Canadian Funding Corp Reviews CMHC Affordable Housing Reports

Part of my conversation with Garry Wise the other day included a discussion about: what to do with the Ontario Reports which every lawyer in Ontario receives on a weekly basis from the Law Society of Upper Canada?  As a new lawyer, I’ve been keeping them with the belief that they may have something useful one day.  Older and wiser lawyers have even told me that I should read up on the cases in my practice area as they will sharpen my skills and I may have to refer to them in the future.  But, truth be told, why is the Law Society of Upper Canada killing so many trees by not simply making the O.R.s digitally accessible?  Perhaps, as Garry Wise suggested in our conversation, an e-mail should be sent out to lawyers on a weekly or monthly basis with all the information we need succinctly organized in a few sentences and with links to the main article somewhere on the Law Society’s website?  I came across a recent blog by Ted Tjaden on Slaw that discusses that very same subject matter.   His post was also featured in the Law Times.  Perhaps the revenue that comes from advertising in print form won’t be as much in electronic format?  Perhaps the print form guarantees that all lawyers receive it, whereas the electronic version may not be accessible to all?   My take on this is: if and when I’m looking for it, I’ll find it online.  As such, I’m going to recycle the shelves of O.R.s I’ve been collecting under the mistaken assumption that I should be keeping them.  Goodbye clutter; hello digital age.  I encourage you to do the same.

Just for fun, I came up with this spoof on the Ontario Reports.  Enjoy…

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http://dynamiclawyers.com/DL_blog/ontario-reports-parody/17/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CEO of canadian funding corp

Real estate firm Royal LePage forecast in its latest survey that the 2009 national average house price will be down by 2 percent at C$297500 ($256466) by …

Steve Arnold

The Hamilton Spectator

(Jul 8, 2009)A new report shows house prices rising across Hamilton in the second quarter of this year.

The study by real estate giant Royal LePage shows rising prices across the city’s neighbourhoods — with only a tiny drop in one area. Hamilton’s central area led the increases with a rise in values of almost 36 per cent.

Joe Ferrante, broker of record at Royal LePage State Realty, attributed the bounce in prices to buyers finally deciding to take advantage of low-interest-rate mortgages.

“People are recognizing that there are great values out there,” he said. “I still read the papers and read about deficits and layoffs so I’m not sure we can call what happened in June a recovery, but it’s still nice to see.”

Royal LePage president Phil Soper said several forces are helping the real estate market recover — the business usually picks up in the second quarter of the year and the 2009 figures are being compared to an especially bad 2008.

“We saw a very sharp drop in prices through the winter, but the recovery was equally impressive starting in March,” he said.

The study measures changes in the price of both a standard two- storey house and a detached bungalow in Hamilton’s Mountain, East, West and Centre areas. Changes are shown for the April-June quarter over the January-March first quarter and over the same quarter last year.

It shows the average price of a detached bungalow on the Mountain was $212,191 during the April-June period, up 2.3 per cent from the same quarter last year. During the first quarter of this year, the same class sold for an average $209,006.

A west end bungalow averaged $245,900 during the second quarter, up 4 per cent from the same period last year. In the first quarter, that property type sold for $229,706. In the east end, a bungalow averaged $167,885, up 0.5 per cent from last year and also rising sharply from $155,560 in the first quarter.

The centre of Hamilton was the big winner, showing an average price of $153,932 during the second quarter, soaring almost 36 per cent from both last year and the $113,150 average reported in the first quarter.

Soper said spikes like that usually result from contractors bidding up the price of the land under houses they want to demolish and replace, or consumers bidding for houses they plan to extensively renovate.

The story for standard two-storey houses across the four regions is largely the same — a house in that class on the Mountain averaged $304,484 during the second quarter, down 0.1 per cent from the same period last year. This segment was up sharply from the $277,525 average reported in the first quarter.

Standard houses in the west end averaged $279,141 during the second quarter, up 4 per cent from the same period last year, also rising from $229,706 in the first quarter of this year. In the centre area, the standard house averaged $154,896. That’s up 9.2 per cent from the same quarter last year and also up from the $135,743 average reported in the first three months of this year.

In the east end, this class averaged $260,711, a 7.2 per cent increase from the same period last year and also up from the $227,111 average in the first quarter.

http://www.beginnerrealestatewealth.com/6723/corrected-royal-lepage-sees-stable-canada-home-prices-sales-reuters/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) launched its new National Seniors’ Housing Survey today. The survey, conducted in all provinces, collected information on vacancy rates and rents in seniors’ residences with services not offered in traditional rental structures.

“Vacancy rates and rent levels in the seniors’ housing market reflect a different market makeup than the traditional rental market,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist for CMHC. “The demand for seniors’ housing is expected to increase as the baby boom generation ages. The anticipation of this eventual increase in demand, has spurred the construction of seniors’ units ahead of actual demand. This, in turn, has led to an average vacancy rate of 9.2 percent in seniors’ residences that tends to be higher than in the traditional rental market.”

The national vacancy rate applies to standard spaces, which are defined as:

* private units such as a bachelor, one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment occupied by a single individual or a couple; one unit is considered as one standard space;
* semi-private units; one unit is considered as two standard spaces;
* ward units; one unit is considered as three standard spaces or more;

The vacancy rate is calculated for all standard spaces regardless of whether the occupant participates in a meal plan or requires medical services. The vacancy rate covers only spaces that accommodate residents who receive less than 1.5 hours of care per day.

Vacancy rates varied considerably across the country, from a low of 3.4 per cent in Saskatchewan to a high of 18.9 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador. The vacancy rate in Ontario (13.3 per cent) was above the national figure, while the rates in British Columbia (7.5 per cent) and Quebec (7.9 per cent) were below average.

Average monthly rents in the seniors’ market are higher than traditional market rents, reflecting the additional services and amenities that residents of these structures receive. The average rent for bachelor/private units where meals are included was $1,774 per month. Average rents ranged from a high of $2,519 per month in Ontario to a low of $1,271 in Quebec. Differences in average rents reflect, in part, the varying prevalence of services and amenities in each province.

As Canada’s national housing agency, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (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.

Information on this release:

Andrea Scott
CMHC
Media Relations
Tel.: 613-748-4075
ascott@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Backgrounder

* CMHC conducted its first National Seniors’ Housing Survey in February and March 2009. Previously, CMHC had regional seniors’ reports in B.C., Ontario and Quebec, which were published annually.
* The new national survey was conducted in all 10 provinces and in all centres regardless of size, which had a residence meeting the eligibility criteria.
* The survey targeted private and non-profit residences where the majority of residents were 65 years of age or older and had access to additional services not offered in traditional rental structures. To be eligible for the survey, a residence must provide an on-site meal plan or on-site medical services. Virtually all residences surveyed provided an on-site meal plan. Other amenities and services that were popular in some of the residences included on-site medical services (57.8 per cent), transportation services (44.2 per cent) and 24 hour call-bell service (92.0 per cent). Note that the survey excluded nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
* Across Canada, some 43 per cent of standard spaces in the seniors’ housing market rented for less than $1,500 and 22.0 per cent of spaces rented for $2,500 or more per month.
* Some 176,845 seniors lived in the 2,464 residences surveyed, capturing 8.2 per cent of the Canadian population at, or above, the age of 75.

http://www.cmhc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2009/2009-06-22-0815.cfm

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO