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January 5, 2012 - Updated: January 5, 2012The Stats are in - 2011 Was the Second-Best Year on Record for Sales! Here is what the Toronto Real Estate Board's Market Watch newsletter repor [...]
December 1, 2011 - Updated: December 1, 2011Your home's sale price is private information
October 14, 2011
Mark Weisleder
A few years ago, the federal Privacy Commissioner ruled a home' [...]
November 8, 2011 - Updated: November 8, 2011Toronto, November 3, 2011 - Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 7,642 home sales through the TorontoMLS® in October 2011. This represented an i [...]
- Updated: November 8, 20115 Ways to Avoid Buying the Wrong House
October 07, 2011
Use your head, rather than your heart.
Here are five things to keep in mind.
[...]
- Updated: November 8, 2011With the impending return of warmer weather, the migratory birds and our lengthening
daylight hours, the Central Toronto Real Estate Market con [...]
What's Going on in the Market Today?
The press continues to write about our dire market conditions - "The bloom will soon be off the housing boom, so resist the urge to buy any time soon" (Report on Business, Oct 2010) "House price drop of 20% predicted" (Tony Wong, business reporter, Toronto Star quoting Bay St. guru David Rosenberg). What to make of it all?
To better understand the statistics that are reported monthly we have to go back to the fall of 2008. Remember our global meltdown? The real estate market came to a standstill from Sept - Dec of 2008. At the beginning of 2009 once everybody recovered from the shock and realized that we still had jobs and that Canada was actually faring better than the rest, the real estate tap turned on again, albeit slowly. As the year marched along, each month surpassed the last until the final numbers were in at the end of the year and in fact 2009 turned out to be an amazing year.
Then along came 2010... With the combination of:
1) The impending implementation of HST
2) The fear of mortgage rate hikes and
3) More stringent mortgage qualification rules
our spring market was a record setting season. Statistically we looked even better due to the sluggish start of 2009. By the end of the first nine months of 2010 sales were up 4% and average price was up 5 %.
We have now experienced another, unprecedented, mortgage rate decrease - 3.25 - 3.35%, depending on the size of the mortgage. Coupled with a lack of good inventory and huge demand we continue to be in a seller's market. Competing offers continue to be common for well priced homes.
Our prediction - as the feds both in Canada and south of the border hold the rates steady, 2011 will see higher prices, as the lack of inventory and great demand for downtown homes continues. Hang onto your hats!
