The Safeguard Protecting Toronto’s Condo Market: Here’s What We’re Reading Today

Colin Rabyniuk July 19, 2016

The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.

Here’s what’s happening today:

1. Russia faces full ban from Rio Olympics

“Russia should be banned from this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics after evidence was found of a four-year, state-sponsored doping programme, says the World Anti-Doping Agency.

“A Wada-commissioned report found urine samples of Russian competitors were manipulated across the “vast majority” of summer and winter Olympic sports from late 2011 to August 2015.”

+1: Everything is terrible and the Olympics haven’t even started yet.

2. Condo presales are reducing market speculation

“A prolonged Canadian housing market boom, particularly in the two major markets of Toronto and Vancouver, has sparked fears of a bubble. Condo construction has jumped in both cities to meet the demand of buyers priced out of more expensive detached homes.

“But the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp report noted 79 per cent of projects begin construction after reaching 70 per cent presale threshold, and that current unsold inventory is largely concentrated in downtown Toronto and the suburb of Markham, where condo markets are more active.”

3. “In Istanbul, optimism fades to melancholy”

“After the coup was decisively put down, and Mr. Erdogan’s supporters flooded the streets and city squares over the weekend to celebrate, a sense of buoyancy returned to the streets, but the joy masked a deep unease that has enveloped the city.

“Istanbul, where ancient mosques and churches jostle with gleaming skyscrapers and faux-Ottoman shopping malls to define an evolving cityscape, was reshaped by Mr. Erdogan’s Islamist government, which created a glistening image of the city that is now threatened by instability.”

+1: Would Turkey be justified in drone-killing the Turkish cleric in Pennsylvania? The question is ridiculous until you realize this is exactly what the United States does all around the world.

+1: Buzzfeed goes inside the TV station at the heart of Turkey’s failed coup.

+1: Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt.

4. Global warming will cost the economy £1.5 trillion by 2030, because it’s too hot to work

“In just 14 years’ time in India, where some jobs are already shared by two people to allow regular breaks from the heat, the bill will be £340bn a year.

China is predicted to experience similar losses, while other countries among the worst affected include Indonesia (£188bn), Malaysia (£188bn) and Thailand (£113bn).”

5. Some RNC Attendees Have Explosive Vomiting and Diarrhea, Because of Norovirus

“Have pity on a group of California GOP staffers in Ohio who have been vomiting uncontrollably from both ends of their bodies, not because of the plagiarism and open racism at the convention, but because of an apparent outbreak of norovirus.”

+1: What Melania’s plagairized speech says about a potential Trump presidency?

If Trump becomes president, the same laziness and carelessness and dishonesty that led to this will cause much much bigger problems.

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) July 19, 2016