Thursday, February 4, 2010

Is the Sky Falling? Real Estate update


Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,986 transactions through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in January 2010. This result represented a large increase over the 2,670 sales in January 2009 when the home sales were in a recessionary trough. Last month’s sales were slightly higher than the January average in the five years preceding 2009.

“The GTA housing market has rebounded well from the lows in sales experienced at the beginning of 2009. Sales climbed back to healthy levels across the GTA because the cost of home ownership remained affordable in the Toronto area,” said TREB President Tom Lebour. “Increasingly confident consumers moved to take advantage of affordable home ownership.”

The average home selling price in January 2010 climbed 19 per cent to $409,058, compared to 343,632 in the same month last year. “Expect strong annual growth rates for existing home sales and average price through the first quarter as we continue to make comparisons to the weak market conditions at the beginning of 2009,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The rate of sales and price growth will be lower in the second half of 2010."

David Pylyp: I added the costs of home ownership slide to give some perspective to rising prices and buyer afford-ability, interest rates and costs of ownership. With additional Miller Taxes in Toronto, Buyers are viewing the Peel, Halton Area as a more favorable place to be. But buying is continuing.

I do agree very strongly with the comments about the second half of 2010. The consuming public is not yet clearly aware of the changes, reach and ramifications of the new HST. Better strap on your seatbelts!

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