Recreational homes demand driven by Gen X

Canadians aged 36 to 51 (Gen X) are the main buyers of recreational properties according to a report from Royal LePage.

Its report profiles typical buyers as couples with children (according to 76 per cent of the advisors who responded) with Gen X making up 63 per cent while Baby Boomers (52-70 years old) making up 33 per cent.

“We found it interesting that a majority of respondents identified retirement as a driving factor for a recreational property purchase consideration, but Gen Xers, still decades from retirement, were identified as the typical buyer in the current market,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive officer, Royal LePage. “This cohort, having reached a place of stability, and often owners of primary residences in the country’s city centres, is making recreational property purchases for family enjoyment in the near-term and as a key strategy for retirement.”

Soper says that low interest rates have boosted confidence among buyers of cottages and cabins.
Asked about foreign buyers of recreational homes, almost 95 per cent of respondents said they accounted for 10 per cent or less of the purchasers with “North America” the most popular answer to international buyers’ origins (79 per cent).




Source:  http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/market-update/recreational-homes-demand-driven-by-gen-x-209361.aspx

We should be “optimistic” on the economy says BoC chief

Despite the risks from lower oil prices and the global economy, Canadians should be “optimistic” on the trajectory of the Canadian economy.

That was the view of Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz, speaking Wednesday at the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. He said that “continued patience is required” but he believes Canadians are well-placed to adapt to the changing economy, with the expectation that it will “return to natural, self-sustaining growth.”

Mr Poloz noted that consumers are still buying ‘big ticket’ items including cars and houses, spurred on by low interest rates and job creation, but noted that consumer spending may begin to slip and the bank will need to “remain alert for signs that this risk is emerging.”

The governor also reiterated the risk from high levels of household debt and said that the central bank is “growing increasingly concerned about risks in some housing markets.”




Source: http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/market-update/we-should-be-optimistic-on-the-economy-says-boc-chief-208958.aspx

Hot markets expected to cool, real estate association says

 Canadian home sales started off the year at a torrid pace, fuelled by Vancouver and Toronto, but the Canadian Real Estate Association says sales in the country's hottest markets are expected to slow in the second half in the face of high prices and a shortage of available properties.

"Activity should begin to rebalance away from B.C. and Ontario as supply shortages put upward pressure on home prices and constrain transactions even as housing demand remains strong in these provinces and interest rates remain low," the association said in its latest outlook Wednesday.

"Accordingly, sales activity over the second half of the year is expected to ease in B.C., Ontario and on a national basis."

Still, due to the strong start to the year, the association raised its full-year forecast for home sales to a record 536,400, an increase of 6.1 per cent. That compared with its March forecast calling for an increase of just one per cent to 511,400.

The new forecast came as the association reported that home sales through its MLS system dropped 2.8 per cent in May compared to the month before. But compared with a year ago, sales in May were up 9.6 per cent and stood 15.1 per cent above the 10-year average for the month.

TD Bank economist Diana Petramala said even with the drop in sales in May, the spring selling season has been a hot one for Ontario and British Columbia.

"In fact, May's decline looks more like a supply story rather than a demand story, with not enough homes on the market to fulfil what appears to be insatiable demand," Petramala said.

For May, the number of newly listed homes fell 3.2 per cent.

Waterloo Region also is experiencing a limited inventory of homes for sale. The number of active listings in Kitchener and Waterloo at the end of May was down 26.1 per cent compared to a year earlier. In Cambridge, listings were down 43.2 per cent. The housing market in Hamilton and Halton is also hot.

The national sales-to-new-listings ratio climbed to 64.8 per cent in May, suggesting a seller's market and the highest reading since October 2009.

The real estate association says a ratio between 40 and 60 per cent is generally consistent with a balanced market.

The national average price of a home sold in May was $509,460, up 13.2 per cent from a year ago.

Excluding Vancouver and Toronto, the average price for a home sold in May was $375,532, up 9.1 per cent from May 2015. The average price for Canada, excluding the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, was $310,007 in May, down 0.7 per cent year over year.

