25. February 2010 by admin.

Canada’s housing market is in tight supply after a surge in activity during January, a traditionally slow month for the industry, says real-estate giant Re/Max.

The sales organization said Wednesday that in most of the 16 major markets tracked by organization there was an unusually strong amount of activity, motivated by a series of external factors.

The uptick was felt in 87.5 per cent of the markets surveyed, while the average home price appreciated 81 per cent, it found in a survey.

Home buyers have entered the market amid expectations of higher interest rates and tighter lending, as well as the introduction of Harmonized Sales Tax in British Columbia and Ontario, Re/Max said.

“Affordability is the catalyst for the vast majority of purchasers in today’s housing market,” said Elton Ash, the executive vice-president of Re/Max in Western Canada.

“While home ownership is still within reach in many major centres, levels are slipping. There is a growing sense, on both sides of the fence, that the time to act is now.”

Toronto is being affected the most, with a 41 per cent decline in active home listings, while Kitchener-Waterloo is down 33 per cent. Both Ottawa and Victoria are off about 30 per cent, the survey said.

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23. February 2010 by admin.

Tony Wong  BUSINESS REPORTER

 Home sales across Canada dipped by 2.8 per cent in January from the near record levels reported in December, suggesting the market may be cooling.

There were 46,394 existing homes sales last month, compared to 48,144 in the prior month, according to figures released by the Canadian Real Estate Association today. All figures are seasonally adjusted.

“January results suggest the national resale market may be past the recent peak,” said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump. “One car doesn’t make a parade, so a few more months of results showing a cooling trend will be required before talk of a Canadian housing bubble begins to fade.”

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity in January was up 58 per cent ago from year ago levels. Last January was the lowest level of sales in more than a decade.

Despite the dip in sales, prices continued to rise significantly. Average residential price was up by 19.6 per cent to $353,129.

New listings also rose slightly by three tenths of one percent on a month over month basis in January to reach the highest level since November of 2008.

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23. February 2010 by admin.

David Rider and Paul Moloney - Urban Affairs Bureau

Homeowners will be hit with a four per cent tax increase under Toronto’s proposed 2010 operating budget unveiled this morning, while businesses will see their taxes rise 1.3%.

Mayor David Miller said there will be no sale of city assets to balance the books, but the proposed budget includes $13 million in user fee hikes and new fees and $172 million in internal savings.

Miller said the average Toronto home, with an assessed value of $407,374 now pays $2,334 in property taxes (excluding school taxes). The proposed increase would add $93.

Users of city recreation programs will bear the brunt of user fee hikes. The “most controversial” new fee, said budget committee head Coun. Shelley Carroll, is a one-time $50-per-family fee to sign up for recreation programs effective May 1. The registration fee won’t be levied on families already signed up, she said.

Also, people were allowed to call in one false fire alarm with no financial penalty. Now, they’ll be hit with the fee of $350 per dispatched truck that was previously levied only on repeat offenders. And Enbridge and other companies that dig into city roads will be hit with $20-per-square-metre fee to repair them.

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9. February 2010 by admin.

VIP agents started their registeration for the new project, here is the link to Omid Valinasab, one of the VIP brokers for the registration.

http://trepedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/sync-condo-queendvp.html

SYNC VIP REGISTRATION

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9. February 2010 by admin.

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,986 transactions through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in January 2010. This result represented a large increase over the 2,670 sales in January 2009 when the home sales were in a recessionary trough. Last month’s sales were slightly higher than the January average in the five years preceding 2009.

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4. February 2010 by admin.

From September through December 2009, TREB Members reported 3,859 lease transactions for condominium apartments and townhouses through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) – up 12 per cent from the 3,433 recorded during the same time in 2008. Condominium apartment transactions, which accounted for over 90 per cent of the total, were also up by 12 per cent.

The weighted average rent across all apartment types and all TREB districts for the last four months of 2009 was $1,667 - in line with the 2008 weighted average of $1,672. This reflected the fact that average rents for the two most popular apartment categories moved in opposite directions, with a one per cent decrease for one-bedroom apartments and a one per cent increase for two bedroom apartments. At the district level, rent changes were quite mixed, in some cases changing at rates above or below the GTA average.

Owners of rental condominium apartments have had to consider changes in the supply and demand sides of the condominium rental market when setting rents over the past year. According to CMHC, the average condominium apartment vacancy rate increased from 0.4 per cent to 0.8 per cent between 2008 and 2009, with the stock of rented condominium apartments increasing by over 6,900 units1. While the condominium apartment vacancy rate is still substantially lower than the vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartments. The increase was still indicative of increased supply in some sectors of the rental market. Factors leading to increased vacancies included the strong growth in home ownership demand in the second half of 2009 coupled with strong condominium apartment completions2, which would have included investor-held units to be rented out.

