House prices increased 1.4% last month - a much slower rise than in October - but they are still 30% up on a year ago, the Halifax says.
Montreal West, West Island
Telephone: (514) 237-7700
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Friday Dec 20, 2002 U.S. Housing: No Slowdown In Sight
U.S. housing remains in solid shape.
The December Home Builder’s survey showed further strength, with the sales activity index hitting a new cyclical high and expectations of future activity still buoyant. Importantly, mortgage rates should stay fairly low, because there is a self-regulating aspect as to how high Treasury yields can rise until the rest of the economy improves, ensuring that housing affordability stays at a high level. This bodes well for housing-related equity sectors, such as homebuilding stocks, household appliance manufacturers and home improvement retailers, which have been soft relative to the market in the past few months. These groups are now discounting an overly pessimistic outlook, and our U.S. Equity Sector Strategy service recommends leaning into recent weakness to build long positions
Wed 6 see Wed 1079 Buy!
Tuesday Dec 17, 2002 Housing: No Slowdown In Sight
U.S. housing remains in solid shape.
The December Home Builder’s survey showed further strength, with the sales activity index hitting a new cyclical high and expectations of future activity still buoyant. Importantly, mortgage rates should stay fairly low, because there is a self-regulating aspect as to how high Treasury yields can rise until the rest of the economy improves, ensuring that housing affordability stays at a high level. This bodes well for housing-related equity sectors, such as homebuilding stocks, household appliance manufacturers and home improvement retailers, which have been soft relative to the market in the past few months. These groups are now discounting an overly pessimistic outlook, and our U.S. Equity Sector Strategy service recommends leaning into recent weakness to build long positions.
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| Friday Dec 6, 2002 | |
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| Slowdown in house price rises House prices increased 1.4% last month - a much slower rise than in October - but they are still 30% up on a year ago, the Halifax says. |
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Nov 29th 2002 from Fiona Nicholson Consultant
Monday Dec 2, 2002 OTTAWA: CAMPEAU RETURNS TO CANADIAN ROOTS Former developer Robert Campeau has quietly returned to live in Ottawa, the city where he first struck it rich and which he has long regarded as home. The Ottawa Citizen reported Saturday that the former real estate mogul, who once controlled the Bloomingdale's and Macy's department store chains in the United States, has been living in Austria for the past few years. He lost his empire and most of his fortune in 1990 when an $11-billion investment in the two upscale New York stores collapsed in a recession, although he never declared personal bankruptcy. Mr. Campeau, 79, has spent the past few years with his second wife, Ilse, in a lakeside Austrian castle with a view of the Alps. According to the Citizen, Mr. Campeau indicated he has returned to Canada for good. He said he considered moving to Toronto, where he has lived in the past. But he decided he preferred Ottawa.
Friday Nov 29, 2002 The nation's vacancy rate head higher in October for the first time in a decade, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday.
The crown corporation said the average rental vacancy rate edged up 0.6 percentage points to 1.7 per cent in October, compared to a year earlier. The gain came as 17 of the country's 28 metropolitan areas had increased availability.
Quebec City, Gatineau, Montreal, and Kingston, Ont. had the lowest vacancy rates.
Friday Nov 29, 2002 ts
Renting in Toronto easiest since 1972 Vacancy rate soars to 2.5% by TONY WONG
Toronto's unprecedented building boom has caused the vacancy rate for apartments to virtually triple to a figure not seen in 30 years, causing concern among landlords and investors and a much more favourable market for beleaguered tenants.
The vacancy rate in Toronto's census metropolitan area for 2002 now sits at 2.5 per cent compared to a very tight 0.9 per cent only one year earlier, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report released yesterday.
Wednesday Nov 27, 2002 Rental vacancy rates rise: CMHC
For the first time since 1992, the average vacancy rate in Canada's 28 metropolitan areas is up - to 1.7 per cent from 1.1 per cent last year. But Quebec markets tightest in country ...But it's a little early to disconnect the housing hotline in Quebec. Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau are once again the three tightest housing markets in the country, as vacancy rates remain very low - and rents continue to climb. ...compared with Toronto or Vancouver, where a two-bedroom apartment fetches about $1,000, the same unit in Montreal rents for $562. ... up 5.5 per cent this year in Montreal.
