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👋🏼 Canada Slashes Student Visas by 70%

• Canada issued 36,417 new study permits from January to June 2025, down 70% from 125,034 during the same period in 2024.

• The federal government states that the cuts are intended to “ease strains” on housing and restore immigration to “sustainable levels.”

• Universities are already announcing layoffs due to declining enrollment of international students.

• Prime Minister Mark Carney has signaled further caps on both international students and temporary foreign workers.

• PR numbers remain steady: 246,300 were admitted from January to July 2025, keeping Canada on track to hit its target of 395,000 permanent residents this year.

Why This Matters: Universities and small businesses that relied on international spending are already feeling the pinch, creating ripple effects across the economy. While policymakers argue the caps will ease housing pressure, the sudden demand shock could accelerate condo price declines and slow overall growth. _(source) 

🫣 Update on the iPro–RECO Scandal

• Background: In May 2025, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) discovered that iPro Realty was missing $10.5 million in trust funds intended for client deposits and realtor commissions. Despite the discovery, RECO chose not to alert the public or police for roughly three months. During that time, the brokerage’s trust account continued to process approximately $720 million worth of real estate transactions. The scandal eventually led to iPro’s collapse.

• New Development:

  • Joseph Richer, RECO’s long-time Registrar, struck a deal with iPro co-founders Rui Alves and Fedele Colucci, allowing them to walk away without charges or fines. They “voluntarily terminated” their RECO registrations.

  • On August 22, Richer was ousted following revelations of his decision. CEO Brenda Buchanan pledged transparency and oversight

  • RECO freezes accounts, launches an independent audit by Dentons to review the case and Richer’s decision. Final report due Oct. 30, 2025.

  • Ontario’s Ford government is now threatening to step in and take over RECO if an independent audit doesn’t restore accountability. _(source)

😥 Are Financial Landlords Pushing Tenants Out?

• A study shows Starlight Investments, Canada’s largest private landlord, dramatically increases eviction filings after acquiring buildings.

• The company owns 54,000 suites nationwide (13,000 in Toronto) and is considered a leader in the financialization of housing.

• Starlight filed 15 eviction applications per 100 units annually, compared to the financial landlord average of 11

• Example: A 57-unit Scarborough building had only two evictions in nine years under its previous owner. After Starlight bought it in 2018, it filed 29 applications in just over a year (a >10,000% jump).

• Some Starlight properties had shocking eviction rates: 53 per 100 units at 5600 Sheppard Ave. and 67 per 100 units at 2757 Kipling Ave.

Why This Matters: This isn’t about “bad tenants.” It’s about a profit model: pushing out rent-controlled residents, renovating units, and resetting rents to market levels. When institutional landlords treat housing as an investment product, tenant stability becomes collateral damage._(source) 

🏢 Canada’s Commercial Edge Over the U.S.

• Canada’s commercial real estate market is currently outperforming the U.S. thanks to stronger demographics, lower interest rates, and tighter supply.

• Colliers expects Canada to regain that edge by 2027. Population inflows support demand across apartments, office, and retail.

• Vacancy rates remain lower; return-to-office mandates are stronger in Canada (especially among banks, government, and resource companies).

• Canadian 10-year bond yields are more than 1% lower than U.S. levels.

• For a debt-heavy sector like real estate, this makes financing and refinancing far cheaper north of the border.

• Canada has less office and retail space per capita than the U.S., reducing oversupply risks. _(source)

Why It Matters: Canada presents itself as the “steady option”, a smaller market, but more disciplined, less volatile, and buoyed by population growth. Suggests ongoing pressure on rents and values due to supply constraints, which may limit affordability but protect asset values.

🤔 WTF of the Week

Ontario just saw the biggest boom-and-bust in non-permanent residents ever. After a record influx in 2022–23, the tide has turned with the sharpest outflow on record — right as a wave of new condo supply hits the market.

From the pump to the dump, this could set the stage for a brutal correction in housing, echoing the crash of the early ’90s.

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