The average sale price in Kitchener and Waterloo last month was $378,248, up 7.3 per cent from a year earlier. In Cambridge, it was $377,779, up 12.6 per cent.

Last week, the Bank of Canada warned that house prices in Vancouver and Toronto were climbing at an unsustainable pace and that they had outpaced local economic fundamentals.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6725115-hot-markets-expected-to-cool-real-estate-association-says/

Housing crisis "a real drag" on Canadian economy - Trudeau

The seemingly unstoppable growth of home prices in Canada’s hottest markets is proving to be a millstone around the economy’s neck, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
 
Speaking to BNN in an exclusive interview, the premier said that the overheated real estate sector is limiting not only the country’s economic strength but also the options available to consumers.
 
“Rising home prices, uncertainty around being able to buy your first home or upgrade as you want to grow a family is a real drag on our economy and a real drag on Canadians’ opportunities,” Trudeau said, adding that the Liberal administration is already taking a closer look at the market forces spurring on home price growth in Vancouver and Toronto.
 
Among the sectors most frequently blamed for the out-of-control markets are foreign buyers, but Trudeau emphasized that a circumspect approach to the issue is of utmost importance.
 
“We have to draw in foreign investment,” he stated. “But the way we welcome foreign investment is by having clear predictable frameworks, and by being unabashed about making sure that it’s in the interest of Canadians, of Canadian jobs, of Canadian economic growth and prosperity.”
 
“When you talk about federal government action we have such heavy levers that impact the entire country; we have to be very careful about how we engage,” Trudeau added.
 
The remarks came in the wake of the release of May sales numbers, which showed that the benchmark price of an average home in Vancouver has grown by 30 per cent on a year-over-year basis (up to $889,100). Meanwhile, the cost of a similar home in Toronto increased by 15 per cent (up to $635,700) over the same period.





Source: http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/news/housing-crisis-a-real-drag-on-canadian-economy--trudeau-208730.aspx

Cambridge house prices jump 12.6 per cent

 A tight supply of listings continues to fuel big house price increases in Cambridge.

The average sale price increased 12.6 per cent to $377,779, compared to a year earlier, the Cambridge Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

The average price for all homes sold in the first five months of the year rose 9.4 per cent to $363,461.

The inventory of homes for sale continues to be extremely tight. In fact, the association said it is trending near record lows.

There were 500 active listings at the end of May, down 43.2 per cent from a year earlier. New listings during the month fell 17.5 per cent to 448.

The association said the inventory of homes stood at 1.5 months at the end of May, meaning it would take 1 ½ months to sell the current inventory at the current rate of sales. There were 2.5 months of inventory a year ago.

The association recorded 333 sales in May, down 5.4 per cent from a year ago.

"Home sales may have been down a bit from the all-time monthly record set last May, but May 2016 still saw the second largest number of transactions in any month in history, so the market remains very activity despite a growing shortage of supply," association president Karlis Bite said in a news release.

Last week, the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors said it recorded 752 residential sales in May, a record for the month. The average sale price increased 7.3 per cent to $378,248.

 

 

Source: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6713390-cambridge-house-prices-jump-12-6-per-cent/

5 Ways Sellers Sabotage Their Own Sale

Selling your home? Every seller wants the same thing: to sell their house for the mostmoney possible, as quickly as possible. This is exactly what your real estate agent wants too. That said, there are usually two things keeping this from happening: price and condition.

Price and condition are always the deciding factors for buyers, and they also affect the amount they may offer. Luckily for you, these are also the only two things you have control over!

So let’s take a look at the top five mistakes you may be making if your home hasn’t sold yet.

Mistake #1: Thinking your house is special.

As a homeowner, you are proud of your home. You might even think it’s superior to all others in your neighborhood. This might be because of the time and money you spent remodeling it. Perhaps you hand-picked every slat of Brazilian Hardwood and personally laid it, or chose a ridiculously expensive gold leaf wallpaper that you just had to have. You may assume if you spend a lot of money on bells and whistles, that MUST make it worth more, right? Wrong.

