REDISCOVER REAL ESTATE

EARTH HOUR - Saturday March 28th 2009

8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Take action!

VOTE EARTH...YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE!

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.   Take action here and have a great weekend everyone!

Buying a house still beats paying rent!

By Gordon Powers, Sympatico / MSN Finance

There’s been lots of message board talk about whether you should buy or rent a house, particularly now that interest rates have tumbled so much. 

To many people, the psychological benefits of buying are almost impossible to overcome. Confusing the pride and price of ownership — economists call this the control premium — is a very real phenomenon that drives a lot of people to pester their real estate agent. Plus, owning a property gives you the secure sense that, if nothing else, you have a solid asset to fall back on when things get messy — as they have over the past 18 months. 

Of course, all this depends on when you buy, and how long you own. Buy at the wrong time — like during the kind of stampede that overtook much of the U.S. recently — and you could well end up wishing you had rented instead.

Despite this, most Canadians who own their homes can expect to grow wealthier over time than renters, says UBC prof Tsur Somerville. Only in a couple of moderate-growth cities like Ottawa or Winnipeg do renters even have a chance of accumulating as much wealth as owners, he suggests. 

Last year, Somerville looked at nine Canadian cities and compared the costs of owning and renting. His conclusion? Be a buyer.

   

By Gordon Powers, Sympatico / MSN Finance

There’s been lots of message board talk about whether you should buy or rent a house, particularly now that interest rates have tumbled so much. 

To many people, the psychological benefits of buying are almost impossible to overcome. Confusing the pride and price of ownership — economists call this the control premium — is a very real phenomenon that drives a lot of people to pester their real estate agent. Plus, owning a property gives you the secure sense that, if nothing else, you have a solid asset to fall back on when things get messy — as they have over the past 18 months. 

Of course, all this depends on when you buy, and how long you own. Buy at the wrong time — like during the kind of stampede that overtook much of the U.S. recently — and you could well end up wishing you had rented instead.

Despite this, most Canadians who own their homes can expect to grow wealthier over time than renters, says UBC prof Tsur Somerville. Only in a couple of moderate-growth cities like Ottawa or Winnipeg do renters even have a chance of accumulating as much wealth as owners, he suggests. 

Last year, Somerville looked at nine Canadian cities and compared the costs of owning and renting. His conclusion? Be a buyer.

   

2,565 Resale Housing Transactions Shows Rate Of Decline Shrinking

TORONTO, March 19, 2009 – Greater Toronto REALTORS® announced 2,565 transactions in the first half of March compared to 3,183 during the same period last year. The annual rate of MLS® sales decline was the smallest in five months.

Mid-month March MLS® sales increased compared to the 2,044 sales experienced in the first half of February. MLS® sales follow a recurring seasonal trend, with transactions generally increasing between January and May and then decreasing between June and December.

“As we move into the spring market, it appears that we are seeing stronger demand for ownership housing in the Greater Toronto Area,” said TREB President Maureen O’Neill. “Buyers are reacting to the market’s strong foundation of affordability.”

The average price for MLS® sales was $365,499 compared to $385,405 last year.

“Affordability has improved over the past few months due to a combination of lower home prices, near record lows for mortgage rates and rising earnings,”1 according to Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. Average weekly earnings for the Toronto CMA, as reported by Statistics Canada, have been rising on a year-over-year basis over the past year. For example, in February 2009, average weekly earnings rose by approximately 2.5 per cent compared to February 2008.

‐MONTH STATISTICS YEAR‐OVER‐YEAR REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Mid March

                                     

City of Toronto ("416")  (2009)  Sales: 987     Average Price:  $395,428

                                     (2008)  Sales: 1,233  Average Price:  $409,336

_____________________________________________________________

Rest of GTA ("905")       (2009)  Sales: 1,575   Average Price:  $343,594

                                     (2008)  Sales: 1,950   Average Price:  $370,274

_____________________________________________________________

          GTA                    (2009)  Sales: 2,565   Average Price:  $365,499

                                     (2008)  Sales: 3,183   Average Price:  $385,405

                  __________________________________________________________________________________

Source: Toronto Real Estate Board

Happy St. Patrick's Day Toronto!

