Toronto Real Estate News

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2011-02-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

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True Value of a Real Estate Agent

2010-06-02T15:05:00.001-07:00

The process of selling in Canada is effectively controlled by Multiple Listing Service. Over 80% of sales transactions take place though this medium.

Under MLS, the members of the service, share the information among each other to expedite the process of selling. The access to private data is not open to the public.
The process of selling a property through the services of MLS can be divided in 5 different stages.

Processing a MLS Listing:

This includes things like, collecting the pertinent information about the property, such as measurements, legal description, zoning, liens if any, Title, Insurance, property taxes and converting this to the format that the board accepts and then processing it through the MLS system. The important information about the property is then made available to the consumers by CREA’s on its website however, it does not carry the names of the owner, his contact information or any thing that would help the consumer to contact the seller directly. He must contact the broker representing the seller to get more information and to see the property.

Marketing the property:

This includes all those steps the broker takes to expose the property to the prospective buyers to bring in the sale. This includes, but is not limited to, activities like, advertising, in papers, sign on the property, holding open houses, face to face meetings with prospective buyers, sending flyers, advertising on the net, canvassing, etc. etc.

Servicing the Listing:

Encompasses answering questions and queries of consumers, brokers, lawyers, mortgage broker, building inspectors, appraisers, providing answering desk, making appointment and keeping a log of the activities to facilitate the sale and seeing it through the closing.

Representation and Negotiations:

This is the most important phase for the sale of the property. This is where the knowledge, expertise and experience of the agent shines and can have a huge impact on the final outcome. It includes representing the Seller in negotiations with the buyer / buyer’s agent. The goal here is to promote and protect the interests’ of the seller and maximize his returns from the sale of the property.

Consultation:

During any of the stages stated here above, there may be situation where the seller needs the advice concerning any issue effecting the sale of the property.

For More Information Contact Your Local Real Estate Specialist.

Best April In GTA History!

2010-06-02T15:04:00.001-07:00

TORONTO, May 5, 2010 - Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 10,898 sales through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in April, representing a 34 per cent increase compared to April 2009. There were also 20,683 new listings in April - a 59 per cent annual increase. Both the sales and new listings results amounted to new records for the month of April under the current Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) boundaries. "The GTA resale market is functioning properly. Sales were high as buyers continued to take advantage of affordable home ownership opportunities. Listings grew as home owners reacted to strong sales and price growth," said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour. "More balanced market conditions will result in sustainable rates of annual price growth in the second half of 2010." The average price for April transactions was $437,600 - up 13 per cent compared to the average of $385,641 recorded in April 2009. "Home sales continue to be driven by many different segments of the market, with sales growth for all major home types in both the City of Toronto and surrounding 905 regions," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis. "Home sales will remain strong in the second half of 2010, but will slip from the current record pace as borrowing costs rise.

Tax Harmonization: Frequently Asked Questions

2010-05-04T14:02:00.001-07:00

What is a Harmonized Sales Tax?

Ontario plans a major tax reform that will combine both the provincial and federal sales tax on products and services. The combined tax of five per cent GST and eight per cent Ontario sales tax won't change the price on most items. But many items that used to be exempt from sales tax will no longer be so.

What is no longer PST exempt?

Consumers are most likely to notice an increase in the price of gasoline and heating fuels. Electricity will no longer be exempt from provincial sales tax, nor will tobacco, personal services like haircuts, membership fees for clubs and gyms, newspapers and magazines, taxi fares and the professional services of lawyers, architects and accountants. Real estate commissions will also be taxed.

Will anything remain exempt?

Not a lot. Children's clothing and footwear, children's car seats and car booster seats, books, diapers and feminine hygiene products will remain exempt from the provincial portion of the single sales tax.
Basic groceries, rent, condo fees, prescription drugs, and medical devices remain exempt from both PST and GST.
Purchase of resale homes will remain exempt from PST, although real estate transaction fees will be taxed.

Why is Ontario doing this?

The province says implementation of the single sales tax would bring Ontario into line with "what is viewed as the most efficient form of sales taxation around the world." The finance ministry says the single sales tax would reduce the cost of goods that Ontario exports, making the province more competitive and boosting a sector of the economy that has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn.
At the moment, businesses may not deduct the PST from the cost of materials and other products they buy; instead, they pass the cost along to consumers. But under harmonization, businesses may claim tax credits for those purchases, which some estimates suggest could save them $3-billion a year.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce believes a fully blended system would cost consumers approximately $905 million in additional sales taxes per year, while the GST and PST bill for companies would fall by $1.6 billion annually.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses says harmonization will save business $100 million a year in reduced red tape.
Businesses will save a further $500-million a year on the costs of administering a single tax instead of two, according to the budget documents.

Are all businesses on side?

Contractors, developers and homebuilders oppose the blending. Ontario's Building Industry and Land Development Association estimates that a blended tax would add more than $46,000 to the price of a $580,000 new home in Toronto.

Will household expenses rise?

Yes, although the province says it will offer $10.6 billion worth of tax relief over the next three years:

Cash payments of up to $1,000 for in 2010 and 2011 for families earning less than $160,000 a year.
A new permanent $260 refundable sales tax credit for low to middle-income adults and children.
An enhanced refundable property tax credit for low and middle-income homeowners and tenants.
New homes under $400,000 would be exempt from the new blended tax.
$1.1 billion in personal income tax cuts

So what's the problem?

The provincial NDP says the single sales tax would leave families "feeling the pinch" from having to spend more on a range of goods at a time that many are already struggling to deal with job losses.
The Conservatives, while ideologically in favour of harmonizing, say this is no time to be raising taxes.
The Ontario Real Estate Association says merging the taxes will add more than $2,000 to the cost of a real estate transaction, hurting the resale home market and prolonging the housing industry's recovery from the economic doldrums.

Is Ontario alone in this?

All the Atlantic provinces except Prince Edward Island have a harmonized sales tax.

When does the new tax begin?

