As housing sales return to positive territory, parts of the local market go from ‘famine to frenzy’  (Source: Toronto Star) Annoyingly for buyers, rejoicingly for sellers, bidding wars for Toronto real estate have surged back from extinction. House sales for the first two weeks in May were in positive territory – 3 per cent above the same period in 2008 – for the first time since the market’s tailspin last fall. “Buyers have returned to the market with the realization … Read More

When it comes to language like credit ratings, mortgage terms and amortization, we can get a little hazy on the details  (Source: Toronto Star) It’s probably both your biggest liability and your greatest asset, but how much do you really know about your mortgage and whether you’re making the best decisions possible about it? According to a survey by Genworth Financial Canada, most of us could use a little more education around mortgages and the home-buying process. It conducted a … Read More

(Source: Reuters) “There’s no need to jump in and there’s lots of opportunities to go wrong” CALGARY, Alberta, – Investment gurus cautioned Canadian investment managers this week not to go running after assets made cheaper by the global recession, but to give more time for valuations to settle. The panel of experts from Canada, the United States and Europe also told an investment conference in Calgary that valuations would likely not rise for some time, and that the spread between … Read More

(Source: Calgary herald) BuzzBuzzHome note: The term ‘top off’ refers to the completion of pouring concrete onto the roof. This is sometimes accompanied by a ‘top off party’. CALGARY – Keynote Development Corporation today is topping off of its 26-storey residential tower, Keynote Residential One — the second tower in the development to be topped off in the last six months in downtown Calgary. The top of Keynote Office, a 14 storey tower, was reached in November 2008. The developer … Read More

On Tuesday, June 10th, at the National Club in Toronto, the Urban Land Institute (Toronto) is hosting an event where attendees can participate in an intimiate and interactive discussion with two of Canada’s most significant real estate investment leaders, Ned Goodman and Michael Cooper. The concept of the event is “Inside the Executive Office”, where Goodman and Cooper will share insight and answer questions about the economy, the prospects for commercial real estate, and knowledge gained from the last recession. … Read More

(Source: Bloomberg) Shopping centers becoming available in the U.S. are “crown jewels” rarely put on the market The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the country’s second-biggest public pension manager, said it is looking at “significant” real-estate investments in the U.S., U.K. and Australia as values decline. Shopping centers coming available in the U.S. are “crown jewels” rarely put on the market, Graeme Eadie, the plan’s senior vice president of real estate, said today on a conference call with reporters. The … Read More

(Source: The Wall Street Journal) The sharp falloff in resort tourism in the Bahamas has claimed one of its largest victims: The financially struggling Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma closed Tuesday after failing to stem the flow of red ink. The 500-acre resort’s closure comes nearly two years after Emerald Bay Resort Holdings Ltd., the Bahamas-based developer of the property, defaulted on a $120 million construction loan from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc., a Tokyo-based insurance company. Emerald Bay … Read More

City slaps one-year moratorium on new bars and restaurants opening along the street. (Source: The Globe and Mail) Michael Homewood remembers the way Ossington Avenue used to be. Rundown industrial buildings, a string of sketchy bars and karaoke joints, and a reputation for violence were the strip’s defining characteristics. “When I moved in here two years ago, people thought I was crazy because you couldn’t walk down the street at night,” he said. Since then, the strip has undergone a … Read More

(Source: Teranet-National Bank House Price Index™) More deflation, Montreal holding up best. Canadian home prices in March were down 5.8% from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index™. It was the fourth consecutive 12-month decline. March was also the seventh straight month in which the composite index was down from the month before – the longest run of monthly declines since the beginning of index coverage in February 2000. The composite is now down … Read More

(Source: Vancouver Sun)  On the question of where house prices are going compared with where they’ve come from, the measure National Bank Financial has devised hints at continuing declines in Metro Vancouver, at least until sales volumes climb more substantially. Metro Vancouver house prices dipped 1.7 per cent in March from February on the Teranet—National Bank Composite House Price Index, which was released Wednesday. Between January and March, Vancouver prices fell 6.4 per cent, and the March drop was the … Read More