SANDRAPAUL

I have been following prices for the last 15-16 months and have just read a report about the current and future housing market. Consistently in previous reports there has been explanations of the three year boom with prices going up etc. This new report that indicates that prices have perhaps peaked.

What is the view if any from those living in Ontario, particularly the south-east, if you have time to put some bones on the subject.

Also when viewing property on MLS etc do all properties achieve the asking price or thereabouts as it has been a sellers market - is this changing? Will the inflationary pressures begin to have some effect on the housing market. Is the view on the ground different to the Real Estate Agents? Is it usual to haggle on price and to what percentage is it considered reasonable?

Souvenir

I think a peak may have been reached. We very quickly sold our townhouse in Oakville for 99% of our $225,000 asking price last summer. At the time, according to our agent, similar properties were going for at or very near asking price. We made a profit of more than 20% in little over a year. A while back I noticed on MLS that our former neighbour (identical house and completely renovated) had his up for sale at the same price. A while later it was down to 216. It then disappeared. I don't know if it was sold or withdrawn from the market.

As for haggling, ask your agent. There is a lot more to MLS than the public gets to see. A great deal hangs on: what similar properties are selling for, how many properties are available and how long your particular target propert has been on the market.

The house we bought in Gatineau was, in our view, under-priced. We opened at 10% under, the seller came back at 5% under and we said yes.

wizzard

As they say in the business it is all about location. You can take it on different scales. On a larger scale you will find more expensive property the nearer you are to a city or larger job market. So houses in and around Toronto are far more expensive then houses in part of Ontario that are too far to commute to anywhere. Then on a smaller scale there are areas of desirability within those areas. So for example in Toronto you could go to one part of the city and pay over $1million for a house or go to another and pay $200K. Obviously one area is highly desirable and the other is a slum (or as close as Canada gets to one).

For example in the area of the city where we rent houses sell for more than their asking price and it is not uncommon to see bidding wars. So if you have say a fixed budget of $500,000 and the askikng price of the house is $495,000 or something then it wouldn't be unlikely to end up being pushed up over your budget.

Drew

SANDRAPAUL

Thanks for the replies but you get bidding wars in a sellers market. You get the opposite in a buyers market. The UK is now after serveral years a buyers market. The report I refered to above indicated that Canada is approaching the end of the boom cycle and prices are either stabilising or are dropping - thats what I was trying to get to....what you read in a report is completely different at times from what is seen from the ground.

From a personal point I also meant south west. Not south east. Sorry.

dbd33

There are three houses for sale on our street, in Toronto. One is "stuck", it was sold once, financing fell through and it's been for sale for a couple of months since. It's a new semi (duplex if you prefer), it's 12' wide and known in the pub as the bowling alley house. It's $579,000, too much for the street. One's a detached, probably built in the thirties and recently renovated to quite a high standard, it's been for sale for three weeks which is a long time in the neighbourhood but the price is a little high, $525,000, and the owner doesn't seem rushed, they've not had an open house. The third went on sale last weekend and they're having open houses this weekend. It's a property that's often sold so I expect it has termites or some other fatal flaw, if the market is going at its usual pace that house will sell this weekend. I haven't heard of houses selling for less than the asking price locally and the "sold" sign usually goes up about a week after the "for sale" one.

Souvenir

Holy s**t

You'd have a job spending that kind of money around here. In the entire Outaouais region there are only 61 properties currently listed at over $500k, and they are big. There are only 11 properties over $1M, and they are very big indeed (usually with huge plots).

dbd33

The $525 house is about the same size as ours, the same one you saw (ie small) but in better condition. I guess it's a 24' lot, so it's the same sort of thing as one might aspire to in outer London. Our street is very much at the bottom end of the price range for the area, lots of houses in the local paper are priced over a million and a few over two; even at that price the windows won't quite fit and the whole structure will lean a bit. Mississauga's still much cheaper, the house there, a 3 bed room ranch on 70x130' is worth no more than $450,000 even though it's in one of the less bad areas.

Souvenir

The following is part of an email I have just received from a realtor I know in Oakville (and would recommend to potential buyers, by the way).

....Even though, prices are still increasing. We haven't seen prices double, like that of 1987-88, yet we have been steadily increasing our buying power. Home prices have moved up, but not relative to the decrease in interest rates, or our buying capacity. Of course there will be different opinions, and some people won't buy or will sell and start renting, thinking that the market has peaked. With interest rates 3-5% and affordability well below rental costs, anybody buying now will be ok....

sysclp

Houses in our area tend to sell quickly IF they are priced right. Because of the hot market and the time of year, many start them out too high and wind up having to reduce the asking price to get it to sell. The house we bought in November started at 229K, was dropped to 220K, and we bought it for 219K. This was in November which is generally not a good time to sell since most people don't want to move that close to Christmas. There are now 2 other houses for sale on our street that are the exact same plan as ours. They are listed for 235K and 239K right now and have been on the market for about 3 weeks. They are the same age, floor plan, and lot size as ours, so unless they have really fancy fittings inside, they are badly overpriced. I doubt they will sell until they lower the price some, but this is a hot time of year for people who want to buy and move after school is over.

snowqueen

Please can someone answer my dumb question over this lot size thing. When they say 24' lot, do they mean the 'yard' is 24' wide/ long/ what? Or is it the whole area including the yard? I get totally thrown when they mention lost size in the listings (unless it's in acres !) I want a biggish garden, so what should I be looking for?
Thanks, and sorry for being a bit o/t.
Snowqueen

sysclp

That would be 24' wide with an unspecified depth, probably around 100' to 150'. Lots here are very narrow in most cases with only 2 or 3 feet between many of the houses. You will have to pay a lot to get a really big garden.

Sean Boxer

I've heard that the property boom in Ottawa has levelled off, I also heard that it wasn't driven by speculation so there won't be any drastic fall in prices.

snowqueen

Thanks - that makes a bit more sense. I was beginning to wonder how these big houses fitted on to such teensy plots! BTW, I know that a big garden is expensive, but a girl can dream...!
SQ