Monday Nov 25, 2002 ec
The Housing Ladder the cost of borrowing is at its lowest for decades and there are more households than houses.
Can we go on with a property boom and a housing crisis, or is the bubble about to burst?
Wednesday Nov 20, 2002 ts
Office rents plummet nearly 9%
Vacancy rate expected to climb to 15.6% in 2003
...Rental rates for top-quality office space in Toronto have fallen 8.7 per cent to $18 a square foot, down from $19.72 a year ago, the study by CB Richard Ellis Ltd. found.
The vacancy rate for office space in the GTA is expected to climb to 14.6 per cent by year-end, from 11.4 per cent a year earlier, and is forecast to hit 15.6 next year, the study found.
The office rental market across Canada is continuing to soften, the study found. Nationally, average rents for class A office space have dropped 7 per cent to $18.23 a square foot while vacancy rates are expected to end the year at 11.7 per cent, up from 10.7 per cent a year earlier, the study said.
Friday Nov 22, 2002 Residential Equities REIT (REE.UN - $14.39) Recommendation: 2-Buy Target: $15.00 Q3 Results ... Residential Equities REIT reported Q3/02 results modestly below our expectations due to lower occupancy. The REIT reported cash flow per unit of $0.34. We continue to see some pressure on the high-end rental market, which is the company's primary market, as a result of increased housing affordability. We have reduced our 2002 and 2003 distributable cash flow estimates to $1.25 per unit and $1.23 per unit (from $1.28 per unit and $1.26 per unit). At this time, we prefer CAP REIT (CAR.UN) which is trading at an unjustifiable discount to Residential Equities REIT. –– Michael M. O'Rourke
Saturday Nov 16, 2002 CANADIAN HOUSE PRICES CONTINUE TO INCREASE Prices for residential housing in Canada increased by 13 per cent last year. And according to statistics released by the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average single family house in Canada now costs $208,000. Real estate agents say for the year ending September 30, 2002, last year was one of the best ever for business. And even though activity among buyers and sellers has dropped slightly from earlier in the year, prices are still rising because of steady demand. The Ottawa area had the biggest percentage increase in house prices, which was approximately 15 percent - despite the downturn in the area's high technology sector. Analysts say real estate is rising in value as investors sell stock and other financial equities, which have suffered since the downturn in the so-called internet and multimedia sector, to buy land.
Friday Nov 15, 2002 ec
HOME SALES ON TRACK FOR RECORD YEAR
Sales of existing homes in October hit their highest level since
February as resales remained on track for a record-setting year, the
Canadian Real Estate Association said Thursday.
Friday Nov 8, 2002 Jobless rate to hit lowest level since '70s: Desjardins Group
Quebec's unemployment rate could fall to 7.9 per cent in 2003, its lowest level since the 1970s, the Desjardins Group said Wednesday. ...Quebec's growth forecast was also positive for 2003, said Desjardins.
The province's gross domestic product was expected to rise by 3.8 percentage points by the end of 2002, and Soucy said the provincial GDP would increase by 3.6 percentage points in 2003.
He cited a number of factors to explain the robust growth, including free trade with the U.S., infrastructure initiatives and hydroelectric projects.
One area of concern for Desjardins was a shortage of available housing units across Canada.
Desjardins said Quebec alone would need between 150,000 and 200,000 new units over the next five years
Monday Nov 4, 2002 nyt
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It just feels like people like us, who've been renting for a long time and want to get started in their own house, can't. Prices have just gone crazy."
Monday Oct 21, 2002
Preludes: High Tech Is Now Your Dad's Dream
Many young people are starting up small mom and pop operations of the low-tech variety. Preludes, by Abby Ellin.
Monday Oct 21, 2002 nyt
Ready to Renovate?
While experts argue over whether there is a housing bubble ready to burst, and whether now is a good time to buy or sell real estate, by most accounts now is a good time to renovate. Some projects, though, recoup more of your investment than others. ...On average, homeowners can expect to recoup around 80 percent of their investments in major kitchen and bathroom remodeling [that is a cost of 20% Also MML reminds us that in the U.S. Mtg is deductable]
Saturday, October 19, 2002 Who is buying Westmount? If Chairman Marks does not know???
Fri Oct 18, 2002 bca U.S. Housing: The Boom Continues
The U.S. housing market is likely to stay strong.
