Canadian Real Estate Statistics 2010: Sold Homes, Average Price: Toronto Montreal Calgary Vancouver
In: Real Estate News
14 Jan 2011The Canadian Real Estate Association just released their 2010 Real Estate Stats. Here are some of the highlights:
447,010 homes sold in Canada in 2010. This was down by 3.9% from 2009.
The average home price in Canada rose by 5.8% in 2010 to $339,030.
Here are similar real estate statistics for Canadian Major Markets for 2010:
Toronto: In 2010 there were 86,170 homes sold, which is down by 1% compared to 87,308 sold in 2009. The average price for a home in the Greater Toronto Area in 2010 was $431,463. This was up by 9% compared to 2009 when the average home selling price was $395,460.
Montreal: In 2010 there were 42,347 homes sold, which is up by 1% compared to 2009. The average price for a home in the Greater Montreal Area in 2010 increased by approximately 8%. Average prices were $252,000 for a detached, and $210,000 for a condo in Montreal.
Calgary: In 2010 there were 20,996 homes sold, which is down by 15.6% compared to homes sold in 2009. The average price for a home in Calgary in 2010 was $398,764. This was up by 3.3% compared to 2009.
Vancouver: In 2010 there were 30,595 homes sold, which is down by 14.2% compared to 35,669 homes sold in 2009. The average price for a home in the Greater Vancouver Area in 2010 was $577,808. This was up by 2.7% compared to 2009.
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- Tags: calgary, canada, CREA, homes, montreal, real estate stats 2010, sold, statistics, toronto, vancouver
Real Estate License Ontario: How to Become A Real Estate Agent (Sales Representative)
In: Real Estate News
13 Jan 2011To become a Real Estate Agent in Ontario you must take courses and meet a few requirements.
The Ontario Real Estate Association offers the courses. According to their website you first have these qualifications:
1. You have to an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent; OR
2. You must be at least 18 years of age, complete the OREA Real Estate College Admissions Test and attain a minimum mark of 50%.
If you have these 2 qualifications, you must complete 3 courses. They include:
1. Real Estate as a professional Career ($440)
2. Land, Structures, and Real Estate Trading ($470)
and either:
3A. The Real Estate Transaction (Residential) ($660)
or
3B. The Real Estate Transaction (Commercial) ($660)
Once you complete these courses, then you join a brokerage (fees vary) and register with the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) and pay your insurance and registration fees ($335 + $350).
Here are some tips to completing your real estate license fast:
1. If you are a reasonably intelligent person and are willing to study, you can pay for a course and then book the exam for a few weeks later. Orea usually suggests a length of time to complete the course (2 months), but if you can book the exam right away and study the material, then you can pass and move onto the next course asap.
2. If you passed the first two courses with no problem, then it might be wise to choose the 40 hour in-class option for “The Real Estate Transaction” instead of the 80 hour option. Again try to book the exam and courses as soon as you complete the second exam.
You should be able to start the courses and finish them all within 3 months.
PropertySold.ca
There are certainly some advantages and disadvantages to becoming a real estate agent. Being a real estate agent generally means that you are working for yourself (although you must belong to a brokerage), which means that you don’t really have a boss or set hours. However, the majority of real estate agents in Ontario work on 100% commission basis and they pay for all their expenses as well.
If you are considering becoming a real estate agent in Ontario here is a break down of the costs involved:
$1430 – Course fees that are paid to the Ontario Real Estate College (OREA) to complete the 3 courses required to obtain your real estate license.
$330 – Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) Insurance
$350 – Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) Registration Fee
Sub Total:
$1,430 + $330 + $350 = $2,110
So $2,110 is the cost to get your real estate license in Ontario.
However, there other costs as well. You will need to join a real estate board and maintain your license:
$860 are the Fees for the Toronto Real Estate Board.
$430 are the CREA and OREA fees.
Sub Total # 2:
$2,110 + $860 + $430 = $3,400
So now $3,400 is the amount that you have paid to get your license and join the Toronto Real Estate Board.
However, there are more costs as well. You might want to join a large branded real estate brokerage.
