Edmonton Real Estate Blog

Lately, it’s been all bad news that has been aired on TV and published on the internet. Well, today, we’d like for you to break out of that chain of bad news.

Serge Bourgoin, Team Leading Edge Senior Partner brings forth news for all to hear. Whether your buying or selling an Edmonton home, this report will surely turn that frown upside down!

Remember to subscribe to our blog and Youtube channel and check out all the freshly listed Homes For Sale in Edmonton via our new Edmonton MLS Listings.

There is a considerable measure of media and savant buzz about Al­berta being in earnest straits because of the drop in oil costs. However, in 2009, oil costs tumbled to US$50 a barrel and we heard the same figures then. Also take a gander at Alberta now.

Each area ought to have these issues.

Alberta created a large portion of the occupations in Canada a year ago, has close full job and the most astounding earnings in the nation.

The territory has estimate an overflow of almost $1billion in 2014-15, while direct oil sovereignties represent just 18 every penny of Alberta’s incomes, as indicated by the prov- incal government.

In the event that Alberta were its own nation, it would rank No. 3 on the planet in the matter of the Human Development Index, an United Na­tions worldwide measure of pay, training and future, as per the Center for the Study of Living Standards.

With only 4.1 million inhabitants, Alberta has a terrible local result of $84,390 every capita, third most astounding on the planet, in light of rankings from the International Monetary Fund.

The territory has the second­ most reduced unemployment rate in Canada and the most noteworthy wages, at more than $1,100 every week.

And the third-biggest pet­roleum holds on the planet, Alberta has one of the world’s most gainful agrarian parts, with more than 50 million sections of land under harvests and animals.

Normal yearly venture every capita is $27,617 in Alberta, more than twofold the Canadian normal and characteristic of the area’s startup, heads-up, non-stop state of mind.

Today, just 2 every penny of Al­berta’s demonstrated oil stores are being mined and it will keep on delivering oil for a vitality hungry world for quite a long time, maybe cen­turies, to come.

A late study from the Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates Alberta oilsands creation will achieve 3.7 million barrels a day by 2020 and 5.2 in 2013.

Yet Alberta is a great deal more than oil.

This is a broadened economy where fund, land and development create as much as the oil and gas industry.

In modern land, as only one measure, Calgary and Edmonton make up 33% of all the new development in the nation.

Alberta overflows with opportun­ities, and its huge hearted, low-assessment welcome guarantees it will remain a destination of decision for speculators and business visionaries from Canada and around the globe.

Check out the available homes for sale in all of Edmonton and its neighboring areas on our new and improved Edmonton MLS listings. 

http://money.ca.msn.com/investing/news/breaking-news/canada-housing-agency-trims-insurance-offerings

I’m excited about some news and I wanted to share it with you! For those who own a home already or looking to buy soon, I’m happy to say Alberta and Edmonton is heading for another boom.

If you are THINKING about buying a home or rental property… NOW is the time. I don’t need a crystal ball to know what’s brewing. Just take a look around and read the news articles.  If you don’t trust the columnists/reporters just visit the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance website. A heading for their article is “ Alberta’s economy enters 2014 firing on all cylinder.” What does this all boil down to? Well, the components to create a perfect storm are aligning and the end result will be a new boom in Alberta!  Here are the components we are experiencing:

1)  The dollar is devalued… This means oil is produced in Alberta and paid with Canadian dollars. When sold in the higher U.S. dollars, this is a hike in profit for the oil producers.
2)  Job growth and full employment. Developers out east are viewing Alberta as favorable place to set up shop. We have projects that are delayed simply due to lack of qualified workers. So, not only will Alberta attract people from outside of province, but also out of country.
3)  Net migration into Alberta last year is 43,000 according to Robert Kalcic, Senior Economist with BMO Capital Market. This year that number will be higher.
4)  Low volume of homes sales. Many, we see now have multiple offers.
5)  Close to all time historic low interests

So, let’s add all of that up: low volume of homes, high demand = higher prices or higher rents…The Perfect Storm. So, if you missed the boat, or were too young during the last boom you may want to act now. Dorothy, hold onto your slippers we’re in for a ride!

What an exciting time to be in Alberta! Give me a call to discuss your financing options.

Here are links to the news articles and data that I’ve extracted my information from:

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=ab10cab1-c242-44f4-99db-bf23a39ac9c4

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/03/14/hicks-on-biz-a-boom-is-happening

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/alberta-housing-market-set-to-
surge-bmo/article17493280/

http://globalnews.ca/news/1220698/migration-to-alberta-is-exploding/

http://www.finance.alberta.ca/aboutalberta/economic-trends/current-economic-trends.pdf

Written by Chita Metcalf – Contact her today to get yourself pre-approved for a new mortgage.

The Mortgage Group

Phone: 780-932-2225

Website: www.EdmontonMortgageSource.com

The residential home inventory on the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service® (MLS® System) rose 16% in January. Typically just over 1,800 homes in the Edmonton CMA (census metropolitan area) come onto the market in January. Last month’s listings of 1,842 were higher than the 783 listed in December. Sales figures (adjusted) of 885 properties (820 reported) were higher than a typical January and higher than sales in December and January 2013. The increased inventory of 3,537 (up from 3,049 in December), kept prices stable in all housing categories.