Today, restaurants, bars and historic venues are hosting events across the city. Dust off your emerald green St. Patrick's Day gear, don those beer goggles and check out what Toronto's got to offer on this Irish saint's special day.

Toronto St. Patrick's Day Parties - St. Paddy’s Day Parade - St. Paddy’s Day Tea  - Irish History - Paws Way -  Irish Shopping and must do's  more here

Now Is The Time To Buy A House: Poll

For Canadians who have been shut out of an inaccessible housing market, there may be a silver lining around the dark economic cloud that's been hovering since last year.

According to the annual RBC Homeownership Survey, most of us think now is a good time to buy a house, and almost a third plan to do so this year or next.

"With mortgage rates and housing prices looking more favourable than they did last year, many Ontarians are saying now is the time to buy," noted RBC's Doug Crowe. "Our survey also showed that an overwhelming majority...still feel confident that buying a home is a smart, worthwhile investment."

The poll of 2,026 adult Canadians found that 73 per cent believe it's a buyers market right now, with only seven per cent saying sellers have the upper hand.

Partly because of this, 30 per cent of those asked said they would probably purchase a home in the next two years, up from 21 per cent in 2008. Others will be looking because they want a bigger house or their current home does not suit their needs.

Surprisingly, homeowners in the province still estimate that the value of their homes increased 10 per cent over the last two years.

National Breakdown

   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Regional Differences        Nat     BC     AB  SK/MB     ON     QC     AT
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Own a home                  67%    69%    69%    70%    68%    60%    67%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Percentage of homeowners
     who have a mortgage        61%    56%    46%    62%    64%    66%    60%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Percentage who believe it's
     a buyer's market               65%    78%    72%    34%    73%    52%    58%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Owners and renters who are
     'likely' or 'very likely'
     to purchase a home in the
     next two years             27%    26%    35%    25%    30%    22%    25%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Believe mortgage rates
     will be higher in one
     year's time                33%    28%    26%    35%    33%    33%    46%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Believe housing prices
     will be higher in one
     year's time                25%    20%    23%    27%    26%    25%    36%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Believe buying a home is
     a good investment          83%    81%    86%    83%    84%    79%    84%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Homebuyers planning to
     purchase a detached home   68%    76%    63%    63%    69%    60%    84%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Homebuyers planning to buy
     a bigger home              47%    42%    40%    69%    52%    49%    20%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Homebuyers planning to buy
     a resale home              74%    83%    71%    60%    76%    75%    64%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Homebuyers planning to buy
     a new home                 26%    17%    29%    40%    24%    25%    36%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: RBC Home Ownership Survey

Will Toronto experience a short-lived 'Buyer's Market'?

As our market continues it's variable ride.  It appears that our local economy is staying afloat and not crashing as some would think it has or is about to. 

Actually, the average price rose just over 5% in the GTA for the month of February 2009 compared to January.  This is some good news and may indicate that the market is firming up somewhat. 

My personal observations of the GTA marketplace and especially for the downtown core is that prices are firming up somewhat, meaning that they are not dropping the was they were in the last quarter of '08 and the first two months of this year. Prices and sales are still soft, but the market seems to be much stronger than it was in the preceding 6 months.

It will be interesting to see what the next 2 to 3 months brings as this is typically our strongest part of the year, the "Spring Market!"

*Below is an interesting article I read in the Globe and Mail this morning -worth reading if you are thinking of buying this year.  Many GTA Realtors believe this is a sign of things to come to the GTA and the buyer's market will be short-lived due to historical low interest rates, immigration, government incentives, first-time home buyers taking advantage of the market and a signifance increase in smart investors.

________________________________________________________________________

KERRY GOLD -Globe and Mail Update - March 13, 2009 at 10:34 AM EDT

First-timers drive a rebounding market.

