Toronto Real Estate

With a provincial election on the horizon in Ontario -- Election and Referendum Day is October 10, 2007 -- political parties are making their campaign promises, if elected. The latest pledge comes from the NDP, appeals to seniors and proposes to freeze property tax assessments for individual home...

We're getting a mixed bag of news. The Bank of Canada is now unlikely to hike rates Sept 5, as it continues to watch the spillover effects from south of the border. The U.S. Commerce Dept. (through the U.S. Census Bureau) reports home starts and building permits were down. Then NAR said existing ...

The Commerce Department reports new home sales up 2.8% in July, after falling 4% in June. Small comfort given year-over-year sales have slumped about 10%. Sept 18th is the date to watch -- will the Federal Reserve cut the overnight rate? Source: U.S. New Home Sales Rise in July (Globe and Mail)

The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) -- formerly the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association -- weighed in on the RealNet's information release for July new home sales. Interesting observations and stats: Sales of Low rise vs High rise units nearly even (compared with ...

I don't understand why some Represented Buyers search the public mls.ca website instead of relying on the services of their Buyer Agent.  Why hasn't their Buyer Agent explained that:mls.ca is not the same as a board's MLS (in my case, Toronto MLS) mls.ca is a permissive aggregation of listings da...

The Canadian Real Estate Association is boosting its 2007 outlook for housing resales to be another record year, with a modest decline in 2008 expected to be the "second best" on record. Moreover, one CREA economist opines on the possibility that a slowdown -- a spillover from the U.S. economy --...

The statisticians are weighing in with their latest reports, and real estate resales in Toronto and Canada are far from the doom-and-gloom now shaking up the stock market (i.e., a broad market correction). For the first half of August, the Toronto Real Estate Board reports resale transactions are...

Economist forecasts from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) are for Canada's housing market to ease this year and next, despite high employment levels, income gains, and low mortgage interest rates. The expectation: fewer housing starts (except in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Quebe...

NAR's "2007 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences" was released yesterday. According to the report, Buyer preferences are changing, and they increasingly want: Garages with 2 or more spaces Air conditioning Walk-in closet in the master bedroom Hardwood floors and granite countertops They su...

The Toronto Real Estate Board is reporting July 2007 as the best July ever -- well, since records were kept -- and 26% more active than July '06. And year-to-date transactions are up 13% from the same time last year. Notable increases were reported in Toronto's Riverdale, Etobicoke's South Humber...