George Chisholm Real Estate Sales Representative

TREB Market Watch - December 2011

2012-01-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

The Toronto Real Estate Market According to TREB - November 2011

2011-12-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Market Watch October 2011 - TREB

2011-11-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

September 2011 Toronto Real Estate Market Watch

2011-10-06T18:28:00.001-07:00

Real Estate Market Watch August 2011

2011-09-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

'For Sale By Owner' founder sells his home... using a real estate broker

2011-08-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

The founder of a website helping people to sell their own homes has found a buyer for his own apartment – with the help of a traditional real estate broker.

ForSaleByOwner.com creator Colby Sambrotto even paid the standard 6% commission after selling his two-bedroom New York condo for $2.15 million.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022112/For-Sale-By-Owner-founder-sells-home--using-real-estate-broker.html#ixzz1UlSffMsD

Toronto Real Estate Market Watch for July 2011

2011-08-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

TorontoMLS® Sales and Average Price Up in June!!

2011-07-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

July 6, 2011 --

“The strong June result capped off an interesting first half of 2011,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver. “The pace of sales was a bit sluggish at the beginning of the year, but rebounded in May and June. Because of the positive affordability picture, home buyers remained

confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term.”
Click here for more info from TREB (PDF)

GTA Sales and Price increase for May 2011

2011-06-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

June 3, 2011 -- Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 10,046 sales in May 2011 – up six per cent compared to May 2010. This result was the second best on record for May under the current Toronto Real Estate Board service area. The number of new listings in May, at 16,076, was down 15 per cent compared to last year. Click Here For More Info from TREB!

Tight Market Results in Strong Price Growth in April

2011-05-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

May 4, 2011 -- Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 9,041 existing home
sales through the TorontoMLS® system in April 2011. This result was down 17 per
cent compared April 2010 when sales spiked to a new record of 10,898. While off
last year's record result, April 2011 sales were in line with the average April
sales level reported over the previous five years.....

May 4, 2011 -- Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 9,041 existing home
sales through the TorontoMLS® system in April 2011. This result was down 17 per
cent compared April 2010 when sales spiked to a new record of 10,898. While off
last year's record result, April 2011 sales were in line with the average April
sales level reported over the previous five years.....

"Existing home sales
have been strong from a historic perspective through the first four months of
2011. Expect the pace of sales to remain robust through the spring, as the
economy expands and home buyers continue to benefit from affordable home
ownership opportunities," said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Bill
Johnston.

Market conditions tightened markedly over the last year. April
2011 sales accounted for 62 per cent of new listings during the month – up
substantially from 53 per cent in April 2010. Tighter conditions resulted in the
average April selling price growing by nine per cent annually to
$477,407.

"The number of listings has been below expectations so far this
year. Increased competition between home buyers has led to an accelerating
annual rate of price growth," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market
Analysis. "The strong price growth experienced in April should result in more
listings and more balanced market conditions."

Median Price
In April, the
median price was $402,000, from the $373,000 recorded during April of 2010.

View on TREB

Strengthening Economic Recovery and Low Interest Rates Point to a Stronger Than Anticipated 2011 for Housing Market

2011-03-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Prospect of rising mortgage rates may prompt heightened buyer activity early in
the year, according to Royal LePage forecast...

Four key factors that drive the real estate market

2011-03-04T10:47:00.000-08:00

Joseph Nguyen
Investopedia.com — Published Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 Globe and Mail

However, the cyclicality of the economy can have varying effects on different types of real estate....

Read More

Canada's Growth Tops Forecast

2011-03-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Torobin and Tavia Grant
Ottawa andToronto — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 3.3-per-cent rate in the fourth quarter of 2010, Statistics Canada said Monday...
Read More...

5 Reasons to Use a Royal LePage REALTOR®

2010-12-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

The three best reasons to list with Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage:

2010-11-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

1. Royal LePage is Canada's largest real estate firm (with approximately 14,000 Real Estate Sales Representatives).

2. Royal LePage has approximately 600 locations.

3. Royal LePage has home sales averaging approximately $33 Billion annually.

Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage is #1

2010-09-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Toronto's #1 Real Estate Brokerage
*Based on 2004 to 2009 value of listings sold from the TREB MLS

Selling the family home to buy a condo?

2010-08-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Attention, empty nesters: A look at the condo market

Buyer Representation Agreement: Message from Tom Lebour 2009-2010 TREB P...

