Toronto Home Sales Fall but Prices Still Strong

The latest data from the Toronto Real Estate Boardreveals that although listings grew in June, prices are strong. However, sales dropped considerably meaning it is more difficult to sell a property. That trend appears to be growing.
New construction starts are down which may bode well for those trying to sell their homes however, many people sell their homes to move to newly constructed homes and condos.

In May, Canadian building permits tumbled more than 5 times expectations because of drops in single-family houses and commercial buildings. June stats from Statscan are not yet out.

MLS Sales Down

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 8,442 sales within the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in June. This is down more the 1,000 units from May 2010 sales of 9470 units, representing a 9% drop. That might be disheartening for home sellers however the average home price in the GTA rose to $435,034 from $376,750.

“The gap between listings and sales has widened, which means there is more choice for buyers,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The annual rate of price growth will slow in the second half of 2010, from the current double digit pace into the single digits.” “The annual rate of price growth will slow in the second half of 2010, from the current double digit pace into the single digits.”

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Toronto Home Price Timeline

Mississauga Home for Sale

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Mid-April Toronto Resale Home Sales Increase

Greater Toronto REALTORS® report Mid-April Resale Market Figures

TORONTO, April 16, 2010 – Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,601 sales through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) during the first two weeks of April. This represented a 25 per cent increase compared to the 3,681 sales recorded during the same period in 2009. New listings increased by 48 per cent annually to 9,512.

“The fact that annual growth in new listings outstripped growth in sales suggests that the GTA existing home market is becoming better supplied,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour.

“Home owners are reacting to strong sales and price growth by listing their homes in greater numbers. They are confident they will receive offers in line with their asking price.”

The average price for April mid-month transactions was $430,271 – up 12 per cent compared to the average of $383,361 recorded during the first 14 days of April 2009.

“The average annual rate of price increase has declined and we are shortly going to see a return to sustainable single-digit rates of growth,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
“As home buyers experience more choice in the marketplace, there will be less upward pressure on the average selling price in the GTA.”

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Home Appraisal

Getting an Accurate Home Appraisal is Important

One of real estate agent’s first tasks to estimate your property value. To do that, they will conduct what is known as a CMA.  This is not the same as a home appraisal.  A comparative market analysis is an estimate of your home’s value. The agent will do lookups in the brokers database to establish selling prices in the neighbourhood. Considerations are the lot size, size of house, number of bathrooms and bedrooms, type of flooring, age of house, along with the type of heating and air conditioning.

A CMA is to help you establish a realistic asking price when selling your home.  A home appraisal is conducted by an independent home appraiser, usually for a bank or mortgage company.  The bank or mortgage company will investigate the home’s value in a much more detailed manner, because they are being asked to lend hundreds of thousands of dollars with the home as collateral.

A home evaluation or CMA estimate is built using the selling prices of similar homes in your area.  The CMA estimate which buyers agents and real estate agents acting for the seller will use as a guide for a realistic price can diminish the price for a home that may actually be worth more.  When a home in a neighbourhood sells quickly for a very low price, it may have a depressing effect on the values of other homes in that neighbourhood.  In today’s market, resale homes sold in foreclosures and bankruptcies may sell at a low price. This means your selling agent will have to work hard to help you build up a case for asking for a better price. You may want to see our home selling tips page as an example of what needs to be done.

Home Appraisers Mississauga

A property appraisal builds an estimated value of your property via different methodologies and subtracts the depreciation on the property. You can read about the different appraisal methods here.

You can find a home appraiser via the Ontario Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada. The Ontario Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada (OA-AIC), is the largest and best-known organization of real estate appraisers, valuators and property consultants in Ontario. A report contains information relevant to independent property valuation, including the purpose of the appraisal, other qualifying conditions, neighbourhood conditions, property identification, data analysis, the value estimate and the effective date of the appraisal. All reports are also signed and may contain support material such as maps, charts, or photographs. They can create a property appraisal value 3 different ways.

Contact us now about a CMA home evaluation of your home in Mississauga. Don’t accept an inflated estimate of your home such as one offered online. An experienced real estate agent knows how to price a home for sale.

Canadian Homes Market

A lack of available homes for sale continues to be the biggest threat to the real estate sector this year. New home construction has fallen off and homeowners are reluctant to sell their homes. Why are people reluctant to sell their homes? They’re insecure about the economy and about where they will go should they sell their current home. Trading up or moving has some risk if the economy should faulter. The government does little to reassure Canadians about the future of the economy, and doesn’t seem to clue into the real issues that Canadians are concerned about. These are matters that are close to the heart, and the government is clearly not in that space.

Lack of Inventory driving up Prices – Solution: Build more Homes

According to a report by CREA, the average price of all homes sold through the MLS® Systems of Canadian real estate Boards in January 2010 was $328,537, up 19.6 per cent from one year ago. Obviously, it is a good time to sell your home. Forecasts by government and brokers across the country suggest sales will level off after the HST start date in BC and Ontario. The lack of homes for sale and the HST tax issue is driving up home prices which resulted in the Federal Finance Minister to try other methods to keep prices from rising too fast. Government is causing the problem and isn’t doing what’s necessary to stimulate the economy. Increased taxation and tax on realtor commissions is pathetic.

