Friday, September 19, 2008
An article in the Globe & Mail today implied that housing prices are declining nationally. While that may be true for Calgary, and other niche markets, where prices rose dramatically in 2007, it is certainly not the case nationally. In response to this erroneous reporting, Gerry Weir, President of the Ontario Real Estate Association sent a letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail stating that the Ontaario market is not only solid, but house prices have been rising province-wide. Weir stated that the Canadian Real Estate Association just released their Major Market report indicating that seven out of eight major housing markets in Ontario have shown an increase in sale price of about 5% in most markets, despite an increase in number of listings. The one market showing a decrease is Windsor where the local econonomy is suffering.
Weir went on to say that the CREA had predicted that the higher number of listings would balance out the market and the effect is more pronounced in Calgary and some western markets where house prices increased more than the national average.
The Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board supports the CREA report. The number of listings has increased over 2007, while prices have risen in most areas. Collingwood prices are up just 1% average over 2007. New house sales are not included in mls figures and the Collingwood market is being affected by the high number of new homes being built. The impact of the rise in number of listings is reflected in a higher number of days on the market.
See the Globe & Mail article
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080918.realtor19/BNStory/National/home
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