Category Archives: Housing in Canada

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 7,664 residential sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC during May, down 0.7 cent from May of 2012. Total sales dollar volume was 2 per cent higher at $4.1 billion. The average MLS® residential price in the province was  Continue Reading »

What a difference a couple of years makes. Back in 2007, homebuyers would be lined up to purchase your house and multiple offers were common place. Today, although we are trending towards a balanced market in Victoria, BC, buyers still have the upper hand and instead of buying, they’re waiting, convinced that housing prices will continue to drop. What’s  Continue Reading »

Even though this article focuses on the Toronto condo market, the advice and information can be used for any real estate market including Victoria’s. I’m often asked this question if it’s the right time to sell or buy and it’s always a somewhat difficult one to answer as there are so many factors and individual  Continue Reading »

 Ninety-five per cent of people looking at home listings online view the first photo — usually an exterior shot — for 20 seconds. After that, it’s cursory glances at the other material, according to research from the Institute for Behavioral and Experimental Real Estate at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. “Without an eye-catching photo,  Continue Reading »

VICTORIA BC – Weighing in on the best April since 2010, Shelley Mann, President of the Victoria Real Estate Board, is cautiously optimistic that the Greater Victoria is back into a balanced market. “Consumer confidence is increasing,” Mann says. “Our total number of sales for April is 615, a 5% increase compared to April 2012  Continue Reading »

By Gregory Klump – Chief Economist, CREA – March 26, 2013 Canadian interest rates will remain stuck at their current unusually low levels throughout 2013. I’ve been saying as much since early 2012 and feel more than a little vindicated by the Bank of Canada’s policy interest rate announcement on January 23rd, 2013, when it  Continue Reading »

BC Real Estate Association reports that February BC home sales continued at modest pace & pent-up demand is growing. Victoria’s February 2013 Average House Price of $463,265 is virtually unchanged from 2012’s average of $464,570 (down only -0.3%) and our listing volume has only increased 4% over February 2012 to 3,252 overall residential listings, even  Continue Reading »

VICTORIA BC – The Victoria Real Estate Board reports a total of 394 sales were processed through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in February, an increase of 34% over the previous month. The highest activity was in single-family homes and condominiums. Compared to February 2012, sales were down by 18.26%. Shelley Mann, President of the  Continue Reading »

Break out the mop and the paintbrush. It’s time to give your home a mini-makeover. I watched the new HGTV Show last night, Buying & Selling, with my two favourite Property Brothers, Jonathan and Drew Scott. I loved how honest they were with the homeowners about cleaning, de-cluttering and staging their home for sale.  Here  Continue Reading »

Two decades after the Jawl family bought a 25-acre former sawmill site on Gorge Road, the final project is going up on the Selkirk Waterfront. Heavy equipment is preparing the last piece of the mill site for a six-storey, $17-million building that will be ready for B.C. Investment Management Corp. in 2015, said Robert Jawl  Continue Reading »