Compared to December, the all-residential average3 price of $347,847 was down just $1,226 or
-0.16%. Single family detached (SFD) home prices were down 1.5% at $416,344. Condominiums were priced on average3 at $230,463 (down 1.5%) and duplex/rowhouses showed the biggest movement and were down 5.3% at $336,220.

“Price stability and more property available for sale results in a balanced market,” said REALTORS® Association of Edmonton, President Greg Steele. “Right now both buyers and sellers have time to consider all their options and housing needs. More homes are listed every day and your REALTOR® can advise you of a suitable property as soon as it comes available.”

The residential sales-to-listing ratio was 45% and the average days-on-market was 61 days in January compared to 73 days in January 2013. There have been four property sales over a $1 million already this year but half of the SFDs sold in January were sold at or below the median price of $385,000.

“Strong economic indicators such as low unemployment, higher hourly wages and positive in-migration all support an optimistic view of the Edmonton and area housing market,” said Steele. “Consumers are confident in their economic future and prepared to risk a first-time or move-up purchase. Low rental vacancies and the potential for higher rental rates are also attracting investors into the market.”

There are 3,200 REALTOR® members of the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. Consumers can view all the properties listed on the Edmonton MLS® System at www.EdmontonHomesForSale.biz and review advertised properties in the Real Estate Weekly.

Canadian home prices ticked back up to a record high in December, thanks entirely to Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto, according to the Teranet-National Bank house price index.

The 0.1-per-cent rise in home prices in December reversed a 0.1-per-cent decline in November, and returned the index to its all-time high.

But the majority of the 11 cities that the index tracks have seen prices edge down in recent months. Winnipeg, Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec City, Montreal, Hamilton, Halifax and Vancouver each saw prices decrease from November to December.

December was the sixth month in a row that Montreal failed to see a price increase, and the fifth month in a row in Quebec City, National Bank of Canada economist Marc Pinsonneault said in a research note. Ottawa-Gatineau has seen prices fall for four months in a row and Victoria for three, he added.

But Vancouver, the city that saw the steepest market correction in the past two years, saw its prices rebound to a new high. Toronto’s prices rose 0.4 per cent from November, the first time they’ve risen in four months, and are now almost back up to the peak that they reached last August. Edmonton posted its first price increase in five months, up 0.6 per cent.

All told, national home prices were 3.8 per cent higher in December than they had been a year earlier. That’s an acceleration from the 3.4 per cent year-over-year increase in November, and is stronger than the 3.1 per cent increase in prices during 2012.

But Mr. Pinsonneault notes that the improvement from 2012 comes solely from Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Excluding those three cities, last year’s price increase would have been 1.2 per cent.

Given that higher mortgage rates are eroding housing affordability, Mr. Pinsonneault is predicting that house price increases will barely cover CPI inflation during 2014, about 1.5 per cent.

Calgary has seen its prices rise 6.5 per cent in the past year according to this index, Toronto 4.9 per cent, Vancouver 5.5 per cent and Winnipeg 3.4 per cent. The only city that has seen a price decrease over the past year is Victoria, where prices have dropped by four per cent. But a number of cities, namely Quebec, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, saw prices tick up just a bit.

Many economists say they are surprised by how well Canadian home prices have held up in the wake of the market downturn that impacted much of the country from the summer of 2012 until this past spring. Prices tend to lag sales, and economists expected the slump to translate into more downwards pressure on prices.

“Prices have been much stronger than we anticipated them to be,” Toronto-Dominion Bank real estate economist Diana Petramala said earlier this month.

The Canadian Real Estate Association, which represents the bulk of real estate agents in Canada, will release December’s average prices as well as its latest home price index numbers Wednesday (averages tend to be skewed by changes in the size or types or locations of homes that are selling).

But the Calgary Real Estate Board recently said that the benchmark price of a single family home in the Calgary area has risen to $472,200, up 8.6 per cent from December of 2012.

The benchmark in Vancouver is $603,400, up 2.1 per cent from a year earlier.

The average price of homes that sold over the Multiple Listing Service in the Toronto area during December was $520,398, up by 8.9 per cent from the average selling price in December, 2012. And the average selling price in Toronto for all of 2013 was $523,036, up 5.2 per cent from the average in 2012.

Source: www.TheGlobeAndMail.com

Although no one expects oil prices to soar — both Marion and Hirsch say the price of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. grade of light crude, will likely trade between a low of about $85 US and a high of $100 US a barrel in 2014 — the weaker loonie is expected to boost cash flows and keep drilling programs and oilsands projects on track.

At the same time, manufacturing — a key sector in the Edmonton region’s economy — is expected to pick up, particularly if one or more of the proposed new oil pipelines finally gain some traction. But if they don’t, Rose warns that the current upbeat outlook for the provincial economy could change quickly.

“If we don’t get some good news on one or more of the four major pipeline proposals that are out there, I think you’ll see a very soft and squishy 2015 for sure, and it would raise question marks in terms of our growth profile as a province over the next five to six years.”

