Breakthroughs in technology mean homeowners in older houses can now enjoy the same advantages in home automation formerly available only in new homes.

The heart of home automation is the ability for a homeowner to control or monitor, sometimes remotely, electrical devices in a home. Practical applications include the control of lighting, draperies, audio systems, the monitoring of home security and the adjustment of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning.

It used to be that only new homes being built were connected digital homes, sometimes referred to as Smart Homes. The systems were typically controlled and interconnected by wire; installation was easy to do only before the drywall was put up in the construction of new homes. Retrofitting an existing house was theoretically possible, but the added labour drove up costs.

“The availability of wireless systems has made a big difference when updating and retrofitting older, frequently heritage, structures,” says Paul Titterton, general manager of Lenius Osborne, an electrical contractor who specializes in home automation systems. “While you just can’t beat wire in some applications, wireless systems are usually cheaper. Jobs that now cost $10,000 used to be in the triple digits.”

Home automation systems are popular with security-minded people. Titterton recalls one client who installed a home system with cameras so he could make sure his 17 year-old son didn’t drive his Porsche when he wasn’t home.

Owners have the ability to monitor and control their home system or view images from video cameras, from anywhere in the world via a personal computer or iPhone over the Internet. Sensors can detect movement and alert a user by phone or an e-mail message. “With these systems, you can turn off your house lights from beside your bed or from anywhere in the world,” says Titterton.

Systems can be programmed to do just about anything, he says. Sensors can warn of fire, water leaks and sudden temperature drops.

A hard-of-hearing owner can program the system to flash lights in the house instead of having an audio alarm to warn of any impending emergency. It can turn down the audio or shut off the home theatre automatically to warn of a fire or burglary in progress.

People with pre-existing medical conditions, such as a patient hooked up to a portable EKG machine, can program the home system to monitor signals and automatically summon medical personnel if pre-established limits are exceeded. Patients can also carry a panic button with them in case of emergency.

The applications run from life-saving to lifestyle.

“The whole industry is moving to automation,” says Nigel Brown, co-owner of Ruffel & Brown, a window-covering store. “Twenty-five years ago you had to get out of the car to open the garage door. Now there is a greater expectation … that pretty much anything can be automated.”

Curtains, window blinds and shades all can be tied into smart homes. With a touch of a button, curtains close, lights dim, the TV turns on and a DVD loads in a home-theatre system. Window coverings are the latest items to join programmable indoor and outdoor lights to give a house a “lived-in” look, even if owners are away.

A remotely controlled 10-foot motorized track for a curtain, wired into a home

automation system, can cost $1,000 to $1,500. Stand-alone systems, some solar-powered, are also available. Smaller blinds and shades in difficult-to-reach spots with no existing wiring can be powered by batteries.

Brown says sun sensors let you program drapes to close either at night or in strong sunlight.

Smart Home systems are ideal for video and music lovers. By connecting an iPod dock to the system by hardwire, tunes can be played in any room of the house or even outside. A central hard-drive and signal distribution allows video to be viewed on multiple televisions. If somebody comes to the door while a television program is in progress, an image from the front door camera can be displayed on the television.

“Just about anything can be integratable (into the system),” says Titterton. “It doesn’t take more than programming for anything with an integrated circuit.”

Victoria Times Colonist

Average price up 19% nationally in December, but just 2.65% locally

Sales and prices of existing homes in Canada soared in December, capping a whirlwind 2009 that began weakly and then went on to set record highs for prices, and further stirring debate of a housing bubble.

The Canadian Real Estate Association said Friday that a total of 27,722 homes changed hands in December, up 72 per cent from the same month in 2008, when activity ground almost to a halt in the wake of the global financial crisis.

“Sales activity in 2009 came in like a lamb and went out like a lion,” said CREA President Dale Ripplinger.

CREA said the national average price in December rose to $337,410, up 19 per cent year-over-year. For the year as a whole, the national average price climbed five per cent from 2008 to a record $320,333.

In the Edmonton region, the average residential price in December was $319,201, up 2.65 per cent year-over-year. For the year as a whole, Edmonton’s average price for a single-family home was $364,032 while the average for a condo was $240,322.

