REDISCOVER REAL ESTATE

Interest Rates on the Rise Again!

Three successive hikes in interest rates that have pushed the five-year, fixed-rate, closed mortgage from 5.25% to 6.25% in less than a month.

It's come up time and time again in the past couple of weeks: interest rates are on the rise, mortgage lending rules are tightening and the HST is looming in Ontario and British Columbia. Now that interest rates are actually on the rise, it seems that it's now time to add fence-sitters into the real estate fray. As if there wasn't a shortage of housing stock to begin with, now the market has potential homebuyers who have 120 days to find the perfect house or else risk losing their low interest rate.

While spring is normally a busy time in the real estate world, this year is something completely different. In fact, overall sales for January and February were up over 44% and specifically sales in the GTA have jumped nearly 70% when compared with 2009, with Vancouver following suit at 20% and Montreal at 45%.

It's might be a wild ride out there for anyone who's procrastinated or waited it out for their home purchase!

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

CMHC poll: 81 per cent of recent home buyers OK with their mortgage debt

OTTAWA - The vast majority of recent Canadian home buyers are OK with their current mortgage debt, according to a new online survey.

The survey of 2,500 active mortgage borrowers found 81 per cent of them were comfortable with the level of their current mortgage debt.

The poll was conducted by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., a federal Crown corporation that provides mortgage insurance to home buyers.

The survey also found 68 per cent of the recent homebuyers felt there was a strong chance they will pay off their mortgage sooner than required.

The CMHC survey comes as many economists expect Canadian interest rates to start moving up.

There have been warnings that homebuyers should be careful about the amount of debt they take on. With the prospects of higher interest rates, servicing higher debt could become more difficult.

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

FLATIRON LOFTS - April 24 and 25th Selling Event : One Weekend Only

If you’re loving the new Queen Street East redevelopment and want a true loft environment with retail and arts nearby still close to downtown then consider this development.

Flatiron Lofts is a complimentary building to Work Lofts and will retain the high-design and high-finish quality that we have been accustomed to see by his creations.

Attention Condo Buyers!

Do you know I can help you with your next pre-construction condo purchase and this at no cost to you? Most builders will cooperate with realtors and will pay a referral fee for bringing them new clients. There is no catch.

The benefits to you are tremendous. That way you have someone totally devoted to protect your interest instead of being a one-sided sale. You just can't lose by getting the expertise and knowledge from someone like me who will work on your behalf by asking all the right questions and helping you choose floor plans wisely.

 

 

In order to assit you, it's important that you don't walk into a sales centre without me.

Floor plans and prices available! Contact me to be my guest to this One Weekend Sales Event!

http://www.flatironlofts.ca

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

Limited impact seen from mortgage rules

Experts say Ottawa’s regulations will not have a major dampening effect on market sales
Ottawa’s tougher mortgage rules have sparked a rush by home buyers to get in before the new regulations take effect Monday, but may not dampen the real estate market to the extent observers believed.

“When the new mortgage insurance rules were announced, there was widespread expectations that this could help to cool the market,” said Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Craig Alexander. “But the true impact should prove limited.”

The rule that was expected to have the most widespread effect says all borrowers must meet the qualification standards for a five-year fixed-rate mortgage, even if they choose a variable-rate mortgage or one with a shorter term.

That means that, as of Monday, lenders must test customers who seek, for instance, a three-year variable-rate mortgage or a three-year fixed-rate mortgage, and ensure that they could still afford their monthly payments if they had to pay the higher rate that applies to a five-year fixed-rate mortgage.

But the rule doesn’t apply to customers who want a five-year fixed-rate mortgage. As a result, those customers face a less stringent test, since they need only prove that they can afford the rate they are actually signing up for.

Most of those customers are able to negotiate a significant discount off of the bank’s posted five-year rate. Indeed, they are generally paying a rate that’s closer to the rate on three-year variable-rate mortgages, and that’s the one they’ll be tested at.

“So most buyers could still qualify for the same size mortgage as under the old rules, so long as they take a five-year fixed mortgage product,” Mr. Alexander said.

Because many buyers didn’t know how the rules would be applied, some jumped into the market before the change, he added. “Despite the limited impact on qualifying, the new rules likely did encourage some additional sales earlier, which will contribute to a cooling later on.” [full story-->]

Source: Globe and Mail

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

Spring panic for homebuyers.

Rising interest rates on the long end of the mortgage market are just one more catalyst for a spring housing market expected to reach a fever pitch.

Throw in new mortgage rules in effect April 19 that will make it tougher to borrow in some cases, a new harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia on July 1, and a likely Bank of Canada hike in short-term interest rates, and buyers are getting panicked.

Inventory levels remain low across the country, even after three straight months of supply slowly building. In February, the Canadian Real Estate Association said there were 4.7 months of inventory in the system on a seasonally adjusted basis, based on the rate of sales. That is a near-record low.

While sales activity in February actually dropped 1.5 per cent compared with January, year-over-year sales for the first two months of 2010 were up 44.2 per cent.

Low supply and strong demand continue to goose prices, with the average home selling for $328,440 this year, an 18.2 per cent jump from a year ago.

In the greater Toronto area, figures for March released Tuesday show the average sale price soared to $434,696, a 20 per cent jump from a year ago. Sales in the GTA jumped almost 70 per cent compared with last year.  [full story-->]

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

 

Toronto’s Real Estate Market Starting to Stabilize

Since May 2009 the number of houses coming on the market for sale in Toronto has been on the decline while the demand from buyers measured by the increase in sales has been on the rise.  This imbalance between the demand and supply for Toronto real estate drove prices up sharply over the past year. 

According to the Teranet National Bank house price index the rate of appreciation in Toronto house prices is slowing down.  January 2010 marked the first month since May where the monthly increase in prices was below 1%.  The monthly rise for January was 0.7% in Toronto.

I also expect to see some positive news from the Toronto Real Estate Board’s March statistics which will be released this week.  Sales will be up significantly when compared to last year but for the first time in over a year we’ll see a big increase in the number of new listings which is the first step in moving us to a more balanced market. 

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca

I also expect to see some positive news from the Toronto Real Estate Board’s March statistics which will be released this week.  Sales will be up significantly when compared to last year but for the first time in over a year we’ll see a big increase in the number of new listings which is the first step in moving us to a more balanced market. 

How can I help?

_______________________________________________________________

b r i a n m a y e r real estate sales representative

Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage

independently owned and operated

187 King St. East Toronto, ON. M5A 1J5

(416)-637-8000

Helping You is What We Do.

A referral remains the highest compliment I can receive.

www.brianmayer.ca