The Sky is Falling

The Doom and Gloom predictors are at large these days, telling everyone that real estate prices in the Greater Toronto Area are going to drop. And they may, however any price decrease should be minimal and short lived. The one thing that is going against the real estate markets in the Toronto area, including Richmond Hill, Aurora and all of York Region, is low consumer confidence. Unfortunately this low consumer confidence issue is mostly unsubstantiated. Yes the stock market has had a major correction and the DOW Jones looks like an EKG chart but most of the economic factors that support a strong real estate market are still here.

One of the biggest misconceptions currently going around is that the real estate markets have slowed down to the point of being a strong buyer's market. It is true that the number of sales in 2008 are lower that 2007 and even a little off of 2006 numbers. However, historically speaking the sales volume is still very high. A great analogy for our market sales was given at the Toronto Real Estate Board's annual general meeting on Monday Oct 27th. It was that the 2007 real estate sales were like driving on the 401 at 150 clicks (obviously not during rush hour) and now we have slowed down to 120 Kph. We are still moving very fast but it seems slow compared to what we were going. As it is the Toronto area real estate markets are still aiming for about 80,000 sales in 2008 which is a volume that was only reached starting in 2004, so historically still very high.

They also talk about rising inventory levels. However the inventory levels in the Toronto real estate markets is still under 4 months supply. This means that if no new homes are put on the market and sales remained the same it would only take 4 months to run out of available homes. This is well within the range that indicates a balanced market not a buyer's market. So unlike some areas in the U.S.A where there are as many as 12 months supply, we are far from over stocked in homes. We may not see huge increases in price this year but if people don't panic then we also should not see major price reductions, except on homes that are over priced to start with.

Other factors to consider are mortgage rates which are still very low, and unlike some areas of the U.S.A. mortgages are still readily available here in Canada. Speaking of mortgages, our banking systems are much different here in Canada when compared to the U.S.A. and as a result are in a much stronger position than their counterparts south of the boarder.

Also consider that unemployment is still very low, and the rate of foreclosure is only about 0.25% according to CMHC as compared to 1992 when it was close to 6% and currently in the States where foreclosure rates are close to 20%. It is believed that the number of speculative buyers is significantly lower than back in 1989 so that should not be a huge flood of homes on the market especially since our rental markets are still very strong. We also still have a large volume of new immigrants into the Toronto areas, creating demand for homes both in the rental and purchasing sectors.

All in all our economy is healthy but it is being rattled around by uncertainty. Now is actually a great time to buy a home as it is a much better investment that the current stock market, unless you can correctly guess which way it will move today, and because some sellers and their agents are buying into the hysteria and looking at and even accepting offers that are lower than would have been the norm a few years ago. It is also expected that our economy will start growing again as early as 2010 so buy now and for the long run (5+years ) and you should see a good return on your investment especially over renting.

For real estate help in Richmond Hill, Aurora, York Region and Toronto please visit my website or call me at 416-278-2335 and start finding the right home for you.

Provincial Land Transfer Tax Refund Extended

The Province of Ontario has just announced that it is extending the land transfer tax refund for first time buyers of newly constructed homes to now include resale homes. This means that first time home buyers can now save up to $2,000 on a resale home purchase. The legislation for this rebate has not yet been passed, but any first time home buyer that enters into an "agreement to purchase and sale" on or after December 13th, 2007 is entitled to a rebate of up to $2,000 once the legislation is passed.

The City of Toronto has also up dated their new land transfer tax so that first time home buyers should not have to pay the land transfer tax on the first $400,000 of their home purchase at all. Previously any first time home buyer who is buying a home that is priced over $400,000 had to pay the full tax up front and then get a rebate for the tax paid on the first $400,000. Under their new system, which they hope to have in place before Feb 1st 2008 when the tax starts, first time home buyers will be able to pay only the tax owing on the balance of the purchase price minus $400,000.

Toronto Area Mortgages

Well I did it! I took the plunge and took my business and added to it to make a more seamless service to help my clients get better results, quicker and more efficiently. I have now added mortgages to my real estate service by becoming a Mortgage Agent with Mortgage One Solutions Ltd. a member of The Mortgage Centre.

Now you can get a great wholesale mortgage rate with terms that best meet your needs. Get your pre-approved mortgage quickly and easily. Best of all, I work for you not the banks, top that off with the fact that my main purpose is to help you buy a home, or sell your home by providing mortgage approvals to qualified buyers; so I am not concerned about finder's fees and I will concentrate on just getting you the best mortgage for your needs.

Looking to renew, refinance or consolidate debts? I can help you with that with the same emphasys on exceptional service and great mortgage products.