Although Canadians will go to the polls in 2015 — giving the Harper government a strong incentive to achieve some progress on its energy infrastructure agenda — Rose is skeptical that the Obama government will okay the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“The really bad news is that we’ve got mid-term elections in the U.S. next year, so my concern is that politicians in the U.S. are going to punt decisions on Keystone XL beyond the elections, because they may perceive it as a no-win situation from an electoral point of view. If so, that would be unfortunate to say the least.”

Source: EdmontonJournal.com

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada on Tuesday sharply cut its growth forecast for the third quarter of 2013 and said the crucial export sector might pick up speed slower than initially expected.

Senior Deputy Governor Tiff Macklem said the central bank expected annualized growth in the third and fourth quarters to be in the 2 to 2.5 percent range before strengthening next year. In its monetary policy report released in July, the bank said third quarter growth would be 3.8 percent and fourth quarter growth would be 2.5 percent.

Macklem told a Toronto audience that a predicted switch in demand toward exports and business investment – important to help ensure a healthier economic growth rate and reduce reliance on consumer spending – had proved elusive.

“There is a risk that this rotation is delayed further,” he said in the prepared text of his speech.

The Bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged at a near record low 1 percent since September 2010 and Macklem gave no hints of a hike in the near future.

“With inflation subdued, monetary policy remains highly stimulative to provide time for the recovery in exports and investment to take hold,” Macklem said.

He said growth of at least 2.5 percent was needed to absorb the current slack in the economy. The bank expected household and government spending combined to contribute about 1.5 percentage points of growth.

To reach the required 2.5 percent growth, net exports and investment would need to contribute at least 1 percentage point. That implies combined growth of exports and investment of about 4 percent. In the last year net exports and investment in fact contributed nothing to growth, he noted.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Louise Egan)

Source: MSN Money

Canadian consumer sentiment climbed to the highest in more than two years as employment rose and the housing market remained buoyant, according to the new Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index.

The index, a weekly measurement of the economic mood of Canadians, rose to 59.75 in the period ended Sept. 27, from 59.23 the previous week. That’s the highest since March 2011 for the index, which tracks consumers’ perceptions of the strength of the economy, job security, real estate and their financial situation.

“September remains above average in terms of positive consumer sentiment in Canada,” said Nik Nanos, chairman of Nanos Research Group, the Ottawa-based polling company.

The data reflect recent improvement in economic reports. Job security among Canadians rose this month after Statistics Canada reported Sept. 6 that the economy added 59,200 jobs in August, the second highest total this year. Data this month also have shown the number of Canadians receiving jobless benefits is falling.

“Modest improvements in housing finances and the Canadian labor market are the primary factors for the best reading of the index in over a year,” said Joseph Brusuelas, a senior economist at Bloomberg LP in New York.

The index has two sub-indexes: the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Pocketbook Index on personal finances, and the Bloomberg Nanos Expectations Sub-index on future views. The data in the indexes date to 2008 and is based on phone interviews with 1,000 consumers, using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents. The results are accurate to within 3.1 percentage points.

Pocketbook Survey

The Pocketbook Index, based on survey responses to questions on personal finances and job security, rose to 61.37 from 60.55. The difference between the share of Canadians who report their jobs are secure and those saying they’re not secure rose to 59.1 percentage points last week, the most since March 2011.

The expectations index, based on surveys for the outlook for the economy and real estate prices, rose to 58.13 from 57.91 as more Canadians predicted home prices would rise.

The improvement in attitude comes as the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, a separate gauge of consumer sentiment in the U.S., rose for a third straight week.

Canada’s economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in July, Statistics Canada reported today, with the 0.6 percent advance reversing the prior month’s drop.

The country’s output is poised to accelerate at a 2.1 percent pace from July to September, after slowing to 1.7 percent in the second quarter, according to Bloomberg economist surveys.

Housing Rebound

Concerns that Canada’s housing market will cool rapidly are dissipating. Canadian home sales rose 2.8 percent in August from the previous month, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported Sept. 16. Sales have increased for six consecutive months at an average pace of 2.3 percent, the most since January 2011.

The Bloomberg Nanos gauge of Canadians’ view on real estate strengthened this month, with 38.1 percent polled predicting increased real estate values in their neighborhoods, up from as low as 34.5 percent in August. Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they are better off financially over the past year, the highest reading since June.

The youngest age groups, and lowest income earners, are showing among the biggest confidence gains, according to the polling results. Consumers in Ontario led gains over the past week for the Bloomberg Nanos index.

Store Sales

Statistics Canada reported last week the nation’s retailers boosted sales in July by 0.6 percent, adding to evidence the nation’s economy is rebounding.

Statistics Canada also reported today that industrial product prices rose 0.2 percent in August, while raw materials prices increased 0.9 percent.

Elsewhere in the economy, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Tiff Macklem will give a speech tomorrow in Toronto on “Global Growth and the Prospects for Canada’s Exports.”

Western University in London, Ontario will release its Ivey Purchasing (IVEYSA) Managers Index for August at the end of the week, with economists forecasting a reading of 53.5 from 51 in July.

Source: bloomberg.com/news