Search Realty’s home page

With between 83%-97% of home buyers starting their home search online (different studies have revealed varying results), it’s clear Search Realty’s goal was to target these potential clients and make their web presence known to nearly every possible real estate client in the entire Ontario area—and with a plethora of high-ranking and cutting edge real estate websites and a team of motivated, tech-savvy real estate professionals, it seems they have done just that.

But in addition to reaching the home buying client base, Search Realty is also known for being perhaps the best brokerage around for listing your home for sale as well. The massive internet presence Search Realty has created has allowed agents to advertise and showcase properties with the highest level of exposure to a targeted and relevant audience that will ultimately meet all of the seller’s demands. When selling a home, Search Realty knows how critical it is to operate in a reasonable time-frame and to get the best possible deal when negotiating your home’s price. And the best way to accomplish these items is to generate as much interest as possible through one of the most effective platforms for buying and selling real estate—the internet.

Currently, Search Realty Corp ranks #1 on Google.ca for key search phrases like Mississauga Real Estate, Mississauga Homes for Sale, Mississauga Condos for Sale, Toronto Condos for Sale, Oakville Real Estate, Oakville Homes for Sale, and dozens of other keywords and phrases that produces business. So if you’re a home-buyer in the greater Toronto Area, do yourself a favor and take advantage of all the state-of-the-art web technology Search Realty provides. Their primary real estate site, SearchRealty.ca, offers an advanced IDX with MLS Integration and is extremely easy to navigate. And if you’re a home seller, I think the decision on who to list your home for sale really couldn’t be easier. With potentially 15,000 new website visitors viewing your home each month, the question isn’t who should you list your home with, but rather why would you choose anyone but Search Realty?

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing/SEO Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

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The price rise is not exactly substantial, but economists are still worried about the possibility of a correction in the housing market, especially in markets where prices are continuing to rise rapidly. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of Canada has already warned that household debt is the main domestic risk to the economy.

In Vancouver, the property market is cooling down rapidly, and there is downward pressure on prices. If Vancouver is taken out of the equation then property prices are 4.9% up on a year ago. However prices in Toronto are still increasing at a rapid pace, and if Toronto is taken out of the equation then prices would have actually declined by 2.2% over the past year. Taking out both of these major cities then prices would show a 3.1% increase.

Toronto isn’t the only city where prices are still increasing, as prices in Newfoundland and Labrador are up by 12%, by 9.4% in Regina, by 9% in Saguenay, and by 8.5% in Thunder Bay. In comparison prices in Victoria are down by 3.6%, and prices are down by 3.2% in Saint John, by 1.9% in Vancouver, by 1.4% in Fraser Valley, and by 0.2% in Sherbrooke in Québec.

Although the average cost only increased slightly, sales in April were 11.5% higher than the same month a year ago, although this is thought to be partially due to the fact that new mortgage rules were introduced in April 2011. Some 157,804 homes have been sold in Canada so far this year, and this is an increase of 6.4% compared to the same period last year.

Trump International Tower in Toronto. Image by wyliepoon

Donald Trump was recently in Toronto to try to stir up interest in unsold units in the Trump International Hotel & Tower amid talks of the Toronto real estate market becoming increasingly overheated. Toronto has the distinction of having more condos currently under construction than any other North American city.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower has been open since the end of January, and is the tallest residential building in the city. There is little risk of Donald Trump losing any money, as he’s not responsible for developing the tower, and doesn’t own it. This might be just as well as it has to compete against a considerable number of other luxury developments in the city which include the Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons, both of whom have a mix of hotel suites and condos. The Trump property is owned and developed by Talon International Inc., who is using the Trump name under license.

Apparently Mr Trump is very happy with occupancy rates, especially on weekdays, and the Mayor of Toronto recently told reporters that hotels in the city are seeing record business. Last year the number of hotel rooms nights sold exceeded 9 million for the first time.

The Trump Tower, which is right in the heart of the financial district, was officially declared open on Monday, and at the moment around 60% of the residential units have been sold, with remaining units priced between $2.3 million and $6.3 million. About 80% of all the units in the building have already been sold, but just 35% have been bought by Canadians increasing fears that foreign buyers are influencing property prices in the city. The building is 65 storeys high and has 261 hotel condos, and owners are able to use the rooms while in the city, but receive revenue when they are rented out through the hotel.

According to BMO Nesbitt Burns, real estate prices in Toronto have risen by an amazing 10.5% during the past 12 months, attracting the attention of both the central bank and the federal government.

TREB

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has launched a campaign against Canada’s Competition Bureau against its plan to release more personal information online. This information would include the names and addresses of home sellers, and TREB says it is an invasion of privacy that could result in more cases of fraud.

The Canadian Competition Bureau is demanding this extra information for online listings as it believes it would even out the competition between online real estate agents websites. According to the article in CTV Toronto.ca Federal Competition Commissioner, Melanie Aitkin, fought a successful battle in 2010 to give private home seller’s access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is the main service for buying and selling homes in Canada.

The real estate agents industry’s main site is Realtor.ca, and this allows people to browse the homes online, but at the moment certain information is restricted, and a Realtor has to be granted access. According to the Competition Bureau, this is an unfair to independent real estate agency sites, and the information should be publicly available to everyone.

It’s expected the case will be decided by a competition tribunal in the fall. If the tribunal finds in favor of the Competition Bureau, then everyone will be able to see the name and address of real estate sellers online. They’d also be able to see negotiated sales prices and details of mortgages taken out by the buyers. TREB is concerned this information could increase the number of cases of fraud in the Toronto area, and claims that most Ontarians do not want details of their home purchases made public.

TREB has an online campaign against the Competition Bureau which includes a website protectyourprivacy.ca

toronto city skyline by Elenathewise-Fotolia

Vancouver remains a perennial favorite, especially at around 30% of the city’s residents are Chinese, and there are around 300,000 Chinese residing in the province of British Columbia. Investors in Vancouver property can also benefit from the areas of educational opportunities, while Vancouver airport has a number of daily flights to Chinese cities.

But Vancouver and Toronto are facing competition from London and Singapore, with Chinese investors buying around 20% of all new builds in London. Singapore’s low interest rates and stable rental yields are also proving attractive, and of course the country benefits from its close proximity to mainland China.

In spite of the continued interest from Chinese investors, it still remains to be seen how the Canadian real estate market will perform this year, as a report in Reuters shows prices have declined for the second month in a row, dropping by an average of 0.2% in December compared to November, but prices in Vancouver and Toronto dropped by 0.3%, while the capital city of British Columbia, Victoria saw prices decline by 0.8%. Halifax saw the biggest price decline of 0.9%, but apparently overall prices in Canada increased by an average of 6.8% from a year earlier. Prices in Toronto rose by 9.9%, by 8.2% in Vancouver, and by 7.7% in Hamilton Ontario and Québec city.

A Reuters survey of 14 economists and strategists expects prices to increase by just 0.1% this year and by the same amount next year. They also thought Ottawa would tighten mortgage regulations within the next year. Last month the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation forecast property prices would increase during the next two years, but the sales figures and new housing starts would remain largely the same.