Yesterday’s U.S. Home Builders’ survey for early October confirmed that conditions remained solid. September housing starts showed a burst of strength, reflecting the drop in borrowing costs and expectations for further gains in home prices. Falling consumer confidence and a softening labor market cast a shadow over housing. However, little weakness is likely until mortgage rates rebound, barring a significant rise in the unemployment rate. To this end, the surge in Treasury yields in the past week is notable, as it will lift mortgage rates, undermining refinancing activity and home affordability. Since the rest of the economy is struggling, our bet is that Treasury yields (and mortgage rates) will soon calm down and housing will stay firm.
Saturday Sep 21, 2002 Growth of UK property paper millionaires Friday Sep 6, 2002 cbc Friday Aug 30, 2002 cbc
The number of £1m-plus sales have increased almost elevenfold since 1995, and doubled over the last three years.
MORTGAGE RATES HEADING DOWN
Just a week after banks raised most of their mortgage rates, those
increases are starting to be rolled back - and then some. TD Canada
Trust, Scotiabank, and National Bank on Thursday chopped their rates by
up to a quarter of a percentage point.
MORTGAGE RATES HEADING UP
TD Canada Trust, CIBC and Bank of Montreal have raised their mortgage
rates by up to a fifth of a percentage point.
Monday Aug 26, 2002 nyt
The housing market, helped by the lowest interest rates in four decades, has remained strong throughout the downturn. Last month sales faltered, however.
Tuesday Aug 13, 2002 cbc
Online Shopper: No Place Like Home? Try Finding One
It's still a seller's market, but home buyers who use the Web are better armed than they used to be.
Tuesday Aug 13, 2002 cbc
NEW HOUSE PRICES POST ANNUAL RISE OF 1.4 PER CENT IN JUNE
The prices Canadian builders charged for new homes rose 1.4 per cent
between June of this year and the same month in 2001, Statistics Canada
said Monday.
02/08/06 cbc
MORTGAGE RATES CUT FOR THIRD TIME IN 7 WEEKS
Mortgage rates are falling again as banks begin trimming what they
charge homeowners by up to a quarter of a percentage point.
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| Monday, 05 August, 2002 | |
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 | No let up in UK house price boom House prices are rising at more than 20% a year despite the recent stock market slump, mortgage lender Halifax says. |
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| UK factory production tumbles UK manufacturing output sees its biggest monthly fall since 1979, casting doubt over the sector's recovery prospects. | |
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| European shares head lower London's FTSE 100 index dips below the 4,000 level as worries persist about the strength of the global economy. | |
August 4, 2002 nyt
Investment Clubs Are Zeroing In on Real Estate
Across the country, while the stock market continues to slump, people are flocking to investment clubs focused not on equities but on physical assets that they can see, touch or drive by, from single-family homes to multi-unit apartment buildings.
Monday Jul 29, 2002 cbc CITY SAYS CONVERTING APARTMENTS INTO CONDOS IS A THING OF THE PAST Reports Saturday indicated 3000 Montreal rental units have been into condominiums since 1993, despite a law prohibiting the practice.
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Wednesday Jul 24, 2002
UK House price growth 'easing'
The rate of house price growth has fallen in recent months, but house prices will continue rising, a new survey suggests. |
Friday Jul 12, 2002 cbc
NEW HOME PRICES UP IN MAY
The cost of new houses in Canada continued to rise in May, Statistics
Canada reported Thursday. The index of contractors' selling prices
increased 4.2 per cent from May 2001, the federal agencay said.
Thursday Jul 11, 2002 cbc
NEW HOME PRICES UP IN MAY
The cost of new houses in Canada continued to rise in May, Statistics
Canada reported Thursday. The index of contractors' selling prices
increased 4.2 per cent from May 2001, the federal agencay said.
Monday Jun 10, 2002 cbc
HOUSING STARTS SIZZLE IN MAY: CMHC
Construction of new homes in Canada surged in May as the number of
starts jumped by more than 10 per cent from April, Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corp. said Monday.