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4. February 2010 by admin.

February 3, 2010 — Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,986 transactions through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in January 2010. This result represented a large increase over the 2,670 sales in January 2009 when the home sales were in a recessionary trough. Last month’s sales were slightly higher than the January average in the five years preceding 2009.

“The GTA housing market has rebounded well from the lows in sales experienced at the beginning of 2009. Sales climbed back to healthy levels across the GTA because the cost of home ownership remained affordable in the Toronto area,” said TREB President Tom Lebour. “Increasingly confident consumers moved to take advantage of affordable home ownership.”

The average home selling price in January 2010 climbed 19 per cent to $409,058, compared to 343,632 in the same month last year.

“Expect strong annual growth rates for existing home sales and average price through the first quarter as we continue to make comparisons to the weak market conditions at the beginning of 2009,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The rate of sales and price growth will be lower in the second half of 2010.”

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28. May 2009 by admin.

In light of the current market and tightening of credit underwriting standards by both lenders and mortgage default insurers as of late, keep in mind that now – more than ever – it’s important to be careful what you do between the time your mortgage is approved and when it funds. A few mortgage lenders and insurers have been doing something lately that they have not done in a long time, and that is pull new credit bureaus prior to funding, especially if there is a long period between the time of your approval and when the mortgage actually funds.

Following are eight tips to keep in mind between your mortgage approval and funding dates:

1. Don’t buy a new car or trade-up to a more expensive lease.

2. Don’t quit your job or change jobs. Even if it’s a better-paying job, you still are likely to be on a probationary period. If in doubt, give me a call and I can let you know if this may jeopardize your approval.

3. Don’t change industries, decide to become self-employed or accept a contract position even if it is within the same industry. Delay the start of your new job, self-employment or contract status until after the funding date of your mortgage.

4. Don’t transfer large sums of money around between bank accounts. Lenders get especially skittish about this one because it looks like you’re borrowing money. Be ready to document cash transactions or money movements.

5. Don’t forget to pay your bills, even ones that you are disputing. This can be a real deal-breaker. If the lender pulls your credit bureau prior to closing and sees a collection or a delinquent account, the best you can hope for is that they make you pay off the account before they will fund. You don’t want to have to scramble to pay off a debt at the last minute!

6. Don’t open new credit cards. Again, just wait until after your funding date.

7. Don’t accept a cash gift without properly documenting with me – even if this is from proceeds of a wedding. If you have a bunch of cash to deposit before your funding date, give me a call before you deposit it.

8. Don’t buy furniture on the “Do not pay for XX years plan” until after funding. Even though you don’t have to pay now, it will still be reported on your credit bureau, and will become an issue – especially if your approval was tight to begin with.

While you may not risk losing your mortgage approval because you have broken one of these rules, it’s always best to talk to me before doing any of the above just to make sure!

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8. April 2009 by admin.

April 6, 2009 — In March 2009, Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 6,171 sales – down seven per cent from March 2008, representing the smallest year-over-year decline in the last five months. The average price for March transactions was $362,052 – down less than five per cent from the same month last year.

“The Greater Toronto housing market has stood up very well given the challenging economic times the world has experienced in recent months,” commented TREB President Maureen O’Neill.

“In fact, over the past two months, the situation in the housing market has improved.”

The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of sales increased to 65,600 in March – up 36 per cent from the ten-year low reached in January. 1

“Sales in March increased at a rate over and above what would be expected from the normal spring-time bump,” said Jason Mercer TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “A greater number of households have taken advantage of increased affordability in the housing marketplace.”

1 Seasonally adjusting TREB MLS® data removes recurring seasonal trends observed each year. For example, MLS® sales are highest in late spring each year and lowest in the winter months. Removing the recurring seasonality, allows for the analysis of a meaningful trend reflecting actual changes in market conditions. By multiplying the monthly seasonally-adjusted figure by 12, creating an annual rate, we can compare how the current month relates to historical annual figures.

New Condo sale is picking up as well, for more info please visit us at www.IBuyCondo.com

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20. March 2009 by admin.

With regard to the harmonization of the federal Goods and Services Tax with the Provincial Sales Tax, recent public comments made by government officials have suggested that the government is considering this action. Combing these taxes into a single Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) could have implications for home buyers, including:
• adding significant tax to services such as moving costs, legal fees, home inspection fees, mortgage insurance premiums, title insurance, and REALTOR® commissions; and,
• adding significant tax to the purchase price of newly constructed homes.

If you are planing to purchase pre-construction Condo or Homes, it’s better to do it now than later, please check out www.IBuyCondo.com

New Toronto Condo

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