July 1, 2010.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/03/27/f-tax-faq.html#ixzz0mzrQOPxJ

Bank of Canada expects economic growth to slow

2010-05-03T07:44:00.001-07:00

The economy grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade between January and March, but will slow between now and 2012 as the housing market cools, the dollar trades near parity and the impact of government stimulus spending fades in Canada and the United States, the Bank of Canada said in its latest forecast.
The central bank’s projections come two days after Governor Mark Carney kept his benchmark lending rate at an historic low of 0.25 per cent but, citing hotter-than-anticipated core inflation and ``front-loaded” growth, hinted he could start raising borrowing costs as soon as his next policy decision on June 1.
At a news conference after releasing his April Monetary Policy report, Mr. Carney said he decided to remove a year-old ``conditional commitment’’ to keep rates on hold through mid-2010, depending on the outlook for inflation because it was no longer ``appropriate.’’ Still, he emphasized that the ``extent and timing’’ of rate increases will depend on how growth and inflation play out in the coming months.
``The Canadian economy has strengthened, we have marked up our forecasts, we’ve taken appropriate steps, we think, in adjusting our policy stance,’’ Mr. Carney told reporters in Ottawa. ``But I would underscore, what is clear in the report, is there are considerable risks around the economic outlook.’’
Indeed, the currency’s strength will help restrain inflation and, once government stimulus spending ends, growth going forward will increasingly depend on the private sector achieving gains in productivity, Mr. Carney said, hinting at a cautious road back to more normal borrowing costs.
Stewart Hall, an economist with HSBC Securities in Toronto, said the central bank’s report ``largely reinforces our opinion that the rate cycle will be conducted in a measured fashion which we would define as rate adjustments in 25-(basis point) packets.’’
Nonetheless, economists said the first of those increases would likely come in June and the loonie traded near a 22-month high after the report came out.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 5.8 per cent annual rate in the first quarter – the most since the fourth quarter of 1999 – the central bank said, significantly revising its 3.5 per cent forecast from January. However, the economy will slow to a 3.8 per cent pace of growth in the current quarter, 3.5 per cent from July to October, 3.5 per cent in the fourth quarter and 3.3 per cent in the first three months of 2011, slowing in the second half of that year to 1.9 per cent and staying at that pace through the end of 2012.
The central bank said inflation risks are ``roughly balanced’’ as opposed to its previous characterization of ``tilted slightly to the downside.’’
Policy makers attributed the ``firmer than projected” performance of their preferred inflation gauge – which came in just above the 2 per cent target in February – to temporary factors such as hotel prices for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Still, though core inflation in the first half of this year will ease in the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011, it will then accelerate and be close to or at 2 per cent until the end of 2012. The total inflation rate will reach 2.4 per cent in the second half of this year and average 2 per cent or higher through the end of 2012, the bank said.
That’s in part because the reliably low cost of mortgages and other loans spurred more borrowing and spending than expected, policy makers said.
``With the higher amount of expenditures brought forward resulting in somewhat smaller excess supply, as well as a more gradual deceleration in wages than previously anticipated, inflationary pressures are slightly more pronounced than expected,” the central bank said in its report.
The next inflation report from Statistics Canada is on Friday.
Canada’s economy is operating at 2 per cent below its production potential, but will return to full capacity in the second quarter of 2011, one quarter sooner than the central bank had predicted in its earlier forecasts, policy makers said. That suggests the slack created by the sharpest global downturn since the Great Depression is being absorbed more quickly than thought.
But the central bank identified several headwinds.
The housing market, which has been a major source of the recovery, will ``weaken markedly” through the rest of this year and well into the next, because mortgage rates are already rising, the federal government’s home-renovation tax credit has expired, and the fleeting impact of a current rush of buyers trying to acquire homes before a new sales tax takes effect in Ontario and British Columbia on July 1.
Consumer spending will be crimped ``in the coming years” by the higher debt loads that Canadians have racked up during the era of super low interest rates, the bank said, which for some borrowers may be harder and harder to service as rates rise.
The private sector will become the ``sole contributor” to Canadian domestic demand next year as the impact of government spending gradually turns negative after peaking in the second half of last year, the central bank said. With ``more subdued prospects” for the crucial U.S. economy and a currency assumed to be trading at about 99 cents (U.S.), export growth in 2011 will be ``somewhat weaker than assumed in January,’’ the bank said.
Policy makers upgraded their forecast for the U.S. economy this year from a 3.1 per cent pace of growth against the 2.5 per cent pace projected in January, but they changed their 2011 prediction to a 3.5 per cent rate from the initial 3.9 per cent.
Financial markets have improved, but concerns about the massive deficit spending by countries in Europe, and the United States, have led to a ``heightened focus on sovereign risk and growing uncertainty about fiscal sustainability.’’ And Mr. Carney sounded another warning about global imbalances, on the eve of meetings he’ll attend in Washington starting tomorrow with central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations.
The durability of the global recovery will depend on debt-cutting measures in advanced nations and on countries such as China continuing to take measures to stoke spending on goods from abroad, he said. That includes ``real exchange rate adjustments” for countries with large current-account surpluses, he said.

GTA REALTORS® REPORTING MARCH 2010 MID-MONTH HOUSING STATISTICS

2010-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

TORONTO, MARCH 17, 2010 - Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,353 sales through
the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) during the first two weeks of March.

This represented a 70 per cent increase compared to the 2,562 sales recorded during the
same period in 2009 when resale transactions had dipped markedly due to the recession.
The mid-month sales total was also 16 per cent higher than the previous March midmonth
high reached in 2006.

“The spring-like weather in the first half of March brought the first green sprouts of the
recurring spring market. Every year, monthly sales climb steadily through May,” said
Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour. "People are buying homes because
they are confident in the current economic recovery and mortgage payments on the
average priced home remain affordable."

The average price for March mid-month transactions was $440,153 – a 20 per cent
increase over 2009. New listings within the Toronto Real Estate Board boundaries were
up 34 per cent to 8,540.

"Look for double-digit annual price increases to cease later in 2010, as new listings
rebound from the low levels experienced in 2009," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior
Manager of Market Analysis. "Increased listings will give buyers more choice, resulting in
less upward pressure on home prices.”

Watchdog's tough stand on MLS puts others on notice

2010-02-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

As he walked out of a Toronto boardroom last week following a meeting with Ottawa's competition watchdog, Dale Ripplinger thought he was close to a deal.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), of which Mr. Ripplinger is president, had been negotiating for five months with officials from the federal Competition Bureau. The goal was to settle concerns that CREA was engaged in anti-competitive practices through its tight control of the Multiple Listing Service or MLS database, through which the vast majority of Canadian home sales are done.

By the time Mr. Ripplinger and the association's legal team met last Wednesday with Melanie Aitken, the Commissioner of Competition, CREA had agreed to a number of concessions. One change would have allowed homeowners to list on MLS but handle offers without the help of an agent. But the language of CREA's proposal contained some wiggle room that allowed local real estate boards to retain the power to enforce their own rules.

“For the most part the conversation was quite amicable – I thought we were making progress and weren't that far apart,” Mr. Ripplinger said.

It was a calculated bet by the real estate industry association that is now threatening its 50-year lock on the country's home sale business.

On Monday, the bureau escalated the case by serving notice that it would be challenging the association's practices before the Competition Tribunal. With no settlement in sight, Ms. Aitken said that three years of investigation and negotiations had “come to an end.”

