Rental market to see boom in vacancies, drop in prices and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of Mar. 21

This week, rental prices are going down as vacancies go up, which could be a boon or bust, depending on which side of the rental market you live on. Plus, the lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada and one home worth a look.

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Rental revolution

Canadian rental market sees coming boom in vacancy rates

A new report shows rents across Canada are dropping, as cities see an increase in vacancy rates. As Shane Dingman writes, those numbers could be good for prospective tenants looking for a better deal in a newer market, but could spell bad news for preconstruction buyers about to take ownership of their long-awaited condo. Average asking rents fell 4.8 per cent nationally to $2,088 in a fifth straight month of declines, according to a report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation Inc.

However, Dingman told me that rents are still quite high by many measures, and falling “asking rents” don’t lower the rent of people currently on leases. But what it can do, he said, is slow down the plans of builders constructing rental buildings based on a recent history of rapid growth. “Many of those projects are essentially luxury rentals and may find it harder to justify those high prices as the rental market cools,” he said.

Lowering rents and vacancies will see landlords with newly-finished condos struggling to cover their costs with rental income, Dingman said. “A great deal of Toronto’s recently built condo rental market is already priced at levels that don’t cover the costs of the average mortgage. The figures in my story suggest it could be some time before rents go up enough to stop these landlords from losing money.”

A March freeze

Toronto real estate market turns to ice amid tariff, economic uncertainty

Realtors in Toronto and beyond say that the market has almost entirely frozen up, with many saying they expect their business to fall 25 to 50 per cent this year. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, tariff uncertainty sent sales into a tailspin across the country last month – national home sales dropped 9.8 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in February from January. New listings fell 12.7 per cent in the same period. However, as Carolyn Ireland writes, some realtors are seeing signs that the market has begun to thaw out as sales pick back up again, but the uncertainty has left many to wait out the storm.

This week’s lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday March 20.

Opinion

Trade war 1, housing market 0

The personal finance playbook for trade wars is being written on the fly, but two key principles to emerge so far are the importance of having cash savings and avoiding new financial commitments as much as possible, writes columnist Rob Carrick. Housing markets were still buoyant in some cities last month, notably the comparably affordable cities in the west, in Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces. But unless the trade war is settled, the argument for waiting to buy a home will look stronger in the coming months. Why take on a new or larger mortgage if you have any concerns about your job or income? And, why put your home on the market to move up when you might have to accept a discounted price to get a sale done on your current property?

A stroll down the beltline

Toronto’s Kay Gardner Beltline Trail is a country allée, right in the city

Recently, a reader sent me an email asking for more love for Dave LeBlanc’s fantastic Architourist column. And when I saw his latest piece about walking a chunk of one of Toronto’s most interesting and historical pathways — and my regular jogging route — it was the perfect time to give it a little shout out. LeBlanc dives into the over 130-year-old history of the path, which was once a short-lived commuter rail service, and all of Toronto’s architecture you can see along the way. If we ever cross paths on the Beltline, come say hi to me and my very antisocial chihuahua.

Home of the Week

A new house in a new land

47 Woodfield Rd., Toronto – Full gallery here

This July, Erika Casanova will celebrate her 10-year anniversary of immigrating to Canada from Ireland — a decade in which she took a chance on a new country, met her future husband, bought a condo with him, and eventually upgraded to their airy and light-filled home just off Queen Street East in Toronto. Huge glass windows in the front of the house extend almost from the floor to the 10-foot ceiling, and the front foyer is a landing, with short flights of stairs down to the finished basement and up to the kitchen. A sliding glass door opens to the covered back porch with its view to Johnathan Ashbridges Park, the western edge of a series of parks and facilities that connects to Woodbine Beach and Ashbridges Bay.