Sellers seize on rate drop to enter housing market
When the Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate in early June, some industry watchers predicted that the move would re-energize buyers in the Toronto-area real estate market. Instead, it’s the sellers who have been galvanized into action, writes Carolyn Ireland. Realtors say there’s been a large increase in the number of new listings in the Toronto area, especially condos in the downtown core. Potential buyers are wary of buying a unit today that they are betting may be cheaper a few months from now, and sellers should hold off from posting new listings unless they’re really desperate. Industry analysts at Urbanation Inc. estimate more than 26,000 condo units in the Greater Toronto Area will reach completion in 2024, which could ease pressure and lower prices even further.
Family gifts ‘becoming the norm’ for young homebuyers looking to afford a down payment
According to a new study by CIBC, found that nearly a third of first-time buyers now rely on family gifts to provide or enhance a down payment, with the size of their average parental cash injection now past the six-figure mark, writes Erica Alini. The analysis finds that 31 per cent of recent first-time homebuyers this year have received a gift for their down payment, up from 20 per cent in 2015. The average amount of the financial aid has also soared, reaching $115,000, 73 per cent above 2019 levels. A growing share of existing homeowners are also tapping their parents’ purse to be able to upsize to a larger property. According to one of the authors, ever-larger and more prevalent down payment gifts are a symptom of just how out of reach home ownership is for many young people.
A CIBC analysis shows that 31 per cent of recent first-time homebuyers this year have received a gift for their down payment, up from 20 per cent in 2015.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
New homes to rise out of ashes of collapsed builder Stateview
As the fallout from the collapse of real estate developer Stateview Homes continues to work its way through the courts, some of its unfinished Ontario townhouse projects are about to spring back to life under new owners, writes Shane Dingman. But hundreds of buyers who initially placed deposits with Stateview in the years before the company filed for insolvency in May, 2023, say they’ve been left behind as the projects change hands. In all, more than 765 homebuyers gave Stateview more than $77-million in deposits for unbuilt townhouses and detached homes across the Toronto region, which the company already spent. The court order approving the sale of Stateview’s former assets pre-emptively cancelled the contracts of all those buyers, however, one of the companies taking over Stateview’s former projects say they intend to offer returning customers some special incentives and support.
Opinion: Vancouver housing troubles make for hot summer reading
A recent report ranks Vancouver as the world’s third most “impossibly unaffordable” city, behind Hong Kong and Sydney. How the city’s housing has become so unattainable for local income earners is a constant debate, as is how to fix it, writes Kerry Gold. Just in time for summer, the authors behind three books have their own theories and solutions for Vancouver’s housing market – from looking at answers in other cities, inequality in land values and the city’s evolution away from a sleepy but charming port town. One author says that with effort and ingenuity, Vancouver could find affordability again.
The property – located on Read Island, just east of Vancouver Island – is completely off-grid, usually requiring a boat ride from the Campbell River or a trip on a float plane to arrive. The primary home itself was once a fairly basic house back when it was built in the nineties, but the previous owners added a large bedroom facing the water. There are also two buildings designed purely for entertainment: a Japanese-style teppanyaki tea house and a large separated party room in a clearing off the woods, featuring a wood-fired stove and pizza oven. The previous owners say the getaway is also the perfect fishing spot, with everything from chinook salmon and ling cod to trapping crab and shrimp. And if you’re lucky, you might spot a pod of orcas.
What do you think is the asking price for the property?
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.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