Many high profile real estate brokerages actually charge their agents a desk fee that can range from anywhere to $100 per month up to $1,500 a month. We often here from agents that they pay approximately $18,000 a year in desk fees. For this example we can assume $500 a month for desk fees: $6,000 a year
Sub Total # 3:
$6,000 + $3,400 = $9,400
However, there are also more on going costs. So in addition to the $9,400 that a real estate agent has spent at the end of year one, agents also need to take ongoing courses to maintain their license.
You must complete 3 courses within your first 2 years of obtaining your license. $1,120 is the cost for these courses. Also don’t forget that the RECO Fees, TREB Fees, CREA & OREA Fees, and Brokage fees are all paid on a yearly basis. This means that most agents need to pay more than $10,000 a year just to go to work!
Now don’t forget that they also pay for their own cell phones, internet, computer, car, gas and all other daily expenses.
But most people say that agents make big bucks selling homes and they earn those big commissions, right! Well there are 90,000 agents in Canada and they sell 400,000 homes (2 sides of each sale). This is 9 “deals” per agent. If the average commission is $15,000 split between 2 agents and 2 brokerages, then we can assume that agents make about $5,000 per deal. So the average agent is making $45,000 and paying $10,000 to $20,000 in expenses. These numbers, of course, are averages and some agents make a lot of money and some agents make no money.
PropertySold.ca
This MLS real estate video shows how buyers can find a home on MLS.ca®/Realtor.ca® and then proceed to contact the seller directly. The buyers contact the sellers directly by finding more information about the property for sale on the Realtor® website. The the buyer or (real estate agent representing the buyer) can contact the seller directly to arrange an appointment to view the property for sale.
Buyers can also continue to the Seller’s private listing website in order to obtain more information about the property for sale.
PropertySold.ca
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- Tags: buy, buyers, canada, contact, Flat fee, for sale by owner, information, mere listing, mls, private sale, propertysold.ca, sell, sellers
This real estate video discusses 6 steps to help buyers improve their credit score in order to make sure that they are able to obtain financing for their mortgage at a low rate. Often buyers with poor credit scores will be required to pay a higher interest rate on a mortgage. Here are 6 tips to follow in order to repair and prepare your credit score in Canada.
Here are 6 steps to repairing your credit score:
Step 1: Always keep your credit balances at less than 50% of your maximum allowance. If your credit card has a limit of $5,000, then make sure your balance is less than $2,500.
Step 2: Always make your payments on time. Missing a payment is noted on your credit score and this could lower your credit score.
Step 3: Don’t apply for multiple credit cards or lines of credit just before you apply for your mortgage.
Step 4: Avoid doing multiple credit checks in a short period of time. If you go to multiple banks looking for the best mortgage rate, and each bank does a hard credit check, then this could lower your score. A mortgage agent does one credit check and then researches for the best mortgage rate using that one credit check.
Step 5: Pay off any outstanding collections as soon as possible. Even small amounts.
Step 6: If you have a past bankruptcy, they try to obtain 2 sources of credit as soon as possible. Even if it’s a pre-paid credit card. You need to show that you have the ability to pay off credit for 2 years.
PropertySold.ca
If you are obtaining a mortgage in Canada and you have a down payment of less than 20%, then you will need to have your mortgage insured. Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Genworth Financial both provide mortgage insurance on Canadian Mortgages.
The costs for Mortgage Insurance from CMHC are:
Here are the costs for CMHC insurance
What is the maximum that CMHC insurance could cost you? 4.25% is the maximum mortgage insurance premium. This amount would come into affect if you have 5% down and you want the ability to port your mortgage. If you had a $300,000 mortgage it would mean that you would pay $12,750 for mortgage insurance.
PropertySold.ca
There are 2 very popular Free Online Classified websites in Canada. They are Kijiji and Craigslist. Both of these websites allow sellers to post any item (car, hockey cards, bikes, homes) on their website for free. We encourage our sellers to post their home for sale on Kijiji and Craigslist and PropertySold.ca even includes an ad on Craigslist and Kijiji with our Feature and Featured Plus Package.
PropertySold.ca is a popular Real Estate Listing Website in Canada however we charge a small fee for advertising your property for sale. Our real estate advertising packages cost $59.95 to $149.95 depending on the package. We include a professional lawn sign with our Featured Plus Package.
