Manitoba will match federal funding and deliver provincially-designed housing programs.

The agreement is designed to provide the province with the flexibility to make investments to achieve the overall outcome under the Affordable Housing Framework, which is to reduce the number of Canadians in housing need by improving access to affordable housing that is sound, suitable and sustainable.

“The agreement recognizes the need for local solutions to housing challenges progress on achievment of outcomes,” said Diane Finley, the federal minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Approximately 150 affordable senior housing units will be develop thanks to the recent Request of Proposals. They’ll be developing affordable housing for family too.

Manitoba will keep on providing programs on renovation that will provide grants that will aid seniors and persons with disabilities make their homes more liveable. The province targets southern rural and northern communities.

Starting in 2009, the Canadian government set aside $1.9-billion for housing and homelessness programs over a five-year period.

The Canadian government is making an additional one-time investment of more than $2 billion over two years in new and existing social housing, and making available $2 billion in loans to Canadian municipalities over two years for housing-related infrastructure improvements.

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The figure is slightly higher than the $45.3 billion spent last year and $40.9 billion in 2009. About two-thirds of homeowners said they plan to renovate over the next two years, the bank said.

The study shows Canadians are still willing to spend to upgrade their property even without tax incentives. The federal government introduced a credit for home renos as part of its package of stimulus measures to drag the economy out of recession. It expired in January 2010.

“We have seen quite a strong increase in reno activity in the first quarter and that has contributed to overall economic growth,” said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Sal Guatieri. “The resale market is quite strong so people are fixing up older homes and upgrading the ones they are living in.”

The focus on existing properties also comes as new building activity shows signs of slowing. Housing starts are likely to stabilize in 2011 at about 179,500 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation figures released Monday. Actual housing starts for 2010 totaled 189,930 units.

“I would describe home building as having normalized,” Guatieri said. “That’s a good thing because if the housing market cools down we won’t get stuck with a big overhang of unsold houses.”

The BMO report found respondents’ main motivation for upgrades was seeing a friend or neighbour’s projects, with one-quarter saying this was the major factor in their decision. Twenty percent said television programs had stirred the urge to make changes, while 16% got their impetus from newspapers or magazines.

Of those planning renovations, 90% said it is to improve their lifestyle, and 79% said it is to improve the value of their home.

The Leger Marketing survey was completed online from March 10-21 with a sample of 1,508 Canadian homeowners between the ages of 25 and 45.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/30/canadians-to-spend-more-than-46b-on-home-renos-this-year

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These days, it’s no simple task to find a place to live if you rent in Winnipeg: a recent survey by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that the city has a 0.8 per cent rental vacancy rate, which makes it the lowest of 34 metropolitan centres surveyed.

The CMHC’s findings come at the same time as Winnipeg’s ranking as “affordable” has changed to “moderately unaffordable” in the seventh annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.

Now, a group of Winnipeg-area realtors is saying that this “acute” rental shortage may actually be driving real estate prices up.

“There are some areas of Winnipeg where there is virtually nothing to rent so invariably any house that becomes available for sale becomes the only choice for someone to bid on,” Mel Boisvert, chair of the WinnipegREALTORS task force, said in a recent release, “First-time buyers in particular are finding it difficult because the entry level market under $200,000 is shrinking noticeably due to escalating house prices.”

The paper, titled “Manitoba’s Rental Housing Shortage: A Discussion Paper Highlighting Challenges and Solution,” raises issues like rent regulation and examines the role each level of government can play in helping solve Manitoba’s rental shortage.

“There is no magic wand or quick fix,” said Boisvert, “Hopefully, some of the solutions we put forward in the discussion paper will be considered. Doing more of the same is not an option.”

The WinnipegREALTORS task force wants to bring housing stakeholders together to discuss how Manitoba can address the rental shortage.

