Consumers don’t care about housing VOLUME statistics: they care about PRICE

Real estate publications (real estate boards, national newspapers and various associations) write their reports in a way that confuses consumers. Consumers of their analysis cannot easily interpret the reporting of SALES VOLUME from the reporting of PRICE CHANGES.  Homebuyers and sellers care about PRICE, and yet the reporting typically starts with an inarticulate reference to the market TRANSACTION VOLUME, not PRICE.

Here’s a recent example:

According to data released by (…a real estate board) last week, sales were down a whopping 39.5 per cent year-over-year in March (2018).

Homeowners read this and think the worst – that their home is now worth 39% less. That's not true. 

These reports start by confusingly highlighting something that most consumers really don’t care about and don’t want to learn about – TRANSACTION VOLUME. The word “Sales” means transaction volume.  It’s the number of homes that changed hands.  Who cares about VOLUME?  Economists, newspapers and market analysts.  To them it implies something about the evolving state of the economy. 

The thing that consumers care about is home PRICE.  When consumers read most reports on the housing market, the reader must diligently wade past the confusing “Sales” mentions, and get to the portion on PRICE.  I look forward to the point when these publishers recognize the consumer need and clearly state their findings in capital letters, with the most important topic first.  Here’s what that would look like:

Housing PRICES are up/down by X% in the last year-over-year period.

Housing TRANSACTIONS are up/down by Y% in the same period.

That is actually what these publications are trying to communicate, but as a homeowner/homebuyer reader, you need to be careful and clear minded to distill most reports down to those two points. 

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Learn how to Maximize Your Profit Before You Sell your Home

Get your FREE copy of our ROADMAP TO SELLING YOUR HOME

Selling a home is a process, not an event.  As with most important things in life, being well educated in advance is critical.  These days we can learn a lot as consumers on line and through conversations with friends. That’s all good, but consider taking a few minutes to see the whole process laid out in clearly defined steps, so before you start, you know where you’re headed and how to get there with maximum profit.  

For example:

Pricing a Home: most people would be interested to know how to properly establish a list price for a home, and the profit pitfalls of improperly pricing it.

How the Money Works: Most people sell or buy a home on average every 7 years.  Often its 20 years between transactions. Learn how the money works in a real estate transaction (deposit, down payment, mortgage, commission, lawyer fees, moving costs) before you start. 

Negotiation: The negotiation steps are critically important, and they have the biggest impact on Seller Profit at the end of the process.

We can help. We’ll be happy to send you our Roadmap to Selling Your Home, and to answer your questions about the process and the market.  

CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR FREE COPY

Brian Maguire, The Linda Maguire Team, 905-220-7993,

or email to: brianmaguire@royallepage.ca

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The Linda Maguire Team, Top 1% in Royal Lepage Canada

Join our growing team to maximize your Real Estate earnings.

We provide a very supportive and fun work environment where you learn from the best professionals and fully develop your potential. We are looking for positive, bright, polished and dedicated sales agents. On our team, Real Estate is a passion that allows agents to be their own boss, maximize income potential and positively impact people’s lives.

Whether you are new to the industry or a seasoned professional, The Linda Maguire Team has a lot to offer you:

• Supportive and sharing teammates that dig in to maximize each individual’s success.
• Leading edge efficiency using the best and fastest technology to make us all more effective than our competitors.
• Top negotiators, presenters and highly effective sales people to learn from.
• Canada’s top and most prestigious and respected real estate brand (Royal Lepage) –100% Canadian owned and operated. Key Skills Customer-focus and empathetic client understanding
• Confidence, determination and motivation
• Professional, polished with strong oral and written communication skills
• Technically savvy – computer literate and social media active

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or have just earned your real estate, we invite you to take the next step and launch your career with The Linda Maguire Team at Royal LePage Burloak today!

Qualifications:

• You must have an Ontario Real Estate License.
• You should be a resident of Burlington, Oakville or nearby. 

Contact Brian Maguire at:

905-220-7993

Brianmaguire@royallepage.ca

Real estate remains a great investment in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  While we have historically seen prices double every 13 years, the last 10 years have been exceptional for price growth, with home values doubling over that period. According to a report in the Toronto star.

Cold weather tends to slow things down, and we certainly have that in spades as of January 2018. 

