Canada, data, economy, prices, supply

House prices up across Canada

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The 45 basis point reduction in interest rates at the start of the year has done wonders for real estate in Canada.

The average house price is up 7% and Calgary prices have gone up by nearly double the national rate.

With the October numbers by CREA, the average Canadian home has never been worth more than it is now.

In volume terms, the actual number of homes sold rose by the same amount — seven per cent. “This marks the sixth consecutive month of stronger resale housing activity compared to a quiet start to the year, and the strongest activity for the month of October since 2009,” CREA said in a release.

October isn’t typically one of the strongest months for home buying, as activity tends to be strongest in the spring and summer.

TD Bank said in a note to clients after the CREA numbers were released that in sales terms, the housing market is hotter than it normally is this time of year.

Of course most of these gains are driven by the three cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

Will wonders ever cease or this the economic miracle that keeps on giving?

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ostritch

West Coast Woman you are wasting your breath. Patriotz has a need to correct. You, admittedly, are West Coast, he is no coast. You are a woman. He is a woman. You know the travails of the westside development intimately. He has his books. You experience and have investigated the profits for the city. He has his theories. You have lived and owned on the westside and raised a family there. He has lived in a basement, denied his girlfriend a place in Vancouver and now had to move to Ottawa to make ends meet. Not even central Ottawa. You post once, twice maybe even thrice. He posts a clarification on every point made.

If you are looking for the living embodiment of can’t see the forest for the trees, it is Patriotz.

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West Coast Woman

Patrioz @53: Perhaps I’m not communicating this clearly. In addition to property taxes, you pay permit fees when you build a new house and these fees are, in part, based on the size of the house you build. I believe the builder down the street told me he paid around $40,000 to build a 4300 square foot house on a lot which previously had a 2000 square foot house on it. Multiply that by 1000 new houses, and the City suddenly has additional revenue of $40,000,000 just for the building permits. In addition to the permit fees, you also pay other fees (along with your taxes) for water, sewer, recycling, garbage etc. Water and sewer fees are based on the number of bathrooms and drainage outlets you have. So an eight bathroom house would pay about four times more per… Read more »

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southseacompany

Meanwhile China bubble still leaking;
“China home price fall deepens despite policy support, FDI slips”, Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/18/us-china-property-prices-idUSKCN0J204U20141118

“China’s home prices slumped an annual 2.6 percent in October, shrugging off a range of government support measures in a nationwide downturn that threatens to stifle economic growth. October’s year on year price drop was the biggest since Reuters started calculating nationwide prices in 2011. Falling prices will more than likely deter investors seeking capital gains, and most analysts now expect the housing market correction to continue in coming months as developers struggle with high inventory levels.”

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Westside Realtor

Thank you would-be buyer.

BTW, what I say is fact not friction. There are serious cracks in the foundation of this market.

Foreign money is disappearing.

WSR

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would-be buyer

I don’t like to bolster WSR’s rants, but things are getting interesting in China:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e13e2cf8-6e48-11e4-bffb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3JULjUcwT

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Egg Hunt

< Westcoast Woman I also witnessed same thing in my neighbourhood for last 10 years or so – West Side Single family area. We often our neighbourhood retail shops and resutaurants, the owners know us well and all that, now these type of environment is completely gone. Many owners who have been in business for more than 20 years shut down the doors. We used to have mix of residents who are in rentals, SFH (high and not so high grades mixed here too),some decent attached, older condos, multi family unit owners, now our neigbourhood is just filled with empty houses, or mysterious young wealthy family with 3~4 children, living in 2.5 ~ 3 million dollar house. Now last 3 month or so, I witnessed old tears down in West side, pricing 30~40% more than this spring suddenly without any… Read more »

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@West Coast Woman

“But this City Council has been waiving DCL’s and CAC’s for developers who allocate a percentage of their condo suites for rental apartments, which they called “affordable housing” but whose rental rates were well above what most people would consider affordable.” I agree this is a huge mistake by Vision. In place of parks and other necessary amenities we have rental units (rather than condos) which many would have been rental units anyway. About 50% of condos end up as rentals in Vancouver. We end up with the same housing stock but give up amenities. The other thing is a future city council could grant the developers who are the owners of the rental units to convert them to condos and sell them as condos with a stroke of a pen. Developers know this and are laughing. Probably why they… Read more »

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@George

@2 “There are lots of dense cities around the world that don’t have towers. Towers do not equal density. Paris is a densely populated city and their last tower was built 40 years ago (for office, not residential, I might add). You can create density without towers.” Paris has density without towers but is made up of low rises with no single family houses. If you want to get rid of all the SFH in Vancouver we could have density like Paris without towers. That would mean no Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, Commercial drive area as we know it. All low rises no SFHs. Personally I like the combination of high rises, low rises and SFH if it is done right. Obviously putting the highest density around transit or transit around the highest density makes sense. On the YVR line that was… Read more »

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JR

Westcoast Woman my sentiments exactly. As a native, I absolutely abhor what has happened to my city; its unrecognizable. Vancouver has become a condo-ridden pretentious wannabe littered with distasteful wealth-flaunting children (of all ages).

