Power of sale activity in Kitchener-Waterloo continued an upward trend. In February, there were 11 residential properties sold under power of sale through the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board. Interestingly, all were in Kitchener. The continued strength of the residential resale market meant there were no bargains to be had as lenders received, on average, ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on March 16, 2010
In previous posts, we've examined million dollar home sales in Kitchener-Waterloo and found they are a rarity. In 2009, there were only 4 residential sales in excess of $1 million on the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board. To put this in perspective, there were approximately 5000 homes sold last year in K-W.
In a sign of the times, there have already been 2 MLS sales in ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on March 12, 2010
The Olympic cauldron and our Canadian athletes weren't the only things on fire in February. Preliminary MLS data from the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board indicates a strong seller's market in K-W with 382 residential sales. Sellers received a sizzling 98.9 per cent of the asking price on average! Resale homes totalled 341 ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on March 2, 2010
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the following changes to insured mortgages effective April 19, 2010:
1. Properties that are not owner-occupied now require a 20% downpayment.
2. Owners wanting to refinance their existing insured mortgage will be limited to 90% loan-to-value versus the current 95%.
3. Borrowers wanting a variable rate mortgage will now be qualified ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on February 16, 2010
While Florida saw snow in January, Kitchener-Waterloo received much less than normal. This relatively mild weather and continuing low interest rates led to an active residential real estate market in K-W in January. Preliminary sales through the K-W Real Estate Board indicate 290 residential sales. This represents a 34% increase over the 217 sales of January ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on February 3, 2010
While questions about Dubai's ability to repay debt were swirling internationally, the improving local economy contributed to lighter power of sale activity in Kitchener-Waterloo at year's end. Active residential MLS listings under power of sale with the K-W Real Estate Board as of January 15th totalled only 5. All were located in Kitchener and the average asking price ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on January 27, 2010
The headlines are hard to avoid these days as the mainstream media rush to report December real estate sales in Canada at an all-time high. The Canadian Real Estate Association reports that the number of sales nationwide was up 7.7% in 2009 over 2008 and prices were up 5%, on average, versus a drop of 1% in 2008. As I've stressed before, markets are local and ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on January 18, 2010
Forecasting the weather or anything else is always tricky and residential real estate sales in Kitchener-Waterloo are no exception. My predictions for 2009 were for a buyer's market by spring, MLS sales of 3725 properties and declining prices of 10-15%. As detailed in my previous post, thankfully none of this came to pass due to government stimulus and low interest rates. An ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on January 4, 2010
Kitchener-Waterloo residential real estate continued to post solid gains year-over-year in December. A total of 242 properties sold through the Kitchener-Waterloo MLS in December, 2009 versus 172 in 2008 for an increase of 41%. Interestingly, the median sale price declined slightly to $264 848 compared to $265 858 in '08. The average days on the market for December was a healthy ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on January 4, 2010
There has been a great deal of talk in the mainstream media recently surrounding the possibility that Canada is in a housing bubble. First, what is a housing bubble? According to Answers.com, a housing bubble is "a run-up in prices fuelled by demand, speculation, and a belief that recent history is an infallible forecast of the future." It begins with an increase in demand ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on January 2, 2010