Think housing prices in Pelham might abate just a smidgin in 2022? Think again.
The number of homes on the market may be down from last year, but the prices are up. Way up.
A house recently offered for sale in Fonthill, listed below $900,000, sold for $1.2 million.
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data indicates that 16 homes were sold in Pelham in January 2021 at an average price of $844,000. In January of 2022, 13 sold at an average price of $1.074 million, a jump of 27 percent.
Across Niagara, house sales were down ten percent this January compared to January last year, but the average selling price skyrocketed by 33 percent to $749,000.
Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) president Doug Rempel, of Bosley Real Estate in Niagara on the Lake, represents NAR’s 1400 members. He laughs when he reads pronouncements from media pundits who suggest that a housing bubble is about to burst.
“Nothing could be farther from reality,” said Rempel. “2021 surpassed our expectations, and there are solid indications that we should be optimistic and confident about sales in 2022.”
Interest rates on mortgages, one of the best influencers of real estate sales, are projected to stay historically low, even if they rise slightly in the second and third quarters of 2022. The supply of homes on the market may continue to wane, but Niagara remains an attractive retirement option for buyers from the GTA and other parts of the province where housing is more expensive. And with low supply and high demand, Rempel thinks that prices will continue their upward trend, reaching possibly a ten percent increase from 2021. The pandemic caused some homeowners to delay stepping into the market, but as winter fades, many realtors expect to see growth in supply, he said.
“I think that we’re going to see much more multi-generational living in the future,” said Rempel. “It’s nothing new, because historically that was the pioneer experience, and practised by many new arrivals to the country. Baby Boomers, who traditionally have downsized as they age, are choosing to renovate the homes, making room for either family members or caregivers. Millennials are starting families and preferring home ownership over rentals, and are competing for a much reduced pool of properties.”
Millennials are starting families and preferring home ownership over rentals, and are competing for a much reduced pool of properties
Housing affordability has been at crisis levels for the past couple years, prompting Ontario Premier Doug Ford to appoint a task force to deal with the issue. A boost in the supply of homes is part of the solution, and the government has proclaimed that it is committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the next ten years.
Another potential panacea is to relax certain municipal zoning rules in urban neighbourhoods, which currently ban anything but single-family homes. Though this approach helps municipalities reach provincial density targets, it prompts pushback from many residents who feel that the move would negatively affect the character of their residential area.
Last fall, Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, in full election mode, said that his party would ban blind-bidding on home sales, a practise that some believe drives up prices. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) immediately fired back at the proposal, arguing that a ban would infringe on the rights of sellers, and that housing prices are driven fundamentally by supply and demand.
Pelham has the second highest overall housing prices in the region, topped only by Niagara-on-the-Lake. It comes as no surprise to Rempel, who sees Pelham as a very desirable community.
“I remember many years ago, friends who worked in customer services in the aviation industry said that a whole group of Air Canada pilots and support staff had discovered Fonthill, and had established something of a new-resident beachhead,” said Rempel. “My wife and I came to visit, and really enjoyed the ambiance.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