One question a smart seller might have is why would I pay for a real estate advertising when Kijiji is free? This is an excellent question….
Our answer would be that we show up at the top of search engines for most Canadian Real Estate Search terms such as “real estate”, “For sale by owner”, “real estate listings”… so our website is devoted only to real estate and we attract website visitors who are only interested in Real Estate: Buyers, Sellers.
But the most important factor would be that we provide more exposure for our properties for sale. Here is an example of the number of visitors from a Kijiji ad vs the number of visitors from a PropertySold.ca ad:
As you can see above, the same property received 1860 visits to their PropertySold.ca listing compared to 209 visits to their Kijiji ad.
So ultimately when you are paying to advertise on PropertySold.ca you are receiving more exposure for your property for sale.
PropertySold.ca
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- Tags: advertising, buyers, canada, condo, craigslist, exposure, home, kijiji, propertysold, sell, sellers, selling
Canadian Real Estate Videos on YouTube
7 Jan 2011As PropertySold.ca continues to grow and evolve as a popular Canadian Real Estate Listing Website we are now posting real estate videos on our YouTube channel.
Canadian Real Estate Videos on YouTube
So far we have uploaded 13 videos on a number or real estate related topics including:
Advertising a Home on a Canadian Real Estate Listing Website
What is “For Sale By Owner” in Canada and How Can I Sell My Home Privately
How To Get The “Lowest Mortgage Rate” in Canada
Videos are a great way to explain the different aspects of selling a home privately or with an agent. We admit our first few videos may not be as exciting as a Hollywood blockbuster, but like everything, the more you do it, the better you get! Stay tuned for many more videos on Real Estate in Canada.
Real Estate Youtube Channel
PropertySold.ca
The Toronto Real Estate Board just released their 2010 Real Estate Statistics. In 2010 there were 86,170 homes sold, which is down by 1% compared to 87,308 sold in 2009. The average price for a home in the Greater Toronto Area in 2010 was $431,463. This was up by 9% compared to 2009 when the average home selling price was $395,460.
So it was a very impressive year for real estate sales in 2010. However, a closer examination of the number of sales reveals that in the first half of the year (from January to June in 2010), sales totaled 50,455 units and had increased by 23% compared to 2009. In the second half of the year (from July to December), sales totaled 35,715 and had actually decreased by 25% compared to 2009. So it appears that 2010 was a year in which sales skyrocketed in the first 6 months and then plunged (comparatively) in the last 6 months. However, these seemed to have little impact on price…
The average home price increased by 9% in 2010 and it showed steady growth month over month. Even in the last 6 months when sales were dropping, the average home price was well over the 2009 price for the same month. This is incredible when compared to other countries (Ireland, US, England…) who all saw home prices continue to drop in 2010. Some of the factors related to the increase in prices include a lack of listings (and a lot of people who wanted to buy!) as well as record low mortgage rates. In the graphs below, you will notice a increase in the average price and a decrease in the active listings.
Let’s see what 2011 will bring!
PropertySold.ca
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- Tags: 2010, average home price, mls, sold homes, statistics, stats, toronto
Porting a mortgage basically means to take a mortgage from one property to apply it to another property. Porting a mortgage is very common in Canada. In the real estate porting a mortgage video below, we discuss the different aspects of “Porting a Mortgage in Canada“.
Some of the things that you should be aware of when porting a mortgage include:
- That your mortgagee allows you to port the mortgage (Check the details of the contract).
- Whether you will do a “port increase” or a “port decrease” or a “straight port”
- That the property that you are moving the mortgage against will qualify
A port increase means that you will be moving your mortgage and also increasing the amount of the mortgage. You will need to re-negotiate your mortgage rate on the increased amount.
A port decrease means that you will be moving your mortgage and decreasing the amount of the mortgage. You might need to pay a penalty.
A straight port means you are taking the same amount of mortgage so no changes are needed. There might be a small administration fee to do this.
If you have any questions about “porting a mortgage in Canada”, please contact our mortgage agent Abraham Niyazi at 1-866-686-9929.
PropertySold.ca
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- Tags: canada, decrease, increase, mortgage, mortgage contract, mortgages, moving, port, porting
A few weeks ago we wrote about Making Money from Flipping Homes. In that blog post we mentioned 2 homes that we were keeping our eye one.
