Canada relaxes some mortgage rules to tackle housing crisis

Canada relaxes some mortgage rules to tackle housing crisis

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday announced changes to some mortgage rules as part of an effort to make housing more affordable, although some housing experts are doubtful that the new measures will have a meaningful long-term impact on housing affordability and say they might even push prices up. The federal government will increase the cap on insured mortgages … Read more

Homestay on India’s Andaman Islands aims to keep Karen people’s heritage alive via tourism

Homestay on India’s Andaman Islands aims to keep Karen people’s heritage alive via tourism

A town on Middle Andaman island, Mayabunder was where the first Karen people on the islands set up their homes. The Karen are an ethnic group originally from Myanmar that were brought to India during British rule for their forest know-how and relative immunity from malaria, the Andaman rainforest being similar to those back home. … Read more

Massive housing market changes are coming — here’s how you could be affected

Massive housing market changes are coming — here’s how you could be affected

Changes from a landmark settlement affecting broker commissions from America’s largest real estate trade association take effect this weekend, potentially creating a more complex and uncertain buying process for consumers, according to industry experts. The changes made under the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) $418 million settlement, announced in March, “adds more uncertainty and unknowns to an … Read more

Judge orders Aurora apartment building’s managers to help tenants

Judge orders Aurora apartment building’s managers to help tenants

An Adams County judge has handed a small victory to former residents of a condemned apartment building in Aurora by ordering the property owners and managers to immediately find housing for the dozens of families displaced. District Court Judge Sarah Stout on Wednesday afternoon granted a temporary restraining order requested by Javier Hidalgo the previous … Read more

Condemned Aurora apartment building’s residents plead for more time

Condemned Aurora apartment building’s residents plead for more time

Residents living in a condemned apartment building in Aurora pleaded with city officials Thursday for more time to find new housing ahead of a move-out deadline looming early next week. “We are humans. We are not animals,” said Emanuel Chabrier, 27, a renter for about three years. “This is not fair.” On Wednesday morning, police … Read more

Steamboat rejected a massive affordable housing development. Now what?

Steamboat rejected a massive affordable housing development. Now what?

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — His flip-flops obscured by shin-high hay, Jason Peasley stood in an empty field just west of town and gestured at a phantom community. “That’s where the fire station would’ve been,” he said, pointing to the base of a small hill. He turned around and nodded toward some barns, near the road that … Read more

First-time homebuyers can now apply for a 30-year mortgage. Is that a good thing?

First-time homebuyers can now apply for a 30-year mortgage. Is that a good thing?

The 30-year amortized mortgages announced in the 2024 federal budget are kicking in on Thursday. First-time homebuyers who are purchasing newly built homes can now qualify for a 30-year mortgage, giving them five additional years to pay off an insured mortgage. For other mortgages where default insurance is required, a 25-year amortization limit is still … Read more

Modi 3.0 kicks off with focus on farmers, poor

Modi 3.0 kicks off with focus on farmers, poor

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took two major steps on the first day of his third term – releasing another instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Nidhi and approving a proposal to build 30 million houses for the rural and urban poor.Modi’s first signature on Monday sanctioned the release of about ₹20,000 crore for nearly … Read more

Extreme weather causing billions of dollars in damage, driving up insurance premiums: StatsCan

Extreme weather causing billions of dollars in damage, driving up insurance premiums: StatsCan

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events across the country has caused the sums paid out annually for catastrophic insurance claims to explode — and annual payouts for the last four years now rank among the ten largest on record, says a new Statistics Canada study. “Homeowners have been particularly affected by extreme weather claims, with recent hurricanes, floods … Read more

Home sales and prices edging up as housing market ‘could get interesting,’ reports say

Home sales and prices edging up as housing market ‘could get interesting,’ reports say

The housing market could soon get “interesting,” economists say, as home prices and sales start to edge up, according to a pair of new reports released Friday. In its latest quarterly Home Price Update and Market Forecast, Royal LePage is forecasting that the aggregate price of a home in Canada will increase nine per cent in the fourth … Read more