This week’s top real estate news in Ontario and how your real estate business could be affected.
Energy Audits for New and Resale Homes in Ontario Are Coming!
7.1 Provide free energy audits for pre-sale homes
Energy audits would be required before a new or existing single-family home can be listed for sale, and the energy rating will be included in the real estate listing. These audits are intended to be provided free of charge under this plan. The Home Energy Rating and Disclosure program will improve consumer awareness by allowing homebuyers to compare homes by energy rating. It will also encourage uptake of retrofit incentive programs. To meet the expected demand for home energy auditors, Ontario will support development of energy audit training programs and will further consult before launching this program in 2019.
Mississauga’s ‘once in a century’ plan to remake itself
A new intelligent traffic flow system in Mississauga will not only signal for drivers how to efficiently get around the city, the visionary technology is another sign that this now mature mega-suburb is ready to become an urban trend setter.
Record May for GTA home sales, says Toronto Real Estate Board
The GTA real estate market remains as hot as ever, with the region setting a new May sales record with more than 12,000 homes sold, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. Figures released Friday show a 10.6 per cent increase in sales over the same period last year, despite the fact that the number of new listings was down by more than six per cent.
Mississauga’s House Prices Continue to Climb
The average number of days a home remains for sale on the market in Mississauga is just over one week or 12 days. This includes those homes that hold off accepting offers until the house has been on the market for at least a week in an effort to encourage multiple bids.
TREB appeals Competition Tribunal ruling
The Toronto Real Estate Board has served a Notice to Appeal to the Commissioner of Competition, alleging that the Competition Tribunal erred when it ruled against TREB on April 27. The case has been ongoing since 2011.
Toronto Real Estate Board ordered to open up online sales data
The tribunal’s order, which follows an April ruling that TREB was stifling competition by restricting access to data on its proprietary Multiple Listing Service, says TREB must let its members offer searchable online databases called “virtual office websites.” Those databases allow access to important information held in MLS, including data like sales prices, broker commissions, and withdrawn listings, as well as archived data.
Toronto home sales advance to record in May as listings drop
There were 12,870 homes sold in May, 11 percent higher than last year, according to the real estate board in Canada’s biggest city. With listings falling 6.4 percent from last year, average prices rose 16 percent to C$751,908 ($581,207). Detached homes in the suburbs led gains with a 21 percent rise while detached homes in the city center rose 15 percent to C$1.3 million. “While the record number of home sales through the first five months of 2016 is not necessarily surprising, it does sometimes mask the larger story in the GTA: the shortage of listings, which has resulted in strong upward pressure on home prices,” the real estate board president Mark McLean said in a statement.
Stability attracts Chinese investors to Canadian housing — analyst
Charlie Gillis pointed at the recent growth of foreign investment in Toronto and other Canadian locales as an indicator of continued trust in the country’s strength, insofar as real estate is concerned.
Fight over Toronto housing data heads to next round
TREB: Will argue the commissioner’s “position is inconsistent with privacy law” as well as being “bad public policy.” Any remedy imposed should, among other things, “respect consumer choice as far as the use and disclosure of their personal information.”
The Competition Commissioner: In a nutshell, the commissioner has read TREB’s submission and argues that a home seller’s consent to disclose the information is “not required.”
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