Sign In / Register

Find us on...

Share on...

Dashboard

October 2013

Found 4 blog entries for October 2013.

Finally we have a HPI (Housing Price Index) available for Greater Victoria Region. Officially being released November 1, 2013 in our market and available since 2009 in several other major markets, the housing price index tracks value of typical examples of various types of housing in major markets across Canada. It works much like the CPI (Consumer Price Index) giving a statistically truer representation of shifts in values over time. Comparing to the historic reporting of average (and median) prices which can vary considerably from month to month and are more a representation of consumer buying power than the actual prices of real estate. To put some perspective on that, over the past few years I’ve seen prices drop far more than indicated by our real

2,194 Views, 0 Comments

Surprisingly, as it hasn’t been big in our media, the incidence of defaulting mortgages here in Victoria has been somewhat extreme over the past couple years, extreme relative to the number during the time of our rising prices and seller’s market through 2007 leading up to the global financial crisis. I don’t have an exact count, but from my own observations and speaking with lawyers specializing in the sale of foreclosed properties we have had somewhere in the range of about 60-100 monthly over the past year for just Greater Victoria. That represents somewhere between 15-20% of our sale volume by my rough estimate. That volume does seem to be on the decline now, attributable to the markets turn towards more balanced conditions over the past 6 months. I…
1,861 Views, 0 Comments

Sales continued stronger than this time last year with a recent wave of buyers who were anxiously getting into homes before their preapproved interest rate holds expired avoiding the recent jump from 2.99% to 3.59% for best 5 year mortgage rates. By my calculations the increase results in a 7.3% increase in cost and decrease in borrowing power for those dependent on the security of a 5 year fixed rate(a requirement for all with less than 20% down). Although rates increased, the "CMHC Benchmark Qualifiying Rate" has held steady so far at 5.34%. For those comfortable with a variable rate Prime minus 0.4% or 2.6% is still the best rate available. Sales may slow some for the next couple of months as there was a rush to purchase by those preapproved buyers

1,597 Views, 0 Comments