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WinnipegREALTORS says the acute shortage of apartments — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. recently pegged Winnipeg’s overall vacancy rate at an all-time low of 0.8 per cent — is forcing some renters to buy a home. That has led to increased competition and bidding wars, particularly for properties in the $150,000 to $250,00 price range, it says.

To draw attention to the problem, the association will be issuing a discussion paper later this month that looks at the circumstances that led to what it terms the rental market crisis, and raises possible solutions.

Mel Boisvert, chair of the WR task force that prepared the report, declined to say Wednesday what recommendations the association will be making.

But it has said that options worth considering are “softer” rent control guidelines, portable housing allowances for lower-income renters, and increased government subsidies and/or tax breaks for apartment developers.

Boisvert said all concerned parties — landlords, tenant groups, Realtors, homebuilders, property managers, and city and provincial government officials — need to be involved in finding a solution.

He also disputed the popular belief that the conversion of apartments to condominiums is one the main causes of the apartment shortage. He said it’s just one of several factors, the most notable being the provincial rent control program.

The president of the Professional Property Managers Association went a step further, saying rent controls are the primary cause of the shortage.

Wally Ruban, with property developer/manager B & M Land Co./Gem Equities Ltd., said decades of rent controls have kept rents in existing suites artificially low and discouraged new development. He said that’s because the rents developers have to charge to recoup their construction costs are hundreds of dollars a month higher than prevailing rates. And they’re afraid tenants will refuse to pay the higher rents, leaving their newly built units sitting vacant.

He said one downtown high-rise apartment block his firm owns and manages — Cumberland House at 360 Cumberland Ave. — has essentially no vacancies. But several other downtown blocks that were extensively renovated, and now charge higher rents, are having trouble finding tenants.

“The lower end of the market is where nothing is available. In the intermediate you will experience some vacancies, but most of the vacancies are in the higher-end buildings.”

He said that’s where an expanded housing allowance program could help by bridging the gap between rents for existing units and rents for new or renovated ones.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/realtors-call-for-action-on-vacancy-112995499.html

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CREA had earlier predicted that the national average home price in 2011 would fall by 1.3 per cent from last year to $326,000. This is contrary to what they have recently released that there will be 439,900 existing homes sold in 2011, down 1.6 per cent from 2010, but better than the nine per cent decline that CREA had forecast at the end of last year. Recent reports on building permits and housing starts are two indicators why the change in forecast has been made.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Tuesday that the pace of new-home construction in Canada increased slightly last month, rising to 170,400 units, up from 169,000 in December on a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That puts the country on a pace for about 10 per cent fewer housing starts than last year.

A moderation in housing starts is a sign that supply is contracting in line with reduced demand, which could avoid an unhealthy glut of available houses on the market if demand declines when interest rate hikes are announced.

CREA predicted Tuesday that some sales that would have been made later in the year will likely occur in the first quarter, as a result of the new rules. A previous change in mortgage rules last year contributed to extremely strong first-quarter demand as buyers sought to beat the deadline.

“This is expected to produce a milder version of the volatility in sales activity that we saw last year which resulted from additional transitory factors,” said CREA’s chief economist Gregory Klump.

Last year, sales were also pushed ahead to the first part of the year as buyers in two provinces — British Columbia and Ontario — rushed to avoid a switch to the harmonized sales tax on July 1.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2011/02/08/crea-forecast-2011.html#ixzz1Djy9l7Fy
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According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp, 1.6 per cent decline in Canadian housing was recorded in July from 189,200 annualized rate in June.

For the month of July, analysts had forecasted 186,500 starts. The previous month starts at 189,300 B.C. and end up with its seasonally adjusted rate of urban starts fall by 14.8 percent between two months, said CMHC.

“This report confirms that housing has been lost as a driver of growth in the Canadian economy”, mentioned by Scotia Capital economists Derek Holt and Gorica Djeric.

Canada’s central bank, together with most economists had predicted residential investment would decline markedly this year. On the brighter side, although the Canadian housing is not performing well, its status is still better compare to the U.S. housing sector, which hasn’t helped their economy in the first place.