The bureau's tactics have put trade associations and companies on notice that the competition regulator, long criticized for being too soft, is taking a tougher stance on alleged anti-competitive conduct.

“They are taking an aggressive enforcement approach. This shows they're prepared to take a hard line when it's appropriate,” said Omar Wakil, a competition specialist with Torys LLP.

The stakes are high for the bureau. When Ms. Aitken was appointed commissioner last summer, she promised to improve the bureau's lacklustre record of challenging companies and organizations accused of anti-competitive conduct. By taking the case against CREA to a tribunal, the bureau will have to convince a specialized body that the association's practices are limiting competition in the home-selling business.

CREA could prolong the legal battle by challenging any tribunal decision in higher courts.

In real estate, Ms. Aitken is taking on an industry that has faced the commission's interest before. Following a lengthy investigation by the bureau of its practices in the 1980s, CREA agreed in 1988 to a prohibition that restricted it from setting rules that standardized commissions and restricted advertising and incentives.

The current investigation dates back to 2007, when the bureau began investigating new rules CREA brought in to manage the way consumers and agents interact on the MLS. The rules dictate that anyone using the system – which accounts for about 90 per cent of all home sales in Canada and generates billions of dollars in commissions – must employ a real estate agent throughout the whole process.

Ms. Aitken said the rules restrict competition, because real estate agents are unable to hive off certain services within the system and offer them on a flat-fee basis. Agents who want to offer such services have been excluded from the MLS by CREA, she said.

“What that means is consumers don't have any choice. It's either all [services] or nothing,” she said.

The real estate industry has made itself somewhat of an easy target, said Century 21 president Don Lawby. It has spent millions of dollars developing the site, but hasn't made it clear why real estate agents are an essential part of the offering.

“A sense of value may be lost because that story isn't being told,” he said. “There is a perception selling a home is real simple, that someone just comes along and says I will pay you X amount … it takes expertise, especially in large cities where we're talking about very significant dollars.”

2010-02-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

Greater Toronto REALTORS reported 3,555 sales through

the Multiple Listing Service during the first two weeks of February.

This represented a 74 per cent increase compared to the 2,044 sales recorded during the

same period in 2009 when resale transactions had dipped due to the recession. The

February mid-month sales total was also 7.7 per cent above the previous high set in 2006.

"Home ownership demand remains strong in the GTA, as households remain confident

that economic recovery is at hand and that ownership housing will continue to be a

quality long-term investment," said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour.

The average price for February mid-month transactions was $429,997 - an 18 per cent

increase over 2009. New Listings within the Toronto Real Estate Board boundaries were

up 15 per cent to 6,212.

"Double-digit price increases will persist through the first quarter of the year," said Jason

Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis. "However, as new listings continue

to increase creating a better supplied market, we will see the annual rate of price growth

moderate into the single digits."

Canadian Federal Government Changes Mortgage Rules

2010-02-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

The federal government has announced changes to the rules for government-backed insured mortgages (less than 20 percent down payment) as follows:

All borrowers will be required to meet the standards for a five-year fixed rate mortgage even if they choose a mortgage with a lower interest rate and shorter terms.
Reduced maximum amount that can be withdrawn in refinancing a government-backed insured mortgage to 90 per cent from 95 per cent of the value of the home.
Require a minimum down payment of 20 per cent for government-backed mortgage insurance on non-owner occupied properties purchased for speculation. Borrowers purchasing owner-occupied residential properties will still be able to access government-backed mortgage insurance with a 5 per cent down payment.

Canada's Housing Market Remains Strong

Canada's housing market remains healthy and stable. According to the International Monetary Fund, our housing market is fully supported by sound economic factors, such as low interest rates, rising incomes and a growing population. Moreover, mortgage arrears—overdue mortgage payments—have also remained low.
Today's announcement is part of the Government's policy of proactively adjusting to developments in the housing market that could take root and cause instability. These steps are timely, targeted and measured, and will reinforce the importance of Canadians borrowing responsibly and using home ownership as a savings mechanism.

Mortgage Insurance

Mortgage insurance (which is sometimes called mortgage default insurance) is a credit risk management tool that protects lenders from losses on mortgage loans. If a borrower defaults on a mortgage, and the proceeds from the foreclosure of the property are insufficient to cover the resulting loss, the lender submits a claim to the mortgage insurer to recover its losses.
The law requires federally regulated lenders to obtain mortgage insurance on loans in which the homebuyer has made a down payment of less than 20 per cent of the purchase price (also called high loan-to-value ratio loans). The homebuyer pays the premium for this insurance, which protects the lender if the homebuyer defaults.
The Government ultimately backs most insured mortgages in Canada. It is responsible for the obligations of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as it is an agent Crown corporation. In order for private mortgage insurers to compete with CMHC, the Government backs private mortgage insurers' obligations to lenders, subject to a deductible equal to 10 per cent of the original principal amount of the loan.
In October 2008, the Government adjusted its minimum standards for government-backed, high-ratio mortgages, including:

Fixing the maximum amortization period for new government-backed mortgages to 35 years.
Requiring a minimum down payment of five per cent for new government-backed mortgages.
Establishing a consistent minimum credit score requirement.
Requiring the lender to make a reasonable effort to verify that the borrower can afford the loan payment.
Introducing new loan documentation standards to ensure that there is evidence of reasonableness of property value and of the borrower's sources and level of income.

Measures Announced Today

Today, the Government announced three changes to the standards governing government-backed mortgages.

Qualifying at a Five-Year Rate

Current interest rates are at record low levels, which has improved the affordability of housing for Canadians. It is important that Canadians borrow prudently and are able to manage their debt loads when interest rates rise.
Lender and mortgage insurers look at two key ratios when assessing the ability of a borrower to make payments on a mortgage loan:

Gross Debt Service (GDS) ratio—the ratio of the carrying costs of the home, including the mortgage payment, taxes and heating costs, to the borrower's income.
Total Debt Service (TDS) ratio—the ratio of the carrying costs of the home and all other debt payments to the borrower's total income.

Currently, the interest rate used to determine the mortgage payment for these calculations is either the rate fixed for the term of the mortgage or, in the case of a variable-rate mortgage and mortgages with terms of less than three years, the greater of the contract rate and the prevailing three-year fixed rate.
The adjustments to the mortgage framework will require mortgage insurers to ensure that borrowers qualify for their mortgage amount using the greater of the contract rate or the interest rate for a five-year fixed rate mortgage when calculating the GDS and TDS ratios.
This measure is intended to protect Canadians by providing them with additional flexibility to support mortgage payments at higher interest rates in the future.

