Ontario Economic Fundamentals

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Landfill rehabilitation

After years of living with Hamilton`s trash, Zen Matwiyiw feels the city is about to dump on his neighbourhood again.

The north-end resident is unimpressed with the city`s plan to consolidate its waterwork operations as part of the redevelopment of the old Rennie and Brampton landfills at the bottom of Red Hill Creek.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/364791

 

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CAW expects smooth progress in GM talks

CAW national president Buzz Hargrove says his union won`t reach a labour agreement with General Motors unless the automaker commits to adding new products at its Ontario plants, but he was confident of a speedy resolution once talks begin this week.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/364803

 

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GTA home prices up, but spring sales melt

The spring rebound anticipated by realtors in the Toronto area market hasn`t happened – at least not yet.

Existing-home sales in April were down by 7 per cent from the record highs of last year, with 8,762 homes sold, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board in figures released yesterday.

This is the fourth-consecutive month of declining home sales. April was considered a bellwether since it was the first month of good weather after one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent years.

http://yourhome.ca/homes/article/421691

 

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Waterloo`s waterfall will have to wait

WATERLOO

Waterloo`s uptown square will open without a rink or waterfall, council decided yesterday.

The city will "rough-in" these features with duct work and wiring when the $2.8-million square is built this year at King Street and Willis Way.

But the actual rink and wall of water -- key features of the design council approved a year ago -- will be added later, when there`s money. Councillors hope the city can raise the necessary $650,000 from the community and private sector.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/346337

 

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Developers want more to build on brownfields

GUELPH

Developers need better incentives to give new life to contaminated industrial sites.

That`s what Andrew Lambden told councillors last night.

Council was discussing -- but not yet deciding on -- improving its incentive program targeted at so-called brownfield sites.

The current program offers incentives only for the centre of the city. The proposal would extend offers -- which include effectively waiving taxes on the new development for a number of years and helping pay for studies of the contamination -- to the whole city.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/324697

 

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News articles on Friday

Hello everyone. At a recent REIN meeting in Calgary, Russell suggested we leave our home provinces and attend an event in BC or Ontario to see what other real estate markets are like. With that in mind, I will be attending my first ever REIN meeting in BC. Rest assured, I have every intention of coming to Toronto as well. Please note that your daily edition of Ontario Economic Fundamentals may be cancelled on Friday but will definitely be back on Saturday. Just between you and me, Ontario REIN Members are the best! Please keep this confidential.

 

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Developers decry `alarming` home fees

Toronto-area homebuilders complained yesterday that development fees on new houses and condos have climbed to "alarming" heights, and warned they may be pushing ownership beyond the grasp of many potential buyers.

A report released yesterday by the Building Industry and Land Development Association said the fees can represent up to 10% of the purchase price -- adding more than $30,000 to the price of a new single family home and more than $15,000 to the cost of a new condo in the Greater Toronto Area.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/to....html?id=497337

 

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Forest Hill mansion sells for $2M over asking price

A Forest Hill mansion has been sold for more than $2-million over the asking price, even as the city`s real estate market otherwise continues to lose a little of its heat.


Melinda Rogers, Rogers Communications` senior vice-president of strategy and development, paid $11.126-million to buy 8 Old Forest Hill Rd.


The home, which had a $9-million asking price, is down the road from family patriarch Ted Rogers

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/t...king-price.aspx

 

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New transit lines will drive house prices

The proposed expansion of the Toronto Transit Commission`s Spadina line to Vaughan will be a major catalyst to population growth, driving up resale values by as much as 20 per cent in neighbourhoods along the new corridor, says a new study.

"After so many years, it`s exciting to see so much attention being given by the federal and provincial governments to building infrastructure and transportation in the GTA," analyst and study author Don Campbell said in an interview.

http://yourhome.ca/homes/article/422263

 

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Gridlock warnings urged for condo buyers

Buyers be warned: Rush hour traffic is brutal and likely to get worse.

City councillors in North York voted yesterday in favour of providing that warning to condo shoppers in the Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. area, where burgeoning development has turned traffic into an adventure.

http://yourhome.ca/homes/article/422334

 

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Soaring building charges slammed

Builders are decrying a 75 per cent increase in development charges across the Greater Toronto Area since 2001 and argue that new homeowners are picking up a disproportionate amount of the tab for new roads, sewers and the like.

