Media Roundup Real Estate News Is a condo a good investment? (Globe and Mail) Condo research can keep you from a 'time bomb' (Globe and Mail)   They don't pay off their houses like they used to (Globe and Mail) Easy credit, soaring prices raise new housing fears (Globe and Mail)   Housing market hot, but will it last? (Toronto Star) Toronto home prices to keep rising (Toronto Star) Sales of GTA luxury homes inch higher amid recession (Toronto Star) Pricey homes ride out recession (Toron... Read Full Story

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends In case you missed the headlines earlier this week, after a two-year investigation into Canada’s real estate brokerage industry, the Competition Bureau concluded that Multiple Listing Service (MLS) rules established by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) restrict consumer choice and limit the scope of alternative business models. To really understand what this decision means we need to step back a few years to see how this i... Read Full Story

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News A quick summary of the Toronto Real Estate Board's sales figures for October. The two most commonly reported figures, sales growth and price appreciation are very misleading this month. Home sales increased by 64% to 8,476 last month.  The percentage increase is skewed by the fact that sales in October 2008 were low due to the crisis in financial markets.  But it's worth noting that 8,476 sales is still the best October on record. The average price for... Read Full Story

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News Toronto real estate prices increased by 9.4% in just four months according to the Teranet National Bank House Price Index. The House Prince Index does not use average price to measure changes in house values.  It uses something called the repeat sales methodology to calculate changes in house values.  This approach requires a property to have been sold at least twice in order for it to be used in their calculations.  They take the current sale price of... Read Full Story

Bob Aaron in Legal Can a buyer refuse to close the purchase of a new home if there are deficiencies in construction, forgotten or incomplete items, or unauthorized changes to the design, layout or materials? That question was the subject of a paper presented to a builder's conference earlier this year by Harry Herskowitz, of the Toronto law firm DelZotto Zorzi LLP. Herskowitz is well-known and respected as an author, lawyer for builders and developers, and chair of the Tarion Warranty Corp. ... Read Full Story

Media Roundup Real Estate News Canadian Home Prices Rise for Fourth Straight Month in August (Bloomberg) Rebound hammers affordability of GTA homes (Toronto Star) Don’t Get Excited By Rising Yields, Suggests Carney (Canadian Mortgage Trends) An infill builder tells tales from the inside (Globe and Mail) As condo sales dip, the new homes market is turned on its head (Globe and Mail) Toronto settles for half a Libeskind (Globe and Mail) How to invest in real estate (Globe and Mail) In c... Read Full Story

Bob Aaron in Legal, Home Selling Tips The Great SPIS Myth It's time to reveal The Great SPIS Myth – the prevailing fiction about the Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS), a disclosure form published by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA). Although its use is endorsed and encouraged by many OREA member boards, real estate agents remain sharply divided on whether the form is too dangerous to use, and whether it protects the public or the agents who try to get sellers to sign it... Read Full Story

Media Roundup Real Estate News Bank of Canada monitors real estate surge (Globe and Mail) New condominiums will have Don River on the doorstep (Globe and Mail) Fixed or variable mortgage? That is the question (Globe and Mail) More home owners using cash for renos (Globe and Mail) Developers willing to dive into distress (Globe and Mail) Has a backlash begun? (Globe and Mail) Sales of existing homes in full recovery after downturn (Toronto Star) Analysts forecast near-record home sales... Read Full Story

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to the current shortage in housing supply that we are seeing in Toronto.  From 2004-2006, annual resale home sales hovered around the 86,000 mark, and in 2007, sales jumped up to 97,000.  The sudden increase in sales was attributed to the jump from 25-year mortgages to 40-year mortgages which made homes more affordable for a greater number of buyers. We did some analysis at Realosophy and found that th... Read Full Story

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News From the Toronto Real Estate Board: In the first two weeks of October, Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 3,631 sales – up 34 per cent compared to the first two weeks of October 2008. The average price for these transactions was up 17 per cent year-overyear to $414,479. "While demand for existing homes has remained strong, it is important to recognize the context of current statistics. We are now making comparisons to the fall of 2008 when we experienc... Read Full Story