Numbers reported by the Canadian Real Estate Association this week show that confidence is faltering in several real estate markets across Canada. Sales in Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon declined more than 20 per cent in January compared with January of 2014. Activity is slow in Ottawa, Montreal and the rest of Quebec.

                21 Berkshire Lane 

However, Toronto and Vancouver are resisting those headwinds, with rising sales and prices in both cities in January.  Real estate in some areas of the United States bring a big price, but few can compare with the prices paid for small homes in Canada.

The Globe and Mail tells MHProNews that lively bidding for a small house in at 21 Berkshire in Leslieville recently caused a buzz around the neighborhood when the house sold for $96,000 above the asking price of $499,000 for a total of $595,000.

One neighbor on Berkshire Avenue looked around at his own nearly identical bungalow and called listing agent Christopher Stevenson to ask questions about the sale down the street at number 21. By the end of the conversation, the owner at number 77 had decided to enlist Stevenson to sell his house too.  It was listed at $499,000 and sold an hour later for $575,000.

In 2015, it’s rare to have just one round of bidding, David Fleming of Bosley Real Estate says. He explains that, when eight offers materialize on a property, and the listing agent reviews the offers with the sellers, and then goes back to the top four offers to ask them to “improve,” that constitutes a second round of bidding.

“There’s always a second, never a third and absolutely never a fourth,” he says of a typical Tuesday or Wednesday evening in Toronto.

Prospective buyers roundly hate the idea of adding another round, he says, but now it has become such accepted practice that many complain if there isn’t a second invitation to the table.

Stevenson, an agent with Sutton Group Associates Realty Inc., says lower interest rates and a few high-profile sales have combined to bring a bit of fresh vitality to the Toronto market.                       

                                                                                            77 Berkshire Lane

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported this week that sales jumped nearly 15 per cent in the first two weeks of February in the Greater Toronto Area compared with the same period in 2014. The average price climbed 10.3 per cent but new listings edged up only 3.5 per cent in the first half of the month compared with the same period last year. ##

(Photo Credit: The Globe and Mail)

 

Article submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News – MHProNews.