Tags: today

11 Mar 2010, Comments Off

Social Housing in Halifax Under Renovation

Author: admin

Ed Holder, Member of Parliament for London West, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), today announced mortgage loan insurance policies to facilitate the financing of student housing in Canada.

“Our government is dedicated to meeting the increased demand for student housing across the country” said Ed Holder, Member of Parliament for London West. “We’re helping developers and borrowers access competitive interest rates for the life of the mortgage, benefit from greater financing choices and lower renewal risk. Our government is supporting students and creating jobs in university and college communities across the country.”

The Government of Canada will help finance loans of up to 85 per cent of the lending value for the construction, purchase or refinancing of housing purposely built for students on or off campus through CMHC’s Mortgage Loan Insurance for multi-unit student housing. This initiative supports the housing needs of Canadian publicly funded educational institutions, including universities and colleges.

The demand for student housing is anticipated to continue to increase for an extended period as a result of changing demographics, forecasted enrolment figures and continued growth in international students.

“Today’s announcement is good news and will help developers in Canada respond to the housing needs of students,” said Ray Stanton, President of London Property Corporation.

The Government of Canada has taken additional measures to help Canadian families. As of August 1, 2009, new federal student financial assistance measures — the Canada Student Grants Program and the Repayment Assistance Plan — are helping students and families access postsecondary education and better manage their student loan debt. To find out more about how the Government of Canada is helping students achieve their educational goals, visit CanLearn.ca.

As Canada’s national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable, and affordable homes — homes that will continue to create vibrant and healthy communities and cities across the country.

17 Jun 2009, Comments Off

Canadian Real Estate Prices

Author: admin

All this talk of recession has a lot of people thinking about what their property may be worth in today’s economy. To shed some light on things, I present you with the Canadian Real Estate Accosication’s (CREA) National statistics on the housing market, presented by way of average prices from across the country. It might surprise you that some provinces have seen average price increases from a year ago.

The National Average price in April 2009 was $306,366, while in 2008 it was $316,438. Although this doesn’t look overly great to start with, the national average price drop is largely due to the falling prices in cities that were considered overinflated, such as Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Other notables that saw a decline in the average price were Edmonton, down nearly $29,000; and Toronto, down over $13,000. Surprisingly though, Hamilton, Ontario (Steel Town), which is located 30 minutes West of Toronto witnessed an average increase of nearly $3,000. It’s hard to read into the macroeconomics of it, but that increase in price could likely be due to a few factors, such as the revitalization of the city as well as the New GoTrain line that now services Toronto Commuters.

But it’s not bad news for the rest of the country. Provinces such as, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland have all seen increases in the average sale prices. (See http://www.crea.ca/public/news_stats/statistics.htm for more details on each).

Overall, the Canadian Real Estate Market appears to be healthy, although making some adjustments in some markets, which we largely feel is due to the strong financial condition of our Big Five Banks. Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_(banks) for more details on the Big Five.

http://newmarketrealestate.blogspot.com/2009/06/canadian-real-estate-prices.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO