The Home of the Week is a former mill in Elora, restored with limestone from the river gorge below.Foto Werks
This week: A string of sometimes violent break-ins rocks one of Canada’s most affluent neighbourhoods, and a look at how vacancy tax changes could affect homeowners. Plus, a new incentive to spur home sales in Ontario, and one property worth a look.
Take our business and investing news quiz
Neighbourhood watch
Shaken by break-ins, Toronto’s affluent Rosedale takes matters into its own hands
Security video shows four masked intruders breaking into a Rosedale home.Supplied
Behind the placid exteriors of historic homes lined with manicured hedges, residents of one of Canada’s most prestigious neighbourhoods are on high alert. As Patrick White and Mahima Singh report, a series of sometimes violent break-ins in Rosedale have spurred residents to fortify their homes with door braces, newly installed alarms and hammer-proof glass. A squad of private security cars – both marked and unmarked – now patrols the tree-lined streets at night, ready to respond in six minutes or less.
The situation in Rosedale, with the rate of break-ins and home invasions more than doubled between 2015 and 2025, is bucking the broader trend in Toronto, where those two offences fell by 27 per cent in the same time period. But the data doesn’t capture that the crimes have become more organized and sophisticated, said South Rosedale Residents Association president Janice Lo, even in the decade since her own home was broken into by a lone serial offender.
These days, groups of masked men show up at front entrances in the early morning, bodychecking doors until they give way or smashing windows in their search, generally for jewellery and keys to luxury automobiles. Thieves are also mounting battery-powered trail cameras to remotely monitor homeowners’ comings and goings, police have warned some residents. Read more about the data and how Rosedale is fighting back.
Tax season
The federal underused or vacant homes tax is gone, but some provinces and cities still charge Canadians
Homeowners spared federal filings still must navigate a maze of regional rules and rising penalties.diane555/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
The Carney government has eliminated Ottawa’s controversial 1-per-cent tax on underused or vacant homes, but the administrative headache may not be over for some homeowners. Previously, thousands of Canadians were required to submit information for the Underused Housing Tax, despite the vast majority not owing anything. The Trudeau government introduced the levy in 2022 to try to free up empty housing stock held by investors.
With recent changes, most Canadians won’t need to file UHT paperwork to Ottawa, But as Salmaan Farooqui reports, some still need to navigate a maze of regional rules and rising penalties depending on where they live. Several municipalities and provinces have their own vacancy levies, and not filing a declaration could cost you big time. From Toronto to Vancouver, and B.C. to Nova Scotia, here’s why and how to check before you file.
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, April 9.
Cabin fever
Ontario and federal governments announce $8.8-billion to cut municipal development charges
Mark Carney and Doug Ford’s governments have committed to spending $8.8-billion in infrastructure over the next decade to incentivize Ontario’s cities to lower development charges for new homes by up to 50 per cent. It’s the two governments’ latest bid to help the beleaguered residential building industry reduce upfront costs and sell more as new home sales plunge, Rachelle Younglai, Laura Stone and Jason Kirby report. Last month, Ottawa and Ontario removed the HST on new homes in the province, and say the two measures combined will cut up to $200,000 in taxes and fees per dwelling.
Developers are required to pay municipalities the fees – an average of about $3.5-billion per year in Ontario, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association – to help cover the costs of infrastructure such as roads and sewers. But along with higher borrowing and construction fees, the charges have made it more difficult for home builders to get projects off the ground. Minto Group, a major Canadian builder, currently has seven or eight projects on hold in Ontario that could launch if they get pre-construction sales, said CEO Michael Waters. “We build if we can sell,” he said. “If this generates more sales, then absolutely I think us and many others will build.”
Design corner
Spring cleaning tips from year-round experts
The owner of this vacation home rental in Twillingate, N.L., once a designer and decorator at IKEA, has cleaning the unit down to a science.Supplied
It’s that time of the year again, when many of us are trying to reset and get organized. But knowing where to start – a kitchen deep-clean? a closet purge? – can be tricky. From homemade cleaning solutions to organization tips, here are three experts’ secrets for keeping your house in tip-top shape, no matter the season.
Home of the Week
A restored mill home is a labour of love and nature
The home's late owner spent decades working on the former mill and lived there until he was 94.visualadvantage.ca
6 Millridge Estate Private, Elora, Ont. – Full gallery here
This rustic limestone home is proof good things really do take time. Its late owner, Hugh Drew-Brook, fell in love with the ruins of a circa-1856 grist mill perched above the river gorge in the early 1960s, but it took him years to convince the previous owner to sell. When it was finally his, Mr. Drew-Brook set about painstakingly restoring the mill into a rustic cottage with limestone blocks carved by the Irvine Creek below and an open-plan interior framed with beams from antique barn wood. His son, David, recalled being enlisted “lifting things, moving things, pulling out nails, straightening nails, sanding wood – anything a six-year-old could do."
In the years since, Mr. Drew-Brook’s dedication saw the cottage expand to a comfortable, two-storey family home with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, 5,000 square-feet of living space and one acre of land. He tracked down vintage iron window frames and incorporated more of the antique wood into the kitchen counters and wall panelling in the family room. Outside, a concrete deck with a hot tub overlooks the river and waterfall, offering a serene place to rejuvenate and listen for owls hooting from the surrounding trees.
Guess the price
c. The asking price is $3.2-million.