RE/MAX is out with its Housing Market Outlook for 2012. It says 2011 was a good year for the Canadian housing market and growth is expected to continue.
Here in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, the number of units sold has gone down slightly but the average price has gone up. That's according Adrian Baas of RE/MAX Twin City, who says it, "indicates that the prices have actually climbed by almost 4%."
He attributes that to a higher number of "move-up buyers", those moving into more expensive homes.
Demand for London and St. Thomas real estate is forecast to remain stable while prices move up in 2012, according to a national housing market report released by Re/Max real estate Tuesday.
The real estate company is predicting 8,100 residential units will be sold in London and St. Thomas, the same as in 2011 and 2010.
The average price is expected to increase 2% to $238,000.
Sales are forecast to fall by 3% in Kitchener-Waterloo and increase by 1% in Windsor and Hamilton areas.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 207,600 units in October, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This is down from 208,800 units in September 2011.
“Housing starts posted a slight decline in October due to a decrease in single-detached starts in urban centres,” said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Urban multiple housing starts remained high in October, but overall housing starts are expected to moderate in line with demographic fundamentals.”
Housing starts in Waterloo Region rose slightly in October due to increased construction of apartment units and townhouses.
Builders started 305 housing units in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area last month, up from 281 in October 2010, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday.
Three apartment buildings, all in Kitchener and Waterloo and all targeted to renters, boosted apartment starts to 171, up from 155 a year ago.
In the “good old days” the most effective method to advertise a property was for the broker to plunk down a “For Sale” sign on the front lawn. Contrary to popularly held assumptions, print advertising was among the least effective methods to advertise real estate. Today, the internet reigns king.
August was a stronger month for building permits in the city, but home building is still in the doldrums.
A report going to city council’s built and natural environment committee on Monday shows there were 415 building permits issued in August worth a total of $50.7 million — both numbers a slight improvement over the same month last year. But so far this year there have been 2,690 building permits issued, a 20% decline compared with same period last year.
While fewer people are buying detached homes in Kitchener and Waterloo, the condo market is hot.
“The condominium market now comprises nearly 20 per cent of our residential sales,” George Patton, president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, said in a press release on Wednesday.
A total of 953 condominiums have sold so far this year in the Kitchener and Waterloo area, a 2.8 per cent increase from a year ago. Overall, home sales are down 2.9 per cent this year, with 4,975 sales through the first nine months of the year.
After a slow start, the London-St. Thomas real estate market has rebounded this year, with year-to-date sales almost catching up to 2010.
The London-St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) said 702 homes sold in September, up 19.2% over the same month last year. The sales included 589 detached homes and 113 condos.
So far this year, 6,512 homes have sold, slightly below the 6,567 sold in the same period last year.
NEW HOMES NEWSLETTER
COLDWELL BANKER PETER BENNINGER REALTY, BROKERAGE
September 2011 Issue 113
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RETHINK AGING IN PLACE?
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 184,700 units in August, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This is down from 204,500 units in July 2011.
“Housing starts in August were in line with current demographic fundamentals and are consistent with CMHC’s recent Housing Market Outlook,” said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Housing starts decreased in all regions, except the Prairies with the decline being more pronounced in the multiples segment.”