What should have been done is to reduce taxes and provide incentives to builders to build more homes. More homes is the solution. Canada’s economy is in good shape and we can reduce unemployment and bankruptcy problems by getting people back to work. The government’s lack of confidence in its own policies is making the average homebuyer insecure, and home sellers reluctant. And the construction and real estate industries are a key generator of economic growth. Why does the Federal Minister meddle with trivial mechanisms when the solution is at the broader level of taxation and incentives? The US stimulated its way out of a potential disaster so why is our government sitting on its thumbs?

Are considering whether to sell your home and trade up? Are you retiring and thinking of moving up to cottage country? A lot of retirees are. Why not begin to plan your home sale. There are a lot of things you an do to improve the apparent and real value of your home. Older homes are more difficult to sell however if you undertake to improve your home and yard, you can eliminate many of the factors that cause buyers to avoid resale homes. Why call us now to discuss the market and how you can sell your home for more.

Sell your home with a powerful online real estate promotional service. Sell Mississauga utilizes the best online promotional services to help you sell your home for more. See our Home Selling Tips to discover better ways to improve the potential homes sales results. We serve home sellers and buyers in Mississauga, Port Credit, Streetsville, Cooksville, Halton Hills, Milton, Clarkson, Bronte Village, Churchill Meadows, Meadowvale, and Brampton. Call us todayl

Is this a Mississauga Real Estate Bubble?

Some experts are suggesting the current surge in the housing market to be a bubble that might burst in a few months. Others like the Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney believes the economy is strong and there is no real estate bubble in the forecast.

Carney made his state of the economy address yesterday with comments such as:

“Although the recession in Canada was severe, with real GDP contracting for three consecutive quarters, the magnitude of the downturn was more modest than in other major advanced economies. In particular, domestic demand held up much better in Canada than elsewhere, reflecting the soundness of Canada’s banking system, relatively healthy household and corporate balance sheets, and the speed and scale of monetary policy actions.” and “In Canada, the recovery is expected to evolve largely as anticipated in October, with the economy returning to full capacity in the third quarter of 2011.”

The Canadian economy is projected to grow by 2.9 per cent in 2010 and 3.5 per cent in 2011. These are strong numbers. Consider how strong our banks are, growth in oil and gas revenues, price of gold, and you can see why our dollar is so strong right now.

Scotiabank has this to say about the global economy which will affect Canada’s economy in 2010 “We expect global growth to average 3% in 2010-11, following last year’s contraction of 2%.

Obviously a lot of real estate investors know this is an ideal time to buy and everyone is getting in buying anything they can at bargain prices and interest rates. Home Prices are rising fast and there’s no reason to believe they will fall, so where’s the risk? We should see house flipping hit record numbers this year. Resale home sales are unbelievably strong.

Tridel was expecting sales of new units to drop but instead their sales have increased by 15%. In the Toronto market, existing home sales rose 17 per cent over 2008, while the average price of a
home gained 4 per cent to $395,460. And, the beginning of 2009 was horrendous. December made up for it and January sales are already breaking records.

Experts suggest the GTA real estate market has been very resilient and with the economy improving, there is no reason to believe conditions won’t remain stable or improve. The long term forecast is certainly positive. With mortgage rates so low, there is likely never to be a more opportune time to buy a home

2010 Homes Sales Trends – Rising in first two week of January

A report by the Greater Toronto REALTORS® shows there were 1,749 home sales in the GTA region compared to 888 last January. The average selling price rose more than $66,000 to $395,307. Prices in the 905 area code rose more than $72,000 on average.

Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour said “We have had a strong start to 2010. Widespread sales growth in terms of geography and housing type indicates that many households remain confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long-term.”

Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis forecasts that “Double-digit average annual price growth will continue through the first quarter of 2010 as sales remain high relative to listings and we continue to make comparisons to last year’s winter downturn.”

Check out Mississauga Home prices and see the latest Mississauga homes for sale.

Home Appraisal Mississauga

Do you need to sell your home soon? Don’t rush, call an experienced and qualified real estate agent to get a reliable evaluation or appraisal of your house and property.

Thousands of home owners in the Greater Mississauga area sell their homes every year. They may be moving north to cottage country or out West to live near their children. Selling a home during your lifetime is inevitable. A home that once felt comfortable may no longer feel right because kids have grown up and left, friends and relatives have moved away, or passed on. Time passes and change sweeps in and we have no choice but to go with the tide of change. Sometimes it is a wise decision, good for your health and your finances. By selling your home in Mississauga and moving north you may have many tens of thousands of dollars left in cash to use. Homes north and west of the Toronto area are cheaper and the environment is cleaner.

If you’re an empty nester and considering a move to a new location, give us a call for a home evaluation. See the most recent Toronto Home prices and Mississauga Home prices for a general idea of home prices overall. Of course, your home and neighbourhood will have its own unique home price parameters.

Toronto Real Estate Prices

Just out are the most recent Toronto real estate prices. December was a great month for real estate sales. 5541 resale homes were sold in the GTA area. In December, there were 5,541 sales in the Greater Toronto Area (average price $411,931), up from 2,577 sales in December 2008 (average price $361,415), according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

Prices rose strongest in Mississauga’s W13 area (Port Credit/, W9 area (Kipling/Dixon) and W22 area (Milton) while properties in Etbicoke saw declines in prices. The region of N16 (Uxbridge) saw a huge increase in sales price primarily due to the number of million dollar homes being built northeast of the GTA.

Toronto Condo Prices

According on to one Toronto real estate price report, the average price of a standard condo in Toronto rose 2.9 per cent to $309,000, detached bungalows rose 9.9 per cent to $446,000 and standard detached homes increased 3.5 per cent to $564,000.