From dream home to unholy mess

Stories of building delays are not uncommon on the front lines of Toronto’s condo craze.

But when Tracey DaSilva bought in the Union Lofts in the Junction Triangle four years ago, she expected her inconvenience and uncertainty would eventually be rewarded with the key to a dream home in a boutique church conversion in one of the city’s coolest neighbourhoods.

Instead, she was handed a refund for her deposit and builder upgrades and now faces the prospect of watching the developer resell the original condos for a higher price.

Vancouver Shines Light on Empty Condos

The country's most housing-stressed city has thousands of homes sitting vacant -- and the situation has barely changed since 2002, according to a new report from the City of Vancouver and Ecotagious Inc., a company that analyzes how much energy people consume.

Released this morning, "Stability in Vancouver's Housing Unit Occupancy" says that if we could rent out Vancouver's estimated 10,800 dwellings that are unoccupied for at least part of the year, it would help drive down housing costs and relax the city's miniscule 0.6 per cent rental vacancy rate.

Think Your Condo Fees Are Too High? These Owners Will Be Paying $2,000 A Month

Homeowners at one Toronto condo are facing a spike in condo fees so large they may default.

After years of neglect and low fees, the building at 40 Panorama Court in Etobicoke required millions of dollars in repairs. Now, the building needs $600,000 more to repair mould problems, CTV reports.

Condo Prices ‘Will Take A Serious Hit' If Maintenance Fees Unchecked

For many urban Canadians, the condo has become the only affordable housing option. But with condos come maintenance fees, and the people behind a new analysis say rising fees could threaten the value of many condo owners’ homes.

Average maintenance fees in Toronto, the country’s largest condo market, have been growing at 3.4 per cent per year over the last decade, well above the overall rate of inflation, meaning condo fees are eating an ever-larger portion of household income.

Toronto Condo Boom 'Looks Like' It's Over: BMO

"It certainly looks” like Toronto’s impressive condo boom has run its course, the Bank of Montreal says in a client note.

Housing starts in Toronto dropped to their lowest point in four-and-a-half years in September, according to new numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).

“Slower sales witnessed during mid 2012 to mid 2013 have translated to fewer starts," CMHC analyst Dana Senagama said.

Condo Fraud: Meerai Cho, Toronto Condo Lawyer Representing Centrium, Faces 75 Charges

Toronto police continue to investigate the disappearance of millions of dollars in down payments from hopeful condo buyers, as the provincial government stepped in Wednesday to say it will be conducting a review of the situation.

Lawyer Meerai Cho, who represented a developer of the now-cancelled Centrium condo project, is facing 75 charges and has been temporarily suspended by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Police raided a building Wednesday that once held the developers' offices, but it was not immediately clear what, if anything, was found.

Condo hell

Elizabeth Dyke’s blissful experience with condo ownership lasted for 13 years, right up until her upstairs neighbours ripped out their carpeting and installed hardwood floors. “The very next day, I could hear somebody walking in high heels right from my master bedroom, through the living room, down the front hall and to the door,” says Dyke, a Toronto employment lawyer who had enjoyed condo life so much, she bought a second unit in her building to use as a home office. Nuisance turned to nightmare when Dyke’s neighbours moved out and rented their condo to a dancer, who turned the unit into her full-time dance studio. “It sounded like a jackhammer on your head,” says Dyke. “That’s when I thought, ‘I’m a reasonably successful lawyer and I’m living like this? What’s wrong with me?’ ”

Royal LePage Condo Report: ‘Instability' Ahead But No Housing Bubble

Condo developers in Canada’s three largest metropolitan areas are building too many condos — 36 per cent to 68 per cent too many, according to a new study from Royal LePage.

As a result, condo markets in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will experience some “turbulence” as developers shift down the amount of construction, economist Will Dunning said in the report.

Toronto Condo Prices Have Likely Fallen Sharply: Developer

Condo prices in Toronto may have fallen steeply from their peak when you take into account incentives being offered to buyers, a Toronto developer has reportedly said.

The Globe and Mail reported Monday that a developer “who declined to be named” estimates the actual prices of condos have fallen by about 15 per cent.

Twisted Economy: Canada Ditches Manufacturing, Builds Condos Instead

Call it a sign of the times.

