This week, Canada’s Competition Bureau cracks down on rental price fixing. Plus, why renters are locked out of one of the best borrowing tools, and one property worth a look.

Canada’s Competition Bureau has sent a warning on price collusion to landlords and property managers, prompting both condemnation and questions about how price-fixing might arise. In a bulletin issued on June 25, the watchdog said it was aware that some property managers may be engaging with their competitors through social media, and it warned that any agreements to fix prices are considered a criminal offence. As Shane Dingman writes, some in the industry said they found the warning baffling, saying they’ve never seen attempts to illegally fix rental prices.

Ontario’s idyllic Prince Edward County isn’t spared from the trend that has hit the rest of the province’s real estate market in recent months. Available supply is growing, the region has plenty of choices for buyers – from Victorian-era farmhouses to waterfront estates. As Carolyn Ireland writes, in May, Prince Edward County recorded 31 sales and 134 new listings, according to the Central Lakes Association of Realtors. The average number of “days on market” stood at 53. The market has changed dramatically from the pandemic-era rush to buy – now, buyers feel they can wait patiently to make their move.

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, July 3.

Three years after a boom in sales at the height of the pandemic, major marketers and condo developers are backing off from Vancouver’s real estate industry. As Kerry Gold writes, the most recent is Wesgroup Properties – developer of the master-planned community River District – which announced the layoff of 12 per cent of its staff last week. Prior to that, condo marketing company Rennie Group announced the layoff of 25 per cent of its staff. The condo market has been in decline since inflation hit and interest rates soared in 2022. Some developers said they would like to see reduced municipal fees and a lift on the federal foreign-buyer ban to get housing starts going again.

Home ownership is still out of reach for many young Canadians, who are grappling with still-sky-high housing prices, expensive rents and stagnant wages. But, without homes, they’re shut out of one of the most powerful financial tools available to homeowners: the home equity line of credit, or HELOC, writes Robert Gerlsbeck. HELOC is a low-interest borrowing option that lets homeowners access tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on demand – and it can be a financial lifeline for life’s unexpected emergencies. Renters don’t have that luxury. Without a home as collateral, they’re left navigating the more expensive world of unsecured personal loans, creating a divide in Canada’s borrowing landscape.

251 St Clarens Ave., Toronto –