Source: https://mailchi.mp/8a62d2dbbda8/the-owl-oil-production-in-alberta-is-up?e=6f1f3fb3a5

With all of the news on oil and pipelines this week, its timely for The Owl to examine what’s happening with oil extraction in our province.

According to the latest oil supply and disposition statistics, oil extraction in Alberta is up over the last 12 complete months. As of February, 94 million barrels of oil were extracted in Alberta, three per cent higher than February of 2017. Over the last 12 complete months, oil production has grown by over eight per cent.

As the chart below shows, extraction remained strong in almost every month over the course of the downturn. In fact, oil production reached a record at the end of last year with 105 million barrels of oil produced in the province in December. The rising production levels are due to several major oil sands projects coming online, stronger prices and the desire to strengthen company balance sheets given the stress they were under during the recession.

So, what’s in store for Alberta oil production in the long-term? With the recent news of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, more producers may be thinking about increasing production to sell oil in the lucrative Asian markets. The pipeline, of course, still has to get built for this happen.
 

Source: http://www.remonline.com/will-legal-home-grown-pot-hurt-sales/

There’s been much huffing and puffing over the legalization of recreational marijuana, with various groups – including the real estate industry – calling for the federal government to postpone the roll out of legal pot consumption until clearer regulations are in place.

One of the most hotly contested issues is that of home pot cultivation; under the federal legislation, Canadians can grow up to four plants within private residences. This could lead to all sorts of unintended consequences, warns CREA, from physical damage to an unshakeable stigma that can devalue a home.

In addition to the potential for mould or electrical damage, the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) is concerned it will be increasingly difficult to disclose whether a home has been a marijuana grow site. And because there currently is no legal definition of what constitutes a grow-op (a full-scale operation or single potted plant could potentially be treated equally under the eye of the law), there is no official remediation standard to undo resulting damage. That can leave homeowners, sellers or buyers with little recourse should their home be blacklisted by a lender or insurer.

But are Canadian home buyers really bothered by the presence of legal pot?

According to new national survey data, when it comes to homes where pot has been puffed, buyers would rather pass. Nearly 47 per cent of 1,400 respondents across each province indicated they would think twice about purchasing a home where marijuana has been grown, even if it was within the legal limit.

Respondents from Quebec were most likely to not consider a home where pot had been present at 52 per cent (the provincial government has stated it will not allow at-home pot cultivation at all, though this could be contested at the federal level).

Forty-eight per cent of respondents from Ontario and British Columbia, where home cultivation will be allowed, indicated as such, followed by 47 per cent of those from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Respondents from the Atlantic region were least likely to second-guess their home purchase, at 31 per cent.

Thirty-nine per cent of respondents also felt that increased marijuana use within a home would effectively decrease its value; Quebec again led respondents at 45 per cent, followed by Ontario, at 41 per cent. British Columbians and those from Manitoba/Saskatchewan both reported 37 per cent, followed by Albertans and those in the Atlantic provinces, at 31 and 26 per cent, respectively.

Thirty-two per cent of Canadians also indicated concern that living in close proximity to where legal marijuana is sold would negatively impact their property values.

As well, most respondents indicated they do not plan to grow their own marijuana at home, regardless of age group. While millennials are most likely to cultivate their own pot, at 19 per cent, 64 per cent indicated they would not, while 16 per cent remain unsure.

Seventy per cent of Gen Xers say they will not be using their green thumbs (14 per cent plan to grow, while 16 per cent aren’t sure). Boomers are the least likely, with 75 per cent indicating no, 14 per cent unsure and 11 per cent agreeing.

To address such concerns, real estate associations have made a variety of proposals to government to better provide clarity and protections for homeowners who may wish to cultivate pot, or purchase one where it has been grown.

In April, OREA brought forth a five-point Action Plan for Cannabis Legalization, which included a call for an established remediation standard. It would require a grow home’s status to be placed on title until required repairs are made, as well as improved standards for home inspectors. OREA also proposed reducing the legal limit of plants from four to one in multi-residential units smaller than 1,000 square feet.

CREA has taken it a step further and called for the federal government to hold off on allowing indoor grows altogether “until the government can enact rules and regulations for the entire country”.

Barb Sukkau, CREA’s president, laid out the association’s concerns in a statement. “We’ve heard from homeowners and tenants across the country who are worried about living beside grow-ops,” she said. “What does this do to their home values? Will this increase their rent? How safe will their kids be? Will their quality of life diminish because of the prevalence of drugs in their neighbourhood?”
 

Source: http://blog.remax.ca/2018-remax-recreational-property-report/
 

Source: http://www.remonline.com/boomers-or-millennials-who-had-it-tougher-in-the-toronto-housing-market/

The plight of the millennial Toronto home buyer has been a turbulent one; for this generation, the search for the perfect abode has been defined by downsized expectations, sky-high prices and steep competition. While some chalk up millennial financial misfortune to spendthrift lifestyles and expensive taste, the fact is, according to Statistics Canada, two-thirds of Canadians within this age group still live within the family home.

Despite recent market softening, prices for condos, townhomes and houses for sale in Toronto remain exorbitantly expensive, presenting a hurdle to homeownership. According to the latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board, the average home in the 416 fetched an average of $804,642. That’s factoring in a 12.4-per-cent year-over-year drop yet is still outside the realm of affordability for many.

However, long-term market observers can be less than sympathetic. Today’s home buyer enjoys some of the lowest borrowing costs in history, they point out, and earnings that are certainly higher than their ’80s counterparts. Boomers had to contend with interest rates in the high teens, after all, while Generation X faced a recession and dwindling employment prospects.

So, which generation has had the toughest time in Toronto’s housing market? To find out, Zoocasa did the math, assessing how the average home price, wage growth, rate of inflation and debt-servicing costs have changed. Check out how affordability has evolved over the decades in this infographic below.

The numbers paint a revealing picture. While the cost of borrowing was indeed in the high teens throughout the ’80s and ’90s, the relationship between median income and average home prices far outstrip any savings resulting from lower mortgage rates.

For starters, there’s the sheer increase in home prices over a 30-year period; in 1980, the average home could be had for $101,626, according to TREB numbers. Factoring in the era’s average mortgage rate of 12.8 per cent, and assuming a five-per-cent down payment and 25-year amortization, the average monthly mortgage payment in 1980 would be $1,698. That rose by a mere $79 (4.6 per cent) over the course of the next decade, with the average carrying cost hitting $1,777 in 1990. By the new millennium, that number had increased by $379 (21.3 per cent) to $2,156, before jumping $1,459 – a whopping 67 per cent – to $3,615 today.

Mortgage carrying costs have also more than doubled that of wage growth over the same period. According to Statistics Canada 2016 Canadian Census numbers, the median household income grew just 33 per cent from the 1980s to the 2010s, from $58,700 to $78,280.

Perhaps most telling is the proportion of debt mortgages now account for in the typical household expenditure. The average debt-to-income ratio, which can be used to determine how much debt is owed in relation to what is earned, has spiked alongside home prices. In 1980, mortgage-specific debt accounted for 32 per cent of this ratio. This increased marginally to 35 per cent in the ’90s, and to 38 per cent in the 2000s. However, following 2010, this ratio shoots up to 59 per cent, a strong indicator that debt loads have bloomed alongside home prices.

To put this in perspective, industry studies find a ratio over 49 per cent signals a struggle to pay down mortgage payments.