After the slowest start since 1996, resales in the Edmonton region reached 19,139 residential sales in 2009 to beat the forecast from the Realtors Association of Edmonton.

The Canadian association reiterated that the national average price was skewed due to activity in Canada’s priciest markets.

Year-to-date activity was still trailing 2008 levels at the end of September 2009, but a 59-per-cent year-over-year gain in the fourth quarter, the best ever, pushed 2009 sales activity above annual levels for 2008, it said.

The robust figures continue to show the housing sector is leading the overall domestic economy out from a long downturn. But the housing market’s strength has also been at the centre of a debate over whether a bubble in sector is forming.

“The raft of data will do nothing to quell talk of a bubble, talk that the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Real Estate Association have studiously downplayed,” said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

“And, before we officially jump on the bubble bandwagon, we would again point out that the reported price change is skewed by the surge in Vancouver and Toronto sales.”

The Bank of Canada, ahead of its interest rate decision next Tuesday, said this week it was premature to talk about such a possibility, a view echoed by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Friday.

“I do not see evidence of a bubble right now, but we’re going to keep watching. There are some steps we can take, that we will take if necessary,” Flaherty said Friday.

He pointed to tools the government could use to cool the market, including raising credit requirements for insured mortgages, ensuring cautious lending practices, and reducing the maximum amortization periods of mortgages.

Record-low interest rates have helped fuel the housing boom, while low supply and pent-up demand have also driven up prices.

But Scotia Capital economists Derek Holt and Karen Cordes said “dismissing housing risks is being a tad Pollyannaish.”

They said in a report that it was likely that housing will “experience a more sudden decline in activity in the back half of the year and into 2011.

“The drivers are pointing to signifi-cant softening in both the supply and demand supports, such that downside risks to house prices by 2011-12 are material and merit caution,” the economists wrote in a report.

CREA said December sales records were reported in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Average prices set annual records in a majority of local markets in 2009, and in every province except Alberta, the association said.

Seasonally adjusted national home sales totalled 46,805 units in December, concluding the strongest fourth quarter ever. A total of 137,957 homes were sold on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Edmonton Journal

Lori and Cliff Burlingame, holding blueprints of their home, are owners of Silvercliff Homes. Behind them are family members, some of whom now work for the company

Photograph by: Brian Gavriloff, The Journal, Freelance

More space leads wish list given to custom builders 

Build it — with creature comforts — and they will use it.

That’s what one Edmonton-area home builder has noticed as buyers in the greater Edmonton region are opting for more luxury-like features in today’s new homes.

What are buyers looking for? In short, more space.

And here’s how they’re using it: There’s virtually a bathroom for every bedroom, they’re adding more than just the one traditional walk-in closet, they’re selecting a variety of home entertainment settings — rooms uniquely designed for fun and games — and they’re selecting imaginative ways to camouflage kitchen storage.

“A lot of our homes are being built around entertaining,” says Cliff Burlingame, who along with his wife Lori runs Silvercliff Homes, an Edmonton-area custom home builder. “That’s the lifestyle now. There are games rooms, home theatres, larger living rooms and larger, open-concept kitchens where they can entertain more.”

But while the number of bedrooms remains roughly the same compared with homes they’ve constructed before, one trend Silvercliff is noticing is that extra closet space is a hot item, as are additional bathrooms — and this includes average-size family homes, not just the executive homes, they build.

“A lot of them are doing walk-in closets in all the bedrooms; that is quite a big thing,” says Lori. “We haven’t really noticed more bedrooms; if anything, there’s more bathrooms being attached to the kids’ bedrooms.”

It’s all a far cry from what the Burlingames have noticed in years past, where houses they worked on — renovations formed a larger part of their work back then — weren’t as distinctive when it came to upgrades as they are today.

The couple have home building in their blood — Cliff has been in construction for more than 30 years, while Lori handles the interior design end of the business as she has from Day 1. They believe in a personal approach, walking their clients through the building process to provide a home — be it a starter or an executive model — that meets the buyer’s desires. As the contractor, they organize and supervise the project, simply charging a fee for their involvement. As for the materials involved, they pass on their builder pricing — with no markups — to their clients.