I protact your record by only pulling your credit once when I shop your mortgage application to over 40 lenders for the best rates. Including most of the big banks, although some of them only deal with mortgage brokers through subsiduary businesses, I can often get you the same or better rate that you can get at the banks. Another benefit is that I don't just let you fill in the blanks and press submit. I work with you and your situation to get you mortgage approved and if there are issues that are blocking your application, like outstanding debts, I will go through your report with you and help you to get your credit record back on track.

Happy house hunting!

Toronto and York Region Real Estate Markets Update

2007's real estate markets seem to be unstoppable. Once again October sets a new Toronto MLS® record for the number of homes sold smashing the previous October record (Oct 2003) by 10% and sending the total home sales, for 2007, over 81,500 homes sold. That is just 1,500 short of the final number of homes sold in 2006 with two months to go, in which we would usually expect to see about 10,000 sales more. On top of that the sales volume in Toronto are expected to be extra high in November and December as home buyers are trying to avoid the new municipal land transfer tax which comes into effect on homes purchased after January 1st, 2008 and closing after February 1st, 2008.

The average purchase price for a home on the Toronto MLS® system in October, 2007, was $394,646 up from last October's $356,423.

In Richmond Hill's 3 MLS® districts (N03,N04 and N05) there were 396 homes sold with the majority (211 homes) in the South end (N03) with a high number of Condominiums and an average sale price of $408,291 where as in the North end (N05, Oak Ridges down to Gamble Rd.) the there were only 68 homes sold, mostly detached home, with an average sale price of $491,850.

Toronto home's averaged $522,800 for the 1,602 homes that sold in October. That said there are still areas where you can get a detached home for under $400,000.

Real estate markets in the Toronto area and York Region are still very strong and it is still expected to continue being strong with stead price increases for the next few years. Making now a great time to buy or move if you haven't already.

If you would like more information feel free to contact me or fill out a "home search request" or " Home Evaluation request" on my website www.AndrewHodgeREALTOR.com

Talk to you soon.

Richmond Hill Parks - Richmond Green

This is the start of a series of reviews, pictures and comments on the parks of Richmond Hill.

Richmond Green is located at Leslie and Elgin Mills right next to Richmond Green High School and the Richmond Green library. It has a skate park, water park,, skating arena, soccer fields, walking paths, sand and play area and an eco-educational garden area. Richmond Green is often used by the residents of Bayview North and Bayview Hills, in Richmond Hill, and by the the City of Richmond Hill for events like the Canada Day fireworks show (always fun but traffic is heavy so come early and prepare to have to deal with traffic when you are leaving).







For information on Richmond Hill real estate or to find your perfect Richmond Hill home please visit my website and request a Richmond Hill Home search or a free Richmond Hill home evaluation.

Toronto Real Estate Market - Mid August sales

Toronto Home Sales in August are well above expected numbers in terms of volume. As of August 17th there were 3,838 homes sold, up 17% from Aug 2006, and the average sale price across the Toronto MLS® system was $355,829.

So it looks like the summer market is doing very well with the lower priced home and condo sales. I, for one, am looking forward to see how the upper priced home sale come back in September.

York Region Real Estate market statistics - July 2007

York Region's real estate markets were hot in July 2007 as were all of the Northern districts on the Toronto MLS® system. Sales this year were up 27.7% with 1,797 homes sold compared to 1,407 homes sold in July 2007. The year to date home sales numbers are also up 16.3% to 12,232 homes sold in York Region, the Uxbridge area of Durham and parts of Simcoe County.

Over all average sold prices increased by 5% from $373,573 to $392,360 in July 2007. There were some very active markets in York Region including the 3 Richmond Hill Ontario real estate districts (N03, N04 and N05), Aurora (N06) and Vaughan (N08).

In Richmond Hill there was an increase of 47.1% in the total number of homes sold, going from 291 (July 2006) to 428 (July 2007) homes. Most of this increase was in the South end in the N03 and N04 districts. Richmond Hill seems to have been hit by the summer market effect resulting from higher price range buyers going on vacation. The result was a decrease in the average sold price but an increase in the median home sold price where they were very close to one another. The largest effect was in the detached home market where, in the N03 district, the average home price dropped from $601,645 to $556,140 while the median home sold price increased from $537,000 to $557,750, not that that is chump change or anything but there were definitely fewer million plus dollar homes sold in July 2007.

Aurora Ontario's real estate market saw an increase in home sales of 26.3% from 57 to 72 and an increase in average sale price from $392,658 (July 2006) to $454,512 (July 2007).

In the N08 district (Vaughan) and the N11 district (Markham) both saw increases in sales volume between 27% and 30%.

Happy house hunting.