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Canada’s central bank lending rate is 0.25 percent. Mortgage rates are about 4.5 percent, while five-year consumer loan rates for items such as automobiles are about 8 percent.

Recently, Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and the governor of the country’s central bank, Mark Carney, have sent warning signals that the days of low-interest borrowing may soon end.

Their statements show that the Canadian government is afraid that Canadians will default on the loans that are used to buy homes. About 70 percent of Canadian families own their houses, and real estate makes up the bulk of the assets of typical Canadian families.

Besides, Canadians, especially those who have not saved for their retirement or do not have a workplace pension, see home ownership as a way of locking away money until their retirement, using the money from their house sales to top up their small government pensions.
Still, most Canadians must borrow the bulk of the money they use for home purchases. Most are content to assume this large debt if the cost of the monthly payments is comparable to rent charges, and if house prices continue to rise.

In the past decade, the government has allowed the term of mortgages to be extended from a maximum of 25 years to 35 years, and has permitted its home loan insurance agency, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to sell insurance on loans with a down payment of only a 5-percent.

The system has worked to stimulate house construction, but analysts worry that it has created a speculative bubble that may burst, allowing house prices to settle back to a level that will leave many families owing more than their homes are worth. If that happens, the national government, already running a massive annual deficit, would be stuck with the loans of Canadians who defaulted.

Last year, Canadian resale house prices rose by more than six times the rate of inflation. Interest rates have also been kept low to stimulate borrowing for capital investment.

However, the rates will probably have to rise if Canada’s national government, its provinces and cities hope to sell bonds in a market already flooded with U.S. government debt.

In an interview broadcast this week on the country’s largest private television network, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warned Canadian families that the days of easy home ownership debt may becoming to an end.

“If we see further evidence that there is excessive demand in the housing market or that there’s an indication that people are taking on obligations that they will not be able to handle in the future when interest rates rise, then we will take some action,” Flaherty said on CTV television.

“The likely action we will take is to increase the size of the down payment from 5 percent to a higher number, reduce the amortization — bring it down from 35 years to something less,” he said.

Canadian families traditionally saw home ownership as a sign of financial security. Prices have rarely fallen in the past century. When they have, the values quickly recovered. Last year, house prices rose an average of about 20 percent, while the official inflation rate is less than 3 percent.

The average Canadians have increased their personal debt by more than 1,000 Canadian dollars (about 955 U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2009, driving up the nation’s personal debt by 44 billion Canadian dollars (42 U.S. dollars).

However, Canadians gamble on interest rates. In the early 1960s,a time of low inflation, interest rates were comparable to today’s. In the fall of 1981, with inflation near 15 percent, mortgage rates reached 20 percent.

On a 300,000 Canadian dollars (287,000 U.S. dollars) debt, which is not unusual in a major urban market, a 20 percent interest payment would amount to more than a typical Canadian family earns, after taxes, in a year. Even a 12 percent rate, which was typical of the 1980s, would generate a monthly payment of more than 3,000 Canadian dollars (2,865 U.S. dollars).

On top of those charges, Canadians must pay property taxes and most mortgage companies require the house to be insured for its full value.
Flaherty said recent price increases for homes in Canada are due to a “confluence” of factors including low interest rates, an improving economic outlook and a stabilizing job market.

On Dec. 10, Mark Carney, the governor of Canada’s central bank, warned that Canadian families were becoming more vulnerable to interest rate fluctuations because they have added debt this year while other countries such as the United States and Britain have seen reductions in personal debt-to-income ratios. The bank echoed the warnings of several non-government economists who warn that the Canadian rush to indebtedness is unsustainable.

In the Bank of Canada’s semi-annual report, Carney wrote: “House
holds need to assess their ability to service these debt obligations over their entire maturity, taking into account likely changes in both income and interest rates.

