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Posted Real Estate Trends

Cooler housing market in May

The Globe and Mail reported that CMHC has reported that housing starts dropped in May compared with April.   This isn’t something to fear… I think we want a cooling off period to avoid falling into the housing bubble trap.

A housing bubble would mean that house prices would fall dramatically… no one wants that…  but if we see a price levelling or modest price drop of 10% of so, this isn’t going to kill the market…

Watch for a cooler summer (house market that is) and a warm fall market…

Posted Real Estate Trends

Toronto Real Estate Board reports a 13% increase in sale prices

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported that sale prices are up 13%….The average sale price was $437,600 in April 2010 compared with $385,641 in April 2009.    Resales jumped 34% from last year April… and new listings jumped by 59%… Source National Post.

These figures could be viewed many different ways…. if listings are up, will the supply outpace the demand?  Or are homeowners just doing some profit taking?   Good topic for discussion….  We need to add in affordability to this mix… We’ll cover this further in the coming months.

Posted Real Estate Trends

Record number of listings in March

New listings in Canada reached 97,663 in March 2010… the highest number ever according to a report on CBC.ca. Inventory sits at 4.4 months….or in other words, it will take you an average of 4.4 months to sell your home….

That might be correct for some parts of Canada but it’s certainly not the case in major centres as multiple offers and above asking sale prices are still common place in Toronto…  The last 5 months has seen a very healthy real estate market… The new Mortgage Rules will take some homebuyers out of the market.

We couldn’t keep going at this pace.. No one wants to see a runaway market… that’s always a recipe for a hard landing… To me, this report is good news….a healthy real estate market means the government’s stimulus package and incentives had the desired effect… Good news is good news….

Posted Real Estate Trends

MLS changes not enough according to Competition Bureau

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) members voted for some changes in it’s annual meeting in Ottawa.   The changes were brought in after the Competition Bureau challenged CREA that rules to list on the MLS were too restrictive…..

There were 2 major changes:

-a property can be listed on MLS for a flat fee.

-the agent must now pass along the seller’s phone to the prospective buyer, if the seller chooses.

But the Competition Bureau said these changes didn’t go far enough… click here to read more as reported on CTV.ca.

We’ll be following this story closely… this appears to be a first step in making the MLS more public….stay tuned.

Posted Real Estate Trends

Homes sales slow in February…

February home sales were down slightly in Canada…  about 1.5% from January to February 2010… Vancouver saw the biggest drop but this is being attributed to the Winter Olympics….

MLS listings up to over 73,000.. highest level since October 2008…

Average home price up 18% to $335,000….

Source .. a report by CBC.ca.