Launches Aug. 1 for default-insured first-time buyers purchasing newly built homes
Despite Wednesday’s jump in U.S. inflation, the Bank of Canada meeting and Canada’s 14-basis point eruption in 5-year bond yields, our leading mortgage rates are still flat versus last week.
Fortunately, our mortgage market isn’t as yield-sensitive as in the United States. There, some of the most competitive rates instantly shot about 15 to 20 basis points higher after yesterday’s scary inflation report.
Lucky for us, Canada has a bit more leeway until most banks raise borrowing costs. Before fixed-rate increases become widespread, yields would probably have to shoot up at least another 10 to 15 basis points or so. But if you’ve got a mortgage closing before September, get a rate hold anyway.
There is still some “diversity of views” amongst members of Governing Council on the rate cut front, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem told reporters on Wednesday.
Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem isn’t ruling out a June interest rate cut, though he maintains that it’s too soon to speak in absolutes.
“Yes, it’s within the realm of possibilities,” Macklem said at a press conference on Wednesday, when asked by a reporter about the likelihood that the Bank will lower its policy rate at its next meeting, slated for June 5.
The proposal to redevelop the Safeway at Broadway-Commercial Station by Westbank and Crombie REIT has seen several revisions over the past five years.
After submitting their original rezoning application for the Broadway-Commercial Safeway in Vancouver back in 2019, the developers of the site have now unveiled a revised plan, the latest iteration of a high-profile project that has already seen several revisions.
The subject site of the proposal is 1780 E Broadway, which is currently home to the Safeway next to Commercial-Broadway Station — one of the biggest transit hubs in Metro Vancouver. The site is about 105,692 sq. ft and also includes the surface parking lot for the Safeway. According to BC Assessment records, the building was originally constructed in 1982 and has an assessed value of $140,155,000.
The property is owned by Nova Scotia-based Crombie REIT, who have an extensive portfolio of retail properties across Canada. Crombie REIT is partnering with Vancouver-based developer Westbank to redevelop the site, with Perkins&Will serving as the architect.
Mass-timber construction for residential tower uses will be pushed to new limits in British Columbia, following Vancouver City Council’s approval last week of a 260 ft, 25-storey tower project.
This represents an upcoming phase of Westbank’s Main Alley tech campus and the first residential addition to an otherwise job-space-focused complex of buildings.
The tower, named “Prototype” or M5, a reference to this project being a taller mass timber case study and the fifth building at Main Alley, will replace the surface vehicle parking lot at 2015 Main Street — the northwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 4th Avenue on the easternmost edge of the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area.
The development site is within close walking distance to SkyTrain’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr and Mount Pleasant stations.
This tower will carry 100% secured purpose-built rental housing for its residential uses on top of nearly 6,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level.
One of the South of Fraser sub-region’s largest suburban-style shopping malls has changed hands in a deal worth $155 million.
It was announced today by commercial real estate firm CBRE Vancouver that it has sold Strawberry Hill Shopping Centre at 12101 72nd Avenue and 7350 120th Street in Surrey for its major high-density, mixed-use redevelopment potential.
The deal to sell the property to Strawberry Hill Shopping Centre Holdings was reached in December 2023. This ends RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust’s ownership of the property, which first began in 2002 when RioCan entered into a joint partnership with Kimco Realty Corporation to acquire several shopping malls across the country.
Then in 2015, RioCan and Kimco ended their 15-year partnership, with RioCan acquiring the full stake in several shopping mall properties across Canada, including Strawberry Hill Shopping Centre.
Mott 32 in Vancouver is featuring a chef-curated Lunar New Year menu showcasing modern Chinese dishes designed to draw in the blessings of the Year of the DragonPhoto courtesy Mott 32
Prosperity, good health, and great food for the Year of the Dragon
Food is a central part of Lunar New Year celebrations around the world, and as many communities welcome the Year of the Dragon, in Vancouver there are several restaurants dishing up festive feasts inspired by tradition and designed to delight.
In the Chinese zodiac, the Dragon is the only mythical animal represented, symbolizing power, nobility, honour, luck, and success. Any Lunar New Year feast, however, will be full of auspicious foods said to bring forth all the blessings of the fresh new year.
Mott 32 restaurant is tapping into the rich tapestry of culinary tradition tied to ushering in a new year with dishes created in collaboration between Mott 32 Group Executive Chef Lee Man Sing and Head Chef He Hong Wei of the Vancouver location. Offered February 9 through 24, the menu taps into the very best of what the award-winning restaurant does so well, in particular modern Chinese seafood dishes that dazzle in flavour and presentation.
Case in point, Mott 32 Vancouver’s Lunar New Year dishes include a Flaming Garoupa, which is a whole fish, beautifully presented and set ablaze at the table, punctuated with pickled ginger, fermented chili bean paste, and fiery chilis. Other Lunar New Year offerings are must-haves, like a While Lobster and Abalone Salad, or a supple and gently creamy dish of thick slices of radish and scallop tossed in egg white.
Each of the eight dishes on Mott 32’s special Year of the Dragon menu represents aspects of good fortune, good health, luck, and prosperity for the year ahead. Options include ordering the complete meal or dishes a la carte and the menu can also be paired with featured cocktails and wines.
The new year holds new tax-reporting obligations for trusts that will likely result in paperwork and significant costs for many Canadians, some of whom may not even know they are part of a trust, accountants are warning.
The new rules require that trusts, with few exceptions, annually file what’s known as a T3 Trust Income Tax and Information Return and disclose beneficiaries, among other information. Some taxpayers who haven’t previously had to file will find they have to incur accounting and legal fees to meet those obligations, tax experts say.
The new measure comes as Canada increases efforts to crack down on tax dodging and strengthen its anti-money-laundering regime amid domestic and international scrutiny of the way it combats financial crime.
Especially after the holiday season, many of us are recovering from the December madness, setting new budgets, and looking ahead at what our financial future will look like in 2024.
There could be some good news for mortgage holders and other borrowers, as borrowing costs could become cheaper later this year.
If the economic trends hold, according to a new forecast by Oxford Economics, the Bank of Canada could be in a position to make its first decrease to the policy interest rate in years, since the pandemic’s early onset and after consecutive unexpected increases last year.
The 5% rate was first established in July 2023, when the rate was last increased.
Oxford Economics believes the 5% rate will be held until the middle of 2024 when the Bank of Canada will trigger the start of a cycle that lowers the rate.
By the end of 2024, the policy interest rate could reach 4.25%. But it could take a few years for the rate to gradually decrease to the 2.25% “neutral” position.
