Housing starts up in Metro Vancouver over bleak 2009

The Vancouver Sun- Metro Vancouver has seen a sharp increase in housing starts this year, but the numbers are deceiving because 2009 was particularly bleak, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

“We’ve seen some improvement, but it’s a modest improvement,” CMHC senior market analyst Robyn Adamache said in an interview Monday of the latest housing starts figures.

“Although the numbers look strong, you’re comparing them to last year, which was an unusually low number [of housing starts] year.”

According to CMHC, there were 1,447 housing starts in October in the Vancouver…

Housing starts up in Metro Vancouver over bleak 2009

B.C. posts dramatic drop in July real estate sales

The Vancouver Sun- A year ago, British Columbia’s real estate markets were rising to a peak in sales. In July, they dramatically fell off it.

Sharp drops in sales in B.C.’s biggest markets led the province to a 42-per-cent decline in July sales through the Multiple Listing Service compared with the same month a year ago, the B.C. Real Estate Association reported Thursday.

"What we’ve seen is that the province was buoyed up by Vancouver, Victoria and to some extent the Fraser Valley earlier in the year as those markets were very strong indeed," Cameron Muir, the association’s chief economist, said in an interview.

"Now of course, those markets have shifted back toward being more in favour of buyers, so they’ve brought the entire province into that category…”

B.C. posts dramatic drop in July real estate sales

Vancouver home sales drop sharply

The Globe and Mail-  Vancouver’s housing market slowed considerably in June, with 30 per cent fewer sales than a year ago.

Still, the 2,972 sales made it the second-busiest June on record for the West Coast city. The sharp drop is further evidence that the real estate market is beginning to cool after its sharp post-recession runup after a similar drop in May.

Observers have been projecting a slower market, though not one that will come crashing down, in the face of higher mortgage rates and tighter mortgage rules.

National numbers are released by the Canadian Real Estate Association in the middle of the month, but individual real estate boards around the country often release their sales data earlier…

Vancouver home sales drop sharply – The Globe and Mail

A sharp shift in the market

The Globe and Mail- Some homeowners who were waiting for their gardens to spring to life before they listed their houses for sale are wondering if they would have been better off planting a sign on the lawn in the barren days of February and March. The answer, most likely, is yes.

Toronto’s real-estate landscape has shifted in the past few weeks with a burgeoning number of houses listed for sale.

For prospective buyers, the change means they are facing a phenomenon they haven’t encountered in quite some time: choice.

Real-estate broker Patrick Rocca of Bosley Real Estate Ltd. says the Toronto market has become quirky since listings began ramping up immediately after Easter.

Now, some houses are selling in bidding contests at premiums above the asking price that Mr. Rocca deems “crazy,” while in other cases agents anticipated a quick sale and the property is just sitting…

A sharp shift in the market – The Globe and Mail

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