“Financial institutions need to carefully consider the aggregate risk to their entire portfolio of household exposures when evaluating even an insured mortgage, since a household defaulting on an insured mortgage would likely be unable to meet its other debt obligations.”

Carney warned that the risk to Canadian banks is relatively low, but up to 10 percent of households would face serious problems meeting their house payments if interest rates rise.

However, Benjamin Tal, an economist with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a major mortgage lender, said Canadians find ways of hanging onto their houses when interest rates fluctuate, and tend to default only when they have lost their jobs.

Still, Tal said, “It is time for both borrowers and lenders to exercise prudence in continuing to build up household debt loads to the point where they are overly reliant on today’s low rates.”

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• Several larger investors have suggested they are back in “buy” mode and are sitting on uncommitted capital. This signifies that the current supply of good-quality offerings is unlikely to keep pace with overall demand moving forward into 2010, which should intensify competition and pricing even further in Manitoba and across Canada.

• Apartments remain the most sought-after asset class in Winnipeg, as overall vacancy rates remain near one per cent and condominium conversion opportunities are being capitalized on by local specialists. A combination of TIF announcements by both local and provincial governments as well as a move by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to increase minimum down payment on new home and condo purchases would influence this sector in 2010.

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This can be seen as a good sign of recovery, well, at least for the housing market. The prices of built houses are in recovery and more homes and condos are being constructed based from what Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation issued. The CMHC data foresees a 10% improvement in building and sales activity in 2010. However, the price growth of houses is yet unclear due to rising interest rates on Main Street which will have an impact with the Main Street recovery.

The said recovery is supported by growing employment rates and increased consumer confidence. As a matter of fact, The Bank of Canada will be raising short interest rates and lenders, who have more positive response to what the bond market says money cost, are already pricing higher rates into mortgages. The economic recovery and the status of the housing market right now rest on increasing consumer confidence. This could take an effort to maintain considering changing interest rates moving from a low 1.5% to 3% and 4$ or more.

Housing market trends in Canada had gone up and down for one reason, market liquidity. When market declines, houses for sale rise, house owners want to sell but couldn’t find the right deal. This goes the same way with buyers which yield to no closed business. On the other hand, during good market condition, house buyers become more eager to make deals before prices appreciate more. Liquidity rate and sales volume mark significant growth.

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Last September marked a significant increase in MLS® sales record. A three per cent growth has been noted over the same month in 2008.

According to Deborah Goodfellow, president of WinnipegREALTORS®, the above average weather the month before has undoubtedly played a key role in bringing home buyers— making way to a new set record. Not to mention the low unemployment and fouvarable mortgage rates that made the record possible.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Coorporation said that the average rental vacancy rate in the city is hovering just under one per cent. Good news is housing demand will continue to rise because of the noted shortage of good rental unit in Winnipeg.

The influx of new immigrants in Winnipeg and in other area of Manitoba based from the Statistics can be said to be beneficial. In fact, the growth of Manitoba’s population since 1999 has been quite remarkable, said Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade Minister Nancy Allen. Manitoba’s population boomed to 80,000 within 10 years, which is more than double the increase of the previous 10-year period. In return, this means greater necessity for housing in Winnipeg. With the lack of available good rental units, the immigrants who qualified on province’s nominee program will eventually spend their money in buying a house.

Despite year to date dollar volume slipping off last year’s pace by three per cent, WinnipegREALTORS® is confident total dollar volume MLS® sales be the end could pass last year’s total of $2.4 billion, establishing yet another record. With three months remaining in 2009, total dollar volume sales were just $25 million shy of the $2 billion mark.

The most active price ranges for residential detached sales in September were between $150,000 and $199,999 and $200,000 and $249,000, which represented 24 and 21 per cent of the total, respectively. Twenty-three per cent of condo sales were between $100,000 and $149,999.

Year to date conversion of MLS® listing to sales by the end of September was 67 per cent, a few percentage points off last year’s pace. Home and condo conversions were 72 and 73 per cent, respectively.

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