May 14, 2011
Homes Sold on Toronto MLS®
Sold Watch provides a free reports on homes and condos sold each day on the Toronto MLS®
Information on recently sold properties in the immediate vicinity is key to determining the market value of your home. But information on sold properties is only generally available to real estate agents and real estate appraisers who use the sold listing information for their own purposes. But an innovative real estate brokerage called Realtysellers is now providing reports on all of the properties sold each day on the Toronto Real Estate Board’s MLS® system.
You can subscribe to the daily reports for both condos sold and freehold properties sold.
November 5, 2010
List on Toronto MLS for Free
Lawrence Dale and Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. enter real estate brokerage market
with Free on MLS offer
For almost a decade, Toronto lawyer and businessman Lawrence Dale has been embroiled in a struggle to bring innovative and affordable real estate agency and marketing services to homeowners. After years of persistence, Mr. Dale finally persuaded the Competition Bureau to take action which resulted in a Consent Agreement being filed with the Competition Tribunal earlier this week.
With the industry finally open for business for lower cost innovative models, Mr. Dale is re-entering the real estate marketplace as founder of Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. is a licensed real estate brokerage in the Province of Ontario and is a member in good standing of the Toronto Real Estate Board.
Mr. Dale has assembled an experienced team for his new venture including a new investment group from his previous real estate ventures which have included the purchase of SkyDome in 1999, Realtysellers (Ontario) Limited which was forced out of business by industry restrictions in 2006/2007 (which is unrelated to Realtysellers Real Estate Inc.) and his involvement in the purchase of an 80% interest in Chestnut Park Real Estate in 2007.
Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. will initially be offering programs for sellers and buyers in the Greater Toronto Area.
For the first time ever in Canada, Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. will list a seller’s property on the Multiple Listing System (MLS) for free. “If the seller does not want any additional services other than to list on the MLS, we will do it for free” Mr. Dale stated. “If a sellers wants our professional assistance throughout the process, we do provide a more traditional service for the low fee of 0.5%”.
Buyer’s will receive a buyer’s bonus equal to up to 75% of the fee received. “If we receive a fee of $50,000, our buyer would be sent a cheque for $37,500 the day we receive our fee.” Dale stated.
Dale commented that his new venture is a work in progress. “We are committed to providing real estate consumers with the services they want at exceptional value. The programs that we will offer will continue to develop over time to fulfill the ever changing consumer objectives. We are committed to be at the forefront of innovative real estate brokerage”.
About Realtysellers Real Estate Inc.
Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. is a licensed real estate brokerage in the Province of Ontario and member in good standing with the Toronto Real Estate and Canadian Real Estate Association. Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. takes advantage of developments in technology and its team’s experience in the industry to make the process of buying and selling a home a better and more cost effective experience. Services include a free on MLS posting program for sellers who do not want any other services to programs that offer complete assistance for buyers and sellers looking for help throughout the entire process but who are also wanting to receive better value.
See the Realtysellers website located at realtysellers.ca or realtysellersrealestate.com
April 9, 2010
Toronto real estate market overheated
Greater Toronto home prices rose 13.3% in first quarter of 2010 according to Royal LePage.
After a buoyant, if geographically uneven start to the year, Canada’s housing market is poised to moderate as 2010 unfolds, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey. The post-recession real estate recovery, which began in earnest in the third quarter of 2009, continued unabated in the first quarter of the year. While year-over-year unit sales volumes increased and prices appreciated across the country, a look back at the two year period that spanned the recession’s beginning and end shows that some cities have experienced a rollercoaster effect of declining and rising prices, while at the other extreme, home prices in some regions never stopped appreciating.
“The first quarter of 2010 continued where 2009 left off, with more Canadians enthusiastically participating in a rejuvenated residential real estate market,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services. “One of the earliest sectors of the economy to return to growth after the difficult recessionary period, the housing sector has been a prime beneficiary of low borrowing costs and improving consumer confidence.”
House prices were up across all key housing types surveyed by Royal LePage, with the average price of a detached bungalow in Canada rising almost 11 per cent to $329,209 in the first quarter year-over-year, while standard two-storey homes rose 10.3 per cent to $365,141 and standard condominiums increased 10.9 per cent to $228,963.
While some analysts have described house price increases over the past 12 months as a national housing boom, an analysis of Royal LePage data from Q1 2008 through Q1 2010 shows three different patterns of house price trends in Canada’s major cities:
“National averages from our first quarter report are not particularly useful in painting a picture of the country’s neighbourhood real estate stories. House sale data from the past two year period shows tremendous variances in terms of how different cities reacted to the recession,” Soper said. “In Vancouver and Toronto, for instance, the dramatic unit sales fluctuations exhibit a significant degree of market irrationality: inordinately fearful when faced with poorer markets; and overly enthusiastic when the tables turned. Montreal is an example of a city where the market has been much more stable and homeowners there seem quite happy with the relatively slow pace of change.”