2010-07-09T06:46:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Sell Episode 1 - Listing Your Home

2010-07-07T14:01:00.001-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Sell Episode 2 - Listing Your Home

2010-07-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Sell Episode 3 - Your Home Sale

2010-07-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Sell Episode 4 - Negotiating an Offer

2010-07-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Sell Episode 5 - Closing Your Home Sale

2010-07-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

2010-07-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

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In Toronto, multiple factors are at work shaping a see-saw market

2010-07-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Terrence Belford

Toronto — From Friday's Globe and Mail

May housing statistics are in. April’s buoyant market seems to have sprung a leak. Preliminary reports suggest June will continue that trend.

Is there anything to glean from the month-to-month changes in new high- and low-rise homes and resale housing?

Jim Ritchie, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Tridel Corp., seems to agree with 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli when it comes to gleaning trends from monthly ups and downs.

Mr. Disraeli is famously quoted as saying there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
“I don’t pay much attention to month-to-month changes,” says Mr. Ritchie. “Right now, for example, there are so many factors at play in the market that any or all of them could affect short-term buying decisions.

“I think we are still on track to sell at least 15,000 high-rise units for the year and that would make it a good normal year for sales.”

So what happened in May?

In the market for new high-rise condos, sales dipped from 1,712 units in April to 1,531 units in May. At the same time the average price of all suites sold in May dropped to $423,757 from $425,120 a month earlier, according to RealNet Canada Inc.

On the low-rise side, sales dropped to 1,473 homes from 1,514 in April and average prices dipped to $478,803 from $489,802.

In the resale market, the Toronto Real Estate Board says sales fell 20 per cent in May, to 4,139 from 5,185 in April.

What about prices? The average price for June mid-month transactions – the latest figures available – was $437,039, up 7 per cent over the same period last year.

So if new-home sales were down, and prices were too, does this spell welcome relief for anyone looking for a new home? Not likely, says Steven Hurst, vice-president analytics for RealNet.
“I think it reflects a sizable number of cheaper homes coming onto the market as one or two big builders launched new projects,” he says. He points out that Mattamy Homes at its Seaton project, for example, had models starting at $292,000.

“I also think that in some cases in both the high- and low-rise markets, developers purposely priced their product below the $400,000 mark to lessen the impact of the new HST that comes into effect for sales closing after July 1,” he adds.

As for resale homes, Jason Mercer, TREB’s senior manager of market analytics, acknowledges that prices were up all through the first half of this year and were rising at double-digit levels. June sales, however, saw those increases start to slow and the rest of the year may see that trend continue.
Part of the reason is that new listings rose by an annual rate of 21 per cent in May.
“Home buyers are now experiencing more choice,” he says. “With more choice in the marketplace price growth is starting to slow.”

If you buy into the theory that more choice translates into lower prices or at least a slower increase in prices then there is also good news in the low-rise market. Total low-rise inventory in the GTA stood at 8,108 units at the end of May.

“May was the first time since November that we saw low-rise inventory rise,” says RealNet’s Mr. Hurst. “I think that has to be interpreted as a good sign.”

Back to lies, damn lies and statistics. Mr. Ritchie points out that the market can be swayed month to month by even a single significant event.

He remembers how 9/11 affected sales at Tridel’s Ovation project.

“Immediately after 9/11 and for the next three weeks or so the presentation centre was empty,” he says. “But then buyers adjusted; they were able to digest what happened and by October we were doing box office business again.”

Granted May did not see any single cataclysmic event, but his thinking is that the home market did reflect a series of smaller significant ones.

The first was that traditionally March, April, and the last weeks of September through October are the busiest months for new condo sales. Mr. Hurst agrees, pointing out that in 2006 and 2007, May home sales fell from an April peak. No point counting in 2008 and 2009, he adds. The recession made them an aberration.

The second is that the early months of this year probably reflected considerable pent-up demand. Few people had the confidence in the future necessary to commit to a new home while the world was battling a recession or in the early stages of recovery. Once that demand was satisfied sales naturally fell off.

The third is that new rules affecting CMHC mortgages came into effect April 19. Now investors must pony up at least a 20% down payment and ordinary buyers must have large enough incomes to be able to carry a mortgage at the five-year fixed rate even if they get a loan at a discount or opt for a lower-interest variable-rate mortgage.

That probably eliminated many first-time buyers, Mr. Ritchie suggests, and first-time buyers were a major driving force in the market in the early part of the year.

So what does it all mean? Too soon to tell. We will just have to wait until the traditional late September through October high-sales period to know which way the market may be headed.

Source: The Globe and Mail

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Buy Episode 1 - Financing Your Home Purchase

2010-07-06T13:17:00.002-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Buy Episode 2 - Determining Your Needs & Wants

2010-07-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Buy Episode 3 - Your Property Search

2010-07-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Buy Episode 4 - Making an Offer

2010-07-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

Royal LePage TV - Helping You Buy Episode 5 - Closing Your Home Purchase

2010-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00