The Beauty of Simplicity: Minimalist Interior with Maximum Style

While it is easy to imagine renovation and remodeling as the process of adding new pieces - new furniture, new windows, fresh paint - it can just as readily be the process of taking things away. In this Lithuanian home renovation, interior designers Ramūnas Manikas and Valdas Kontrimas from the Ramūnas Manikas firm streamlined and simplified an existing house, giving it an entirely new life. From the open floor plan they created on the ground floor to the sunny and sleep spaces dedicated to the upstairs bedrooms, the minimalist home became a place of easy relaxation and ultimate beauty.

Micro Condos Will Face Their First Real Test In Canada This Year, Experts Say

TORONTO - The appeal of so-called shoebox condos — no larger than the size of two average living rooms — will face its first real test in Canada this year, with an influx of the compact homes set to hit the country's largest real estate market.

How will the Pan Am Games impact Toronto real estate?

The 2015 Pan Am and Para Pan Am Games, which are due to kick off in Toronto this summer, could replicate the impact on real estate and development that was seen by Vancouver following the 2010 Olympic Games.

Bright And Compact 1 Bedroom Apartment For Young Family

Starting a new family comes with many challenges, not the least of which is finding a suitable place to live. When making that important life transition from young married couple to new parents, it can be difficult to figure out how to incorporate your old sense of style with your new needs. This apartment, from visualizer Natalia Tsetsulina, uses playful colors, open spaces, and plenty of natural light to create an apartment that is efficient in its use of its 50 square meters (538 square feet) but still comfortable enough for a fresh, easy start to this new phase of life.

10 Top Kitchen Trends for 2015

In the year 2015, the kitchen is not being built for just cooking. Rather, it is becoming a multi-purpose room that simultaneously allows restaurant-worthy meals to be made while also acting as the hub of all conversation, dining, social gatherings and festivities.

We already know that kitchens seem to have a magic power of pulling in the party—but in 2015 it’s a party room with more than one purpose.

So, let’s look at the hottest kitchen trends for 2015, and ring in the new year right with a new, en vogue kitchen:

Stylish Outlook Curved Bespoke Kitchen

The skilled craftsmen at David Glover Furniture create charming bespoke kitchens that blend modern functionality with aesthetics. In today’s post we would like to share one of the company’s latest work, especially developed for a residential project in Woolacombe, North Devon. The Outlook Curved Bespoke Kitchen features an elegant dining table with unconventional seating units integrated in an oval kitchen island. There is plenty of storage space available in the cupboards (including inside the kitchen island/seating combo), most of which is cleverly hidden away from sight.

Which Canadian city saw investment properties soar in 2014?

It was a record-smashing year for sales of investment properties in this Canadian city in 2014, but experts don’t expect this trend to extend into 2015.

Daily Market Update

Lower rates won’t increase chance of a crash, says CMHC boss
The CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said that he does not expect to see a crash in the housing market as a result of the lower interest rates. Speaking to CBC’s Amanda Lang, Evan Siddall said:

Oil to contribute to moderated market in 2016

Provinces mainly affected by sinking oil values are likely to drive a moderated housing market in 2016, according to a new outlook report released today by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
 

More cuts to come from BoC?

The voices predicting a further rate cut from the Bank of Canada have become a chorus, with another bank stating it believes the central bank still has additional basis points to slash.

GTA condo sales rebound by 50 per cent

New condo sales in the Greater Toronto Area rebounded by 51 per cent in 2014, from a 10-year low in 2013, according to a new report.

A kitchen that you and future homebuyers will love

If you expect to sell your home within a few years, living with an outdated kitchen is a conundrum. Do you invest in a remodel or make do? The ideal solution for homeowners in this predicament is to update a kitchen so you can enjoy it now and attract potential buyers later. Given the choice of materials available today, it is possible to make the changes you desire within a reasonable budget. 

Home prices expected to move with oil’s impact

Across the country, average home prices showed modest to healthy year-over-year gains in most markets in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey, released in January.

According to the survey, the average price of a home in Canada increased between 4.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent year-over-year. Nationally, the average price of detached bungalows rose 6.7 per cent to $406,218, while standard two-storey homes increased 6.0 per cent to $443,379, and standard condominiums saw a 4.5 per cent increase to $257,624.

Top Six ways to extend your ceiling heights!

Here are six ideas to help you achieve visually higher ceilings in your new condo:

1. Extend your kitchen cabinetry and backsplash to the ceiling wherever possible. Kitchen cabinets that meet the ceiling draw the eye upward, and that’s the goal throughout your entire apartment. If you can, use the same material on the backsplash as the countertop (so there’s no visual break), and also extend it to the ceiling behind the stove area and kitchen sink (if those areas don’t have cabinetry above them)

Major banks cut prime lending rate

Canada’s biggest banks are lowering their prime lending rates, nearly a week after a surprise rate cut by the Bank of Canada.

Royal Bank of Canada said Tuesday it decreased its prime lending rate to 2.85 per cent from 3 per cent.

Builder quietly cancels condo complex

Urbancorp has quietly cancelled its Kingsclub condo complex on King St. W. and plans to build three towers of rental apartments instead.

Lower rates set to benefit first-time investors the most

Lower interest rates – announced by the Bank of Canada last week – will mostly benefit first-time investors and homebuyers, say experts.
 

Daily Market Update

RBC cuts mortgage rate, price war coming?
It was always going to happen, but while last week the big lenders were reluctant to pass on the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cut to borrowers, this week there’s talk of a price war. Royal Bank of Canada is the first of the big banks to cut mortgage rates, dropping its five-year fixed rate deal to 2.84 per cent and also cutting its other fixed products. Flexible rates are unchanged though along with other lending from the bank. Of course, these rates are the bank's published deals and brokers frequently secure better ones, but a ‘battle of the rates’ creating headlines can only help the perception that now is a great time to buy. How low those rates go is anybody’s guess, but there are already predictions of sub-two per cent mortgages.