Canadian Housing Market

[Yellow Fever]

Even renting a place in metro vancouver is expensive. One bedroom of 500 sq feet could be varied from $700 to over $2,000 a month depends on the locations and how well the units are being maintained.

[mondo condo]

Hey, I'm doing a research project, and am hoping to find some information about housing prices in the 3 major cities, broken down by neighbourhood, thanks!

[Yellow Fever]

Top 10 least expensive cities to buy a home


According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, homes cost 7.7 per cent more in August this year than they did in August of last year. There are some places, however, where home prices have stayed low. Here are the country's most affordable real estate markets


Canada

July '11: $349,916 *
Change (year-over-year): + 7.7%
Number of units sold: 39,542
Change (year-over-year): + 15.8%
Source: CREA


10. Gatineau CMA

August '11: $238,312
Change from August '10: + 8.3%
Number of units sold: 336
Change from August '10: - 2.9%
Source: CREA


9. Winnipeg

August '11: $236,306
Change from August '10: + 6.2%
Number of units sold: 1,205
Change from August '10: + 26.2%


8. London and St. Thomas

August '11: $227,038
Change from August '10: + 1.5%
Number of units sold: 783
Change from August '10: + 23.1%


7. Sherbrooke CMA

August '11: $222,758
Change from August '10: + 12.1%
Number of units sold: 135
Change from August '10: + 25%


6. Sudbury

August '11: $221,451
Change from August '10: - 0.4%
Number of units sold: 240
Change from August '10: + 6.2%

5. Saguenay CMA

August '11: $188,781
Change from August '10: + 15.1%
Number of units sold: 122
Change from August '10: + 19.6%


4. Thunder Bay

August '11: $172,307
Change from August '10: + 6.6%
Number of units sold: 229
Change from August '10: + 9.6%


3. Saint John

August '11: $169,024
Change from August '10: - 2.8%
Number of units sold: 146
Change from August '10: - 7.0%


2. Windsor-Essex

August '11: $163,963
Change from August '10: + 1.2%
Number of units sold: 478
Change from August '10: + 13.5%


1. Trois Rivières CMA

August '11: $154,284
Change from August '10: + 1.4%
Number of units sold: 77
Change from August '10: + 42.6%

[Yellow Fever]

Vancouver home prices lead nation; bungalows average $1.02 million, survey finds


By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun October 5, 2011 7:28 PM


Big sale prices on homes in Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhoods pushed the city’s average prices up steeply on realty firm Royal LePage’s third-quarter survey of Canadian home values.

Royal LePage said Wednesday the average price for a detached bungalow in Vancouver rose 17 per cent to $1.02 million in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, which the firm noted is nearly three times the national average of $349,974 for that type of property.

For the purposes of the survey, Royal LePage said Vancouver is defined as including Vancouver’s west side and east side, West Vancouver and North Vancouver.

A standard Vancouver two-storey home was up 16.9 per cent in the third quarter on Royal LePage’s measure to $1.142 million, but the price of a standard Vancouver condominium was up just 5.1 per cent to $513,500, which was still twice the national average for a condominium.

However, the averages mask considerable variability between markets around Metro Vancouver, according to Bill Binnie, managing agent for Royal LePage North Shore.

“One could draw the wrong conclusion if you just singled out West Vancouver, Vancouver west-side and Richmond because price increases there are far greater than in other areas,” Binnie said in an interview.....


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz1ZyWsUXPI

[Taller, Better]

Frankly, if I outright owned a bungalow in Vancouver I would sell it for a cool million, invest the money and rent for the rest of my life.

[Yellow Fever]

what kind of investment you can do in order to make a quick return other than real estate in Vancouver? And it would become a full cycle again if you sold your house and bought another one.

[koolio]

You can always start a ponzi scheme.

[yin_yang]

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

what kind of investment you can do in order to make a quick return other than real estate in Vancouver? And it would become a full cycle again if you sold your house and bought another one.

stocks! right now, ford motor company is a great buy, you'll probably double your money in a year (judging by p/e ratio)! or oncology start-ups!

[Yellow Fever]

Housing bubble is really a balloon: BMO's Sherry Cooper



By Robert Hiltz, Postmedia News January 30, 2012


OTTAWA — It's not a bubble, it's a balloon. Unlike the catastrophic decline the U.S. housing market experienced in 2008, Canada's housing market is expected to deflate slowly rather than pop, according to BMO Capital Markets chief economist Sherry Cooper.


Cooper's report says that despite rising household debt, low interest rates and rising home prices, it is unlikely that a sudden correction will take place.


