Read the passages below and summarize them using one sentence in not more than 75 words(30-35 words). Type your response in the comment section at the bottom of the screen. You will have 10 minutes to finish each passage.Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.
1.Toronto’s economy remains healthy and growing, with construction, transportation, warehousing, retail, wholesale, and manufacturing all contributing to this growth. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Toronto’s construction sector growth achieved a 14-year high thanks to a 46 percent rise in housing starts—most of those multifamily units—with GDP forecast to remain steady at 2.6 percent in 2016 and 2017.
Optimism is the predominant attitude regarding the Toronto real estate market, though it is tempered by a measure of caution. The residential market generally remains strong, with solid sales volumes and rising prices, buoyed by a strong local economy, steady immigration, and low-interest rates. Few if any foresee the situation reversing anytime soon, barring an unexpected hike in interest rates, an economic shock, or a sharp drop in immigration. The lack of supply of available land is seen as a key factor contributing to the market’s rapidly rising house prices. Due to the high cost of moving, more homeowners are choosing to stay put and invest in renovations; one interviewee remarked that there have been record numbers of requests for permits to renovate existing homes. With no real factors reducing demand, developers and builders will continue to face supply-side issues. Many respondents believe that government land use policies are a factor holding back supply. Some developers are also holding back on releasing new projects until all costs are fixed and to shorten the gap between sales and delivery; this will put more pressure on supply in the near future.
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2. The last decade’s doubling of capital expenditures has helped accomplish some critical upgrades to the US electric and natural gas infrastructure. It is already beginning to make the electric grid more reliable, resilient, flexible, and clean. Similarly, gas infrastructure investment is enhancing pipeline safety, bringing new shale supplies to market and sharply reducing natural gas and electricity commodity prices for customers. In several areas of investment, like grid modernization and upgrading the gas distribution system, there is still a long way to go and substantial additional investment will be needed over many years. But most of these investments will bring future benefits by enabling the flexible grid of the future, and helping to avoid costly and potentially tragic disasters such as long-term, large-scale electricity outages or gas system explosions.
So far, these investments have been partially offset by lower fuel costs enabled by the shale revolution and the general downturn in oil and gas prices. Most utility customers have not seen sharp increases in their bills, but that could change. Factors such as rising natural gas prices could increase customer bills and make state utility commissions less amenable to rate hikes to cover capital investment programs.
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