Receiverships, bankruptcies put more distressed properties on the market and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for August 30

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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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Receiverships soar, putting distressed commercial properties on market

With developers filing for bankruptcy protection or lenders forcing their projects into receivership, the number of available properties is on the rise. Still, real estate pros say there’s a disconnect between buyer and seller expectations – buyers want the best deal possible when they hear of development issues, and sellers are still clinging to unrealistic valuations of their property. If the two sides start to come together, the number of transactions could boom – particularly as defaults are expected to increase, writes Rachelle Younglai. More troubled properties are expected to hit the market as real estate companies struggle with higher borrowing costs and miss their loan payments.

High costs, population changes complicate the math for investors with tiny condos

Tiny apartments in Toronto, Canada’s largest condo market, are increasingly turning into a financial riddle for real estate investors. On the one hand, owners renting out the smallest units in recently completed buildings are the most likely to still be able to cover monthly expenses. On the other hand, a separate analysis by Urbanation highlighted a more worrisome shift for tiny-condo investors: Studios, the smallest condo units, have seen the steepest annual declines in rents for recent leases, writes Erica Alini. Realtors say part of what’s behind the rent decreases for smaller condos is that many more of them have recently become available on the rental market following a slew of new building completions.

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Postsecondary students in Canada face a tight housing market. Some developers see that as an opportunity

Canada’s student housing market represents one of the dodgiest aspects of the national housing affordability crisis. In many big cities, postsecondary students tend to find housing in student ghettos and overcrowded condos or poorly maintained rooming houses, paying exploitative rents for bedrooms that turn over at the end of every academic year. While there’s nothing new about rundown student housing – the ratcheting up of rents in the past few years has not only shone a spotlight on this grim corner of the market but also drawn attention to Canada’s curiously limited “purpose-built student accommodation” sector, writes John Lorinc.

Experts say there’s a huge lack of available student housing compared to demand, which has opened up the market for some interested developers. Montreal-based Utile, a non-profit that develops and operates student rental housing, says they’ve completed four projects with 1,500 units in the past four years, with another 600 units in the pipeline. But they say they still can’t keep up with student demand and have begun to accelerate their growth.

Opinion: Home builders plead for relief as costs soar

The companies responsible for building housing are raising alarm bells that all is not well with B.C.’s real estate industry, writes Kerry Gold. It’s routine for developers to complain about regulations getting in the way, but the tenor of complaint is more frantic these days. They say profit margins are shrinking in B.C., and many projects are either stalled or disappearing. Why is housing so expensive? The causes, developers say, involve high construction and material costs, an increasingly demanding building code and mounting fees and regulatory policies coming from all levels of government. One way to help bring prices under control is by curbing policy changes, say developers. Stop changing the rules and adding fees, adding extra time and cost that trickle down to the consumer.

Home of the Week: A home for Calgary’s one per cent

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1308 Montreal Ave. SW, Calgary – Full gallery here

Named after the street its located on, the Montreal House is surrounded by Calgary’s history. Even the public trees at its doorstep are a municipally protected historic resource. With three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms above grade, the home is a relatively small dwelling, but no detail has been spared. The building’s 4,062 square feet provide enough space to allow for privacy, while also ensuring an intimate atmosphere in the social areas. The open-plan kitchen flows into the living spaces, as well as into the three bedrooms on the upper floor, tied together by a suspended walkway that hangs from the structural steel beams above. Another set of stairs on the main floor, adjacent to a west-facing library that overlooks the courtyard, leads to a wine cellar, a recreation room, and an assortment of naturally lit hobby rooms in the basement.