Feds target corporate investors buying single-family homes and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for November 22

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Here are The Globe and Mail’s top housing and real estate stories this week and one home worth a look.

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Ottawa takes aim at corporate investors buying single-family homes

With the launch of a formal consultation this week, the federal government is asking the public for feedback on ways to curb the purchase of existing single-family homes by what it called “very large corporate investors,” writes Rachelle Younglai. It is not clear if there are many of these types of investors in Canada, though the business model is common in the United States. The consultation only targets “single family homes” and makes no mention of corporations and large investors that have bought up swaths of rental-only apartment buildings or other investors who buy condo units.

Underused public land in some of Canada’s larger cities could house a million people, study shows

According to a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, if all the well-located, vacant or underused government-owned land in the Toronto region was turned into affordable housing, there would be space enough to potentially provide low-cost homes for more than 587,000 Canadians. Combined with five other cities, they say the underused public land could house as many as one million people, writes Erin Anderssen, Younglai and Chen Wang.

The study used different data but a similar method to The Globe and Mail’s Wasted Space project published earlier this year, which also studied what urban planners call lazy land. These are properties with large vacant spaces, such as parking lots, or with existing buildings that are one or two storeys tall, and significantly lower than current regulations allow.

Signed a mortgage when interest rates were at their highest? Breaking it could save you money

In the current environment of dropping interest rates, mortgage brokers say anyone who signed a mortgage during peak rates should be looking into whether resigning with a lower interest rate could be advantageous, writes Salmaan Farooqui. One homeowner said with the lowered interest rates, she saved more than $15,000 by breaking her mortgage before the renewal date – even with the roughly $10,000 prepayment penalty she had to pay. For clients who decide breaking their mortgage is worth it, brokers advise to keep their payments the same and instead reduce their amortization. This means they can insulate themselves from higher payments if rates go up when they renew, and if rates stay similar then they’ll be on track to pay off their mortgage more quickly.

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When is a monsterhome a multiplex?

The City of Toronto’s multiplex bylaw was designed to increase the city’s stock of affordable housing, but critics say some builders are “weaponizing” the rules to build even larger luxury “monster homes,” writes Shane Dingman. Luxury home builders often try to squeeze as much space as possible out of a property, but are usually limited by zoning rules. But a new multiplex bylaw, intended to encourage the construction of multi-unit housing, was seen by some as a path to building bigger homes by creating spaces that aren’t completely separated in a single building. Planning expert Blair Scorgie says the intention of the bylaw is to create completely separate homes, and not a small home tucked inside a larger one.

Home of the Week: Grimsby’s Painted Lady was something of a DIY project

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26 Auditorium Circle, Grimsby, Ont. – Full gallery here

The three-bedroom home is part of the famous Painted Ladies of Grimsby Beach, a collection of homes in the small town that have become local legend for their colourful styles. 26 Auditorium Circle is a riot of carvings and colours, with bright green trim and a rich grape purple on the exterior walls. The kitchen is galley-style and takes up the back half of the main floor. A dining room connects off of it with views of the side yard and an opening to the rest of the living spaces. Upstairs are three bedrooms, two with skylights, that are carpeted in a very 1980s maroon. The floors are all hardwood – though in need of some refinishing – and the walls are all white with finished wood window-frames adding more warmth to the space.