Limit the Maximum Refinancing Amount to 90 per cent of the Loan-to-Value Ratio

Borrowers seeking financial flexibility can currently refinance their mortgage and increase the amount they are borrowing on the security of their home up to a limit of 95 per cent of the value of the property. This type of refinancing lowers the borrower's equity in their home. The adjustments today will lower the maximum amount of the mortgage loan in a refinancing of a government-backed high ratio mortgage loan to 90 per cent of the value of the property, consistent with the principle that home ownership is a tool for savings.

Discouraging Speculation by Requiring a Minimum Down Payment of 20 per cent for non-owner-occupied properties

This measure will require a minimum down payment of 20 per cent for government-backed mortgage insurance on non-owner-occupied properties purchased for speculation. Currently, borrowers may purchase a residential property with a 5 per cent down payment. Today's change will require a 20 per cent down payment for small (i.e., 1- to 4-unit) non-owner-occupied residential rental properties. Borrowers purchasing owner-occupied residential properties which also include some rental units (e.g., borrowers purchasing a duplex to live in one unit and rent out the other) will still be able to access government-backed mortgage insurance with a 5 per cent down payment.

Moving to the New Framework

These adjustments to the mortgage insurance guarantee framework are intended to come into force on April 19, 2010. Exceptions would be allowed after April 19 where they are needed to satisfy a binding purchase and sale, financing, or refinancing agreement entered into before April 19, 2010.

January Housing Starts

2010-02-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

The seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of housing starts reached 186,300 units in January 2010. This is an increase from an annual rate of 176,100 units in December 2009, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). According to final figures, actual housing starts for 2009 totalled 149,081 units, with activity improving as the year progressed.
“Housing starts improved in both the singles and multiples segments in January,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “These increases are similar to the ones that occurred in December.”

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 4.4 per cent to 165,200 units in January. Urban multiple starts increased by 5.7 per cent to 76,300 units while single urban starts increased by 3.3 per cent to 88,900 units.

January’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 19.8 per cent in British Columbia, by 7.3 per cent in Quebec, by 2.3 per cent in Atlantic Canada, and by 1.5 per cent in the Ontario. In the Prairie region, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased by 4.8 per cent.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,100 units in January².
As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making vital decisions.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) — that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels.

² CMHC estimates the level of rural starts for each of the three months of the quarter, at the beginning of each quarter. During the last month of the quarter, CMHC conducts the survey in rural areas and revises the estimate.

How condo owners can claim the Home Renovation Tax Credit

2010-02-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

If the term "Home Renovation Tax Credit" brings to mind images of detached houses in the suburbs and not units in sky-high buildings, you're not alone. Many condo owners are paying little attention to the credit when they could be reaping the benefits.

In fact, there are many opportunities for condo owners to claim the credit, including some outside of their own units.

Condo owners can claim a portion of improvements made to their building between Jan. 27, 2009 and Feb. 1, 2010, as long as they were at least partially responsible for paying for the upgrades.

Here's how it works:
Assuming each condo owner pays a monthly fee to a condo corporation, repairs or renovations completed and paid for with that money should count toward the HRTC. The condo corporation is simply paying for these goods and services on behalf of all of the unit owners.
Condo corporations are unable to claim the credit because it is available only to individuals, so it's up to each person to claim his or her portion.

Therefore, on their 2009 taxes, condo owners can claim the credit for renovations to their own unit – similar to what would be done in a detached home, for example – as well as their share of any renovations to common areas paid for by the condo corporation.
This could include anything from new windows installed in your building to a redesigned lobby area or improved landscaping.

Add these shared costs with renovations you may have done to your individual unit (bathroom or kitchen upgrades, new fixtures, painting) and you could significantly increase your credit.
Canada Revenue Agency guidelines for condo owners indicate that improvements made to common areas will qualify if:

– You own your unit. Renters are out of luck, even if they pay similar monthly fees.
– "The expenses would be eligible expenses if the common areas were treated as an eligible dwelling" – if new furniture wouldn't count in a detached home, it won't count in a condo either.
– Your condo corporation has notified you of your share of the expenses.
As a reminder, the tax credit applies to renovation costs over $1,000 and under $10,000, so if you spent a few hundred dollars on your own unit and the condo corporation spent a few hundred more on your behalf, that may be the difference between getting a return or not.

What you'll need to make the claim:
Since you're not dealing directly with stores or contractors and won't receive original receipts or invoices, in order to claim your portion of building renovations you need documentation from your condo corporation. This can be in the form of a letter and must be signed.
Most condo corporations have a set of guidelines that help them determine the allocation of expenses for common areas. It is this documentation that will guide them in establishing each condo owner's contributions to renovations and therefore how much people can claim.
According to Canada Revenue Agency, the documentation "must clearly identify the type and quantity of goods purchased or services provided" and also include the following:
– The cost of the renovations
– Your portion of the expenses (exactly how much you are considered to have contributed)
– Contact information for the vendor or contractor (including GST/HST number, if applicable)
– A description of the work in question
– The date or dates the work was completed.
If you do not receive documentation for improvements to your building, it is worth asking about. It could mean a few more dollars in your pocket!

Real estate marketing gurus see 'cautious optimism' for 2010

2010-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

As Toronto's top real estate advertising and marketing executives gathered recently for a roundtable discussion on the state of their industry, the outlook was a fair bit rosier than it was one year ago. Small wonder: The city's real estate market experienced a remarkable resurgence in the second half of 2009, one that made the economic downturn seem almost like a distant memory.

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported a total of 87,308 sales of homes last year, beating the 74,552 sales made in 2008. In December alone there were 5,541 sales, up 115 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Confidence has made a comeback, the Toronto Star-sponsored roundtable agreed.
"There's a cautious optimism out there," said Linda O'Connor, vice-president and managing director of Ryan Design Inc.

"Purchasers realized that the world didn't end," added L.A. Inc. vice-president David Klugsberg.
Things have changed, though, the participants said. For one thing, purchasers who have been wading into the waters in the past six months are a warier and wiser lot.

"These buyers are making educated decisions," said Shakeel Walji, a partner and creative director for The Walsh Group. "They're visiting more sales offices before they pull the trigger.

"When the market rebounded, they had already done their homework. They knew the neighbourhood where they wanted to be, and they said let's make the decision now."

Buyers have been coaxed back in large part by rock-bottom interest rates.
"The current interest rate environment has been a real catalyst," O'Connor said. "If rates had moved up a couple of points, we'd all be sitting around like the Maytag repairman."