“Even in our most frenzied pockets of market activity, the inevitable rise in interest rates coupled with home price appreciation will rein in demand as affordability erodes. Expect house prices to continue to rise, but the rate of appreciation should ebb steadily, month by month, throughout the remainder of the year, as balance returns to the industry,” concluded Soper.
In Ontario, home prices rose across all key housing types in all of the markets surveyed by Royal LePage, with detached bungalows and standard two-storey homes in Toronto seeing some of the largest gains. Greater Toronto home prices rose an average of 10 to 13.3 per cent year-over-year, with detached bungalows reaching an average price of $459,107 in the first quarter. Ottawa price appreciation ranged from 8 to 11.1 per cent year-over-year, with standard two-storey homes averaging $346,833 in the first quarter.
See Royal LePage Spring 2010 House Price Survey (.PDF) »
November 5, 2009
Toronto Real Estate Board reports:
October year-over-year MLS transactions up 64%.
In October 2009, Greater Toronto Realtors reported 8,476 sales, up 64 per cent from October 2008. The average price for October transactions was $423,559 – up by 20 per cent compared to the same month last year. “Strong sales growth has occurred across many property classes – from price ranges that would attract first-time buyers to luxury properties selling for over one million dollars,” said TREB President Tom Lebour. “The highest rate of sales growth in October was experienced for properties selling for over $750,000. In contrast, luxury home sales declined at an above-average rate last year.”
Year-to-date sales, at 74,721, were up nine per cent compared to the first ten months of 2008. Average price, at $392,264 was up by almost three per cent.
“After a short dip in the winter, the average home price in the GTA has rebounded because sales have been high relative to listings,” according to Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “Watch for listings to rebound in 2010 as home owners react to the strong sales and price growth experienced in the latter half of this year.”
Source: Toronto Real Estate Board’s Market Watch report »
October 24, 2009
American home resale sales jump 9.4%
Home resales in September clocked the largest monthly increase in 26 years as buyers scrambled to complete their purchases before a tax credit for first-time owners expires. Sales jumped 9.4 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.1 million in August, the National Association of Realtors said Friday.
That pace was the strongest in two years and beat Wall Street forecasts. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual rate of 5.35 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
“There’s a miniboom going on in the housing market,” said Thomas Popik, who conducts a monthly survey of real estate agents for Campbell Communications.
Nationwide sales are up nearly 24 per cent from their bottom in January, but are still down 23 per cent from four years ago.
But prices continued to drag with foreclosures and short sales, where the mortgage exceeds the sales price. The median price last month was $174,900 (U.S.), down almost 9 per cent from $191,200 a year earlier, and slightly lower than August’s median of $177,300.
The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 7 per cent to 3.63 million. That’s less than an eight-month supply at the current sales pace, and the lowest level since March 2007.
Sales rose especially in the west, where they grew 13 per cent from a month earlier. Foreclosure sales are booming in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas.
First-time homebuyers and investors are snapping up those homes and taking advantage of low mortgage rates. They can also receive a tax credit of 10 per cent of the sales price, up to $8,000, if the sale is completed by the end of November.
The credit is so important to some buyers they are adding a clause to their contracts, allowing them to back out if the sale doesn’t close by Nov. 30. But, economists note that cheap foreclosures and mortgage rates are also adding to the boom.
“We think the housing market has touched bottom and it is now only a matter of time until home prices stabilize – something that we anticipate to occur in late 2010,” wrote Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.
Prices could fall further because rising unemployment leads to more foreclosures. The jobless rate, currently at 9.8 per cent, is expected to rise as high as 10.5 per cent next year, causing more people to fall behind on their mortgages.
“There’s more supply that’s going to come into the marketplace,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist at real estate website Zillow.com. “That additional supply will outpace demand.”
With concerns about the housing market still prominent, Congress is considering several proposals to extend the tax credit. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., want to extend it through June 30, and expand it to include all home buyers, at an estimated cost of $16.7 billion.
Realtors and homebuilders are loudly in favour, arguing that the tax credit is crucial to get the housing market back on its feet.
“We are not there in terms of removing the consumer fear factor,” said Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist.
One potential roadblock to an extension also emerged this week. There are concerns that some of the 1.5 million applications for the tax credit are fraudulent.
Source: Associated Press