Must have for luxury homes in Victoria

Imagine you have a house that you want to purchase but it desperately needs a new kitchen. You have the down payment but after that you have no cash to do the reno.
Consider a purchase plus improvement finance option. Stay within your pre-approved mortgage limit and find a house that needs renos priced 10% below that limit. The bank will roll the cost of the renovation into your mortgage and let you reno before you move in.

Talk to Randy at Garden City Mortage a division of Dominion Lenders to find out more and while your planning your next big move check out this cool new must have in smart technology for the home.

Thinking of taking advantage of the Live Smart BC homeowner rebates before they expire in March?
Well this is a must have for your new smart home heating system. Tony Fadell's ipod of thermostats.

Will Victoria homes drop in value in 2012?

According to Christine Dobby  in her Dec 19, 2011 FP article we can expect to see a 5% to 10% drop in home prices during the first half of 2012. This is coming from predictions made by economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
It's hard not to get really depressed with all the doom and gloom prophecy that we get bombarded with on a regular basis. CMHC is warning Canadians about the rising household debt, the EU is in crisis, the US economy continues to move at a snails pace, and reports of 73,000 jobs lost in Canada over the last 2 months. Happy New Year!
     I am no economist but as a realtor in Victoria  I keep an eye on the market. There have been many predictions of large corrections since 2008 and if you look at the average home price in the Greater Victoria area since 2009 you find that prices have not changed all that much. Of course you have the varied products that have been effected more or less depending on inventory, location, and type of product such as the Condo market or the less desirable areas in town that have seen larger corrections. In the end the Victoria home prices have gone through a bit of a roller coaster to end up on average 6% higher in Nov. 2011 as compared to Nov. 2010. Annual averages have dropped slightly but in 2010 the median single family home in Victoria was $545,000. Median price in Nov. 2011 was $530,000.
     The market has slowed for sure and it is increasingly becoming more and more important to consult an expert in the market and area you are considering purchasing or selling property in. Homes that are in desirable locations and have considerable value either current or latent are still selling quickly and for top dollar. The Victoria market is considered a luxury market so if you are considering selling your home make sure you consult a realtor and staging expert to prepare your home for sale in this competitive environment.
Below is a link to the Financial Post article. If the prediction is accurate I place my bets on Victoria being a market that experiences little or possibly none of this correction.

Look for 5% to 10% drop in home prices in first half of 2012

Mortgage rates offer lower costs

Got this from a great Mortgage company. Market still seems strong. Buyers are in control and it is even more important to have representation in this economic environment.

Homeowners see lower costs with lower rates: RBC
Updated: Fri Nov. 25 2011 15:25:49

CTVNews.ca Staff

Canadian homeowners caught a modest break during the third quarter as mortgage costs receded slightly, reversing a two-quarter trend in which affordability decreased.

A new report from RBC Economics says the driving factor was low interest rates, which helped reduce fixed mortgage rates across the country.

As a result, the bank says it was more affordable for Canadians to own a standard condominium, two-storey home or detached bungalow in the third quarter, though not by much.

The following RBC statistics include the total mortgage, utility and property taxes incurred by Canadian homeowners:

Owning a condo cost 29 per cent of median pre-tax household income at the national level, a drop of 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter.

A two-storey home also became cheaper to own, but still costing 48.8 per cent of household income. That was down by 0.6 percentage points.

Finally, a detached bungalow ate up 42.7 per cent of that same income, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the second quarter.

In terms of a regional picture, RBC says Vancouver remains the most expensive housing market in the country.

In a statement, RBC Chief Economist Craig Wright said the Vancouver-area has "sky-high property values in upscale neighbourhoods making it both extremely unaffordable and the most at risk of a downward correction."

On the other hand, RBC says Alberta is among the most affordable provinces in which to buy a two-storey home, detached bungalow or condo.

RBC also says that the Manitoba market "showed some of the more significant improvement in affordability among the provinces in the third quarter."

Daryl Harris, a Winnipeg-based mortgage professional with Verico One Link Mortgage and Financial, said he was surprised by the RBC report's analysis of the Manitoba market.

"Affordability generally follows one of two things, either lower rates or a decrease in house prices and I have seen neither in our market," Harris told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Friday.

Looking ahead to 2012, RBC believes housing prices are unlikely to soar any time soon.

"We expect to see further slowing in the pace of home price increases next year, as housing demand levels out," said Wright.

"These factors will set the stage for a period of relative stability in affordability trends in Canada."

Canadian Real Estate is not as Risky as we think

New Research shows

Claims that Canada’s housing market is ready to pop are exaggerated, say economists at BMO Nesbitt Burns.
Instead, they say the market can more realistically be labelled “moderately overvalued” based upon a comparison of house prices with personal income.
They also note that mortgage servicing costs for “typical” homebuyers are running near the long-term norm of 34%.
Barring a sharp spike in mortgage rates or a relapse into recession, a substantial price correction is unlikely to occur,” economists Earl Sweet and Sal Guatieri wrote in their research report <http://www.bmonesbittburns.com/economics/focus/20101105/feature.pdf> .

They noted, however, that Canadians would have a hard time dealing with a sudden 3% hike in mortgage rates. That would weaken affordability “substantially” and in turn drive down demand and home prices.

They downplayed this risk, though, pointing to the prevalence of fixed rates in mortgage financing, which reduce fluctuations in borrowing costs.

Sweet and Guatieri also predict the normalization of interest rates could take several years yet, with Canadian rates rising 2 to 3 points in that time. They believe incomes should catch up to prices by then.

More worrisome, they argue, is prolonged low interest rates, which could “recharge the housing market and inflate a true bubble that ultimately bursts when rates normalize.”