Purchasers are also being lured by the prospect of getting great bargains, she noted.
"We've seen a lot of builders reducing prices for inventory. And consumers are thinking there are deals out there; that there's an opportunity to ask for a little bit more.
"I don't think a consumer has walked into a sales office this year without expecting some kind of deal," O'Connor said.
To make those deals work, however, builders are having to tweak the size of the suites; essentially offering less for less.

"People are looking for a certain price point and to attain that developers are making units smaller."
The growing number of savvy homebuyers out there these days means that it's as important as ever for marketing strategies to hit the mark, panellists said.
With this in mind, the sales centre has undergone a significant transformation.
"We used to design sales offices for consumers to come in and view product and write up a deal," O'Connor said. "Now we design them for people to come in and lounge.
"We have bars and we even held a summer camp in a sales office last summer (at Heathwood Homes' Traditions development in Milton, where the sales centre doubles as a community centre).
"We're creating environments that are geared toward much more than just selling product and getting the consumer out the door," O'Connor added. "What we're designing now are venues."

Real estate marketers say it's equally as vital that they take full advantage of new technologies to entice potential buyers.
Touch screens at sales centres, for example, are becoming essential tools to help homebuyers envision a potential living space.
Such technology represents a vast improvement over the old-school one-dimensional renderings and floor plans salespeople relied on in the past to illustrate offerings.
"We used to have display boards all over the place and we'd take the (prospective buyer) through a journey ... they'd walk around with us," said Clarence Poirier, creative director for P&B Marketing Ltd.
"But with touch screens, the customer never has to leave the monitor to understand everything about a project ... and the salesperson can change things instantly to incorporate a consumer's request, as opposed to saying, `We'll have to get back to you.'
"Touch screens have made it a hundred times more efficient."
O'Connor agreed. "I don't think there's a sales office we're designing right now that doesn't have a touch screen in it," she said.
At the sales centre for Aura at College Park – a 75-storey condo that will be the tallest in North America when it's completed in 2012 – O'Connor's team has added Google Earth to further enhance the touch screen experience.

"You can fly over and see the building pop up in the middle of Toronto," she said. "Or you can click on anything in the surrounding area and it will tell you that you're, for example, three kilometres from the ROM.''
"And if (a prospective buyer) wants to live on the 29th floor and face southeast and asks 'What would my view be?' They can just click and it's there – it's instant."
Ryan Design has gone a step further in its adoption of new technologies to sell condos.
The firm is pioneering the use of what's known as "Bluetooth proximity marketing," which they've employed for Blade in Brampton, a 26-storey condo that is across the street from a GO Transit station.
To target on-the-move commuters, equipment housed in a sales centre sends out marketing messages and special offers to Bluetooth-enabled devices within a range of several hundred feet.
"People in this industry used to think, 'If I have a website I'm okay,'" O'Connor said. "But these days it's about how you're getting your message out to the consumer ... and every consumer is carrying a cellphone or a BlackBerry.

"So we're incorporating technology to deliver mobile information to potential purchasers."
Technology can be a double-edged sword, though, particularly when it comes to how social media can influence would-be buyers.

The real estate marketing industry used to enjoy total control over the message, said roundtable moderator Danny Roth, who heads the PR firm Brandon Communications. But nowadays they're competing with bloggers, as well as Twitter and Facebook, forums in which one person's sour comment about a project can potentially have as much influence as a full-page ad in the newspaper or a spot on the radio.
Do these marketing gurus see this as a threat? Roth asked.
Walji said it's the exact opposite for his firm; they embrace social media and incorporate it into their marketing mix.
"We include Facebook and Twitter in our strategy," he said. "We want to get as many people aware of a project as possible – that's the whole idea. The message you try and get out is positive, and hopefully it's going to the right audience."
But he acknowledges, "it is difficult to control what people do with it after it gets out."
That said, in the super-competitive real estate industry, chatter about a rival firm can come in handy.
"The blogosphere helps us to track competitors," O'Connor said.
The new year looks to be a brighter one for Toronto real estate, leaving the turmoil of 2009 firmly in the past, or so the panellists of the roundtable, held in a boardroom at the Toronto Star, hope.
But did the chaotic past year have any significant lasting impact?
"I don't think Toronto was the root of the problem by any means, but it certainly affected us," said Klugsberg.
"We're doing business with a lot less people than we were last year at this time," said Joe Latobesi, vice-president of Montana Steele Advertising Inc., which recently won a record nine gold awards at the National Sales and Marketing Awards in Las Vegas
.
"It did weed out some of these wannabe builders. And the tougher things got, the more that shops like ours that have been around for years got called."
In the end, though, Latobesi thinks Toronto's rapid real estate resurgence is evidence of an otherwise healthy market that was waiting for the chance to fire back up.
"Everyone was expecting something to happen to the housing market here (during the downturn)," he said. "But then nothing did, and we just jumped back on where we were."
"We have had so much confidence in the GTA market over the last three to six months," added Poirier. "In comparison to the rest of the world, it's overwhelming.''

Toronto existing home sales skyrocket 87 per cent

2010-02-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

The January real estate market started 2010 at full gallop, with sales up 87 per cent from the year before, according to figures released today.

There were 4,986 existing home sales in January, compared to 2,670 sales the year before when sales hit an all-time low for the month, according to a report by the Toronto Real Estate Board.

“The Greater Toronto Area home market has rebounded well from the lows in sales experienced at the beginning of 2009,” said Tom Lebour, president of the board.

Placed in perspective, this January’s sales were slightly higher than the January average in the years preceding 2009 when the economy faced recession.

The average price of a home this January hit $409,058, up 19 per cent compared with $343,632 in the same month last year.

TREB warned comparisons to last year will continue to be extreme in the first quarter of this year as “we continue to make comparisons to weak market conditions at the beginning of 2009.”
Jason Mercer, senior manager of market analysis for TREB said sales and price growth is expected to be slower in the second half of this year.

Toronto/Greater Toronto Area Sales Start Off Strong in 2010

2010-02-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,986 transactions
through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in January 2010. This result represented a large
increase over the 2,670 sales in January 2009 when the home sales were in a recessionary
trough. Last month’s sales were slightly higher than the January average in the five years
preceding 2009.

“The GTA housing market has rebounded well from the lows in sales experienced at the
beginning of 2009. Sales climbed back to healthy levels across the GTA because the cost of
home ownership remained affordable in the Toronto area,” said TREB President Tom Lebour.
“Increasingly confident consumers moved to take advantage of affordable home ownership.”
The average home selling price in January 2010 climbed 19 per cent to $409,058, compared to
343,632 in the same month last year.

“Expect strong annual growth rates for existing home sales and average price through the first
quarter as we continue to make comparisons to the weak market conditions at the beginning of
2009,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The rate of sales and
price growth will be lower in the second half of 2010.”

