Archive for November 2011
FREE MOVIE DAY
Free Movie Day fun for the whole family Silvercity Riverport Cinemas 9:30AM Nov 26 
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Renewing and refinancing mortgages is saving Canadians
Almost a quarter of Canadians renewed or refinanced their mortgages in the past year and the vast majority found themselves with a better rate for doing so, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals said.
The group found about 32% of Canadians reported making some sort of change to their mortgage in the past year with almost two-thirds of those people saying they were refinancing or renewing their mortgages. Among those who renewed, 78% got a rate reduction.
Canadians who are looking for that better rate appear ready to shop around with 21% of respondents who renewed or refinancing their mortgages in the last year, saying they switched lenders.
Mortgage rates continue to be at or near all-time lows with a flat yield curve reducing the steep discount on variable rates and making locking in more attractive. The website ratesupermarket.ca says the best variable rate product on the market is now 2.48% while a five-year fixed rate closed mortgage is now as low as 3.19%.
“Overall, our survey paints a picture of Canadians generally and homeowners in particular as very focused on their finances,” said Jim Murphy, president of CAAMP. “They are planning ahead, aggressively paying down their mortgage in advance of any economic jolt.”
Despite the shrinking gap between fixed rate and variable rate mortgages, 31% of Canadians are still in variable rate mortgage tied to prime and ultimately any interest rate changes from the Bank of Canada.
One thing Canadians have become more conservative about is taking equity out of their home. Only 10% of equity holders took money out of their home in the last year, a 40% drop from a year ago.
The decline could have something to do with tougher refinancing rules which lowered the level on refinancing to 85% of home’s value, down from 90%.
Source: The Financial Post
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Greater Vancouver at lower end of balanced housing market
With a sales-to-active property listings ratio of 15 per cent, the Greater Vancouver housing market continues to hover at the lower end of a balanced market and has been trending in that direction over the past five months.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales of detached, attached and apartment properties on the region’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) system reached 2,317 in October, a 1 per cent decrease compared to the 2,337 sales in October 2010 and a 3.2 per cent increase compared to the previous month. Those sales rank as the second lowest total for October over the last 10 years.
Right now, prospective home buyers have a good selection of properties to choose from and more time to make decisions. Home sellers should be mindful of local market conditions to ensure they are pricing their properties competitively.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 4,374 in October, which is on par with the 10-year average. This represents an 18.3 per cent increase compared to October 2010, when 3,698 properties were listed for sale on the MLS®, and a 23 per cent decrease compared to the 5,680 new listings reported in September 2011.
The total number of properties listed for sale on the Greater Vancouver MLS® system currently sits at 15,377, which is 9.3 per cent higher than the 14,075 properties listed for sale during the same period last year. October was the first month that the total number of property listings showed a decrease this year.
The MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 7.5 per cent to $622,955 in October 2011 from $579,349 in October 2010. However, since reaching a peak in June of $630,921, the benchmark price for all residential properties in the region has declined 1.3 per cent.
Sales of detached properties in October reached 974, which represents virtually no change from the 976 detached sales recorded in October 2010, and a 34.5 per cent decrease from the 1,487 units sold in October 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 11 per cent from October 2010 to $884,778, but decreased 1.3 per cent compared to the previous month.
Sales of apartment properties reached 958 in October, a 2.6 per cent decrease compared to the 984 sales in October 2010, and a decrease of 40.4 per cent compared to the 1,607 sales in October 2009. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.2 per cent from October 2010 to $402,702, but decreased 0.7 per cent compared to the previous month.
Attached property sales in October totalled 382, a 1.3 per cent increase compared to the 377 sales in October 2010, and a 37.4 per cent decrease from the 610 attached properties sold in October 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 6.5 per cent between October 2010 and 2011 to $519,455, and increased half a per cent compared to the previous month.
Source Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
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