Real Estate

The CMHC is worried housing affordability will deteriorate unless the country acts on supply challenges and other housing measures soon.

Proveras Commercial Realty announced Thursday that the 54-year-old Hamilton has joined the firm as its newest partner, bringing 30 years of commercial real estate experience to a firm that already includes well-known brokers Alan Doak, Nick Maiorino and Bruce Wolfgram. 

The annual pace of housing starts in Ottawa-Gatineau plummeted 71 per cent in May as new builds of condos, apartments and other types of multi-unit housing projects fell sharply, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Thursday.

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in May rose compared with the same month last year to post the first year-over-year sales increase since June 2021 as prices also climbed higher.

In a move that would dramatically reshape the east-end skyline, a Toronto-based developer has applied to build a trio of mixed-use highrises in Orléans that would include more than 1,100 residential units along with retail and office space.

Michael Church, the managing director of Avison Young’s Ottawa office, called the former Chapters space at 47 Rideau St. a “prime” site for a highrise multi-residential project.

Minto Apartment REIT will not exercise its option to purchase a major rental development in the Glebe from sister company Minto Properties because rising interest rates have made the cost of financing the deal too expensive, the Ottawa-based REIT said this week.

Home sales in the capital rose six per cent last month from May 2022, the Ottawa Real Estate Board reported this week – and realtors say the bidding wars that raged during the market’s peak in late 2021 and early 2022 are back as a lack of supply continues to limit buyers’ options.

Nine in 10 Canadian construction companies say they are dealing with a shortage of skilled labour or trades and may need to consider alternatives, such as prefabrication and modularization or innovative new technology.

The Gatineau-based developer behind a new apartment complex in Chinatown wants to build a nine-storey mixed-use building on a Centretown property that’s now occupied by a medical office.