Developers up their perk game, Elora’s fraught debate and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of Oct. 23

This week: A luxury hotel firm stirs up debate in a quaint Ontario town and developers get more creative with their perks to lure buyers. Plus, why you should pay off your mortgage before you retire, and one property worth a look.

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In depth

A luxury hotel firm and a quaint Ontario village

It’s easy to see why Elora was one of the first places I was told to visit when I spent a summer in Toronto. The historic former mill town has reinvented itself as a high-end tourist destination perfect for weddings and weekend getaways. But behind the town’s picturesque exteriors, the growing presence of a luxury hotel company has sparked a debate about who gets to decide how a community grows and changes.

As Greg Mercer reports, Kat Florence seems to divide the village as deeply as the gorge that runs through it. The company first made a purchase in Elora in 2020, and eventually bought at least 19 properties worth $32-million, according to publicly available records. Their projects, including a former hotel restored into posh accommodations, have contributed to the town’s recent economic boom. But the company has also helped fuel concerns over increasing real estate values and the significant rise in tourism some locals say is overwhelming the community.

Some critics say Kat Florence has come to wield too much power, alleging its promise of donations to the township has given it a rubber stamp to fast-track zoning and permitting – something both the company and township flatly deny. And Kat Florence has also been pushing back against its loudest critics, suing three people for defamation and serving at least a dozen residents with cease-and-desist letters. Read Greg’s deep dive on Elora and how, like many Canadian tourist destinations, an influx of new money and people has some wondering whose town it is.

Sweetening the deal

The big, creative incentives developers are using to entice buyers

Would you like a luxury car, a kitted out garage or cold hard cash with that? Potential home buyers are being offered increasingly creative and generous incentives by developers trying to move their unsold units in B.C. Polygon Homes, for example, seemingly has something for everyone: a $100,000 electric BMW (or cash equivalent) for buyers of some $1.1-million-plus high-rise units in North Vancouver, $25,000 toward new homes in Abbotsford for firefighters, police, nurses and other front-line workers, and decked-out garages with storage systems and e-bikes worth $30,000 for outdoor enthusiasts in Squamish.

It may seem outlandish, but as Kerry Gold reports, this is part of the new normal. Just a few years ago, prospective investors would line up to purchase preconstruction homes, a far cry from developers’ struggles to get potential buyers through the door now. Wesgroup Properties in Vancouver is even offering “try before you buy” weekends in their show units with fully stocked fridges and gift cards for local retailers to sell people on the full lifestyle.

And as developers and marketers told Kerry, the strategies are likely here to stay. “This market is forcing developers to rethink how we sell homes, and I think some of those changes will stay with us even when the market improves,” Joey Coupland, senior vice-president of sales at Wesgroup, told Kerry. Read her piece to see how buyers are responding.

This week’s lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Opinion

Rising interest rates make paying off your mortgage a preretirement priority

Your home can be part of your retirement plan, but just make sure you pay it off before then. Retirement preparation focuses mostly on saving and investing, and for good reason. But as Rob Carrick argues, we need to pay more attention to future-proofing our retirement plans, and mortgages are one of the biggest risks of all.

“Homeowners of all ages are vulnerable to the utterly unexpected rise in mortgage rates this year, but none more than retirees,” Rob writes. In your working years, you have more options to offset a few hundred more dollars a month, whether via a raise, a promotion, or another job. Retirees can cut their spending, and that’s about it. “Beyond working, what are you going to do? Invest more aggressively? Buy lottery tickets?” Rob asks.

It’s cause for concern, because the amount of mortgage debt held by retirees is growing. With risks that rates will rise for years to come, it’s a club you want to do your best to stay out of. “Pay your mortgage off before retirement and you can watch the rate drama ahead as a disinterested bystander,” Rob suggests.

Design corner

Why the age-old quilt could be your perfect statement piece

Quilts are becoming must-have statement pieces, not just worn family heirlooms to curl up with on the couch. Homespun interiors in general are having a moment as people push back on the rise of technology and seek out warm, tactile and uniquely human spaces.

But these aren’t your grandparents’ quilts. As Alexandra Petros reports, Canadian designers are reinventing the quilt with fresh techniques, styles and customizations. From bedspreads with bespoke tags displaying the name of the family cottage to minimalist designs and fresh colour combinations, here’s how quilts can help you inject texture and personality into your spaces.

Home of the Week

A Regency-inspired cottage with a few old bones

838496 4th Line E, Mulmur, Ont. – Full gallery here

What do you do when you want an old home but your spouse doesn’t want the hassle and quirks? For the owners of this Regency-inspired cottage, the answer was to build a new home in an old style – and with some actually old bones. Interior designer Marylou Morgan spent years sourcing antique features and furniture before her and her husband’s house was completed in 1995, more than 150 years after the Regency era ended.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home is now a beautiful step back in time underpinned with modern comforts, electricity and geothermal heating. Perched on a parcel of the Niagara Escarpment with panoramic views, the T-shaped building greets visitors with a large veranda and bellcast roof. The massive wooden front door is one Morgan salvaged from a nearby 1840s farmhouse that had gone into receivership, and it informed the scale of the design by architect Jamie Wright of Young + Wright in Toronto.

The house is filled with other antique treasures Morgan sourced from abandoned historic homes and buildings across the province, from distressed wood floors to the mud room door with a fanlight above it. But while the age of hosting balls is over, a screened-in porch that opens with double doors to both the living room and the English Country-style kitchen makes an ideal space to entertain, rain or shine.