Popular features

“Back in the ’90s it wasn’t like it is now,” says Lori. “Today, it’s more upscale and more money is being spent; they’re doing the extras like more expensive fixtures and upgrading cabinets. The kitchens have more gadgets; there’s lots of little niches for espresso machines and instant hot water taps and every home has a garburator now — in the ’90s, it was just more in upper-end homes.”

That, however, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to customizing homes for current buyers, be they young or old.

“If they’re not happy, we’re not happy,” says Cliff, who now counts his son Chase and daughters Brandi and Paige as part of the Silvercliff team.

Other popular new-home items include forced walkouts, double bathrooms and elaborate coffered ceilings, examples of which can be found in the Burlingames’ current home on the southwestern outskirts of Edmonton, in Leduc County.

Their custom-designed bungalow offers 2,430 square feet on the main floor and another 2,430 square feet in the fully finished basement, which Cliff notes is also a prevalent trend.

“A lot of people want finished basements,” says Cliff. “It all depends on affordability, but it’s a popular item.”

On the main level, the Burlingames’ home has formal and informal living spaces that are defined by various ceiling types, from barrel to cross-beam to coffered, all with diverse lighting effects.

The kitchen features a massive centre island with a country-style sink, raised eating bar and lower baking centre, and is also home to an intriguingly huge hidden pantry. At first glance, no one would ever know that part of the custom cabinetry is actually a cleverly hidden door that opens to a massive out-of-sight pantry.

Just off from the kitchen is a home office, but this one comes with a distinctive and useful Silvercliff twist.

“Probably 80 per cent of our clients nowadays have some sort of home-based business or work, so we tend to have offices in almost all of our houses,” Cliff says. “But we like to build the office so it can be converted from a study into a bedroom.”

He says this is quite useful as a family’s needs can change over the years.

Silvercliff creates this dual-purpose room by recessing a pocket in the wall to accommodate part of the buyer’s office furniture, be it bookcases or a shelving unit. Initially, the recessed area takes on a customized look once the office furniture is in place. When it’s time to convert, the furniture is removed and there is minimal construction to transform that portion into a closet by finishing it off with a set of double doors.

Downstairs, the Burlingames have incorporated a forced walkout. As opposed to traditional walkouts where lots are sloped, Silvercliff is able to include a walkout on traditional flat lots with a typical below ground basement.

By erecting six-foot concrete walls to keep the dirt from falling inward, they’re able to create an area where you can walk out of from the basement onto a patio, which then has a number of steps upwards to reach ground level.

“We’re basically putting retaining walls around your walkout area,” says Cliff. “And because of the retaining walls, it gives you a lot more privacy.”

The double bathroom, meanwhile, is something that originally just made sense for Cliff and Lori, who came up with the idea to make it easier to live with three kids growing up. In actuality, the double bathroom is really one bathroom but divided into two areas by a locking door. On one side, there are double sinks while on the other side of the door, there’s a bathtub, shower and the toilet, allowing more than one of the now grown up kids to use the bathroom at a time.

“It’s become really popular and now we build it all the time. It’s really ideal,” Cliff says. “One can be showering and one can be putting on makeup and they’re in two different rooms but in one spot.”

In fact, the features in their house, including the dramatic and comfortable home theatre and the separate games room with its pool table and hockey memorabilia, are so in demand that three other clients want Silvercliff to build them the exact same house, just in different locations.

On average, Silvercliff likes to limit the number of homes it builds to about half a dozen a year. This, says Cliff, makes it easier to focus on the quality and workmanship of the homes they construct.

A home may be one of the biggest investments you ever make. Saving up a down payment is just the first step. Find out more.

What factors affect the value of a home?

