Real Estate in the News

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This week’s top real estate news in Ontario and how your real estate business could be affected.

Average Canadian house price rose 13% to record $509,460 in May
The strong gains are largely tied to hot markets in Ontario and British Columbia, according to the numbers released Wednesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Stripping those two markets out of the calculations, the average price of a house sold in May declined 0.7 per cent in the past 12 months, and sold for $310,007 in May.

How the release of TREB home sale data might curb bidding wars
The recent Competition Tribunal ruling ordering the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) to make home sale data more accessible online could lead to fewer bidding wars in Toronto, says one real estate management professor at a major university.

Ont government snubs commercial real estate
Commercial real estate operators have been largely excluded from incentives outlined in the newly released Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), even though they’ll soon be absorbing the flow-through cost of carbon emission allowances in natural gas prices.

Commissioner of Competition vs. TREB: What’s next
Competition Bureau spokesperson Taylor Bildstein says TREB is still required to fulfill its obligations within the 60 days prescribed in the tribunal’s order, unless TREB obtains an order from the Federal Court of Appeal within that timeframe temporarily staying the order.
The 14-page appeal document cites approximately 40 Grounds of Appeal, more than 30 of which allege the Competition Tribunal erred in its determinations.

Harmonized real estate data exchange pursued
Five prominent organizations have formed the International Real Estate Data Exchange Council (IREDEC) to pursue a harmonized standard in place of those now variously used in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Toronto housing boom unsustainable, Bank of Canada says
“Prospective homebuyers and their lenders should not extrapolate recent real estate performance into the future when contemplating a transaction,” Stephen Poloz said Thursday with the release of the bank’s semi-annual financial system review. It was a caution to consumers not to get caught up in the frenzied market conditions that see many GTA homebuyers bidding tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, over list prices as demand continues to outstrip the supply of housing, particularly detached and semi-detached homes.

A quick look at changes to mortgage lending rules made by Ottawa in recent years
The federal government has moved several times in recent years to restrict mortgage lending. Here’s a quick look at some of the changes Ottawa has made since 2008.

Raising interest rates too quickly could ‘bring Canadian housing to its knees’
“The ultimate risk to Canada’s housing market is not higher rates, but fast rising rates,” warns Benjamin Tal, CIBC’s deputy chief economist, in a recent note.

Kitchener, Waterloo real estate sales surge as bidding wars break out
Ian Taylor is among an increasing number of local real estate agents who have noticed a distinct shift in Kitchener-Waterloo’s real estate market: more buyers and agents are coming in from the GTA and they’re bringing Toronto-style real estate tactics with them.

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