One was a 2 bedroom detached home in the Greater Toronto Area purchased for $330,000 and asking $400,000. The other home was a 3 bedroom detached home in the Greater Toronto Area purchased for $430,000 and asking $560,000. Here is the update:
The 2 bedroom home is still for sale.
The 3 bedroom home SOLD for $530,000! WOW! Who says the market is slowing down? Lets look at what qualities this home had. The flippers:
- removed the carpet and laminate floors, and replaced it with hardwood floors
- installed new potlights on the main floor
- installed a new kitchen
- painted the home from top to bottom
It looks like the renovations above could cost between $30,000 to $50,000. If you include closing costs and commissions of $25,000 – $30,000, it looks like the flippers made a lot of money on this transaction! We could estimate that they made between $30,000 – $50,000 depending on the actual cost of the renovation. The home was bought, fixed, and sold within 3 months.
We will keep an eye on the 2 bedroom home for $400,000 as that has not sold yet.
Propertysold.ca
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- Tags: flipping, for a, homes, making money, profit, renovating, sell
PropertySold.ca is growing our team! We are hiring 2 new real estate sales representatives in the Greater Toronto Area (Toronto East and Toronto West).
PropertySold.ca is looking for people who are positive, enthusiastic, love real estate, and love helping people. If you have these qualities and want to start a new career and grow along side Canada’s fast growing real estate website, then we want you on our team.
PropertySold.ca began operations in 2004. Since then we have slowly built our company into the number one internet marketing real estate website in Canada. Our website visitors and new listings have increased dramatically in the last 6 months. Our website visitors have increased to more than 30,000 per day and our new listings have grown by more than 200%. We are looking for people to become an active participant in our growth.
The position involves providing information about our products and services to our customers and potential customers, either in-person, over the phone, or through email. You will schedule in-home appointments, take photos, install lawn signs, and develop your territory. The successful candidate will have access to their own transportation, and computer. Past real estate experience or an active real estate license, is an asset.
If you have a passion for real estate, helping people, and growing your career, please email your resume to william@propertysold.ca.
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- Tags: brampton, estate, jobs, mississauga, oshawa, real, toronto
Happy New Year!
We received 31,205 website visitors yesterday! This is up from our previous record 21,042.
Canadian home sellers advertise their homes for sale on PropertySold.ca in order to receive excellent visibility for their properties. As more and more buyers use Propertysold.ca to find their next home, our home sellers receive more success. We have been working hard at growing our website visitors. Since June 2010, our website visitors have trippled. We are on our way to becoming the most popular For Sale By Owner real estate website in Canada.
PropertySold.ca
PropertySOLD.ca server was down January 1, 2011.
In: Company News
1 Jan 2011Due to emergency update on the server in order to ensure the website security as well as accommodate the recent increase in traffic that the website has generated we had to take down the server temporarily for most of the day on the 1st of January 2011. The update has been successfully completed and the website is up and running.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Thank You For Your Patience in this manner.
Best Regards,
PropertySOLD.ca Team
Happy Holidays From PropertySold.ca
In: Company News
23 Dec 2010PropertySold.ca wishes everyone a very happy holiday season! Our offices will be closed on December 25th and December 26th. It’s a great time of year to spend quality time with family and friends.
Enjoy and be Safe!
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- Tags: Happy, Holidays, propertysold
2011 Canadian Real Estate Forecasts and Outlook
In: Real Estate News
22 Dec 2010Next year is almost here! 2010 was a positive year for Canadian Real Estate sales and for PropertySold.ca. The home sales in Canada were down 5% compared to 2009. Home prices increased by 7% in 2010.
Let look at some predictions for 2011.
BANKS:
TD – Is forecasting a drop in sales of 7.6% and a drop in the average price by .8%.
Royal Bank – Is forecasting an increase in sales of .2% and an increase in average price by 1.4%.
REAL ESTATE COMPANIES:
REMAX – Is forecasting sales to stay and same and prices to increase by 3%.
CREA- Is forecasting sales to drop by 9% in 2011 and we could not find a national house price forecast from CREA.
ECONOMISTS and OTHER PEOPLE:
Garth Turner – Is predicting a 15% drop in house prices in the near future followed by 5% declines in subsequent years.