• Location: Real estate people always say “Location, location, location.” That’s because the area you live in will be the biggest factor affecting your home’s price. It’s smart to buy a home where housing prices are likely to increase. Also, the people who may buy your home from you one day may be willing to pay more for a home that is close to schools, sports centres, stores, services, and so on. Keep that in mind as you look.
• The condition of the home and the property it is on: Does the home need a lot of repairs? How is the roof, plumbing, and electrical wiring? A home in good repair may be worth more. Also, the condition of the outside of the home, the lawn, gardens, driveway, and trees will all affect the value of a home. These are the first things that buyers see, and are together known as curb appeal.
• Renovations and updates: An older home might need some work to keep it safe, modern, and comfortable. If you are buying at a home that has had some renovations, check the quality. When you do work on a home you own, do it as well as you can. Poor work can lower the value.
• The economy: There are some things you can’t control that affect house prices, like interest rates. Higher interest rates mean it costs more for a mortgage, so fewer people buy homes. When that happens, the prices of homes can fall. Lower interest rates, on the other hand, can boost buying and drive prices up. House prices often go up for a while, and then come down a bit. Try to find out as much as you can about how prices are changing, or may change, when deciding to buy or sell a home. Often there will be stories in the paper about housing prices.

How much is my home worth today?

If you’re considering buying a home, or you just bought one, you know how much it’s worth. But if you’ve owned your home for a while, its value has probably changed. Here’s how you can find out how much it’s worth now:

• Call a real estate agent: Ask them for an estimate of your home’s value. You may be able to get an agent to do this for free, because they hope to get your business in the future.
• Ask an appraiser: Your bank or a real estate agent should know a number of appraisers. Banks use them to estimate house values before they approve mortgages. You can also look in the yellow pages. An appraiser will charge a fee for the service.
• Check to see what other homes in your area have sold for recently: Compare your home with similar ones that have sold. Unless you keep up with what’s happening in your area, this information may be hard to get. Ask your real estate agent if you can’t find it yourself.

How much will my home be worth in the future?

To estimate a home’s future value, you will have to do some informed guessing. Start with finding out what has happened to prices in your location over several years.

Source: Canadian Real Estate Association (MLS®)

Remember: There’s no guarantee what housing prices will do

Location and the condition of the home are both important factors, as is the economy as a whole.

The results are in from a recent survey of designers conducted by the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) to reveal the key design trends for 2010. The results of the NKBA 2010 Kitchen & Bath Design Trends Survey confirmed the continuation of a number of existing trends in the marketplace, but also uncovered others that indicate shifts in the direction that kitchen and bath style will take this year. Below are 2010’s seven kitchen trends and four bath trends.

KITCHENS

1. Traditional is the New Contemporary

Traditional will continue as the most popular kitchen design style in 2010, with contemporary following closely behind, while the Shaker style is seeing a surprisingly strong resurgence. Shades of whites and off-whites will be the most common kitchen colors in 2010, while brown, beige, and bone hues will also be popular.

2. Cherry on Top

Cherry will remain the most popular wood for kitchen cabinetry, followed closely by maple, while alder increases in use. As for the finishes placed on those cabinets, medium natural, dark natural, glazed, and white painted will all be common. Other colors of painted cabinetry and light natural finishes are in decline, however, as are distressed finishes.

3. Floored by Tile

Ceramic and porcelain tile, as well as natural stone tile, remain popular kitchen flooring options, but hardwood will dominate the kitchen landscape more than ever in 2010. For countertops, granite continues to be the most popular option, but quartz will nearly catch up in popularity. For backsplashes, ceramic or porcelain tile and glass will serve as the primary materials.

4. Flexible Faucets

Standard kitchen faucets will become less standard in 2010 in favor of more convenient models. Pull-out faucets continue to increase their market dominance, while pot filler faucets will also become more prevalent. Kitchen faucets will most often be finished in brushed nickel, followed by stainless steel, satin nickel, and-surprisingly-polished chrome.

5. Undercounter Refrigeration

French door and freezer-bottom are the two most popular styles of refrigerators, and side-by-side refrigerators remain a popular option. A surprising trend is the extent to which undercounter refrigerator drawers are being used in the latest kitchen designs. Perhaps even more surprising is that undercounter wine refrigerators have been recently specified by half of kitchen designers.

6. A Range of Cooking Options

The tried-and-true range continues to serve as the workhorse for cooking, although the combination of a cooktop and wall oven is beginning to overtake it. Gas will maintain its position as the most popular type of cooktop over electric, although induction cooking continues to gain in popularity due to its energy efficiency.

