Real Estate

Real estate in Canada: See the luxury homes now on sale

22/10/2023

Following a strong summer, luxury real estate market sales in major Canadian cities are beginning to slow down, according to a new report from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. But real estate experts say they’re still optimistic that the market will remain resilient through to early 2024.

The luxury real estate management brokerage’s fall report, released on Wednesday, shows that urban hubs such as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Vancouver reported notable increases in annual sales throughout July and August before these gains moderated in September.

“In the summer, which tends to be a time when sales are a little lighter, we actually saw (July and August) increase in activity,” Don Kottick, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s almost like the fall shifted forward a couple months and now we’re in this kind of adjustment period.”

Referencing market

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Real Estate

Short-term relief from Bank of Canada rate hold and more Canadian real estate news for September 9

15/09/2023
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Home of the Week: 5036 Vanstone Crescent NW, CalgaryHayden Pattullo/Hayden Pattullo/Damon Hayes Couture

Here are The Globe and Mail’s top housing and real estate stories this week, with the lowest mortgage rates available in Canada today, commentary from our mortgage expert and one home worth a look.

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Homeowners with mortgages to get short-term relief, but future Bank of Canada rate hikes a ‘looming’ fear

The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday it was holding its key interest rate steady at 5 per cent, but borrowers shouldn’t celebrate just yet. Due to the rising concern about inflation, the bank is leaving the door open to future hikes. Rising rates have affected homeowners with variable-rate mortgages, reports Rachelle Younglai. This week’s decision has some borrowers in a state of “constant looming fear” that a hike in the future will

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Real Estate

Canada real estate: Home price benchmark up in July

20/08/2023


Home prices posted the second-highest increase ever recorded in a single month after the one observed in July 2006, according to the latest Teranet-National Bank composite index.


The index for July was up 2.4 per cent from June, after seasonal adjustments, and marked the fourth consecutive monthly rise.


After declining from a peak in April 2022 as the higher rate environment sidelined some buyers, recent rises in the home price composite index have erased some of this correction, the report said.


“The deep declines that we saw through 2022 are largely being unwound,” said Douglas Porter, the Bank of Montreal’s chief economist.


The Teranet-National Bank index tends to lag other housing market measures in part because it’s more detailed, he noted.


Other measures are starting to show some softening in the market over the summer, and Porter thinks that softening will begin to show

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Real Estate

Real estate in Canada: Where homes are least expensive

14/08/2023


Canadians earning average incomes may struggle to afford homes in the country’s urban centres, but new research from Zoocasa is highlighting real estate markets where homes are within reach.


Zoocasa researched home affordability in 17 major Canadian real estate markets and found that people earning the median income for their city could not afford a home at the average price tag in 10 of those markets.


However, the findings suggest buyers could find luck outside major cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.


WHERE ARE HOMES MOST AFFORDABLE?


Saint John, N.B., stood out as a city with the greatest home affordability, according to Zoocasa.


At $79,000, the median income was lower in the Atlantic Canadian city compared with the other listed markets, but the average price of a home in Saint John was listed as $291,000 – far below the maximum home price threshold of

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Real Estate

Real estate: Comparing house and condo costs in Canada

26/07/2023

As the average price of a home in Canada rises year-over-year, a new study is highlighting the growing gap between the cost of condominiums and houses in major Canadian cities.

Conducted by Point2 Homes and published earlier this month, the study shows that house prices are more than double the cost of condominiums in 14 Canadian cities, most of which are in Ontario and British Columbia. The data is based on MLS benchmark prices determined by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and realtor associations in each local market as of May 2023. Benchmark prices are assigned based on property types rather than square footage.

According to Point2 Homes, the study’s results paint “a bleak picture” for those looking to upsize from condos to houses, particularly in major real estate markets such as the Greater Toronto and Vancouver areas.

In Vancouver, for example, houses are approximately $1.2 million more

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