"The main take-away is that the national housing market appears somewhat pricey, but is far removed from bubble territory," Cooper said in the report, titled Will Canada's Housing Boom Forge On, Fizzle Out, or Flame Out?


The study, co-authored by BMO senior economist Sal Guatieri, says that despite rising home prices in most of Canada's major cities, that growth doesn't seem to be excessive.


On average, home prices have risen 104 per cent in the last 10 years. Along with that, the average price of a home has risen against the average income in Canada. In 2001 the price-to-income ratio was 3.2 nationally, rising to 4.9 in 2011......

Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Housi...#ixzz1l0XR0MwH

[Yellow Fever]

Vancouver's housing market unlikely to face significant price correction: expert


Banks tightening lending standards to avoid U.S.-style housing correction


Bloomberg, Reuters and Vancouver SunFebruary 9, 2012 5:50 PM


While Canada’s banks are tightening lending standards in a move to avoid a U.S.-style housing correction, experts say Vancouver’s robust housing market isn’t expected to face a severe price correction.

Canada’s banks are in talks with the federal government about ways to curb mortgage lending in response to a “genuine concern” about the country’s housing boom and rising consumer debt levels, said TD Bank chief executive officer Edmund Clark.

“Household debt numbers are coming up to U.S. levels, so that is causing us a concern,” said Clark.

The banks have responded by restricting some lending and raising prices on higher-risk borrowers.

TD Bank joined Royal Bank of Canada this week in ending a promotional 2.99 per cent four-year mortgage rate, three weeks before it was set to expire.

Although the Vancouver housing market may be out of equilibrium, a significant correction is not expected, said Tsur Somerville, director at the University of B.C. Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business.....


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz1lxKPwrBJ

[CanadianDemon]

Why don't we just remove rent control and add stricter investing regulation when it comes to housing?

It makes sense.

[Huhu]

If China's economy hits the skids hard and the US and Europe continue to struggle, then the tide might finally go out on Vancouver's property market and we'll see who isn't wearing pants.

[Bond James Bond]

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

[Taller, Better]

The article sounds like a bit of wishful thinking, to be honest. More likely to be a correction than the crash so breathlessly predicted in that article.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

The article sounds like a bit of wishful thinking, to be honest. More likely to be a correction than the crash so breathlessly predicted in that article.

You must have loved the recent Maclean's feature - the house in flames on the cover was a nice touch!

[Taller, Better]

I think the only decent thing to do with any copy of Maclean's involves flames!

[oceanmdx]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

The article sounds like a bit of wishful thinking, to be honest. More likely to be a correction than the crash so breathlessly predicted in that article.

I'm not going to suggest that housing prices won't drop.... however: mortgage payments are at historic norms relative to incomes... that's a critically important fact that all of these doom and gloom articles fail to mention (or don't even know about)... All they want to do is harp about how prices are very high relative to incomes... that's true, but it's only one fact taken in isolation. Another foolish thing they do is to harp about debt levels without considering the assets tied to that debt. A lot of the debt is mortgage debt. What's wrong with being in debt due to having a $300,000 mortgage on a house that is worth $750,000?

Another logical error these idiots continue to make (can't they ever learn) is to compare US and Canadian housing markets, and suggest: gee whiz, since Canadians are piling on debt like Americans did a few years ago, their prices will have to crash at some point too. It's like as those an American with a $300,000 mortgage (on a house that was worth $300,000), and a Canadian with a $300,000 mortgage (house worth $750,000) are in the same position financially. A duh!

They also like to talk about a Toronto supply glut... If there is such a glut, why has Toronto's vacancy rate been dropping?

Bottom line: As long is interest rates don't go up significantly, we are unlikely to see any significant price drop in Canadian housing. On the other hand, interest rates will have to move up at some juncture... if they go up very slowly, then prices adjustments should not be disruptive.

[AndrewJM3D]

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

Vancouver home prices lead nation; bungalows average $1.02 million, survey finds


By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun October 5, 2011 7:28 PM


Big sale prices on homes in Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhoods pushed the city’s average prices up steeply on realty firm Royal LePage’s third-quarter survey of Canadian home values.

Royal LePage said Wednesday the average price for a detached bungalow in Vancouver rose 17 per cent to $1.02 million in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, which the firm noted is nearly three times the national average of $349,974 for that type of property.

For the purposes of the survey, Royal LePage said Vancouver is defined as including Vancouver’s west side and east side, West Vancouver and North Vancouver.

A standard Vancouver two-storey home was up 16.9 per cent in the third quarter on Royal LePage’s measure to $1.142 million, but the price of a standard Vancouver condominium was up just 5.1 per cent to $513,500, which was still twice the national average for a condominium.

