E.B.Dungey Realty Ltd. Brokerage

TREB President’s Column as it appears every Friday in the Toronto Sun’s Resale Homes and Condos section.

September 18, 2015 — Updates on the Greater Toronto Area resale housing market have been prominent in recent news headlines, and with good reason. People from around the world are excited about living in our city and statistics reflect this fact: July for example, saw a record number of transactions for the month, with 9,880 homes changing hands.

While this result illustrates homeowners’ tendency to sell during the fair weather months, listing your property in fall also has several distinct advantages. Among them is the more limited competition your property will face in the autumn market; the fact that buyers are drawn to the cozy indoors once temperatures start to drop; and that summer holidays afford you ample time to get your home looking its best.

The exterior is your first impression into a home. As summer winds down many annual flowers have lost their lustre, but making your home stand out with spectacular fall landscaping is a simple undertaking. Hearty mums, ornamental grasses and kale are inexpensive purchases that will give your property curb appeal and make a great first impression with buyers.  Complete a neat appearance outside by trimming shrubs, pruning trees, weeding the lawn and sealing the driveway.

Many homeowners opt for a home inspection prior to listing the property. This pre-home inspection can help identify small inexpensive fixes and allow you to address any larger concerns before presenting the property to buyers. This small undertaking can help make the sale go smoother, quicker and get you the best selling price for your property. To get ready for an inspection ensure functional elements such as the windows, fireplace and furnace are clean and in working order, scheduling professional maintenance for the latter. At the very least, replace your furnace filter so that fresh air is circulating throughout your home.

De-cluttering and de-personalizing your home goes without saying, but before you do so, take a ruthless approach to dealing with discarded items that typically find a home in the garage. Once you’re knee deep in packing boxes inside, you’ll need the extra garage space to keep them. In fact, when it comes to all storage areas – the garage, closets, drawers and cabinets – it’s essential that they’re as tidy as possible so that you don’t risk buyers questioning whether you have enough home organization space.

While you’re packing make an effort to compile documents that will help your REALTOR® market your home such as a survey, property tax and utility bills, appliance owner’s manuals and warranties, and a list of paint colours throughout the house. Frequent showings mean you’ll soon be spending less time at home so get a jump on chores normally reserved for fall like cleaning gutters, caulking around windows and doors, and touching up exterior paint.

Painting will probably be needed inside your home as well because the way you live in a house and how you take it to market are completely different. If you have a bright red feature wall, now is a good time to transition to a neutral palette, and at a minimum, be sure to repaint all white trim around the house. This simple, affordable fix-up offers the best return on investment and when you paint at this time of the year you’ll have the added benefit of being able to crack open a window.

Even if your walls don’t need a colour overhaul you will find that they need patching and touch-up painting after your personal effects come down. This can be a time consuming process so the sooner you get started, the better.

Once the packing and fix-ups are complete ensure your home remains spotlessly clean and smelling great at all times.

Last year saw 92,783 home sales throughout the GTA at an average price of $566,631, and this year’s market is on track to surpass these results.  Once you become part of the action remember that it’s important to detach from your current surroundings, focus on the future, and trust that your REALTOR® will work in your best interest while bringing an objective approach to the process.

Talk to a Toronto Real Estate Board Professional Member REALTOR® and for updates on the market visit www.TorontoRealEstateBoard.com.  If commercial property is what interests you, contact a TREB Commercial Professional Member REALTOR® by visiting www.trebcommercial.com.

Mark McLean is President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, a professional association that represents 42,000 REALTORS® in the Greater Toronto Area.

Follow TREB on www.twitter.com/TREBhome, www.Facebook.com/TorontoRealEstateBoard and www.youtube.com/TREBChannel

Article source: http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/president_columns/pres_sun_col/index.htm

TORONTO, September 9, 2015 — Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended at 43,846 units in August compared to 36,839, in July according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)¹ of housing starts.

“Significant increases in apartment starts lifted the trend number to its highest level since early 2013,” said Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. “High sales of pre-construction condominium apartment units throughout 2014 continue to convert to starts this year.”

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next.

The stand alone monthly SAAR was 65,097 units in August, up from 23,716 units in July. This was largely the result of an increase in apartment starts this month.

For the second time this year the suburban regions of Toronto CMA together had a larger number of apartment starts than the City of Toronto. However, the City of Toronto was still the municipality with the highest number of total starts, most of which were apartment units. The City of Richmond Hill followed by the municipalities of Mississauga and Vaughan had the next highest number of apartment starts.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables.

As Canada’s authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) — that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Information on this release:

Media Contact:

Angelina Ritacco
416-218-3320
aritacco@cmhc.ca

Additional data is available upon request.

Source: CMHC
¹ Census Metropolitan Area
² The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
Detailed data available upon request

Source: CMHC

Source: CMHC

Article source: http://www.cmhc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2015/2015-09-09-0816b.cfm

President’s HomeS MAGAZINE Column

TREB President’s Column as it appears
in the Home Magazine

September, 2015 —  I am excited about representing the Greater Toronto Area’s more than 41,000 REALTORS® during the next 12 months, as President of the Toronto Real Estate Board.

I see it as a great opportunity to share information with you about the real estate market in our city, which is teeming with potential. I believe that as a centre of finance, innovation and creativity, Toronto is destined to become one of the world’s great mega-cities. In fact, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network already classifies ours as an alpha city, one that links major economic regions into the global economy.

People from all over the world want to be here and enthusiasm for Toronto is reflected in study after study. This year alone, the Economist Intelligence Unit named Toronto the best city in the world in which to live and the global real estate consultancy Knight Frank ranked Toronto 12th among the world’s 40 most important cities. We placed in the same spot in a study of the world’ most sustainable cities conducted by the global engineering consultancy Arcadis, and we ranked 10th on the Atlantic’s Global Economic Power Index.

As a runner, I enjoy exploring our city’s diverse neighbourhoods and marveling at the pace of development as Toronto evolves into a vibrant global oasis. A trek through just about any community proves that ours is a city of entrepreneurs, and among Toronto’s most energetic go-getters, is your REALTOR®.

Our energy is derived from the passion we have both for the GTA, and for connecting people, to help them realize their dreams. Recognizing that in today’s digital world, each of us has vast swathes of data available at our fingertips, Greater Toronto REALTORS® recognize that you expect more than just numbers, and we are committed to delivering. I see a REALTOR’S® role not only as a provider of information, but more importantly, as a purveyor of insight. Distilling all of the variables that can affect your transaction, from nearby development plans to school zoning, and providing you with insightful opinions is one of the most important services you can expect when working with a REALTOR®.

A home transaction is one of the most emotional and financially significant steps you will ever take and as such, it only makes sense to bring an informed, objective head to the table to help you maximize your dollar. We understand that the stakes are high and we want you to hold us to equally high standards. Today’s REALTORS® are smart, driven and committed to staying on top of the information stream in order to provide you with the best possible service.

While this year’s soaring real estate sales activity and prices in the GTA reflect buyers’ enthusiasm for our city, they don’t have to mean that your goals are out of reach. Your REALTOR® can help you employ strategies that will allow you to put your best possible stake in this living, breathing metropolis of opportunity. To learn more talk to a Greater Toronto REALTOR® and visit TorontoRealEstateBoard.com

Mark McLean is President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, a professional association that represents 42,000 REALTORS® in the Greater Toronto Area.

Follow TREB on www.twitter.com/TREBhome, www.Facebook.com/TorontoRealEstateBoard, pinterest.com/trebhome/, www.linkedin.com/company/treb and www.youtube.com/TREBChannel

Article source: http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/president_columns/pres_homes_col/index.htm