CMHC-Municipal Infrastructure Lending Program

Posted by Moishe Alexander

Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides up to $2 billion in low-cost loans to municipalities over two years through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for housing-related infrastructure projects in towns and cities across the country.

In keeping with borrowing practices in British Columbia, the Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) will act as the intermediary, entering into borrowing agreements with CMHC for approved projects and loaning the funds to local governments. Properly adopted loan authorization and security issuing bylaws are still required in order to participate in this program.

Municipal infrastructure loans are available to any municipality within Canada and will provide a new source of funds for municipalities to invest in housing-related infrastructure projects. Only infrastructure projects serving new or existing residential areas may be considered.

Eligible municipal infrastructure projects must directly relate to housing, contributing to the efficient functioning of residential areas. Projects would include, for example, infrastructure related to the provision of required housing services such as water, wastewater and solid waste services, power generation; local transportation infrastructure within or into residential areas such as roads, bridges and tunnels; residential sidewalks, lighting, pathways, landscaping and green space.

Infrastructure projects not directly related to housing such as social infrastructure projects, including community centres, skating rinks, playground equipment and libraries are not eligible under this program. Read more HERE

2008 Victoria and BC Housing Outlook

Posted by Moishe Alexander

VICTORIA, November 15, 2007 — Demand for homeownership will keep housing starts and existing home sales at above-average levels in BC and Victoria, and push new and existing home prices higher in 2008.

“In Victoria, housing demand will be supported through 2008 by ongoing job growth and a steady flow of people moving to the region” said Peggy Prill, CMHC’s Victoria Senior Market Analyst. Home prices will continue to rise, spurring demand from move-up and move-down buyers, as well as investors. In 2008, both new home starts and existing home sales will stay above the average of the last ten years, but edge down slightly from 2007’s strong levels. Look for new and resale home prices in Metro Victoria communities to increase, but at a slower pace than in recent years.

“Housing starts in BC will top 33,250 next year down slightly from this year’s level but still above average levels”, noted Carol Frketich, BC Regional Economist. Factors behind this demand include: unemployment near record lows, strong employment growth, rising wages, relatively low mortgage rates and growing migration. Recent financial market turmoil in the United States and a strong Canadian dollar will keep interest rates relatively flat in Canada despite upward inflationary pressures. READ MORE

New home construction projects rose in May: CMHC

Canada's housing market experienced growth in May with construction beginning on 128,400 new homes, up from 117,600 one month earlier, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Bob Dugan, chief economist at the CMHC's Market Analysis Centre, said the growth is "broadly based, encompassing both the singles and multiples segments."

The CMHC predicts the growth will continue to improve through 2009 and over the next few years to eventually come in line with demand for new homes, which is estimated to be about 175,000 units per year.

In urban settings in Canada, new home construction projects increased by 11.1 per cent to 107,800 starts in May.

Urban multiple starts also rose 11.1 per cent to 60,900 units, along with urban single starts which went up by 11.1 per cent to 46,900 units in May.

BNN's Marty Cej said the housing numbers show some improvement, but the market is still very slow.

"The fact of the matter is those housing starts, those construction starts across the board, are down 40 per cent from last year, but they're much better than the preceeding month," Cej told CTV

"If you look at the economic recovery as a process... of things improving over time, then this could be just the beginning of that."

Here are some of the percentage increases in urban housing starts between April and May, broken down by province and region. More from Moishe Alexander Click here

Deposits info from,

Posted by Moishe Alexander
The maximum security deposit for residential premises allowed is ½ month's rent. If tenants pay more than ½ month's rent, they can deduct this overpayment from any rent owing. However, if the landlord allows pets they can also ask for an additional ½ month’s rent. This is called a “pet damage deposit”. This means that in this case the total combined deposits can be up to one month’s rent. Landlords can also require deposits for additional keys, garage door openers, etc. in addition to the security and pet damage deposits.

A landlord can request the security deposit only at the time the tenancy agreement is entered into, but can request a pet damage deposit at any time during the tenancy if a pet is introduced. The interest rate on these deposits is based on 4.5 percentage points below prime on January 1st. Landlords have 15 days after the tenant moves out, or provides a forwarding address, to either return the deposit or get the tenant's written consent for deductions to the deposit (such as using the deposit to pay a portion of the last month's unpaid rent). If no consent is received, landlord must apply to a dispute resolution officer to keep some or all of the security deposit within the 15 day time frame. A pet damage deposit can only be used for damage caused by a pet and not for any other cost the landlord incurs. View more here

British Columbia Housing Market Balancing Out

Vancouver, BC - April was the third consecutive month of increasing home sales in the province, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Consumer demand was bolstered by lower home prices and record low mortgage interest rates. Housing affordability hit a three-year high at the beginning of the month.
"Downward pressure on home prices has eased considerably," said Moishe Alexander, the CEO of the Canadian Funding Corporation. "An increase in consumer demand combined with fewer homes for sale has trended the market near balanced conditions." The number of homes for sale through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) fell to a twelve- month low in April, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
MLS residential sales dollar volume in BC declined 25 per cent to $3.1 billion in April, compared to the same month last year. Residential unit sales declined 20 per cent to 6,918 units during the same period. The average MLS residential price in the province was $449,372 in April, down 6 per cent from April 2008. Year-to-date, MLS residential sales dollar volume was down 41 per cent to $7.8 billion over the same period last year. A total of 18,089 units were sold in the first four months, down 35 per cent from 2008, while the average MLS price declined 9 per cent to $433,246.

Report coming soon, please stay tuned!