I should have added that in the graph at http://www.mississauga4sale.com/TREBavg1995date.htm there is a period from about September 2008 until February of 2009 that many real estate agents in the GTA were getting out of the business because our marketplace stalled. It wasn’t a crash, just a huge slowdown, many were worried that it may have been the beginning of the end in the GTA for growth in prices.

You will note on the above graph that prices did recover as we progressed through spring of this year, then dropped as they usually do in the summer and have now surpassed the all time high prices again this September and October. This is a little disconcerting.

Garth will like this comment: I have noticed that the Toronto Real Estate Board in their monthly press releases no longer trumpets “All Time Highs” or “Markets have no end in sight” etc. but only matter of fact state that prices and/or volumes are up. This too is disturbing to me. We just catapulted through the $420,000 average price point with very little fanfare or parades as we would have seen or heard in the past. This is an immense average price for the Toronto area, especially in light of the fact that the areas taken into consideration in calculating this figure are as far west as Burlington, as far east as Newcastle and Innisfil and Essa to the north. Prices in these outlying areas do not average $423,000 so all this means is that average prices within the 416 area are stratospheric. This worries me.

Again, I still feel that anyone not putting 20 to 25% downpayment on their real estate purchase are putting themselves at too much risk, no matter what price point they are buying at and over extending their budget. Although rates are at all time lows, the Bank of Canada has already stated rates will increase next year and you can bet that the lending companies are already planning to boost their rates (and profits) beyond what the Bank of Canada does.

If we can get through the Winter Olympics and then the dreaded HST without a significant downturn in the real estate market, then it will be smooth sailing until 2018 and once again myself and my clients will prove Garth wrong once again in his predictions of a bursting bubble.

Enjoy the ride.

All the best!
Mark

Hi Emma,

You asked “Don’t know if you still have the chart that shows to buy in May and November but that was also very helpful to me when I purchased.”

This is the link to the chart you were asking about that shows the seasonal trends of the Toronto Real Estate Market prices:

http://www.mississauga4sale.com/TREBavg1995date.htm

Really, you should sell at the peaks and buy in the valleys.

I’ve always said that the best time of the year to buy real estate is December 10th of any year. Maybe I’ll blog about that sometime.

All the best,
Mark

If he’d tried to sell a piece of “gold” jewelry or a “diamond” necklace, the reaction would have been more clearly understood.

Back to RE …. not sure if our prices are now as high as they were several years ago. In any rate there has been some issues that inflated house prices. Offshore Industry when gas prices were high, down homers returning after long careers in Ontario and beyond, ocean front property bought by Europeans and of course supply and demand. I would like to think there was not much the good ode house flipping going on but that would be untrue.

Here is a website that tells the story of a Calgary girl who I have met and is very wonderful talented gal who found a dream here in NS.

http://www.turbine.ca/

It’ s like hiring a gardener .

The home owner is acting as general contractor.

The only thing wrong with buying your own materials is if you forget to ask for a healthy “contractor discount” .

I think her post explains the situation.

Look at your employees or yourself for that matter. You could be doing what this guy is doing when your 60 +. It is a sad reality for many who go the trades route.

Ever see The Wrestler? Same concept.

Agree! My dear mother then well into her 90’s living in her own home ( Ontario) had no other choice than to use good under the table contractors …. Why? Honesty, they came recommended and did only what was required … some if not most wanted to do more and charge more and tried to lead her down the garden path. She would call my Big brother (BIG) and he would come down and believe me the conversation was one sided …. unfortunately our/we seniors do not have the networking Mum had and the news is full of sad tales. I have told my kids should something happen to me they are to sell everything and move their mother into a nice safe clean apartment and buy her a small new car pronto! Should not be, then again I continue to hear stories every day and our children are not only scattered around Canada they are now around the world.

Immigrants are usually coming to Canada with bare minimum of money. It’s about $14000 for family of 3. In about half cases that is BORROWED money. It’s just that Canada government will not grant a visa without that money on bank account in Canada. So people borrow it, set account in Canada and send that money back to relatives/friends right after arrival. Believe it or not, but $14000 in savings are hard to accumulate in poor countries. Just think about it. Average salary is about $100-$200 per month. How much would you be able to save if food prices (or diapers, or clothes) are essentially the same as in Canada due to globalization? $14000 is just about enough to get by for 6 month (rent, food, fees, old car) without job. Most immigrants don’t speak English very well, do not have connections / network of people, so it’s rarely story of success from year one. Yes, there are stories about those ‘rich’ immigrants that buy houses and expensive cars upon arrival, but nobody saw those ‘rich’ only heard about them. Let’s use common sense here. Do you really think that millionaires from poor countries are coming to Canada as immigrants? They are well settled in their own countries I would guess. Do you really believe that there are more millionaires in poor countries than in Canada? How many millionaires in Canada do you know?

is it just me or did you miss the point of that video?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would of kicked the shit out of him and tokk it for free, you don’t walk around anywhere flashing that kind of stuff. It’s a sign of things to come. I think it supports gold at $1100. As long as most people are oblivious that means theres allot more upside! To just about anything you purchase!

People are positively demented in BC.

Debt is slavery.

If you feel like working for a Bank or lending institution for the rest of your days – and sleepless nights – be my guest – pick a condo, any condo here in La La land, and pass the remote.

What comes next is going to be very interesting.

Look up Tulips. 1873.

Waterloo.