John Pasalis in Real Estate Roundup
Canadian Home Sales Down 5.9% in February
Canadian residential real estate sales declined 5.9% in February over the same month last year, the smallest year-over-year decline in nine months. The average price for a home in Canada rose 8.8% year-over-year in February to $365,192. Much of the increase in average price was driven by a record number of multi-million dollar sales in Vancouver. If we take Vancouver out of the equation, the year-over-year increase in average house prices drops to just 3.4%. The Vancouver Sun reported that the average price for a house in Vancouver in February was up 19.4% over the same month last year.
Average February for Canadian home sales (CREA)
Housing sales falling at lower rate (Montreal Gazette)
Pace of housing sales decline slows down (National Post)
House price gains likely to recede (Globe and Mail)
CREA: Vancouver market cushions Canada's home resale dip in February (Vancouver Sun)
B.C.'s average MLS price up 18 per cent in February: BCREA (Vancouver Sun)
Housing prices: Can you afford to buy at the current prices? (CBC)
No Crash Seen in Housing
According to the Globe and Mail, a report released by Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicts that Canadian house values will not see a significant decline. The article outlined several key reasons why the Canadian housing market is unlikely to tank:
- Mortgage insurance is explicitly guaranteed in Canada, limiting bank exposure to higher risk borrowers.
- Recourse laws mean fewer borrowers walk away from mortgages.
- “Most importantly – economic conditions in Canada continue to improve. The employment levels are above pre-recession levels, wages are growing and financial conditions remain very easy.”
Despite stress, no crash seen in housing (Globe and Mail)
Fixed vs Variable
MoveSmartly's very own David Larock interviewed by the Globe and Mail's Rob Carrick on the question of choosing a fixed or variable rate mortgage in today's market.
Fixed-rate mortgages find few friends among brokers (Globe and Mail)
Foreign Buyers Driving Canada's Real Estate Market
A couple of articles showing that foreign buyers are key players driving both the residential and commercial real estate markets in Canada.
Foreign buyers juice resale housing market (CTV)
Toronto grows on global property investors (Globe and Mail)
Other Real Estate and Neighbourhood News
How global turmoil will affect real estate in Canada (Globe and Mail)
What should Toronto do with 22 TCHC properties? (Globe and Mail)
U.S. housing starts see biggest drop in 27 years (National Post)
Learning from Bubbles: A Look at Housing Bubbles Worldwide (Bigger Pockets Blog)
This might be Toronto's most exciting condo project (BlogTO)
Yonge Street might get a pedestrian mall again (BlogTO)
A last look at the Imperial Oil Building (pre-condos) (BlogTO)
John Pasalis is the Broker Owner of Realosophy Realty Inc in Toronto. Realosophy focuses on researching Toronto neighbourhoods to help their clients make smarter real estate decisions. Email John
March 18, 2011
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