Buyers are looking at your home, trying to envision it as their home. They’re easily distracted by your loud, hot pink bedroom walls and won’t consider that it was a custom color made to match the loud pink zebra comforter and matching curtains. They’re also mentally calculating how much money they need to spend to refinish those hardwood floors, repaint and have that wallpaper removed.

You must understand your house isn’t special to anyone but you, so it’s always best to cater to buyers by showing them your home’s cleanest, most neutral face. You need to clean your home until it shines, ditch the clutter, paint, make needed repairs, and keep up with your landscaping.

You need to trust your real estate agent  on where to price your home. And remember one important thing: Just because you spent $50,000 on a kitchen remodel doesn’t mean you’re getting every penny back (despite what your shoebox full of receipts might be telling you).

Mistake #2: Thinking you’re a salesperson.

As a seller you may think you’re being helpful by sticking around during showings to help agents and potential buyers see how special your home is. You might think the buyer’s agent can’t possibly know how to showcase your home as well as you can, or have any clue what the really important things are to point out.

So you stick around, you smile super big and you’re super nice to everyone. You point out the hardwood floors, custom wallpaper and things that you love about the house, becauseyou are a better salesperson than some real estate agent who has never lived there, right? Wrong!

Actually, you’re not coming off as super nice, but annoying (at best) and more than likely cocky or creepy (hey, just telling it like it is). While gushing over all the things you love, those may be the very things the buyer hates.

The best thing to do is leave the house and give the buyers some space. Buyers want privacy. They don’t want to be cornered into awkward small talk with the homeowner or feel rushed when making the most expensive purchase of their life.

Mistake #3: Thinking they will come back.

Imagine you had a long day at work. It’s a hot, muggy day. Your car’s air-conditioning is acting up, making you stick to your seats on your longer-than-usual commute home. Your kids are bickering and everyone is starving. Then your phone rings. It’s your real estate agent calling with a last-minute showing request… in ten minutes. This is NOT what you need right now, but you want to sell your house.

You have two choices. Option A: plead for the showing to be rescheduled, because you mistakenly assume the buyers and their agent will gladly rearrange their schedule around yours and come back.

Or, Option B, remind yourself that you want your home sold, and these buyers may only have the next hour or so to see as many homes as possible before making a decision because they’re relocating from out of state (or whatever their unique situation may be).

Never, ever, go with Option A.

No matter how you feel or what kind of day you’re having, you need to be accommodating. Sometimes you just have to bend over backwards. Buyers hold all the power because they’re the ones with the money and ability to make your dream of selling come true.

So as you load up your hungry, fussy kids, you smile and wave as you back out of the driveway and head to the nearest drive-through. You’ve made the right decision! You realize you must suck it up and make your house available… even when you really don’t want to, because buyers will rarely come back at a better time.

Mistake #4: Not being willing to negotiate.

So you got an offer on your home, and you accepted it! Congrats! Regardless of how long your home had been on the market or what the final terms are, this is exciting because it means all the showings are over and you’re roughly 30 days away from closing.

After the home inspection, the buyers ask for some repairs to be made, or possibly for you to purchase a home warranty for them or assistance with closing costs.

Most buyers will ask for those things; it’s nothing to get bent out of shape over.

This is where you, the seller, need to be willing to meet in the middle and show the buyer that you’re serious about selling. Otherwise you risk your deal falling apart and being stuck with the house which you’ll eventually shell out more money to fix anyway.

Sure, you can always re-list your home, but it may sit on the market for 30, 60, 90 days or more. Meanwhile you’ll have to deal with more showings, keeping the house spic & span, and losing sleep due to the anxiety of the unknown.

Please remember that this pending sale on your home has contingencies, and it could fall apart for a number of reasons. The appraisal is one contingency; the home inspection is another. Both of them may require you to be flexible and willing to negotiate. If you aren’t and the deal falls apart, then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Also, your first offer is usually your best offer, and oftentimes your only offer. Once you secure an interested buyer, you need to trust your agent and work with them and your buyers to get the home sold and not waste time on bickering over a $100 light fixture or $400 home warranty.

Mistake #5: Pets.