'Vancouver detached house prices are the lowest they have been in two or three years,' say one couple convinced that the time is ripe to purchase!

Judging from the many shoes littering the front porches at open houses in recent weekends, it's clear that people are back buying houses.

Without a doubt, the market has picked up, and we're barely into March. It's a far cry from the abysmal real estate market of last fall and January this year.

According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, residential housing sales were up 94 per cent last month compared with January. That translates into 1,480 sales for the month of February alone. January, on the other hand, was a record-setting sluggish month - the slowest for housing sales in 25 years.

The growth defies the sky-is-falling pronouncements that have made headlines since September last year. But there is a growing perception that it's a buyer's market. A recent RBC/Ipsos Reid poll revealed that 26 per cent of B.C. residents surveyed believed they would purchase a home in the next two years, despite the view that house prices will continue to fall over 2009.  full story

Bring on the bulldozers

JOHN BENTLEY MAYS - From Friday's Globe and Mail -  According to John Campbell, chief of Waterfront Toronto, Toronto has spent $360-million over the past eight years to prepare lakeshore lands for redevelopment. Now, he says, they're ready to build — and recession be damned. 

If the bad economic drizzle is raining on many a parade these days, it's so far not dampened the spirits of John Campbell. When I talked recently with the president and chief executive officer of Waterfront Toronto, the public corporation overseeing the $17-billion renovation of Toronto's urban lakeshore, I found him downright cheerful about his agency's immediate future.

The enhancement of public space at the central waterfront, the build-out of new parks along the eastern inner harbour, even the roll-forward of the huge residential component of the project: all of it, Mr. Campbell assured me, is proceeding apace. So isn't the downturn having any negative effects on Waterfront Toronto's sweeping plans? full story

"Times change, absolutely. I can't say that somebody who's solvent today won't be bankrupt in three years time. But we are quite comfortable, and we're moving forward. Downtown east is a wonderful market. If priced right, it will sell. Immigrants are coming in, household formation is still going on. The world hasn't come to an end."

John Campbell

Optimism returning to housing market, RBC survey finds.

Confidence appears to be seeping back into the housing market, with a majority of Canadians saying it's a good time to buy, according to the Royal Bank of Canada's annual homeownership survey.

Although this optimism is not reflected in the most recent sales statistics – the volume of sales in the Toronto area, for instance, was down 47 per cent year-over-year in January – the Royal Bank predicts that lower prices will lure a growing percentage of Canadians back into the housing market in the next two years.

A survey of 2,026 Canadian consumers, conducted in the second week of January, found that 65 per cent of respondents believe it is a buyers' market now and 27 per cent say they intend to buy a home this year or next. “Additionally, almost half indicate it makes sense to buy a home now versus waiting until next year.” full story

VIRGINIA GALT Globe and Mail Update March 4, 2009

 

Toronto Real Estate: The News is Getting Better!

TORONTO, February 19, 2009 – Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 2,044 sales through the first 14 days of February, compared to 2,775 sales reported during the same period in 2008.

“While sales have been lower, the housing sector remains one of the pillars of the GTA economy,” said TREB President Maureen O’Neill. “Each existing home transaction generates, on average, more than $33,000 in spin-off spending on renovations and other housing-related items. This spin-off spending translates into jobs.”

“The City of Toronto needs to do its part to encourage homeownership by reducing the tax burden on existing and potential home owners,” said TREB President Maureen O’Neill. “To this end, Greater Toronto REALTORS® are calling on the City to roll back the municipal land transfer tax. We presented our views to the City’s Budget Committee yesterday. ”

The average home price in the GTA was $364,748 compared to $385,735 in mid-month February last year.“It is interesting to note that while the average price was down, the annual rate of price decline slowed compared to the previous four months,” according to Jason Mercer, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

“If this trend continues into the spring, it could point towards average home prices levelling off between $360,000 and $370,000.”