Real Estate

Buyers take ‘upper hand’ in some of Canada’s most expensive housing markets - National

09/11/2023

Homebuyers are more often getting the “upper hand” — and better prices — on sellers in Canada’s slowing real estate markets, according to a new Royal Bank of Canada report.

The RBC analysis of the October resale market argues higher interest rates have the fall housing market “stuck in a low gear.”

Inventories are still growing, but not at the pace seen for the past few months in Toronto, Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Buyers are still finding they have more options to choose from, leading to a “rebalancing of market conditions.”

Those buyers who are able to qualify for a mortgage amid higher interest rates have been able to extract lower prices in some Ontario, Quebec and British Columbian markets, according to the report from RBC’s Robert Hogue and Rachel Battaglia.


Click to play video: 'New report shows just how far out of reach home ownership has become'


New report shows just how far out of reach home ownership has become


Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and

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Real Estate

Foreign Buyers and a Tourism Boom Are Fueling Japan’s Luxury Real Estate Market

05/11/2023


If the array of climates, landscapes, world-class culture, food and history aren’t tempting enough, Japan offers second-home buyers strong value compared to other Asian markets. 

As of Oct. 25, 1 yen was worth US$0.0067, reaching only a high of US$0.10 in the past three years. This helps money stretch further, even on luxury properties. In its 2023 annual wealth report, London-based real estate consultancy Knight Frank reported buyers with US$1 million to spend can purchase 60 square meters, or 636 square feet, of prime property in Tokyo, almost double of what they can get in New York or Singapore and nearly triple that of Hong Kong.

Right now luxury is on the mind of buyers in Japan as the sector grows in a manner not seen before. Traditionally, Japanese buyers have lived in modest dwellings, said Michael Chen, CEO of Hokkaido-based real estate company H2 Group.

It’s only in the

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Real Estate

Sellers Return To Canada's Real Estate Markets, But Buyers Aren't Biting

14/10/2023

There has been a resurgence of sellers in Canada’s major real estate markets, but buyers aren’t biting.

Soaring interest rates are simultaneously forcing homeowners to sell — new listings rose across the country in September, including an 11% increase in Toronto — and dampening demand amongst buyers.

As Robert Hogue, Assistant Chief Economist at RBC, reports, weakening resales alongside growing supply have “significantly reduced” market tensions seen earlier this year. In several cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, conditions have swung in favour of buyers, and prices have started to edge down.

In the former, new listings have increased steadily for six straight months, but a troublesome trifecta of high interest rates, poor affordability, and growing economic uncertainty “pose serious obstacles” for buyers. Resales fell 1.8% month-over-month in September, while the MLS Home Price Index (HPI) edged down 0.8%. With buyers in a “stronger bargaining position,” Hogue expects Toronto will

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Real Estate

Tuscany Is Beckoning Foreign Home Buyers

07/07/2023


Hamid Zeighami’s lifelong love of Italy culminated in buying a home in Florence last year—and he wasn’t the only international buyer to choose Tuscany for a vacation home. Last year, international inquiries into purchasing Italian homes rose 126.65%, compared with the prepandemic 2019 figures, according to gate-away.com, a property platform for overseas investors in Italy. Narrowing its figures to just American investors in Italian property shows an increase of 223% in 2022, compared with 2019.

“I decided to buy in Tuscany after visiting many times because of the strong dollar, the ability to get a good price on a home and because I wanted to spend more time overseas after the pandemic lockdown,” says Zeighami, 61, CEO of Toronto-based R Courier. “At the end of the day, I wanted a place with character and history.”

Americans have traveled to Tuscany for centuries, drawn by the picturesque countryside and vineyards as

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Forec

First-time buyers turn focus to townhomes and apartment-style condos

17/06/2023

Edmonton’s resale real estate market is experiencing a different kind of recovery after a short-lived dip in activity over the last several months resulting from rising interest rates.

Statistics for May from Realtors of Association of Edmonton reflect the surge in demand for apartment and townhomes.

It’s an indication demand remains strong, says Melanie Boles, RAE chair and local realtor.

“We still have the buyers, but buying power is down,” she says. “But overall, the market is really just now catching up to our predictions from the start of the year.”

Boles is referencing RAE’s forecast for 2023 that predicted buyers would gravitate to less pricey housing types from the traditionally popular single-family detached home segment.

In May, this trend

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