7. Dishwasher-in-a-Drawer

Standard dishwashers, with the traditional door that pulls from the top down, will once again be easily the most common type in 2010. However, an increasing number of dishwasher drawers will be installed in kitchens this year for their convenience and their ability to wash small loads of dishes in each drawer, thereby saving water and electricity.

BATHROOMS

1. In With the Old, Out with the New

Traditional will be the most popular design style in bathrooms in 2010, as contemporary designs will be a distant second, followed by the Shaker style as an even more distant third. Beiges and bones will be the most common colors used in bathrooms, followed by whites and off-whites, and then by browns, indicating a somewhat subdued color palette this year.

2. Ceramic and Granite

Ceramic and porcelain tile will be the dominant flooring materials in bathrooms this year, while natural stone will continue to prove popular as well. Though increasingly popular in kitchens, hardwood flooring won’t become common in bathrooms in 2010. For vanity tops, granite will remain king, with quartz and marble also proving popular options.

3. Simple Fixtures

Perhaps more than ever, the most common color for fixtures will be white. Bisque and off-white will be the only other fixture colors at all common in new or remodeled bathroom. For sinks, simple undermount models will be most popular, followed by integrated sink tops, drop-in sinks, vessel sinks, and pedestal sinks.

4. A Nickel for Every Finish

Faucet finishes in the bathroom are similar to those used in current kitchen designs, with brushed nickel continuing to lead the way in 2010. Polished chrome and satin nickel will also be incorporated into many bathrooms, just as they had been throughout 2009. These faucet finishes will be followed by bronze and stainless steel.

When you are looking for top dollar for resale, you need to pay a lot of attention to detail. People are smarter than they were six years ago. They can really see through a quick and dirty renovation job.

OK, so our economic future is uncertain, energy costs keep rising and the Visa bills are already mounting from pre-holiday spending. Add to that the construction of a new home or pricey renovation and the bank account is sure to run dry.

Not so fast. Ottawa designer Ulya Jensen says with careful planning, selective choices and an eye to the future, you can stretch your budget without compromising on good style.

But the owner of Ulya Jensen Interiors admits the process can be daunting. What fixtures to choose? Hardwood or carpet on the floors? And what about the colours?

With so many decisions to make, she says buyers can get mired in “analysis paralysis,” setting themselves up for costly design mistakes.

Earlier this year, Jensen moved into a new home in Westboro — a home she and her boyfriend bought while it was still under construction and tailored to their needs while it was being built.

Fresh from that experience, she offers these tips to help buyers get the most bang for their buck when buying a new home or renovating an existing one:

HAVE A VISION

As a designer, Jensen is trained to have a vision — a good idea of what she expects the house to look like when she’s done. And as soon as she saw the 2,200-square-foot Westboro semi-detached under construction last spring, she knew how she wanted to tweak it.

Jensen wanted an open-concept main floor, which includes a living room, a kitchen and a dining area. Builder Frank Curcio of Bedrock Developments Inc. had planned to put up a wall between the kitchen and the dining area. Jensen worked with him to do away with the wall and make other changes.

“You don’t want to make mistakes,” says Jensen. “It’s good to get in early, but you do need someone to keep you in check.” Which is why she suggests working with a designer if you don’t have a vision.

“It’s very difficult for the average person to envisage the finished product,” she says. “If you can’t see where you are going, you aren’t going to be able to know where you need to go.”

WISE UPGRADES

“We didn’t go crazy on the upgrades,” she says, adding that while she might not have chosen the builder’s oak floors, they decided it wasn’t worth changing. They decided to put the extra money into upgraded vanities and quartz countertops.

“We upgraded only four light fixtures — but they are in smart places.”

You also have to be ready to make decisions quickly. “We had only three days to choose the lighting fixtures,” she says, adding this is when vision comes in handy.

Yes, it’s your home — possibly the home of your dreams. “But you always have to keep resale in mind,” warns Jensen. She tries to do that by being on the cutting edge of design, so that in five years, the home will still look fresh and contemporary.

Actually, the designer got a whole lot of experience in the resale market. She is co-host with Peter Fallico of Home to Flip, a 13-episode real estate-meets-design reality series on HGTV Canada.

“When you are looking for top dollar for resale, you need to pay a lot of attention to detail. People are smarter than they were six years ago. They can really see through a quick and dirty renovation job.”

