Vancouver is Most Expensive Market in Canada

The Canadian real estate boom has seen prices rise throughout the country, and Vancouver has become the hottest market. Century 21 Real Estate completed a survey of worldwide real estate earlier this year, and determined that downtown Vancouver is the most expensive market in Canada for housing.

The average sales price for a condominium in Vancouver was just over $419,000 in Canadian Dollars, up 14.6% from last year. Housing prices have risen across the country; Toronto, the largest city in Canada has seen prices go up 15.7% from a year ago to $241,818 CD

U.S. sneezes, Canada stays healthy

The U.S. real estate market is heading into turbulent waters in 2008 but, unlike years past, that won't rock the boat in Canada, according to a major real estate report.

While the annual report, released late last week, warns that the U.S. real estate industry "will be walking on egg shells for a while" and anticipates "a long overdue correction," Canada is likely to avoid both scenarios.

"Interviewees remain positive about side-stepping any serious impacts of a possible U.S. correction," the report says. "All property sectors share positive prospects, especially industrial and retail."

Canadian real estate sales slip

Sales in Canada's red-hot real estate market cooled in September, but average prices ticked up, according to new figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Seasonally adjusted sales last month in 24 major markets fell 3.1 per cent from August to 28,591, CREA said. Sales in the four biggest markets of Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary all declined.

Prices are Sky High in Canada's Surging Market

While eastern Canada's real estate market may be cooling off, the booming Western Provinces are more than making up for it. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reports that house prices were up 12.9 per cent in April compared to last year. The average home sold in Canada through the MLS system cost $280,740 in April.

After prices increased by 10.2 per cent in 2005, CREA is predicting a further 6.1 per cent increase this year and another 4.7 per cent hike in 2007. Meanwhile, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) says prices will go up 11.2 this year, recording their strongest growth in 17 years. It says more balanced conditions next year will slow prices to an increase of 4.8 per cent.

Condo sales drive housing starts to 29-year high

The detached home has long been the dream of home ownership for many Canadians.
But higher interest rates and a steep rise in home prices over the last decade mean Canadians are increasingly turning to more affordable condominium housing. Thanks to condo building, housing starts hit a 29-year high of 278,200 annualized units in September, up almost 20 per cent from August, according to figures released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. yesterday."The steaming hot condo market powered the volatile multiple units construction in all regions of the country," BMO Nesbitt Burns economist Robert Hogue said yesterday.

August building permits near record

If there's a housing downturn in the United States, someone forgot to tell Canadian builders. It looks to be a busy fall season in the construction industry, as contractors took out $6.3 billion worth of building permits in August, up 1.4 per cent from $6.2 billion July, according to figures released by Statistics Canada yesterday.
This is the fourth-consecutive month that permits have gone above the $6 billion mark since the one-month record of $6.9 billion was set in June. The standout nationally was Saskatoon, which has already broken an annual record in the first eight months of the year, surpassing the previous annual record of $421 million in 2006.

In a tight market, landlords get choosy

With commercial office vacancy rates in the low single digits in cities such as Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, the leasing market pendulum has swung firmly in favour of landlords. Expect them to become increasingly picky when it comes to who gets to occupy space in their buildings and on what terms and conditions, real estate experts say. "These days, it is not unusual in downtown Toronto to find two or three tenants battling for spaces as small as 20,000 to 30,000 square feet," says John O'Toole, executive vice-president at broker CB Richard Ellis Ltd. "The days are over when landlords offered significant leasehold improvement money to persuade a tenant to take space," adds John Arnoldi, managing director of Toronto operations for Colliers International. "The fact is they don't have to; landlords right now are in the driver's seat."