Real eState

London-area home sales plunge but prices rise

Published

2 years ago

March 5, 2023

London-area home sales fell off a cliff last month, with area realtors recording the fewest sales in nearly 30 years, the latest market snapshot shows.

For sale signs in front of three homes on Springmeadow Road in London on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

London-area home sales fell off a cliff last month, with area realtors recording the fewest sales in nearly 30 years, the latest market snapshot shows.

Only 436 homes were sold last month, the fewest in February since 1995, London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) reported Friday.

But in a surprising turn, the average resale price of a home increased for the first time in nearly a year.

According to LSTAR, the average price of a home was $621,000 in February, up $36,000 from January’s $585,000. But it was still 24 per cent lower than February 2022, when prices hit a record high of about $825,000.

The two trends, prices rising while sales slump, underscore the uncertainty buyers face amid rising interest rates and persistent inflation, said Adam Miller, LSTAR’s president.

“The buyers are out there looking, but they’re just waiting to see what the economy is going to do over the next couple of months,” he said.

“Some were waiting to see if . . . the market was going to go down, and we didn’t see that in London . . . So I think that also kind of factored in a bit into the confusion with buyers.”

Calling February’s sales total “worrisome,” Miller said the local market’s behaviour will depend on the Bank of Canada’s next rate moves. The central bank’s decision to start raising interest rates last spring put the brakes on what had been a booming real estate market.

“I don’t think we’ll see a rebound in March,” he predicted. “I think it will be a low month, but if the Bank of Canada decides not to increase interest rates . . . I think we’ll see a bit of a shift of the spring market to almost an early summer market.”

February’s poor sales followed a slow month in January, when only 344 homes sold. That was the worst January since 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis.

Besides rising interest rates, a drop in the number of out-of-town buyers, who helped fuel a booming housing market in recent years, also is contributing to the home sales slump, industry insiders say.

“Those Toronto buyers, if they’re not here, that makes a big difference,” said Phil Bailey, a real estate agent with HouseSigma Brokerage.

“There were homes that I sold where nine out of 10 offers were coming from the (Greater Toronto Area). Now you may only have one offer from the GTA.”

Properties that once sold in days now take 30 to 60 days to sell, he added.

“That in itself isn’t actually that abnormal,” Bailey said. “But when you compare it to what was happening in January . . . or February of 2022, it’s a vast change.”

jjuha@postmedia.com

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Real eState

National housing market in ‘holding pattern’ as buyers patient for lower rates: CREA

Published

20 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Real eState

Two Quebec real estate brokers suspended for using fake bids to drive up prices

Published

6 days ago

September 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Real eState

Montreal home sales, prices rise in August: real estate board

Published

2 weeks ago

September 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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