RESTRAINED COLOURS

It’s best to keep to a few, quiet and related colours.”Because new homes are so white, a lot of people put in more colour than necessary. You don’t want to go crazy with colour on the walls. You can add colour with the furnishings.”

Her Westboro home is full of cool tones of soft grey. “This whole house is the same colour,” she says, explaining that the tone and intensity change from room to room.

PAPER PLAY

Jensen got the plans from her builder, and then made to-scale paper cutouts of her furniture. Every night, before moving in, she sat down with the plans and the cutouts and moved her furniture around to determine the best fit.

“Not everything from your last place works,” she cautions. “Sometimes you have to let some things go.”

Another advantage to playing on paper is that you may be able to order new furniture months before you move in.

ONE FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE

If you can handle it, don’t be afraid to take on a big job. Otherwise, says Jensen, you will find yourself living with someone else’s renovation, or someone else’s idea of what a new home should look like.

A sold sign is displayed in front of a home in Toronto December 15, 2009. A red-hot housing market fueled by cheap money has helped Canada climb out of recession, but fears are growing that it could be a bubble much like the one that brought the United States to its knees.

OTTAWA – As Canada’s red-hot real estate market shows no signs of slowing down in 2010, analysts are beginning to caution some buyers that their best move may be to step to the sidelines.

“If you’re somebody in a situation that you have only five per cent down and you’re stretching to get in the market with a 35-year amortization, I think that would be a very precarious situation right now,” said BMO Capital market economist Robert Kavcic.

Conversely, he said, “if you’re sitting on a pile of cash and looking to move into the real estate market, it would almost be a no-brainer to just wait for lower prices.”

Notes of caution simmered to the surface this week after realtor Royal LePage forecast home prices would continue to “appreciate significantly” during the early months of the year. Already in 2009, they’re up 19 per cent, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

The trouble is that while prices are rising, incomes are not.

Yet rock-bottom borrowing costs continue to lure buyers, and investors are rushing in – despite a shortage of listings – for fear that if they don’t get into the market now, they’ll miss their chance.

“It’s absolutely not debatable that housing prices cannot rise faster than incomes over the long term,” said Will Strange, professor of real estate and urban economics at the Rotman School of Management.

Sooner or later, incomes have to rise, or home prices fall, for balance to be attained.

Many analysts argue that home prices are not yet out of line with the incomes it takes to pay for them, Strange said. Yet with the job market still weak, and unlikely to drive new employment and higher wages, odds are that if something’s got to give, it will be prices.

“If I didn’t personally have most of my wealth tied up in housing, this would not be the time that I would choose to jump in,” Strange cautioned.

At the same time, interest rates have nowhere to go but up, which could leave some buyers in a position similar to U.S. homeowners, who had houses worth less than their mortgages after the subprime bubble burst and prices crashed.

“We’re certainly urging people to error on the side of caution,” said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada.

“If you’re paying an amount of money, whatever that might be, that you couldn’t sustain if interest rates rose by say 25 or 30 per cent – I can see that being a problem for a lot of people.”

Canada’s not headed for anything similar to the U.S. subprime mess because lending standards here are higher and because people can’t just walk away from their homes as they can in the U.S., other than in Alberta.

But there may yet be an economic impact if home prices turn down, as home values relate directly to the economy, fuelling spending as they rise and tightening personal budgets as they fall, Strange said.

For now, many observers are predicting, as does Royal LePage, that the market will find its balance later this year as rates rise and more listings come on the market.

In the meantime, there are still many good reasons to buy a house, Strange said, “but don’t buy it because you think the price is going to go up.”

TORONTO — Canada’s residential real estate market is expected to remain unusually strong through the first half of this year after a strong finish to 2009, according to a survey published Thursday by Royal LePage.

The Royal LePage analysis is consistent with other recent reports on the state of the Canadian real estate market, which has rebounded over the past 12 months after sales dried up in late 2008 and hit a multi-year low in January 2009.

The Canadian market’s sudden plunge was sparked by a credit crunch that originated in the U.S. housing and lending industries – eventually spreading globally, causing a worldwide recession in the late summer and early fall of 2009.