Toronto's River City project

2010-02-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

For adventurous home-buyers looking for digs in Toronto's old industrial zones, the junction of King and Queen Streets East, just west of the Don River, is one of the city's last frontiers. But don't wait too long. The gruff brick factories and warehouses that dot the area, and the Victorian storefronts along King and Queen, are being rapidly changed into chic dwellings and offices for people who don't mind, or actually like (as I do), the rugged streetscapes left to us by the great Machine Age.

But along with the overhauls, much new housing is coming on stream in the district. Waterfront Toronto, the crown corporation conducting the transformation of the city's harbour lands, will shortly see the first residential development in the desolate 80-acre West Don Lands go to market. It's called River City and, when built out fully, it will contain 950 units. For the record: 330 units will go up for sale in February. They will range in size from a tiny 349 square-foot studio apartment to 1,050 square-foot two-bedroom suites on two levels, and are priced at $500 a square foot.

If River City lives up to its promise, this very fresh, intelligent project will probably raise the bar of architectural excellence for innovative multi-family residential work in Toronto.
Designed by the celebrated Montreal firm of Saucier + Perrotte Architects for Urban Capital Property Group, the development will occupy a long rectangular site bounded, on the north, by King Street East, and on the south by River Square, a public meeting place lined with cafés and restaurants, adjacent to Waterfront Toronto's new Don River Park. The eastern limit is the Don corridor, with the little Don River flowing alongside traffic and train routes. On the west side, the boundary will be a southward extension of River Street, which currently stops at King.

All the old construction on the location has been bulldozed, except for one mighty thing: the elevated traffic deck of the Eastern Avenue flyover, which cuts right through the middle of the River City site. This large, obtrusive piece of infrastructure, I imagine, would have daunted some architects. But not Saucier + Perrotte. Their proposed solution to the problem takes the form of a graceful ribbon of mid-rise architecture and courtyards that extends south from a 14-storey building on King Street, gives way to new parkland and recreational facilities below the traffic decks, then resumes on the other side, flipping up into a tower 20-odd storeys tall.

River City's five buildings, to be phased in over the next few years, are expressions of architectural variety within a framework of sober-sided urbanism. Nothing here shouts. The mid-sized profile of the structures north of Eastern Avenue strikes the right scale in a district of warehouses and factories. (The taller tower south of the flyover will be a good match for the development schemes Waterfront Toronto has in mind for the land around Don River Park.) The expanses of grey-tinted glass in dark aluminum frames, the balanced opacity and transparency of the facades, the hard geometry of the buildings – all these design moves help ease the way of River City into its architecturally tough neighbourhood, and give it aesthetic unity.

But this complex is hardly demure. While maintaining the concord of the project by means of colour and glass textures, and an overall stringent modernism, Saucier + Perrotte have carefully chiselled each building into a distinctive form. In plan, for example, the shorter tower on King Street is an irregular pentagon, creating interesting suites with strong, raking angles and wide views of the surrounding city. The row of four connected, short condominium cubes at the centre of the site, in contrast, is sturdy and resolute in general shape, but the ensemble is enlivened by the gently playful sculpting of their facades. Each building, in its turn, has been uniquely imagined, but matched in style and appearance to every other to make a coherent whole.

There are many ways to construct a city, of course, some of them downright awful, others merely mindless and uninspired. By assembling some of the best architects, planners and urban designers in the world to give advice and direction, Waterfront Toronto has apparently avoided the worst ways of making new urban landscape, and found ways of doing so that work well. The structures and green spaces in River City add up to thoughtful city-building at a high level, and provide a testament to Waterfront Toronto's careful oversight of the land in its keeping.

Canadian Gross Domestic Product, November 2009

2010-02-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

Canadian Gross Domestic Product

Canada’s broad measure of economic growth – Real Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) – grew at a monthly rate of 0.4 per cent in November.

This was the third straight monthly increase in real GDP. Goods producing

industries (mining, manufacturing, construction etc.) grew by 0.6 per cent and

service producing industries (business services, finance, insurance and real

estate, education etc.) grew by 0.4 per cent.

With the goods producing sector leading the way in November, it was

interesting to note the continued positive impact of residential real estate, with

the construction sector posting a monthly increase of 1.1 per cent. The

residential component of construction was up by 2.5 per cent. Increased home

construction activity had a lot to do with tightening resale markets in the second

half of 2009. While existing home sales rebounded strongly, listings remained

low from a historic perspective. This meant that some home buyers spilled over

into new home sales centres. Increased new home sales eventually fed through

into more home starts. The construction sector has linkages to many other

sectors of the economy, from raw materials and manufactured goods through to

real estate and financial services. Indeed, a large share of home builders

cooperate with REALTORS® who bring their clients to new home sales centres.

The finance and insurance sector moves ahead

The finance and insurance sector grew 1.2% in November. This gain was attributable to strong activity in the bond markets and a significant increase in mutual fund sales. There was also strength in personal loans and residential mortgages.

Construction rises again

Construction activity rose 1.1% in November, a fourth consecutive monthly increase. Residential building construction (+2.5%) and, to a lesser extent, engineering and repair work (+0.6%) advanced. Non-residential building construction edged down as an increase in institutional building was more than offset by decreases in industrial and commercial building.
The home resale market continued to advance, resulting in a 0.7% increase in the output of real estate agents and brokers.

Having a green home provides savings and peace-of-mind

2010-01-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

When it comes to character, you just can’t beat the charm of an older home. Newly constructed homes however, come with their own unique assets, one of the most noteworthy of which is energy efficiency.

From the roof to the foundation, a number of innovative building practices often go into constructing today’s greenest homes.

Roof shingles for example, are now available in recycled materials. Environmentally friendly spray foam insulation, which can help prevent dampness, keep out pollutants and contribute to structural strength, is even partially made with recycled materials.

Roofs, walls and floors can be insulated as well with special structural panels that consist of two layers of board with insulating foam in between them. The forms that are used to mould a home’s poured concrete foundation can now also be found with insulating ability, and barriers that prevent dampness from rising into the foundation can be used at this stage of construction as well. Even exterior cladding is now insulated to offer greater energy efficiency.

If you prefer an older home though, there are many simple ways to make it more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Start with an Energy Star programmable thermostat that will save on heating and cooling costs when you’re not home. You can take this approach a step further by investing in a new high efficiency furnace or air conditioner. Adding insulation to the attic of your home will offer reduced energy costs for years to come as well.

A tank-less water heater will also save on energy costs by providing only the amount of heated water that you need rather than maintaining it in a cylinder.

