforms (Filogix, etc.).
• Every single credit inquiry will be posted with both the broker’s and lending institution’s name via all connector platforms. Only credentialed lenders will be granted access to these files.
• If brokerages have still not signed their amended contracts, Equifax is urging them to visit https://www.equifax.ca/BOI/en/form, where principal brokers or another signatory of the brokerage can initiate the process.
• Lenders who are not currently credentialed with Equifax are encouraged to visit [email protected].

The changes were made to ensure that the only people in a position to view borrowers’ credit files will be those entitled to see them, which was not the case prior to the change, when credit information frequently found its way into the hands of brokers who hadn’t made the request to see it. In a release earlier this month, Equifax says it is “increasingly important for all of us to do whatever we can to protect consumers and mitigate any potential risks, especially in light of the rising incidence of data breaches and the use of peoples’ information for nefarious purposes.” (The company knows a thing or two about data breaches.)

Equifax says the new inquiry process will benefit all parties involved. The “primary benefit”, the firm says, will be felt by consumers. By providing a complete, accurate picture of who has legal access to an individual’s credit information, Equifax says it is strengthening consumer trust in the industry – while, somewhat ironically, also providing an avenue to monitor the misuse of their data.

“Anything that provides opportunity for the consumer to know what’s happening with their information is a good thing,” Filogix’s Ryan Spence told Mortgage Broker News in July. “It’s certainly beneficial to the consumer to know who’s seeing their information and where it’s being sent.”

By participating in a system that collects all consumer file activity, Equifax says lenders will have access to improved insights and more robust analytics capabilities. According to the company, increased data accuracy “leads to better credit decisions, greater understanding of consumer behaviours, which in turn leads to better account management.”

Brokers, too, are expected to benefit from having access to better data, which can assist them in piecing together a more accurate picture of their clients’ credit histories.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Key Media

CMHC: Around $1bn in mortgage payments have been deferred each month during pandemic

Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News

Approximately $1 billion in mortgage payments were deferred every month during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

In its annual residential mortgage industry report released late last week, CMHC said that the average monthly mortgage payment in Canada stood at $1,333 this year, using data from Equifax Canada.

CMHC also said that the national mortgage debt balance will see significant annual growth, largely due to a lower number of Canadians getting ahead on their mortgage payments in 2020.

As of the end of the second quarter, CMHC said that the rate of defaults was more muted than anticipated, although delinquencies are likely to increase once deferral programs end this fall.

“Incomes have been reasonably well-sustained, consumption has slowed, and so savings overall in the economy have gone up. That’s helpful in reducing vulnerabilities,” said Tiff Macklem, Bank of Canada Governor. “Having said that, we’ve been very clear at the Bank of Canada, we’ve underlined the vulnerabilities caused by household indebtedness and too much reliance on the housing sector. Those have not entirely gone away, but when you look at our policy response, the best predictor of whether somebody is going to repay their mortgage is whether they have a job.”

Latest employment figures showed that the Canadian labour market had its fourth consecutive month of gains with the addition of 245,800 jobs in August. The national unemployment rate stood at 10.2%, and the economy has now recovered around 1.9 million of the 3 million jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMHC said that approximately 20% of Canadians indicated a willingness to move their mortgages to new lenders, as many institutions did not sufficiently accommodate their needs during the height of the pandemic’s economic devastation.

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Key Media

How will Toronto’s new registry for Airbnb properties impact investors?

Clayton Jarvis
Mortgage Broker News

Toronto’s Airbnb investors in woke up to a new, potentially risky reality yesterday, as September 10 marked the launch of the city’s new short-term rental registry. Owners of properties that are currently available to renters for less than 28 days a month must register with the city before December 31. After that, new operators will be required to register with the city prior to renting their properties.

“This is good news for Toronto residents and a step in the right direction when it comes to regulating short-term rentals and maintaining the peace and quiet of our neighbourhoods,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said in an August 25 press release. “This system will provide crucial oversight of operators and ensure that they are held accountable and only operate within their principal residences.”

Described by the city as “a necessary first step” in its attempts to better regulate short-term rentals, the registry applies to hosts who wish to rent out either a maximum of three rooms in their primary residence or the entire property, the latter option coming with a 180-day per year limit. Once registered, operators will be issued a unique number that is required for advertising their homes on any short-term rental site. The process is ostensibly an attempt by the city to gather more data from short-term rental platforms, but the reality, is no number, no Airbnb listing. Those caught abusing the system will be fined anywhere between $300 and $1,000 and could potentially face removal from any associated rental platforms.

Thousands of Toronto Airbnb’s have been operating illegally since the city required them to be contained to a host’s primary residence in 2017 (although a lengthy court battle held off the implementation of the rule until 2019). Enforcement of the new registration program will be key to ensuring its success, says Fairbnb Canada’s Thorben Wieditz.

“We’ve seen that a permit system is not necessarily sufficient in ensuring compliance,” Wieditz said in a statement hailing the registry’s arrival. “In Vancouver, for instance, hosts got away with posting arbitrary ‘permit’ numbers and Airbnb let them get away with that. We need to pay close attention that this is not happening in Canada’s largest short-term rental market.”

As a long-time critic of the negative impact Airbnb has had on rental supply in cities around the world, Wieditz welcomed the new rules. He was not alone. 

“Finally, Toronto’s short-term rental regulations will be implemented to address the negative impact that platforms like Airbnb have had on the rental housing market,” said Bahar Shadpour of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.

Bahar feels that once the registration grace period is over and the new regulations are in effect, there could be a “significant uptick” in the city’s long-term housing stock. Fairbnb estimates that if half of the city’s non-compliant, entire-home listings offered on Airbnb were converted into long-term housing, Toronto’s vacancy rate would increase from 1.3 percent to 2 percent.

That’s great news for renters; not so much for the city’s real estate investors. High nightly rental rates have been the impetus behind more than a few property purchases in the GTA over the past several years. For many, particularly condo investors with high monthly maintenance fees, the juiced-up returns provided by Airbnb rentals are the only thing preventing their cash cows from becoming albatrosses.

Ryan Coyle, co-founder of Connect Asset Management and a specialist in the GTA condo space, has seen an increase in the number of condo units hitting both the rental and resale markets over the past several months. But he still feels investors have little reason to panic, largely because of the rate at which condos have increased in value over the past five years.

“These people certainly have serious wealth in their condos,” Coyle says, although he admits that there is a “certain percentage” of owners who may still opt to get rid of their units rather than cover the associated carrying costs.

Coyle says investors now excluded from the Airbnb market because their properties are non-primary residences can still make them cash flow by making them available as high-end, furnished rentals. Coyle’s property management company, for example, targets film professionals who come to town for months at a time. Not only do they have the funds available to pay above-market rents, but their stays are often long enough that the investors who cater to them won’t have to register their properties with the city.

Rather than destroy Airbnb’s appeal to investors, Coyle says that by removing so many operators from the market the new rules may actually benefit those who decide to play by them.

“I think it’s going to create an opportunity to make money again on Airbnb,” he says.

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Key Media