Central 1 Credit – Is forecasting sales to increase by 5% and price to increase by 3%.
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- Tags: 2011, canada, CREA, forecast, Garth Turner, home prices, home sales, housing, outlook, RBC, Remax, TD
Do I need to pay commission to buyer’s agents?
In: Real Estate News
17 Dec 2010The Real Estate Question: Do I need to pay commission to a buyer’s agent? is a question we receive quite frequently at PropertySold.ca.
The answer is:
If you are selling privately, you decide if you want to offer any commission to an agent who has a buyer.
If you choose not to offer any commission to an agent, then it will be the buyer’s responsibility to pay their agent the commission agreed to in their contract.
If you are a private seller and you agree to pay a commission to agent with a buyer, then you would need to put that amount in writing (customer service agreement with the buyer’s agent). The seller can still choose to offer any amount they wish. You could choose to offer $500, 2.5% or any other amount. The real estate agent who represents the buyer is free to negotiate the amount that the seller will pay before they show the property. A real estate agent who wants to make sure that they get paid for their efforts, will want to make sure the agreed upon amount is in a customer service contract before showing the buyer the home.
Did you like our video? Don’t worry…it’s our first. They will get better 
Propertysold.ca
Flipping homes is something that many people wonder about. Doesn’t it sound great? It’s easy right? You simply buy a home for $300,000, and then put in $50,000 in renovations and sell it for $500,000 a few months later. Excellent! $150,000 in your pocket!
Despite the television shows that make it look easy, the reality is that you might make money or you might lose money. Certainly many people have “flipped homes” and made money, but there are most likely just as many people who have bought a home, renovated, and then lost money when they sold.
We are also curious about flipping homes. We decided to research a few recent homes for sale that are trying to be flipped. Currently there are two homes that we have seen which were purchased, renovated and are now for sale. Both homes are in the Greater Toronto Area. Let’s take a closer look:
Home #1: The first home was purchased in the spring of 2010 for $330,000 and renovated for about $30,000. The home went back on the market in the fall of 2010 for $430,000, but did not sell. The home is currently still for sale in December and the asking price is now $400,000. So let’s add it up:
Here are some costs to consider when looking at the above example. They would have paid about $1,000 for legal fees when they bought, $3,000 for land transfer tax, $7,000 in interest costs for the year, and $4,000 in property taxes. Let’s add another $2,000 to cover heat, electricity, insurance, water. If they sell, it would be another $15,000 in commission costs (The home is listed with a “full service” real estate agent), plus lawyers fees of $1,000.
So they purchased for $330,000. Reno and fees are: $63,000. This means that they have to sell it for more than $393,000 in order to break even. The home is on the market for $400,000 right now. It looks like they might break even if they can sell it for full asking price. If the market drops, they might have to take a loss.
Home #2: The other home on our “flippers watch list” was recently purchased in the fall of 2010 for $430,000 and renovated for approximately $40,000. Now the home is on the market for $560,000. We will have to keep our eye on this one…
Stay tuned for more posts about “Flipping A Home” including Tips and Do’s and Don’ts. We’ll also update you on the two homes we are watching: if they sell.
PropertySold.ca
November Canadian Real Estate Statistics
In: Real Estate News
15 Dec 2010CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association) released their November Canadian Real Estate Statistics. Some of the highlights include:
- Home sales were down 9% from November 2009
- The average price for a home rose 2% compared to November 2009
- “Seasonally adjusted” home sales rose by 4.8%
You will note in the CREA press release that they focus on the seasonally adjusted numbers. They repeatedly mention that the housing market has been firming up since July 2010. Last year November’s home sales was a record, so declining only 9% could be considered quite good.
PropertySold.ca
December is typically the slowest month for real estate sales. This is usually because buyers and sellers are buying presents, decorating their home, or cooking big turkeys. Even though it’s a slow month, it does not mean that no homes will be sold. People always need to sell or buy, regardless of the month. Here are some tips for selling your home in December:
1: Take photos before putting up the decorations: Even though you put your home up for sale in December, it might end up selling in January or February. You do not want to have holiday decorations in your photos when buyers are looking in January and February. If buyers see a Christmas Tree in your photos, they will know how long your home has been for sale: These decorations will date your home. Buyers might then think that they can get a lower price because your have been for sale for a few months.
