From the Desk of Dory Cameron…

What’s the market doing now? Pretty much the same as it has done the last 3 months… those houses that are PRICED COMPETITIVELY are selling nicely and at about 98% of list price! We are still seeing some overpriced homes and even if those overpriced homes do get offers on them, the deals are not firming up because the bank appraisers are not appraising them at those higher prices. So everyone needs to be aware not to overprice their homes. Even if you land up getting a higher offer on your house – it doesn’t mean the deal is actually going to go through as the buyers may not be able to get financing. Then your house will land up back on the market after wasting 7 or 14 days being off the market while the buyer struggled to get financing. The mores days-on-market your house has, the less likely you will get close to list price. So in the end, you might as well just price your house appropriately for the market, get it sold, and stay close to list price instead!

CMHC reports that housing starts (new construction builds) are up 33% over last year. I see that Builder’s however, are offering longer possession dates (6 months to over a year) and not hiring on more trades people to crank out the houses faster like they did in 2006. Builders are being careful and buyers are having to wait longer to get their homes built. In fact many of the foreclosures out there today are of trades people not being able to find work.

The condo market (multi-family housing) is still declining. No surprise to my clients who hear me preach about the condo market being a poor investment overall. New construction of condos fell primarily because the demand for multi-family housing and condos is just not there. In fact, construction fell 60% from last year. This is also why our trades people are out of work. Condos have been a poor investment since the fall of 2006 and 3 years later still remain a poor investment. I expect this downward trend to last at least another two more years.

Single family homes remain an excellent investment. Again, I preach this message: IF YOU OWN A CONDO… GET OUT NOW AND GET INTO A HOUSE. DON’T WAIT FOR THE CONDO MARKET TO RISE – IT WON’T FOR QUITE SOME TIME BUT IN FACT WILL CONTINUE TO DECLINE. By the time you sell your condo (which will keep decreasing in value until you do) and buy a house (which is only increasing in value as we speak), you will have lost literally thousands of your hard-earned equity . The sooner you off-load your condo, even if you are losing equity you gained in the 2006 market boom, the better financially you will be in the long run.