However, the averages mask considerable variability between markets around Metro Vancouver, according to Bill Binnie, managing agent for Royal LePage North Shore.

“One could draw the wrong conclusion if you just singled out West Vancouver, Vancouver west-side and Richmond because price increases there are far greater than in other areas,” Binnie said in an interview.....


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business...#ixzz1ZyWsUXPI

That's really not good considering the average household income sits like Toronto right on the national average.

[hkskyline]

Offshore buyers pricing Canadians out of housing market
Toronto bungalow sells for $421,800 over asking price in market's 'new reality'
CBC
Posted: Mar 15, 2012 6:53 AM ET
Excerpt



Overseas investors are snapping up properties in Canada's largest cities, driving up prices and pushing ordinary Canadians out of the housing market, observers say.

Real estate experts call it the "new reality," and the high price paid for a north Toronto bungalow is the latest evidence.

This month, the three-bedroom bungalow, circa the 1960s and without much updating, sold for $421,800 over the asking price, creating a buzz among agents and other buyers.

Located in Willowdale, where similar detached houses typically sell for just short of $900,000, the bungalow at 300 Dudley Ave. was listed at $759,000.

The winning bid of $1,180,800 came from a university student whose parents live in China and own a business in San Francisco. There were four other bids of more than $1 million.

************************************************

"There's a lot of anger among Canadians who earn money here that they've been priced out of the market. There is some degree of anxiety about how people are going to compete with these hyper-inflated prices."

Adelson declined to discuss the specifics of the Willowdale deal, citing client confidentiality.

************************************************

Property markets in other large cities, such as Vancouver and Calgary, are undergoing similar pricing shocks, he said.

“We’re looking at this through a prism of our expectations growing up in Canada in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, when part of the Canadian dream was that you would own your own single-family home," Hlinka said. "But as Canada matures, we’re going to be looking at a new reality, where that may be out of reach. And I don’t think you can turn back the clock.”

************************************************
The scarcity of the product — in this case, single detached homes — is key, he said. And as the Toronto population grows and land available for new houses becomes scarce, the competition for these homes will become even more intense.

Condos are the alternative. Already, they're the norm for families wanting to live in the central cores of cities such as New York and Chicago, he said.

"It's an illusion for people to think they can live in downtown Toronto in a detached home and not be wealthy," Lamb said. "Ordinary people can't live in central London or central Paris or central New York.

"If you want to live in central Toronto, you're going to have to live in a condo or be a millionaire. That's the reality. ... It's not a bad thing. It's the way cities evolve."

************************************************

As more people get exposure to Canada as an offshoot of globalization, the overseas investor market will rise, Hlinka said. As an instructor at George Brown College in Toronto, he has seen an explosion in the number of foreign students.

“When their parents come to visit, they get an idea of what real estate costs here, and they can’t believe how cheap it is. They want to buy because they think it’s a bargain.”

************************************************

Canada’s stable government and banking system and the relatively low prices draw investors, he said, pointing out that while condos in downtown Toronto can sell for $800 per square foot, in Beijing, the price is $2,000 per square foot and in Hong Kong it's double that.

Moreover, to control prices, the Chinese government allows each family there to bank finance only two properties — one to live in and one to invest in — and buyers must pay 100 per cent cash for anything above the two-property limit, Ma said.

Not only are prices in Canada more affordable, homes and condos are a better value proposition, since they come ready to move into, unlike in China, where buyers get a concrete shell they have to pay to finish, he said.

“So they see an $8 million house here, they see the quality, they see the finishes and they think it’s cheap," Ma said. "They can move in today.”

Vancouver tops the list with Chinese investors because of the city’s temperate climate and proximity to their homeland, he added.

************************************************

Adelson said the Yonge Street corridor between Highway 401 and Finch Avenue is in demand because of the subway and its proximity to York University and Seneca College. Along with a thriving retail strip and a planned new Whole Foods, 10 new condominium projects are in the works.

The area is a magnet for certain ethnic groups, including people from the Middle East and China, Adelson said.

"It's a cultural thing. Their communities are already there. If you go down to the Danforth, their stores are not there, so that's not as attractive a location for them."

The area is also rife with redevelopment as builders tear down older homes and replace them with monster houses or two smaller units.

************************************************

Only pockets of Toronto are of interest to overseas investors, including North York and the downtown core and not areas like Leslieville in the east end, Adelson said. Although that neighbourhood is considererd hot and the property values are rising, it has not experienced the overheated bidding wars seen farther north.

[Taller, Better]

Just condensed quotes of a small paragraph or two with links to the original in the Canadian forums, please!