2: Be accommodating or remove your listing: If your home is for sale, buyers will want to see it. Some people do not celebrate the holidays. Therefore, if you are a seller and your home is for sale, a buyer might want to see it on Dec 24th or Dec 25th or Dec 26th. If you do not want to accomodate showings over the holidays it might be best to simply remove your listing or at least change your description so that buyers know that you will not be showing your home on certain days.
3: Shovel your snow: Selling in the winter still involves making sure your home has curb appeal. Or at least, making sure that buyers can access your home! You want to make sure that your driveway and walkway to your front and back doors are clear. Even if you just received 10 inches of snow last night: get out there and clear it!
4: Make sure the home is toasty: One of the best feelings is coming in from the cold to a nice warm home. Selling in December is an opportunity to make that feeling happen for buyers. If you have a showing and it’s cold outside. Perhaps turn the heat up a little bit and make sure that your cold buyers get a warm toasty feeling when they enter your home. First impressions are very important.
Happy Selling!
PropertySold.ca
Canadians received their HST rebate cheques last week. The cheques were mailed or direct deposited (sometimes as “Canada Pro” or as “PROV/LOCAL GVT PYMT”). I received $335 and I’m not sure if everyone received the same amount.
It looks like this little holiday present from the Government came just in time to buy some gifts. However, this money came just before a new report from Stats Canada that says that the average Canadian household debt hit a new record. The Globe and Mail reported that “The ratio of household credit market debt-to-personal disposable income hit a record 148.1 per cent in the third quarter from 143.4 per cent in the prior quarter”. This means that for each dollar that Canadians have available to spend (disposable income), we owe $1.48 dollars.
Some people speculate that this high level of debt could have a negative effect on the housing market. One concern is that the amount of debt will keep on rising. Too much debt is never a good thing. Another concern is that if there is any increase in job-loss or any downturn in the economy, then Canadians will not be able to pay their debt.
PropertySold.ca
Remax released their forecast of the real estate market for 2011. Remax thinks that:
- Sales will decrease slightly in 2011
- Prices will rise 3% in 2011
It should not be a big surprise that Remax would issue a positive forecast for the housing market. They are a real estate company. Their agents earn commission from real estate transactions. However, what is amazing about the Remax report is how almost every newspaper in Canada wrote an article about the report. Here are some titles from December 7th, from newspapers across Canada.
“Things are looking up for Calgary real estate” CTV.ca
“Vancouver house prices keep rising” The Province
“Real estate market expected to return to traditional cycle” Daily Gleaner
“2011 housing prices to climb while sales stall” CTV.ca
“2011 housing sales to be flat: Re/Max” CBC.ca
“Housing market to slow further in 2011: RE/MAX” Toronto Sun
“Regina’s real estate market expected to remain strong in 2011: RE/MAX report” mysask.com
“Housing market to see ‘greater stability’” Globe and Mail – Steve Ladurantaye
“Calgary real estate sales and prices to improve” 660 News – Kevin Usselman
“Average Canadian housing prices to rise three per cent in 2011: Re/Max” Winnipeg Free Press
“ReMax sees positive signs for Kelowna housing sales” BCLocalNews – Kathy Michaels
“Housing demand to grow” StarPhoenix
“Home prices expected to keep rising” Montreal Gazette – Derek Abma
“Housing prices continue to climb in Regina: Remax report” 980 CJME News Talk Radio
“Vancouver to lead 2011 housing sales activity” Business in Vancouver
“Housing sales to remain static for 2011: Re/Max” Canadian Mortgage Broker News
This is just a sample of all the articles in newspaper and TV stories, from yesterday, based on the Remax report. Every major media newspaper and TV ran a story. If you read the titles of the articles, you will see that they are mostly all positive.
Now consider this: The actual stats are that real estate sales in Canada have dropped by 15-20% since June. Had it not been for a very robust 1st half of the year, sales year-to-date would have been much lower than last year. In October, the average price for a home in Canada was 1% higher than in 2009.