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patriotz

@52: “This City Council relies a lot on “contributions” from developers for funding it’s agenda – about 25% of next years budget ($300-400 million) is projected to come from “community amentity contributions”(CAC’s). ”

That has nothing to do with building bigger houses on existing lots, which is what you were talking about and I responded to. That is an unconditional use.

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West Coast Woman

Patrioz @50: Sorry you’re dead wrong. This City Council relies a lot on “contributions” from developers for funding it’s agenda – about 25% of next years budget ($300-400 million) is projected to come from “community amentity contributions”(CAC’s). Development cost levies (DCL’s), building permits, parking revenue and other fees also bring in well over $100 million per year. Now, DCL’s are supposed to pay for infrastructure upgrades to support the proposed development, and CAC’s are supposed to pay for things like new community centres. But this City Council has been waiving DCL’s and CAC’s for developers who allocate a percentage of their condo suites for rental apartments, which they called “affordable housing” but whose rental rates were well above what most people would consider affordable. Consequently, the City doesn’t have the funds for the needed infrastructure upgrades, so that has been… Read more »

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emmi

Girlbear, was CMHC insurance bought on the mortgage? I’m guessing not. Pretty sure they have requirements for how fast the foreclosures get processed, and it’s pretty quick. I can’t figure out why the bank would stall if there is equity. The ONLY thing I can imagine is the mortgage was sold to a prime buyer and they prefer the interest, so the bank is pretending there is interest rather than pay back the mortgage. But how long can they do that for?

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patriotz

@48: ” However, it has everything to do with collecting more tax revenue ”

It has nothing to do with collecting more tax revenue. The City decides how much it’s going to spend, and that’s how much tax it collects. Increasing the assessment base simply decreases the mill rate for a given amount of spending.

If old houses are torn down and replaced by more expensive ones, that reduces the amount of taxes paid by the remaining old houses, since the total remains the same.

I know this has been posted many times but I guess it needs to be pointed out again.

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paulb

New Listings 183
Price Changes 56
Sold Listings 126
TI:14090

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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West Coast Woman

Zero Down Forty @36: I agree with your comment: “We need rapid transit to warehouse the poor and get them to their low paying jobs.” but take issue with the next sentence: “Keeps them out of the single family areas full of NIMBY homeowners.” Here’s why: What is really happening in Vancouver is that the poor are being displaced in order to build luxury condos. It’s already happened in Marpole, Riley Park, the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown, as well as South Cambie. Now that the election’s over, it will be happening in Strathcona and Grandview Woodlands. Many of the people who protested these changes were called NIMBYS even though they were renters, not property owners. Many people who are renters would prefer to raise a family in a real house with a yard rather than in a condo. But once… Read more »

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ooo

I mean just look at what Joe Mainlander is saying. To him, congestion means success. No wonder Vancouver has the worst congestion in North America, we are after all the best place on earth!

“As for congestion.. yeah, Metrotown is a Town Centre. Town Centres are congested because they are successful. If they’re not congested, that means not many folks want to go there, and so they are not successful.”

Maybe he isn’t expressing himself well, but that’s not a good representation of his field either.

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ooo

^ they are a bunch of ideologues and quacks.

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

is there anyone left who has any faith in city planners, “urbanism”, density, etc. as it is being presented to us in Vancouver?

i’m not saying this stuff is bad or doesn’t work, but it defiantly doesn’t seem to be working for us.

maybe it requires talented people to execute it?

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Joe Mainlander

@#42 People take rapid transit to avoid congestion? Who would’ve thought?

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Joe Mainlander

@#38

Hardly much of what happened in Burnaby is a seen as a ‘success’ for development and/or density or a good model for urbanism. Only thing that works is transit ridership. Under the former Director of Planning Burnaby’s zoning bylaw had not changed since 1965… and they were proud of it. But, that may change now.

As for congestion.. yeah, Metrotown is a Town Centre. Town Centres are congested because they are successful. If they’re not congested, that means not many folks want to go there, and so they are not successful.

I don’t like malls so I don’t go there, but I understand why it’s congested. Think of it this way, it’s a magnet for a lot of folks to go to, so you can go where they’re not.

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nufio

people living near metrotown take the skytrain because the road connecting them to vancouver (kingsway) is mostly a single lane road with a traffic signal every 5 meters. Its one of the most frustrating roads to drive on in vancouver.

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NOM NOM NOM

288 Chinese Nationals caught in recent anti-graft efforts…

Australia: working to reliquish and help repatriate ill gotten assets. Canada… *crickets*

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/17/us-china-corruption-idUSKCN0J118Z20141117

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Ryan

sorry for all the spelling errors..

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Ryan

Not sure why Vancouver is just trying to replicate metrotown pods everywhere. Metrotown is a disgusting, congested dystopian hell hole. But I guess it’s seen at a success for density ad developers. *gag*

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Marco

This from the a National Post today:

“The fall report paints a picture of homeowners whether just starting out on their ownership journey or long time mortgage holders, as remarkably confident,” said Jim Murphy, chief executive of CAAMP. “They wait until they are financially stable before buying, and they take advantage of low interest rates to aggressively reduce their mortgage debt. Home ownership continues to be an important anchor for the Canadian economy.”

Really?

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