The Mellenials are getting more and more press, with the main group of them, known as "Peak Milennials”, now making up a big part of the first time homebuyer market.  In the Toronto market, Peak Millenials are often targeting condo’s, due to their affordability, compared with detached homes.  Baby boomers are also more and more heading for condos as a means of downsizing the complexity and maintenance of their homes, and freeing up money for lifestyle changes (mainly travel). As a result, in the GTA especially, we’re becoming a “Condo Nation”. 

 

Of course rising interest rates (another rate hike was announced today) and the forecast for addition increase in 2018 and 2019, will make it interesting.  

The level of available homes for sale, known as “Inventory” is low but will improve as we move into spring which will make buying a bit easier. 

Another factor affecting the Burlington/Oakville market is migration from other Canadian provinces.  The GTA is where the jobs are so we’re expecting that trend to continue to put upward pressure on our home prices. 

 

Lots to take in, but when you look at the marco economics, homes in the GTA are still considered by buyers across the globe to be very affordable, believe it or not, and that view, coupled with security, multiculturalism and economic prosperity will make this area a great investment for real estate for the foreseeable future. 

 

See what Royal Lepage CEO Phil Soper and others are saying: 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-trends-2018-1.4488392

 

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December Homes Sales Surged In Advance of New Mortgage Rules

This is the result we saw in December, as some sellers rushed to get ahead of the feared drop in prices.  We haven’t seen dropping prices, even into January, as inventory (the number of hones on the market) continues to be very low, which causes buyers to have little in the way of home selection options. Inventory is typically low at this time of year, as owner prefer to wait till their yards are viewable in the spring.  In addition, buyers tend to lay low in December and January, and then start to come out of hibernation toward the end of February.  Stay tuned - we should see more inventory then.   

Rad the full report HERE

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The Linda Maguire Team earns the Royal LePage Chairman's Award for the top 1% of Realtors in Canada

Many thanks to our terrific clients and team members for propelling us to the top 1% of Royal LePage Realtors in Canada in 2017

National Chairman's Club is awarded to the top one percent of the Royal LePage residential sales force of a designated period based on gross closed and collected commissions GCI) and starting in 2017, including closed units sold. 

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Here we are at the beginning of December 2017, and time for another market update video 

 The market has been balanced but a bit unsettled.

• We saw home prices peak in March/April, after a 35% year-over-year, growth which was then followed by a drop in prices over the early summer.  Things quickly switched from a Seller’s market to a Buyer’s market.
• In July August, prices bottomed out at about 15% down from the peak and buyers started to purchase again in September October.
• So while prices are still up roughly 20% from last December, the market is unsettled.
  • The biggest factor affecting the market is the new mortgage qualification rules. 
  • Roughly 10% of buyers will see a reduction in their buying power as of January 1.
  • Some buyers are getting in before the new mortgage rules apply, while others are waiting to see if the new rules cause a further drop in prices.
  • In the current market
    • Buyers have an opportunity to purchase a home without being in competition. 
    • Seller’s are typically now getting within 5% of their asking price, for properly priced homes
    • So its what we call a Balanced Market.
• What will 2018 bring?
  • We expect Burlington Oakville and Hamilton to continue to be among the best cities for real estate investment in Canada.  Its unlikely that we’ll see 35% price growth again any time soon, but with the flow of people moving from the Toronto market, real estate here should continue to be a great investment in 2018 and beyond.
• We’re happy to help with advice, ideas, or just a conversation about everyone’s favorite topic – real estate.  

#LindaMaguireRE

Buyers are returning to the market.... its a good time to sell

Buyers are back so it’s a good time to sell.  Prices have settled through the summer and enough purchases have occurred that there are plenty of comparable sold properties on which buyers can base a purchase price.  In addition, the biggest impetus for buyers is that the federal government announced in mid October a new stress test on mortgages, set for implementation January 1 2018.  This new mortgage qualification rule is motivation for many buyers to jump in to the housing market.  The new rule will reduce buying power by 15% on average, depending of the home price. The new mortgage qualification rule does not apply to purchase agreements that are accepted on paper prior to January 1, 2018 (regardless of closing date) will be exempt from this impending rule.   Since the rule was announced last week, we’re already seeing listings getting far more showings and good acceptable offers. Read more

Why should Home Owners act now?

Well. In a few months (January 1 2018), the majority of buyers will see their buying power reduced.  That will shrink the size of the buyer market for each level of home.  Reduced market size usually translates into reduced prices.

We can help

We can help you to get your property staged, ready and listed to take advantage of this sudden surge in buyers, and avoid the negative impact of the January 2018 mortgage qualification rules. Call us to get started.

Linda Maguire

Sales Representative

905-220-7993