Singling out Toronto as one of the worst culprits, with a 342 per cent jump in development charges on single-family homes since 2001, a new report from the building association comes as a warning shot to the city as it considers hiking charges even more.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/422310

 

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Is there a rocky road ahead?


Canada`s slowing economy is starting to take a toll on homeowners. "Defaults are rising in certain parts of the country," said Peter Vukanovich, president of Genworth Financial Canada, which insures mortgages against default.

Which parts of the country?

"Here in Ontario and in Quebec," he replied.

http://yourhome.ca/homes/article/422277

 

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Council moves to end Kanata West conflict

The City of Ottawa is taking the first steps toward setting up a land-development company so it can avoid conflicts of interest in both owning land and regulating how it is used.

Auditor General Alain Lal-onde`s audit of the municipality`s role in the development of Kanata West found the city was placing itself in a possible conflict of interest. The city joined the Kanata West Owners Group, a group representing multiple landowners in the area around Scotiabank place. The city owns five per cent of the land there, but was also the government authority responsible for approving development.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/c...99-9c1ef3e78613

 

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Construction cools in capital, across Canada

The construction boom in the national capital region and across the country is cooling quickly.

The value of building permits issued in the first quarter fell 14.7 per cent in Ottawa-Gatineau to $579.1 million compared to a year earlier. In Gatineau, new permits fell 22 per cent and in Ottawa, they were off 13 per cent.

For March, the decline was even more dramatic. Permits fell 32 per cent to $199.6 million led by a 36-per-cent decline in Ottawa to $151 million and an 18-per-cent drop in Gatineau to $48 million.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/b...f3-1c94a1cb70fa

 

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Sun Life CEO sees better times ahead

TORONTO - In the 10 years since Don Stewart took over as chief executive of Sun Life Financial Inc., he has rarely been accused of being overly optimistic.

But despite the recent gloom in the financial-services industry, Mr. Stewart claimed yesterday that there have been tougher financial markets during his career, which spans four decades.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/b...4e-f190daf1d92a

 

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Investment fund touted

Windsor`s downtown core has "definite potential" to transform into a bustling urban village within 15 years, Kitchener`s mayor said during a walking tour Tuesday.

Mayor Carl Zehr, who has led a dramatic revitalization of his city`s downtown, was in Windsor to give the keynote speech at the annual downtown Business Improvement Association luncheon at the Art Gallery of Windsor. He said he was encouraged by what he saw.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...c0-5bb83d83e16d

 

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Burlington to rethink $10m for Mac campus

It`s a $10-million question: will the City of Burlington put money on the table to help McMaster University build a campus beside the highway?

The next two days are critical for the university`s plan to build a $28-million satellite campus of its DeGroote School of Business near the QEW and Appleby Line. It`s a plan that relies on Burlington putting up $10 million.

Tonight, Burlington city councillors will debate a staff recommendation against putting city money into the project at this time, now that the university has pulled out of the original plan to build downtown.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/365171

 

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Bring police protection to tax meeting: McCarthy

Flamborough Councillor Margaret McCarthy is warning councillors who voted to take away the Flamboro Downs subsidy they will need police protection if they attend her community tax meeting tonight.

McCarthy has also advised her colleagues in an e-mail that their attendance will be announced to the crowd, they`ll be seated in the audience, not on a platform, and they`ll be expected to answer direct questions put to them.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/365174

 

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Stagnant trade with the U.S. is hurting Canada, report says

Canada`s trade with the United States has stagnated since 2000 and the country "is being left behind," the Conference Board of Canada says.

"(Canada is) failing to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by global and regional supply chains, which poses a threat to Canadians` living standards," the think-tank said in a report yesterday.

Gains in trade with Asia, Europe and South America, largely caused by higher commodity prices, "have been insufficient to offset the plateau in the share of Canada-U.S. trade -- both exports and imports -- used as inputs into each other`s production processes," the report said.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/365287

 

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Sears hanging up phones at Hamilton call centre

Sears Canada will shutter its Hamilton call centre at the end of May, draining 142 mainly part-time jobs from the city.

The call centre, one of five operated by Sears in Canada, marketed warranty or "protection" agreements. It faced declining call volumes as the company moved more of that marketing into its stores, said Sears spokesperson Vincent Power.

"It really had to do with diminishing volumes," Power said. "Some of our activity around protection agreements ... we try to do for the customer right at the store level when they`re buying the product. We`ve sort of stepped up those activities over the last couple of years."

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/365286