One problem with reporting the Remax report in every newspaper with positive titles, is that the readers sometimes think that these are the facts. In fact, my brother called me to say that he “just read the newspaper and saw the news about the “great” Real Estate market. ‘it looks like the real estate market is still red hot’”. He had no idea that the newspaper article and tv report were only based on a Remax forecast.
Perhaps at the end of 2011 we will see that the Remax report was 100% correct (or perhaps not), but should newspapers create dozens of articles based on a report issued by a company (who’s business is to make money from real estate)? Or should the newspapers quote the facts and then perhaps mention that Remax has these “opinions”? Perhaps the newspapers could research the accuracy of previous forecasts by real estate brokerages and include that data in their articles?
PropertySold.ca
Montreal was featured in the world’s top 30 cities to rebound from the economic crisis, according to a recent study, one of just four North American metropolises to make the cut.
Canada’s second largest city, Montreal snuck in at number 27 in terms of economic performance on a list of 150 major cities around the world on the Global Metro Monitor, compiled by the Brookings Institution.
“Outside the Asia/Pacific Rim metros of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Melbourne, only Austin and Montreal managed to post relatively strong performances from 2009 to 2010 among wealthier metros, and both did so while still shedding employment amid further economic restructuring,” read the report.
Other cities with denser global ties showed poorer performances due to the effect of struggling economic partners: “ … financial and business services-oriented metros such as Vancouver, Toronto, Osaka, and Tokyo tended to under-perform other metros, due perhaps to their higher degree of integration with the struggling global capital markets”.
The news comes on the heels of a housing affordability report by the Royal Bank of Canada, which shows Montreal’s year-over-year housing price gains as second only to Vancouver’s.
Average residential home prices are expected to hit $296,000, up 7% from 2009, and a further increase of 2.4% is expected for 2011. Despite the price increases, however, housing prices in Montreal remains well below the national average of $350,000.
Brisk residential resales in the first half of the year resulted in a cooler second half, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Company predicts 2011 will be ‘much less volatile’:
“The resale market will be more balanced and less and less favourable to sellers, in all segments. The condominium market will be the first to reach a balanced situation in 2011,” according to the CMHC’s Housing Outlook Conference, held in November.
Housing starts also made a strong showing in 2010, set to reach 21,400 new dwellings, up 11.2 over the previous year. Condominiums led the charge, accounting for nearly half of all housing starts, and the same is expected for 2011, though overall starts are expected to decline somewhat.
“This slowdown will be due to the decrease in starts of condominiums, which will experience an extended absorption phase, after registering a record level of activity,” said Bertrand Recher, a Seniors Market Analyst with the CMHC.
Nevertheless, at least 19,500 new housing units are expected to begin construction next year, extending Montreal’s robust growth spurt. The new dwellings will serve to house the 40,000 or so new immigrants expected to move to the city.
Montreal’s suburbs have seen the greatest influx of new condominiums, with some areas seeing increases of as much as 162% compared to just 52% in the downtown core, said David L’Heureux, another of the CMHC’s senior analysts.
Affordability and favourable interest rates are cited as the main reasons for the condominium’s popularity, along with improved transportation as public transit services expand into the outskirts of the city.
Who says that December is a slow month for real estate?
PropertySold.ca’s daily website visitors reached another record yesterday, when 21,042 people visited our site. If you have been following this blog, you will know that the number of people visiting PropertySold.ca has increased significantly over the past few months.
In August we showed that our website visitors had increased to 13,000 per day.
Our September monthly visitors were up 17% from 2009 levels.
On November 9th we set another record with 15,599 visitors.
And since then, we have increased to 16,812, 18,622, and now our current record of 21,042 visitors.
Setting records is fun! We are looking forward to a fantastic 2011!
PropertySold.ca
PropertySold.ca just showed up #1 for “Real Estate” on Google. We also show up #1 for “For Sale By Owner”. Although these results can vary from location to location, we are always happy to be “Number 1″.
When a buyer is looking for their next home, the internet is the place where they start looking. Buyers start their search online, usually with Google. Buyers also visit MLS.ca® (which came up #2 on our google search). “Real Estate” is the most popular search term. In the search that we did, there were 890 million results and PropertySold.ca was number 1. That’s quite good! We also show up number 1 for “For Sale By Owner”.