StatsCan’s most recent data on employment show the number of jobs in real estate in Canada jumped 3.9 per cent in the past year, nearly five times the rate of overall job growth. Construction jobs grew 3.1 per cent.

Over the same period, the number of manufacturing jobs fell by 0.9 per cent, or about 14,000 positions.

Condo boom: Builders say doubling development charges threatens downtown renaissance

Toronto’s downtown renaissance will be threatened if the City of Toronto nearly doubles development charges, developers warn.

A plan going before council’s executive committee next month would see charges on the average new two-bedroom condo rise to $23,036 next year, from $12,412 now.

The city’s consultant says in a report that at least part of the cost is passed on to the buyer of the new home.

Bank of Canada warning on Toronto condominium market focuses attention on investors

It’s the giant unknown that is under a spotlight, yet again, in the wake of the Bank of Canada warning Thursday that Toronto’s highrise condo market is not only overbuilt and overpriced, but a risk to the country’s economic health.

No one really knows how many of the 55,342 condos now under construction across the GTA are owned by investors — or what they will do if Canada is hit by economic shock waves from other parts of the world that could send house prices tumbling and, with them, consumer confidence and spending.

Overpriced Toronto condo market a risk to economy, says Bank of Canada

OTTAWA — An overbuilt and overpriced condominium market is posing a risk to Canadian households, banks and the economy in general, the Bank of Canada warned Thursday in its latest review of the health of the country’s financial system.

The central bank particularly singles out the Toronto condo market, which it notes continues to carry a high level of unsold highrise units in the pre-construction or under construction phases.

Toronto real estate: Condo rents hit record high as would-be homebuyers stay on sidelines

Would-be first-time homebuyers are fuelling such unprecedented demand for rental condos across the GTA that demand far outstrips supply, with average rents surging to a record $1,856 per month, says a new report by condo research firm Urbanation.

Since mortgage lending rules were tightened last July, pushing many first-time buyers to the sidelines, demand for rental condos has skyrocketed, says the report released Tuesday. The number of condos leased via the MLS jumped 31 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 over the same period a year earlier.

Toronto new condo sales slump 55 per cent in first quarter

Toronto’s condo boom took a big breather in the first quarter of this year.

Sales plummeted by 55 per cent in the first three months of 2013 over the same period last year as developers held back on new project launches and took a wait-and-see approach in the face of a softening market and a climbing inventory of condos for sale.

Rent control loophole blamed for rising condo rents

The Ontario government needs to close a loophole that has created a “two-tiered system of renters” — an increasing number of them in new downtown condos where some landlords are jacking up rents as a form of economic eviction, says the head of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations.

The federation has had numerous calls from condo tenants, surprised to discover that apartment or condominium buildings occupied after November 1, 1991 are exempt from rent controls.

Condo renters pay hefty price for downtown living

Kerri Lynn McAllister was shocked last month to receive notice of an almost 10 per cent increase — $150 a month — on the downtown condo she and her boyfriend had been renting for $1,625.

She was even more surprised to find out the hike — three times what’s allowed for most apartments under provincial rent controls — was perfectly legal.

Some Toronto condo sales face CRA scrutiny

Some sellers of new Toronto condos are seeing years of price gains in a booming market taxed away. Canada Revenue Agency auditors have added penalties to taxes for those who claimed their condo as a home, but soon changed their minds and sold.

The CRA has yet to disclose how many sellers have been affected. But Toronto tax lawyer and text author David Sherman and other tax experts, accuse auditors of unfairly ignoring some legitimate explanations for sales. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty wants the CRA to collect more than $500 million extra from suspected tax cheats this year.

Growing Up: Are Toronto’s new condos built to last?

One in an occasional series on the GTA’s growing density and its effects on life in the city.

Toronto needs its glass consciousness raised.

Building experts say resiliency and energy efficiency are going out the window with all those floor-to-ceiling glass walls being installed in the city’s towering condos.

Is Toronto’s condo boom causing too much density?

Predrag Kalinic only partly jokes when he says that every time he gets stuck on the Gardiner Expressway, he sees condo dwellers “just three metres away, eating, drinking and making love” in their suites.

“I don’t know what those people were thinking buying those condos,” the independent cabbie says, adding that tourists laugh when they peer into their glass cubbies.

· How close is too close to the Gardiner??