Friday News Round Up: September 22, 2017
Here are some of the stories that caught our eye this week:
House flippers outpace foreign buyers in Toronto
According to Canadian housing website Better Dwelling, house flippers are now responsible for more sales than foreign buyers in the GTA housing market. An analysis of sales listings found that 6% of properties on the market in Toronto were bought less than 18 months ago and, on average, properties were listed within 209 days of being bought. Detached homes were identified as the most popular property type being flipped, followed by condos.
Interestingly, not all house flippers stand to make a profit from their sales. According to Better Dwelling, over 29% of house flips are listed below the price they were bought at.
Loftium lets homeowners share income from Airbnb listings
Aspiring home buyers are often confronted with the challenge of coughing up enough money for a down payment on a property. Recognizing this challenge, the founders of Seattle-based Loftium have built a business around connecting home buyers with mortgage lenders, real estate listings and even up to USD $50,000 for a down payment. But there’s a catch. Loftium users are required to share profits from a designated Airbnb unit in their home. The service, which is currently operating in twenty U.S. cities, is intended to appeal to younger, first-time homebuyers who are seeking properties worth $600,000 or less.
Learn more about Loftium on their website.
Scotiabank launches new rewards debit card
Scotiabank this week launched the Scotiabank Passport Debit Card – a card that allows Canadians to earn travel rewards on debit purchases. This card is the third product in a suite of Scotiabank reward debit cards, which includes the Momentum ScotiaCard (cash-back) and SCENE Debit Card. When asked about the motivation for debuting this card, Scotiabank cited a 2015 study by the Financial Consumer Survey which said that 80% of consumers want to be rewarded for their business.
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