Last but not least, not everyone is a pet lover. Many people are allergic to cats or dogs, or have sensitive noses that can smell urine and stinky litter boxes on the other side of the house.

When you’re selling your house and you have pets, you really need to make the home look and smell as if no pets ever stepped foot in it. Your cat’s favorite spot on the couch that’s coated with 4 inches of matted fur needs to get scraped off (with a lint roller a few hundred times if need be). The food bowls, cat trees, pet toys, pet beds, scratching posts, cat condos, etc. need to be out of sight too. So do the fur babies themselves.

Before you leave, make sure your backyard is free of landmines. You may as well put Whiskers’ litter box in a garbage bag and store it in the garage or closet or someplace out of sight and smell.

When a buyer leaves, they’ll remember their first impression, so you want it to be a good one. Pet odor can be a deal breaker, even if everything else about your home is perfect.

To summarize…

Your home isn’t particularly special to anyone but you, so keep it clean and showing beautifully and as neutral as possible at all times. Don’t try to be the real estate agent (i.e., be sure to leave the house during showings), and take the pets with you! Don’t assume that buyers will bend over backwards to see your house—you need to do the bending, and you need to be flexible with negotiations too.

If you follow this advice, you shouldn’t have a hard time selling quickly and you’ll avoid the unnecessary stress that many sellers endure because they become their own worst enemy by sabotaging their own sale.

 

Source:  http://lightersideofrealestate.com/real-estate-life/5-ways-sellers-sabotage-sale?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=The%20Lighter%20Side%20of%20Real%20Estate&utm_content=5%20Ways%20Sellers%20Sabotage%20Their%20Own%20Sale

High prices, low inventory fuelling strong real estate market

If you're looking to sell your house, there may be no better time than the present to put it on the market.

Prices are high and inventories are low in Waterloo Region, with multiple offers and quick sales becoming more and more common this spring.

And although analysts with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. are forecasting that home sales and prices will both remain strong through 2016, there's a belief that prices won't rise nearly as quickly next year.

"We'll more than likely see a pretty significant deceleration in price growth," Ted Tsiakopoulos, the corporation's Ontario regional economist, said at a Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors luncheon on Wednesday.

So far this year, the resale market in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area has seen sales rise 13.9 per cent and prices jump 6.6 per cent over last year's numbers, said Erica McLerie, a senior market analyst with the agency.

Growth is especially strong in properties priced above $350,000, a sign that the local market is becoming a more popular option for buyers being priced out of the Toronto area.

"The homes in Kitchener are, let's say, more affordable," McLerie said.

Listings, though, are in short supply, with April's statistics showing 29.4 per cent fewer active residential listings on K-W association's Multiple Listing System than in April 2015.

"The market is a bit of a two-headed beast," said association president Charlotte Zawada. "If you are a seller, this is a great time to sell."

This year, 33 per cent of association sales have gone above the asking price, while seven per cent have met that price.

While a multiple offer scenario might yield a surprisingly high price for a seller, it can lead to some anxious moments waiting to see if the buyer can secure the necessary financing, Zawada said.

Some prospective buyers might prefer to avoid this kind of market altogether, she said. High prices are also keeping some first-time buyers out of the resale market.

On the flip side, many baby boomers are working later in life and aren't moving — one of the reasons there aren't as many homes being listed, McLerie said.

New home sales are benefiting from the tight resale market, and even though new home prices are rising as well, it's not happening at the same speed as on the resale side, she said.

On the national resale scene, Ontario and British Columbia "are leading the pack in a big way when you look at regional activity," Tsiakopoulos said.

Ontario has seen broader strength, primarily in the southern and southwestern regions, while B.C. is very much a Vancouver story, he said.

Economic and employment growth in those two provinces is driving the market; it's a different story in places like Alberta and Atlantic Canada, Tsiakopoulos said.

While prices in Ontario and B.C. are expected to keep rising above the rate of inflation for the foreseeable future, any hike in interest rates would dampen sales activity, he said.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6702607-high-prices-low-inventory-fuelling-strong-real-estate-market/#.V1AlCcIL1B8.gmail