Even making minor changes can have an impact, like choosing energy efficient light bulbs - Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) are good and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are even better.

If you’re planning to make cosmetic changes to your home you can do your part for the environment by choosing wood flooring, and even carpet, made with recycled content. Look for low VOC paints and stains as well, which reduce the number of unstable, carbon-containing compounds that enter the air and react with other elements.

In the bathroom, you can keep more money in your pocket by installing low-flow faucets, showerheads and toilets.

Replacing old windows with low-E argon-filled units that have the Energy Star symbol can make a dramatic difference to your home’s energy efficiency as well.

Changing your old appliances with new Energy Star machines is also a great way to reduce energy consumption while enhancing the overall appeal of your home.

Beyond enjoying the aesthetics, cost savings and fulfillment associated with helping the environment, you can also consider getting an energy audit to take full advantage of a number of government rebates for energy-saving home improvements..

Regardless of the approach you choose, remember that nothing can substitute for good-old fashioned conservation. Remember that the energy you save today may well be the energy that is needed tomorrow.

HST Transition Rules

2010-01-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

The provincial government has provided rules/guidance on how it will transition to the implementation of the proposed Harmonized Sales Tax.

The HST is NOT YET IN EFFECT. The HST will come into effect beginning on July 1, 2010; however, note transition rules below.
HST will not apply on the purchase price of re-sale homes.
HST would apply to services such as moving cost, legal fees, home inspection fees, and REALTOR® commissions.
HST will apply to the purchase price of newly constructed homes. However, the Province is proposing a rebate so that new homes across all price ranges would receive a 75 per cent rebate of the provincial portion of the single sales tax on the first $400,000. For new homes under $400,000, this would mean, on average, no additional tax amount compared to the current system.

Transitional Rules for New Housing

Generally, sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale entered into on or before June 18, 2009 would not be subject to the provincial portion of the single sales tax, even if both ownership and possession are transferred on or after July 1, 2010.
The tax would also not apply to sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale entered into after June 18, 2009 where ownership or possession is transferred before July 1, 2010.

Additional Transitional Rules

Where services straddle the HST implementation date of July 1, 2010, the tax charged for the service may have to be split between the pre-July 2010 and post-June 2010 periods. However, the HST will generally not apply to a service if all or substantially all (90% or more) of the service is performed before July 2010.
Four key timelines are important (see below). All are based on the earlier of the time the consideration is either due (In general, an amount is due on the date of the invoice or the day required to be paid pursuant to a written agreement), or is paid without having become due. If consideration is due or paid,

Before October 15, 2009, HST will generally not apply (however, see above transition rules for new housing).
From October 15, 2009 to April 30, 2010, certain business that are not entitled to recover all of their GST/HST paid as input tax credit may be required to self-assess the provincial component of the HST with respect to goods or services supplied after June 30, 2010.
From May 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010, HST will generally apply for services supplied after June 30, 2010.
After June 30, 2010, HST will generally apply. An exception to this rule would be where ownership of the property is transferred before July 2010 or the invoice relates to services provided before July 2010.

With regard to the lease or license of goods, including non-residential real property, HST will generally apply to lease intervals or payment periods on or after July 1, 2010 and the general rules noted above will apply. However, where a lease interval begins before July 2010 and ends before July 31, 2010, it is not subject to HST.
With regard to the sale of non-residential property, HST is due where both possession and ownership of non-residential property occurs on or after July 1, 2010.

More Detail

Additional detail on the transition rules is available at the provincial government web site here or by calling the provincial government enquiry line at 1-800-337-7222.

Canadian Retail Sales in November

2010-01-27T06:50:00.000-08:00

After rising for three consecutive months, retail sales experienced a 0.3 per
cent monthly decline in November (seasonally-adjusted). Of the eight major retail
sectors, five experienced decreases, led by a 3.6 per cent dip in clothing and accessory
sales. The real estate-related building and outdoor home supplies sector bucked the
trend, rising 1.1 per cent compared to October. Sales in Ontario experienced the
greatest provincial decline, dipping 0.4 per cent. While retail sales were down monthover-
month in November, retail sales were up for the second straight month on an
annual basis (i.e. November 2009 vs. November 2008).

After a substantial drop-off in sales during the fourth quarter of 2008, the
Canadian retail sector experienced a relatively steady recovery in 2009, closing in on the
September 2008 peak. The onset of economic recovery in Canada in the third and
fourth quarters of 2009 was driven predominantly by personal consumption. As
borrowing costs were reduced, due to Bank of Canada monetary stimulus, consumers
started to spend in greater numbers. Retail sales were especially bolstered by the quick
rebound in the residential housing sector in the second half of 2009. An increasing
number of households purchased an existing or new home. These transactions, in turn,
resulted in substantial spin-off spending in the retail sector, including expenditures on
home furnishings and home improvement materials.

Bank of Canada, Overnight Rate Target Announcement

2010-01-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

The Bank of Canada has announced that its target for the overnight
lending rate will remain at 0.25 per cent and has further reiterated its
commitment to hold the overnight rate at this level until the end of the second
quarter of 2010. The overnight rate is the rate at which major participants in the
money market borrow and lend funds to each other for one day. Other
benchmark rates like the prime rate are generally expected to follow the Bank’s
decisions to raise or lower the overnight rate target.

The Bank of Canada’s forecast for economic growth and inflation is
largely unchanged. The rate of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price
Index (CPI), is forecast to reach the Bank’s two per cent target in the third
quarter of 2011. The Bank’s main lever in controlling inflation is the level of
interest rates, with the idea being that lower interest rates promote more
consumer spending and, by extension, higher rates of inflation. Conversely,
higher interest rates should result in less consumer spending and lower rates of
inflation. The consensus in Canadian credit markets is for a 200+ basis point
(two percentage point) increase in the overnight lending rate by the end of 2011.
Longer term Canadian government bond yields are also expected to increase,
but by a lesser amount. Shorter-term and variable rate mortgage products
generally move closely or in concert with the prime rate. Longer term mortgage
products (e.g. 5-year fixed rate mortgages) more closely follow Canadian
government bond yields.

Statistics Canada Composite Index of Leading Indicators

2010-01-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

Housing led the way with a three per cent gain as the Statistics
Canada Composite Index of Leading Indicators rose 1.5 per cent in December –
the largest monthly advance since February of 1983 and the seventh straight
monthly increase to end off 2009. All of the index components posted increases
in December.

