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Real eState
Edmonton leads with percentage of homes listed below $200,000
Homes below this mark are becoming ‘unicorns’ in many Canadian mid-size cities.
Edmonton is arguably a steal of a deal when it comes to low-cost real estate among Canada’s major cities, a recent study shows.
The report by Point2 — an online real estate search portal — found nearly 19 per cent of Edmonton’s resale market listings in April were priced below $200,000.
“All of the stuff $200,000 and under is drawing a lot of investors.”
Most are coming from the Greater Toronto Area, she adds.
In contrast to Edmonton, only 0.04 per cent of Toronto listings were priced below $200,000, the study shows.
Overall, the Point2’s findings show homes less than $200,000 are in short supply in most markets across Canada, and largely non-existent in many mid-sized cities like Victoria, Coquitlam and Oshawa.
Cities in Atlantic Canada are outliers, however. For example, nearly 45 per cent of listings in Cape Breton, N.S., were priced less than $200,000.
Markets in the Prairie provinces also have higher shares of listings under $200,000, led by Regina at nearly 29 per cent. Winnipeg had the second highest share at 19.86 per cent, and Edmonton ranked third at 18.56 per cent.
In Calgary, only about four per cent of listings were priced less than $200,000 in April.
Despite the study showing Edmonton still has a significant supply of relatively low-cost listings compared with other major cities, the number of homes priced for less than $200,000 has been falling since 2019, especially with respect to single-family detached homes.
As of mid-June, the city had 39 single-family homes for sale, he adds.
“Overall, we are seeing the floor for pricing rise in Edmonton much like the rest of Canada.”
Neighbourhoods like McCauley and Parkdale are among the few communities with single-family detached homes still listing for under $200,000, he adds.
“There can be some good values in these communities, but buyers should be very careful … as these properties often have often not been maintained to the same level as (homes) that are priced higher.”
In short, their low price generally reflects their poor condition.
The market for condominiums listed under $200,000 is much more active in Edmonton, says McPhillamey.
She points to 279 sales in the last 30 days (ending June 15), including 67 townhomes.
One concern with condominiums in this price range is monthly fees, she adds.
“These costs can increase every year and may eat into the equity of the property, leading to its value remaining flat over time or decreasing.”
McPhillamey also cautions first-time buyers hunting in this price range seeking to purchase a condominium as a stepping-stone to build equity to help for the eventual move-up purchase of a bigger home. While that may work well in Toronto, where condominium apartments are the predominant housing stock due to land constraints, Edmonton is a much different market, she says.
“Edmonton’s supply is very elastic because we have so much space to still grow while detached home prices remain relatively cheap compared to other large cities.”
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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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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