One of the main goals in selling a home is making sure that everyone sees the home for sale. You can do this by being on PropertySold.ca (You can also now be on MLS.ca® with our recent partnership: www.listmenow.ca). The first step is making sure that buyers find your home. The other steps involving having a fair price and a great looking home with desirable features.
PropertySold.ca
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their statistics for November 2010. Sales were down by 13% (6,510 sales compared to 7,446 in 2009) and the average price was up 5% to $438,030 compared to 2009. New listings also decreased by 13% which means that it is a very balanced market. These numbers indicate that the real estate market is alive and well!
Since June there has been a drop in sales in most Canadian markets, however it appears that the amount of the decrease is slowing, from mid 20% declines in the summer to only 16% in October and now only 13% in November. New listings are not really taking off, which means the supply and demand remains stable. This is leading to higher prices.
PropertySold also had stellar numbers in November. Our listings grew to 260 new homes for sale in November and our average website traffic grew to close to 19,000 per day (We received 18,959 visitors yesterday: Another record!).
Looks like the real estate market is going full steam ahead. People keep saying “what goes up, must come down”, but the November Stats certainly don’t paint that picture. We can all speculate on what will happen in 2011.
PropertySold.ca
18,622 was the number of website visitors to PropertySold.ca yesterday!!! While this seems amazing enough for us, what makes it spectacular is that our traffic on Monday was 16,812 and our traffic on Tuesday was 17,944. This is an increase of almost 1,000 new visitors per day.
All our website visitors yesterday had the first opportunity to see the Times Realty Group Inc. Real Estate Brokerage MLS® package available at listmenow.ca which also includes a Featured Listing on PropertySold.ca for only $499 + Taxes.
We feel that this is a fantastic package for the home seller who wants a flat fee mls® package in order to sell their home and not pay a high commission rate. All of our PropertySold.ca customers want to sell their home privately and still receive excellent exposure. Now our customers can choose to be on PropertySold.ca and Realtor.ca®/MLS.ca®. This ensures that the private seller’s home for sale is seen by anyone looking for a home on Realtor.ca®/Mls.ca® and anyone looking for a home for sale on PropertySold.ca, or a buyer searching on google, yahoo, bing….
All PropertySold.ca’s listings are indexed in Google and usually show up in the top search results. So if you are a seller and you want to reach buyers on the internet, a PropertySold.ca listing is a must!
PropertySold.ca
The CREA rules that were announced in October have resulted in many calls to us at PropertySold.ca. Many people are asking us about selling their home in Toronto, and other areas of Canada with a Flat Fee MLS® package. It seems that a lot of people want to be on MLS® and pay a “Flat Fee” for a mere posting or for other services.
PropertySold.ca is a Toronto based Flat Fee “For Sale By Owner” advertising company. Only a licensed real estate brokerage is able to list a property on the MLS® for a Flat Fee.
We are proud to announce our partnership with Times Realty Group Inc, a Toronto based Real Estate Brokerage. Times Realty will be offering PropertySold.ca’s customers the opportunity to list on MLS® for a flat fee of $499 + Taxes. This fee also includes a Featured Listing on PropertySold.ca, Canada’s premier For Sale By Owner real estate advertising website.
The partner brokerage will allow our customers to list on MLS® for a flat fee and still maintain their right to sell privately. If you are in the Greater Toronto Area, or anywhere else in Canada and you wish to sell your home on MLS® for a Flat Fee of $499, please feel free subscribe at ListMeNow.ca or click on the image below.
PropertySold.ca
For Sale By Owner Website Visitors Reach 16,812
In: Company News
30 Nov 2010PropertySold.ca set another record yesterday as we received 16,812 unique visitors to our website. This is up from 15,800 only 2 weeks ago. As more buyers visit our website, it improves the visibility and exposure of our properties for sale.
More Buyers = More Sold Homes
Our new listings have increased by more than 100% in November. It’s great to see our new listings coming from cities all over Canada including: Richmond Hill, Toronto, Edmonton, Brampton, Etobicoke, Halifax, Oakville, Medicine Hat, Saskatoon…
To see all our new listings, please click here.
PropertySold.ca
Canada Real Estate News
Real estate news in Canada including buy and sell information, local market updates, guides, tips for Canadians in the real estate market.