Economic recovery in Canada to date has been driven by household
spending, so it is no surprise to see strong gains posted in the housing and
retail components of the index. What was even more important, however, were
the gains in index categories related to goods production and export to the
United States. New orders for manufactured durable goods increased by eight
per cent in December while the US Index of Leading Indicators edged higher. A
return to sustained economic growth in Canada will require a recovery in the
country’s manufacturing and natural resource sectors. This recovery will
depend on renewed demand for Canadian goods and services south of the
border. Increased US demand will depend on US consumer spending over the
next two years because 70 per cent of the US economy is driven by personal
expenditure. It will be important to monitor the state of the US consumer, in
terms of employment, income growth and confidence, in order to gauge how
strong Canada’s economic growth will be moving forward.

Canadian home sales record - up 72%

2010-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

ales of existing homes reached a record high for the month of December, according the Canadian Real Estate Association, with annual sales coming in above 2008 levels. “Sales activity in 2009 came in like a lamb and went out like a lion,” CREA president Dale Ripplinger said today.
“The continuation of unusually low interest rates may keep national sales activity near current levels over the coming months, as will a blip in housing demand in Ontario and British Columbia from homebuyers motivated to beat the introduction of the HST (harmonized sales tax).”
There were 27,744 units sold in December, up 72% from a year earlier “when activity dropped to the lowest level in a decade,” CREA said.
Record highs for the month were reported in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, the industry group said.
There were 465,251 homes sold last year, up 7.7% from 2008 to the fourth highest annual level on record.
On an annual basis, sales were still down 10.7% in 2009 from the peak reached in 2007.

Property Assessment in Ontario

2010-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

The Government of Ontario has made a number of changes to the property assessment system that went into effect in the 2009 property tax year. These changes include the introduction of a four-year assessment update cycle and a phase-in of assessment increases.
Currently, the assessed value of properties in Ontario is based on a January 1, 2008 valuation date. MPAC’s last province-wide assessment update took place in 2008 and was based on a January 1, 2008 valuation date.
To provide an additional level of property tax stability and predictability, the market increases in assessed value between 2005 and 2008 will be phased-in over four years. The phase-in program does not apply to decreases in assessed value. Any market decrease in the value of a property is applied immediately and reflected on your most recent Property Assessment Notice. The change in assessed values and the phased-in assessment values for the 2009 to 2012 property tax years are listed on the 2008 Notices. There is a difference between the 2008 Current Value Assessment (CVA) (the destination value) and the current year’s phase-in value. The current year (which can be 2009, 2010, 2011 or 2012 taxation year) phase-in value is the assessed amount that the municipalities or the local tax authorities use to calculate the annual property taxes. An example of this is as follows:

Current year (2010) Phase-in CVA=$250,000
Total Municipal Tax Rate= 1%
Total Municipal Tax burden = $250,000 x 1%= $2,500.

The 2008 CVA is not used until 2012 since this is the destination value. The municipalities/local taxing authorities set property tax rates and the province sets the education tax rate. MPAC’s assessed values are used to determine these taxes.

How MPAC Assesses Properties

MPAC’s mandated role is to accurately value and classify all Ontario properties in compliance with the Assessment Act and related regulations. To establish a property’s assessed value, MPAC analyzes property sales in a community to determine the CVA. This method is used by most assessment jurisdictions in Canada and throughout the world. When assessing a residential property, we look at all of the key features that affect market value. Five major factors usually account for 85% of the value: location; lot dimensions; living area; age of the structure(s), adjusted for any major renovations or additions; and quality of construction. Examples of other features that may affect a property’s value include: number of bathrooms; fireplaces; finished basements; garages and pools. Site features can also increase or decrease the assessed value of your property such as traffic patterns; being situated on a corner lot; and proximity to a golf course, hydro corridor, railway or green space.
For more information, see the MPAC website »

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GTA REALTORS® REPORTING JANUARY MID-MONTH HOUSING STATISTICS

2010-01-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 1,749 existing home
sales on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) during the first two weeks of January. This result
was almost double the 888 sales reported for the same period in 2009, when sales had dipped
to a recessionary low.

“We have had a strong start to 2010,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour.
“Widespread sales growth in terms of geography and housing type indicates that many
households remain confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long-term.”
The average price for transactions in the first two weeks of January was $395,307, compared to
an average of $332,495 for the same period in 2009.

“Double-digit average annual price growth will continue through the first quarter of 2010 as sales
remain high relative to listings and we continue to make comparisons to last year’s winter
downturn,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

New Year, New Market, New Rules

2010-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

One Home Turf correspondent has been back in touch to relate his good news for the New Year: The reader and his family of six are finally preparing to leave a two-bedroom rental apartment for a roomy house in Georgetown, Ont.
The cramped living quarters were sufficiently motivating to prompt the dad to sweeten his offer a couple of times and vanquish the competition.
You may remember this family from a previous post in October when they were lamenting their bad luck and bad timing. The family sold a house in Brampton last spring when house sales were still sluggish. Then, just as they began a search for a new house in a better location, the market took off again.
Every time they found a house that seemed to suit their family, it would sell within hours. Once they got into the contest in time but lost out to a higher offer, with no chance to increase their own bid.
“We wait for the next one to come along,” he wrote at the time. “Very frustrating situation.”
As the fall season wound down, fewer listings were coming to market, but they continued to drop in on open houses.
Then, one weekend they stumbled upon an open house for a recently-listed property on a quiet street in pretty Georgetown. The house, with 2,700 square feet, had an asking price of $514,000. It contained a basement apartment that they could rent to help with the mortgage.
They jumped right in with an offer for 97 per cent of the asking price -- which the seller totally ignored.
Already they were dabbling in a much higher price bracket than they had previously considered, so they continued to look around while they hoped that the seller would soften up a bit.
A few weeks later, their agent called and said that two offers were on the table for the Georgetown house. The family decided to go ahead and offer the full asking price with no conditions.
Wouldn’t you know it, it still wasn’t enough. But this time they did have the opportunity to increase their bids.
“The thought of future months with all 6 of us squeezed into this tiny apartment quite motivated us to increase our offer.”
After the third round, the family prevailed with an accepted offer of $516,000. Their agent said they beat the competition by only several hundred dollars.
Now they’re packing, finalizing details, and trying to draw a tenant who won’t mind renting a basement apartment with a rambunctious family living above.
“It feels good to have the housing plan in place instead of the stumbling-in-the-dark feeling you have when things don’t go smoothly,” he says after that trying ordeal.
Economists and real estate agents are predicting that listings will rise in the spring - which they always do, of course - but this year they are looking for an effect more pronounced than the usual seasonal bounce.
We’ll have more detail about the listings outlook in a feature in Globe Real Estate on Friday. But all of the harbingers are pointing towards a frantically busy spring.
For now, though, the Georgetown family is just happy that they don’t have to wait that long.

For Twitter Updates go to http://twitter.com/WilliamKar