The Bronson - Cancelled? Sold? Rentals?!

In a recent Globe and Mail article it was mentioned that Lamb Development has sold the "$90-million condo project... to an investor". The article implies that Brad Lamb sold the building to an investor who is turning the project into a rental building. Bronson is/was located at 196 Bronson Ave.

Digging further, Fortress Real Developments has announced that the development team submitted a revised development application for Bronson back in October for review by the city. "The 21 storey, 212 unit apartment project is currently being contemplated as a rental as opposed to a condominium." as per their website.

Stay tuned!

View the Globe and Mail article HERE. Excerpt "Even Toronto’s “condo king” Brad Lamb has turned to the rental market, recently selling a $90-million condo project called the Bronson in Ottawa to an investor. When Mr. Lamb unveiled the project in 2013, Ottawa’s condo market was booming, but it has cooled off amid a glut of new construction. “By the time we had closed on the project the market had shifted significantly,” said Ben Myers of Fortress Real Developments, which was financing the project. “A lot of projects came in on a few years and it was just too much.” - 

Minto Vibe at Lansdowne Now SOLD Out!

The Vibe, located at 118 Holmwood and Bank, is officially sold out. The Vibe is the first of two towers for Minto's Lansdowne project. The Vibe was a 13 storey, 125 unit, building with commercial space in the lower levels. Minto has a good history of building condos with The Metropole and Ampersand here in Ottawa, among others (in Ottawa, Toronto, and Florida). 

There are only twelve units available out of the 280 from both towers. Most of these condos are one plus dens, two plus dens, and some penthouse units that remain. Prices range from $424,900 for a 764sqft west facing unit, up to $1.3M for the 2002sqft northwest facing penthouse.

Questions? Would love to help. Click here for more information!

Minto Vibe - sold out

Fortress Real Developments - Market Manuscript Spring 2015

Fortress Real Developments, has now released the third edition of their semi-annual Market Manuscript. This is the third edition which is an in-depth analysis of available real estate data and projections, delineated by market, and grounded in solid research. It profiles the Canadian Market as a whole along with individual markets such as Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg, along with local and national trends.

The 50 page report is written by analyst Ben Myers, a 15 year veteran of researching real estate markets across North America. "There are a lot of conflicting reports on the real estate market. These studies rely on oversimplified calculations, which lead to misleading results. It is important for both buyers and sellers to know who to trust," says Myers. "That's why we put this Manuscript together: to promote the best analysts, and dispel common misconceptions."

Highlights include:

• No one thinks there will be a national crash: Despite the predictions of doomsayers, nearly two-thirds of analysts now believe that there is less than a five per cent chance of a housing correction over the next five years. Indeed, RBC Global Asset Management even believes that Canadian house prices are undervalued by four per cent.
• Analysts disagree on the definition of a housing bubble: Survey results indicate no consensus on the level of price growth that suggests a bubble, with a need for speculative buyers to be included in that definition. Foreign condominium buyers are not bad for Canada, and analysts concur that they will not immediately flee the market should house prices decline drastically.
• Ottawa is expected to rebalance in 2015:  Although data providers have reported divergent results of year-over-year price growth, the fundamentals – employment growth – are still positive. Condominium apartment prices and absorption should improve, following a rare period of overbuilding and over exuberance in the typically staid market in the nation's capital.

Download the full report HERE.

Note* Fortress Real Developments is involved with Gotham Ottawa, SoBa Condos, the upcoming Bronson, among others outside of Ottawa.

*taken from the Market Manuscript Spring 2015

Best Day Of The Week To List My Condo?

Ask any agent when the best time of year to sell and you will get two answers (usually), being "Yesterday" and the other more obvious "Spring and Fall". However what about the best day of the week? Typically there is no rhyme or reason that any certain day of the week is better than the other. However I seem to have a few ideas and Ill explain why. (Over thinking it? just maybe...)

First off, a few things to remember about what happens when a property is listed. I typically plan anywhere from four to seven days in advance (or less, really depends on the owner), to be able to have time to create all the marketing materials, get the photographer in, photos processed, etc. So a day here or there can be picked in advance, not just at random. When we list a property on our back end site (MLXchange), it immediately sends out an auto-notification email to any buyer who has a criteria setup  that matches that property. This notification email is a significant, and is a huge tool we rely on, especially during busy buyer months. Depending on the property you can match to 300 or even over 1000 different buyers, being hand delivered to each buyer, with all the information. Then within usually 24 hours, the property is uploaded to the full MLS or Realtor.ca.

Mid Week Theory

Typically the busiest time of the week for showings is during the weekend. This is when most people are going to be out looking (not at work), and have the flexibility to drive around. As an agent, we typically will book all these appointments the day or so before (usually Friday - if we have that much notice). Which means we send the property search results to our clients the day or so before that, for them to browse through and decide which ones they want to see. SO, if you list a property mid week, Tuesday, Wednesday or even Thursday, then you will be able to get many of the people who are going to be booking for the weekend.

After Work or Weekend Theory

For these auto notification emails to be effective, they need to be opened, and read. This means not only must they have photos (HUGE NO NO, why list if you don't have photos??), but also the buyers attention when the email is sent. If I am a buyer at work when the email comes and I can't focus on it, I will either miss/ignore it, or archive it. However if I am not in the middle of something the chances of me reading that email, and looking at the property are much greater. So the other theory is to list a property in the after work hours or on the weekend when you are less stressed about work, and more able to have the time to read the emails.  

Yesterday

While all marketing materials need time to be created, there are always buyers who are currently looking and placing offers. What if the perfect buyer for your condo placed an offer on another one last night, or today? ..... !

Basically there is no perfect answer, or at least for now, and we can only just guess at what makes the most sense. Do you have a suggestion to the best day of the week? I would love to hear it.

Ottawa Condo Rentals Up Almost 40 Per Cent in 2014

It was a great year for Ottawa condo rentals, seeing 1,044 units leased through the MLS in 2014, which is up 37% over 2013 and 79% over 2012. The condo market is a healthy portion of the total rentals across the city, accounting for 41% of the 2,551 rentals for of all residential property types in 2014. Total residential rentals are up 22% from the 2,091 in 2013, and 53% from the 1,664 in 2012.

The average rent for an Ottawa condo did not see much change dropping from $1,660 in 2013 to $1,658 in 2014. The average rent for all property types in 2014 was $1,740 which is up almost 1% from $1,727 in 2013.

We saw the average prices of rentals peak at $1,877 in 2009 for all property types,  and $1,796 in 2008 for condos. Each year since, we have seen a slight decline in average rents while the number of units rented has continued to grow (except in all property class where it hit a low in 2013).

Why? Since the Ottawa Real Estate Board does not include a spot for square footage, I am not able to include price per square foot or average unit size. However, based on what we are seeing in the local market and across the country, condo units are getting smaller which lowers rents. We are continuing to see the amounts of units rented increase year over year, with only a slight decrease in price. This helps to prove the demand for rental properties in Ottawa continues to be strong enough to absorb the amount of new supply. Also, it is important to note that the Ottawa condo rental market is only 5% of the total condo rental market for Toronto which had 22,765 condos leased in 2014 through the MLS.

Are you looking to rent out your pre-construction condo here in Ottawa? I would love to help. I have been able to help many clients with purchase and rentals at Urban Capital's Central, Mondrian, and East Market buildings, with Brad Lamb's SoBa and Gotham buildings, Claridge's Claridge Plaza phases, as well as other Domicile, Charlesfort, and Richcraft buildings - among others. If you are coming close to your PDI and occupancy date, don't wait - lets chat and get your unit rented.