However, the Canadian real estate market has been much quicker to recover than its American counterpart, in part because of a more stable banking industry, historically low interest rates and improving consumer confidence.

Royal LePage executive Phil Soper says Canada’s real estate market enters 2010 with “considerable momentum from an unusually strong finish to the previous year.”

The stimulus effect of low borrowing costs has contributed to a sharp rise in demand that has driven activity to new highs, he said in a statement.

Royal LePage says house prices appreciated in late 2009, with fourth-quarter price averages higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The average price of detached bungalows rose to $315,055 (up six per cent), the price of a standard two-storey home rose to $353,026 (up 5.2 per cent), and the price of a standard condominium rose to $205,756 (up 6.4 per cent).

Regions that saw the strongest declines during the recession are now showing marked gains. Those regions include Toronto and the Lower Mainland, B.C.

Vancouver, which is frequently Canada’s most expensive real estate market, experienced a particularly robust quarter, with home prices rising across all housing types surveyed.

“No other sector of the economy has been as highly affected by economic stimulus as housing,” said Soper.

“As consumer confidence has improved, Canadians have shown a lingering reluctance to acquire depreciating assets such as consumer durables, but have embraced the opportunity to invest in real property.”

Royal LePage estimates that Vancouver’s real estate prices will rise a further 7.2 per cent this year, although February may be soft because of the Olympic Winter Games that will be held in the city and nearby Whistler, B.C.

Detached bungalows in Vancouver sold for an average of $828,750 in the fourth quarter, up 11.4 per cent from the same period last year. Standard condominiums in Vancouver went up 11.8 per cent year-over-year to an average of $452,750. Prices of standard two-storey homes in Vancouver rose 9.6 per cent year-over-year, selling at $917,500.

In Toronto, the average price of a standard condo rose 2.9 per cent to $309,316, detached bungalows rose 9.9 per cent to $446,214 and standard detached homes increased 3.5 per cent to $564,175.

In Montreal, the average price of a detached bungalow rose to $245,125 (up 3.1 per cent; a condo increased to $216,667 (up 16 per cent) and a two-storey house increased 12.3 per cent from a year earlier to $345,789, Royal LePage said.

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board reported Thursday that the number of sales last year increased 41,802, up three per cent from 2008. The median price of a single-family home was $235,000 last year, up four per cent from 2008.

“Although sales decreased the first four months of 2009, Montreal’s real estate market rebounded and finished the year on a positive note,” said Michel Beausejour, the Montreal board’s chief executive.

The group that represents Toronto-area realtors reported Wednesday that there were 87,308 transactions last year through the Multiple Listing Service, a 17 per cent increase over 2008.

In December, there were 5,541 sales in the Greater Toronto Area (average price $411,931), up from 2,577 sales in December 2008 (average price $361,415), according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

The Toronto board also said the number of sales of existing homes rebounded in the latter half of 2009 after a slow start at the beginning of last year.

Royal LePage’s average price estimates for other Canadian cities include:

-St. John’s, N.L.: Detached bungalow, $217,167 (up 14.3 per cent); standard two-storey house $298,833 (up 14.1 per cent).

-Halifax: Detached bungalow, $238,000 (up 10.7 per cent); standard two-storey homes, $265,333 (up 1.8 per cent).

-Charlottetown: Detached bungalow, $160,000 (up 1.9 per cent); standard two-storey $195,000 (up 3.7 per cent).

-Saint John, N.B.: Detached bungalow, $228,000 (up 1.3 per cent); standard two-storey $299,000 (up 1.5 per cent).

-Moncton, N.B.: Detached bungalow, $152,300 in the fourth quarter (up 1.5 per cent); standard two-storey home, $131,000 (up 4.0 per cent)

-Fredericton: Detached bungalow, $182,000 (up 12.3 per cent); standard two-storey, $210,000 (unchanged).

-Ottawa: Detached bungalow, $332,417 (up 3.4 per cent); standard two-story home $331,917 (up 3.7 per cent).

-Winnipeg: Detached bungalow, $241,650 (up 9.9 per cent); standard two-storey home $275,500 (up 10 per cent).