Tuesday Jun 4, 2002 rci OTTAWA: HOUSING SECTOR BOOMING Spending on housing in Canada has increased by 15 per cent in the first quarter of the year. The spending amounted to $10 billion. Almost $5.5 billion was spent on new houses, and $3.5 billion for renovation. Ontario accounted for more of the spending on housing than any other province, followed by Quebec. Last week, Statistics Canada, the government's gatherer of economic data, projected a yearly growth of six per cent. The agency attributed much of that projection to the booming housing sector.
Thursday, May 23, 2002 Montreal real-estate market not cooling down
The Montreal housing market will continue to be hot until at least 2003.
The scarcity of housing in the region has stimulated new housing construction to its highest levels in a dozen years. The number of housing starts in 2002 will reach 15,600 units, which is a 17 per-cent increase over last year.
It is estimated that 16,200 units will be built in 2003 which is an increase of four per cent. The number of transactions on the housing resale market will set a record this year. So far, 36,000 sales have taken place, which is an increase of 6 per cent.
Friday May 10, 2002 cbc 
CIBC, TD LOWER MORTGAGE RATES
CIBC - often the first of the big banks to adjust mortgage rates
- reinforced that reputation Wednesday when it announced it would
lower most of its mortgage rates. TD Canada Trust followed soon after
with cuts of its own.
UK House prices in renewed surge The cost of an average house in England and Wales climbs to £122,000, up 10% on the year, a Land Registry survey says. map
Real estate booms like it did in '87
The real estate boom in Montreal's residential sector is comparitive to a similar upsurge which occurred in 1987, according to an expert of the Canada mortgage and housing corporation (CMHC).
Thursday, May 09, 2002 globe
MONTREAL -- The real estate boom in Montreal's residential sector is comparitive to a similar upsurge which occurred in 1987, according to an expert of the Canada mortgage and housing corporation (CMHC).
Paul Cardinal, a CMHC analyst, says prices are rising four times faster than the rate of inflation, as they did in 1987, reported La Presse.
Cardinal estimates the real estate boom will continue until fall 2002, but will not end abruptly as it did in 1987 which was followed by the severe recession period from 1991 to 1992.
Tuesday May 7, 2002 bbc UK house prices surge House prices continue to soar, but are set to slow later in the year, an influential survey says. bbc graph on price rise
Monday May 6, 2002 nytimes HOUSING BOOM SET TO CONTINUE
Canadian home builders are gearing up for a very busy summer as they
took out $2.4 billion in housing permits in March, Statistics Canada
reported Monday. ..."The housing market has been booming across Canada in the wake of low mortgage rates, high consumer confidence and the scarcity of existing dwellings for rent or resale," the federal government agency reported.
Over the first three months of 2002, housing permits reached $7.2 billion, up 30 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Monday May 6, 2002 nyt On the Contrary: There's No Return Like Home
For all our diversity, most American investors share a common religion. We believe in stocks for the long run. But in investing, heresy can pay, and the sacrilege that Daniel Akst thinks will pay best in the next decade or two is residential real estate.
. Sure, home values have risen considerably, but they've done so for reasons that will continue to power prices upward for years. Eventually, home prices may fall, but America is unlikely to produce enough housing to meet all the demand. Housing continues to be tax-advantaged, and unlike stocks it can be safely leveraged with the cheapest possible capital, thanks to low mortgage rates. Housing markets, moreover, are much less efficient than the stock market, so buyers can probably get good deals if they try.
Friday May 3, 2002
The Increased Investment Appeal Of Real Estate
The investment pendulum is swinging away from financial assets and real estate will be a big beneficiary. Real estate in the U.S. should outperform stocks and bonds this year .
The combination of lousy returns and shenanigans in corporate America and on Wall Street are undermining investor confidence in stocks. As discussed in a special study in the latest issue of the monthly The Bank Credit Analyst , real estate will increasingly appear as a more attractive place to invest. Housing provides a yield as well as potential capital gains, and has performed well relative to stocks and bonds historically – the period 1982 to 2000 being a notable exception. Investment flows will also eventually be attracted into commercial real estate, given the relatively high yields on offer.
