Happy 2015! I’m sure you were just as pleased as we were that this winter has (fingers crossed) not seen us shoveling out of record snow dumps, or trying to clear tree limbs covered in ice and tearing down power lines. In fact, as winters go, this one has been relatively winter-free. Not unlike the temperature fluctuations week by week, this winter’s Real Estate Market has also buoyed up and down in terms of activity. What has continued almost without interruption has been increases in home values. Depending on the part of the city you are in, inventory of homes for sale has continued to be lower than demand. With banks continuing their trend of keeping mortgage rates low, the result has been strength in price. Will this trend continue for 2015? We believe it will, at least for the first half of the year, with the Bank of Canada lending rate being forecast to remain unchanged in that period. With downward pressure on the Canadian dollar, and much lower revenues from oil, I don’t expect that the national lending rate will find the traction to rise until we see how the oil market wars pan out.
In this edition of SmartMoves, we’ll look at moving towards a paper free world of real estate transactions in Ontario; we’ll examine new rules for estates handling real estate in wills; we’ll check in on where Seniors are moving to, in droves, and why; we’ll also explore the role renters have in creating a stable Toronto condo market.
We hope 2015 finds you all the health, success and joy that you need.