-Edmonton: Detached bungalow, $299,286 (down 0.7 per cent); standard two-storey home, $340,557 (down 1.2 per cent)

-Calgary: Detached bungalow, $412,478 (up 0.5 per cent); standard two-storey home, $427,067 (up 2.3 per cent).

By David Paddon Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press

Well I hope you all had a Happy Holiday!! Now it is time to start thinking about what might happen in the New Year. Current data that I use to forecast the market are skewed right now because of the holiday season so we will wait until we have new data next month to see where the market is going.

It seems the consensus that home values will go up in the New Year, but I don’t think that it will be as much as most people think.

Yes, there are parts of Canada that the market is really getting hot again – but that is only because their home values had dropped more than we had, and their economies were more depressed than what we had experienced here in Edmonton, and Alberta for that matter.

The recovery in the USA isn’t going as well as most people had hoped, and that will slow down any recovery we have here in Canada as they are our biggest trading partner.

I think we will more likely to see a 5% increase in home values as that would be more realistic. We might be able to get lucky and get up to 10%.

But this all could be brought to a halt or slow down as the finance minister is worried that Canadian people have taken on more debt than they ever have in the past. He is thinking about possibly making changes that will affect mortgages and real estate.

Some of the changes they are considering are raising the amount of down payment up from the current 5% to at least 10%. They are also talking about shortening the amortization period from the current 35 years. Another expectation is that the interest rates will be going up this year.

These factors will have a great impact on the ability for people to buy homes, especially for first time buyers. They will now have to wait longer to save for a down payment and they will now qualify for less of a home because of the lower amortization period.

The real estate cycle starts with the first time buyer. They need to get into the market so that everyone else can sell their home and move up into a bigger or more expensive home.

In my opinion if any of these changes are implemented you can expect the real estate market to slow down and curb the chances of valuations to go up.

So if you are a first time buyer I would advise you to do everything in your power to buy sooner than later. We might be able to help you with this process including helping you to get pre-approved with the lowest rates possible ( in many cases lower than the banks), and we can send you a first time buyer package.

To receive the package call Kate at my office at 780-643-8151 or send her an e-mail @ teamleadingedge@shaw.ca

Lets see what this month will give us and hopefully we will have a better indication as to what we can expect in this springs marketplace, and that is my two cents… Serge

Edmonton, January 5, 2010: Residential sales through the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service® were at the second highest level ever for December (after a record number of sales in 2006 of 1,074). Sales of single family homes, condominiums, duplexes and other residential property totalled 948 units for the month. Total sales of all types of real estate for December was 1,066, also a second place finish for monthly sales.

The price of residential property remained stable in December with single family homes dropping just  one third of a percent and condos increasing 5.4% to reverse the 2.5% drop in November. An average* priced single family property in the Edmonton area sold for $366,761 in December; down from $368,018 in November. The average price for a condo was $244,174; up from $231,684 the previous month. The all-residential average price at the end of December was $319,201.

“Strong year-end sales put a crown on a year that started slow but ended big,” said Charlie Ponde, president of the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. “We entered 2009 with a global recession at our backs and a real estate meltdown to the south. However consumer confidence in Alberta started to return in the second quarter and the real estate market in Edmonton was the first place in the country to show signs of the recovery.”

There were 19,139 residential sales in 2009 with record setting sales in June and July after the slowest start since 1996. From September to December residential sales were just below record sales set in 2006.

Throughout the year the average single family sale prices varied from a low of $347,000 in February to $373,000 in July; a $26,000 or 7.5% spread. The average year-to-date value was $364,032. Condo prices varied within a 9% range from $227,000 in February to $247,000 in June. The average year-to-date price was $240,322.

There were 1,118 homes listed in December resulting in a sales-to-listing ratio of 85%. The average days-on-market was 50 days and total residential sales were valued at $302 million for the month. Overall, the MLS® System had total sales of all types of property of just under $7 billion in 2009 as compared to $6.6 billion in 2008.

“We predicted residential sales of 15,550 this year and exceeded it in early October,” said Ponde. “We anticipated that single family prices would end the year at $352,000 and condos would be at $222,500. We are pleased that the year ended up better than we had anticipated and look forward to the stable market continuing into the next decade.”

Source: REALTORS® Association of Edmonton