Tuesday Apr 30, 2002 bbc UK house prices up again Prices rose by another 0.7% last month from March, but the property boom is set to cool later this year, the Halifax bank says. UK graph
Tuesday Apr 30, 2002 bbc Housing market sees 'record growth' House prices in the UK rose by a record 3.4% in April, the biggest ever monthly increase, the Nationwide Building Society says. UK graph prices
Monday Apr 29, 2002 nytimes The Right Time for R.E.I.T.s? Real estate investment trusts, particularly those that hold office buildings and hotels, have soared in price over the last two years (and since Sept. 11). While that performance is unlikely to be repeated, they generate substantial income and are recommended by many financial advisers as a way to diversify a portfolio
Fri Apr 19 2002 bca
Thursday Apr 11, 2002 cbc Mar 28, 2002 economist Monday Mar 25, 2002 cnn Monday Mar 18, 2002 cnn Mar 15, 2002 cbc Sunday Mar 10, 2002 cbcMORTGAGE RATES ON THE RISE
Increasing signs that economic conditions are improving are leading to
higher mortgage rates. On Friday, banks began raising their rates by up
to 3/4 of a percentage point.
Sunday Feb 10, 2002 Buyers crowd market Wednesday Feb 6, 2002 cbc
U.S. home prices rose by only 6.9% in 2001, hardly a bubble. If you want to see a housing bubble, look at the U.K. in the late 1980s (and maybe the U.K. again today) .
There is much discussion about whether the U.S. housing market is in a bubble, even Fed Chairman Greenspan commented on it yesterday. Bubble conditions do not yet exist in the U.S., as will be discussed in a special report in the forthcoming issue of The Bank Credit Analyst monthly publication. The study shows that home prices are below previous peaks relative to income, and affordability remains good. However, the slower the Fed raises rates, the more frothy the housing market will become. There are good odds that housing, and real estate in general, will outperform stocks and bonds this year.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
For sale
Historic British estate attracts star attention
PRICES FOR NEW HOMES POST BIGGEST GAINS SINCE 1990
Canadian new home prices posted their biggest jump in almost 12 years in
February, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.
House prices
Despite the sharp fall in share prices and a worldwide plunge in industrial production, business investment and profits, consumer spending has held up relatively well in America, Britain and several other economies, supported by low interest rates and the wealth-boosting effects of rising house prices. Over the 12 months to February average house prices in America rose by 9%, and those in Britain by 15%. Adjusting for inflation, this is the biggest real increase on record in America and the biggest in Britain since 1988. Hot city |
compare prices
The Cafeteria Approach to Selling Your Home
A robust housing market and the growing popularity of real estate Web sites has been giving Americans more options than ever for selling their homes. The choices range from full-service brokers to companies that provide limited assistance to do-it-yourself home sellers. Even the warehouse chain Costco has gotten into the act. But which is best?
Land ho! Real estate is still hot
The real estate sector is still hot, and offers a counterbalance to other investments.
CIBC KICKS OFF NEW ROUND OF MORTGAGE RATE INCREASES
CIBC, often the first of the big banks to raise or lower mortgage rates,
raised its mortgage rates across-the-board on Friday - the second
increase in a week.
Monday Feb 25, 2002 cbc
BOURQUE WANTS DEVELOPMENT HALTED ![[Version en français]](images/fr.gif){kind=small}
City opposition leader Pierre Bourque says he wants G&é;rald Tremblay's administration to cancel a planned development in Pierrefonds. The plan is to build four or five apartment buildings in an area that's now wooded.
Asked $299,000, Sold for $302,000: This cottage in Montreal West fit the bill for a buyer who nailed the deal down with an offer that was $3,000 higher than the asking price. Nancy Steadman and Peter Gantous could feel the panic rising. The couple recently sold their home in the area agents like to call "Westmount adjacent," making a handsome $120,000 profit on their investment.
But they were having a hard time finding a move-up home that matched their budget and expectations.
"In any other market, we'd have been looking for our preferred house. This market isn't allowing that," Steadman said.
.."Things would be a lot easier if we had more listings," said Kathy Osgood, an agent with the Sutton office in Westmount.
There were 7,824 fewer listings on the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board's books last month than the previous January.
"Let me put it this way. If you've got a nice house priced under $200,000 in good shape, it will sell no problem," Moore said. "When you get above $250,000, things are still good, but the demand is not as hot."
HEMMINGFORD'S PARC SAFARI BANKRUPT
Parc Safari in Hemmingford, near the Quebec-New York border, is nearly
$4,000,000 in debt.
©
1996 to 2001 David T. Nicholson
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