Home Prices Continue to Rise Across the GTA

Home Prices Continue to Rise Across the GTA … Wow

For the last year economists were worried about a housing bubble, especially across the GTA with condos – but the more data that comes in, the more we understand that the amount of quality, desirable properties makes the luxury home market different.

Did You Know: The average home price across the GTA in September was $534,000?

Home sales were up 30% compared with September of last year, and prices rose 6.5%, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board… but what does this mean for you? Should you wait to buy a home with rising prices? Is it easier to sell a home in the GTA right now?

Understanding the New Mortgage Rules

If you’ve just glanced at a newspaper in the last year and a half you’ve probably seen someone prognosticating the end times when it comes to the housing market – year here we are, 15 months in to the new housing rules and people are still buying and selling homes. Almost 70,000 homes have been bought and sold this last year, proving that sometimes the forecasters get it wrong.

But why?

Most of the mortgage rules came down hard on buyers that were looking at homes in the $300,000 range – while most homes in the GTA are going for $500,000+. With international interest and investment at an all-time high across the GTA, for many homebuyers price isn’t an object, and financing isn’t an issue.

Home Prices Continue to Rise

Both traditional, detached homes and condos have continued to rise across the GTA, especially in Oakville! Sales are up almost 30% for condos on average, and the average price for a home over the last year has been $520,000 – up 4% from a year ago. So while the mortgage rules have cut some people off from financing, it doesn’t seem to have slowed things down all that much.

Keeping Pace with Inflation

The goal each year is for home values and sale prices to keep place with inflation – and they’ve been exceeding them. Most of the demand is for “low rise” homes, but condos are seeing a bump. With interest rates expected to remain stable through the end of the year. Markets are expected to slow down a bit once the winter season starts in late December, but with that being months off it’s not expected to make much of an impact for now.

Is Now the Right Time to Buy and Sell?

Many buyers and sellers just don’t know if now is the right time to buy or to sell – but even a 2% increase on the home of your dreams is a small price to pay. Locking in those low interest rates, if anything, goes a long way towards making the difference.

The same goes for sellers – now is the time to sell. If you want to be able to get top dollar for your home and find good buyers, now is the time to do it.

Meanwhile Toronto Mayor Ford urges residents to watch his crack smoking video and perhaps smoke a join or two … Then continue to buy more real estate ?

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologizes to Toronto, says he’s ‘made mistakes’

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologizes and asks Toronto police chief to release the video on his radio show. Watch LIVE coverage here.

‘I have made mistakes’

During his weekly radio show, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he has made mistakes. ‘All I can do now is apologize for those mistakes.’

‘I also know to move forward I have to make changes in my life,’ says Toronto Mayor Rob Ford during his weekly radio show.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologized to the people of Toronto on his radio showSunday, saying he’s “made mistakes” but that he will continue to do “the job I was elected to do three years ago.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot change the past,” Ford said at the start of his weekly radio show on Newstalk 1010. “I can just move forward and learn from the past which I’ll assure I am doing.”

“There’s no one to blame but myself and I take full responsibility for it,” he said, without specifying why he was apologizing.

Ford also called on Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair to release the alleged crack video “for every single person in the city to see.”

He said residents “deserve” to see the video and “judge for themselves.”

“That is the right thing to do, and chief, I am asking you to release this video now,” he said.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/