Housing market

[mic67]

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=8557574

Location
: 285 KING Street West - 14
HAMILTON, ON L8P 1B2

For Sale: $34,900
"Offers to be negotiated after July 2/09."

It now appears to still be on the market, although the mls listing was pulled from online, it is now back.
july31/09
mic67

[SteelTown]

Hamilton housing prices rise again

September 04, 2009
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/628728

Hamilton's real estate market continues to rise, with average prices jumping almost 3 per cent in August.

New figures from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington released yesterday show 1,133 properties sold last month, 16 per cent more than the same month last year.

At an average price of $313,356 for a freehold residential property, values were up 2.7 per cent.

In the condominium market, the average price in August was $215,154, an increase of 1.3 per cent over August 2008.

Year-to-date numbers show sales are down 4.5 per cent over the first eight months of 2008. Listings are down 8.6 per cent.

The total number of units listed for sale during August was 1,535, which is 2.8 per cent fewer than were listed in the same period in 2008.

[Berklon]

Unemployment is increasing, but so is house prices? Nice.

Wait until the mortgage rates start to climb, we'll see how many people are underwater.

[FairHamilton]

The house up the street from us sold in July for 32% more then we paid in March 2008. Some pluses & minuses to that home over ours, but good to see a healthy market.

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Wait until the mortgage rates start to climb, we'll see how many people are underwater.

I had that exact conversation with my company's CFO yesterday afternoon.

[adam]

Percentage price change for each area would be of more value to homeowners. Break down each area: Stoney Creek, Westdale, Downtown, Mountain, Flamborough, etc. It is hard to make anything of an overall stat like the one given in the article. Maybe it fell by 2% in region A but rose in region B by 4% ...

[realcity]

/\ exactly

Here's why don't get excited over real estate as an investment.

1. It costs to sell it (at least 6% shaved off any capital gains at time of liquidation)

2. It costs to buy (legal, land transfer taxes etc, cost only a little less then buying. so shave 5% right off the bat from your original capital)

3. It costs every year to maintain. (property taxes, heat, hydro, maintenance, interest, insurance, plus any capital improvements, you're looking at a 'management fee' of 6-8% per year of capital conservatively).

Add up the costs to maintain/manage, to buy, to sell and what do you get. An annual NET return average of about 2-3%.

Hamilton is lucky to be riding a good bull in housing. But remember if you bought a house in Toronto or Vancouver in 1989 it took until 2000 until your house was worth the same as you bought it.

[SteelTown]

I know stuff like this drives realcity nuts but check this out

http://www.branthaven.com/brancontent.html

Check "Bravo! Ancaster". Yet it's at Stone Church and Garth! haha

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

I know stuff like this drives realcity nuts but check this out

http://www.branthaven.com/brancontent.html

Check "Bravo! Ancaster". Yet it's at Stone Church and Garth! haha

If it's on the West side of the power lines, which I suspect is the case then it actually is in Ancaster. The power lines were the old boundry between Hamilton and Ancaster.

[SteelTown]

It's at Rymal (sorry not Stone Church) and Garth across from St Elizabeth Village. Next road to the west would be Upper Paradise and than you hit Ancaster.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&sou...10943&t=h&z=17

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

It's at Rymal (sorry not Stone Church) and Garth across from St Elizabeth Village. Next road to the west would be Upper Paradise and than you hit Ancaster.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&sou...10943&t=h&z=17

I was just going by what I seen on the map provided on the website. It wasn't very clear as to the exact location and I didn't see an address.

edit: If you look at the site plan it is on the North side of Stonechurch. If it's the location I am thinking of, it's between the small office building by the meadowlands and the old Hamilton-Ancaster border.

[SteelTown]

I think it's Forest Hill, they must have changed the name to Bravo! Ancaster. What really messed me up is that they have a huge sign at Rymal and Garth for Bravo! and you can see a construction crew behind the sign. Apparently that land is being developed by Spallacci, suppose to have 500 homes.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton Housing Market Recovers Through 2010
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../17/c9779.html

HAMILTON, ON, Nov. 17 /CNW/ - Hamilton's housing market is on the road to recovery. New home starts and MLS(R) sales are expected to rise 13 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively, according to Sarah Fong, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). CMHC released its latest forecast for the Hamilton CMA today at the annual CMHC Housing Outlook Conference.

"Low interest rates and improvement in the economy will fuel housing demand in Hamilton through next year," said Fong.


Other highlights of the conference include:

- Both volumes and prices of existing home sales will rise in 2010. CMHC's forecast calls for 12,100 homes to be sold next year at an average price of $302,000.

- New home starts will rise 13 per cent to 1975 starts, and most of these will be condo and freehold townhouses and high-rise condos.

- Sustained low mortgage interest rates and the relative affordability of homeownership will be key driving forces for the housing market through 2010.

"We anticipate the gradually improving provincial economy and improved credit and financial market conditions will help stabilize housing activity next year," said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC's Ontario regional economist. "However, less pent-up demand and cautious consumer spending will temper Ontario's housing recovery in 2010."

[coalminecanary]

phew! glad that crisis is over!

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

phew! glad that crisis is over!

Probably only because the City of Hamilton froze development fees; http://thespec.com/article/581393 and http://thespec.com/article/577959

And as we all know there is no need to upgrade our wastewater system, http://thespec.com/article/608585

[markbarbera]

I'm not quite sure this housing market has really turned the corner. The other shoe is yet to drop. I don't see Canada entering a recovery for another year yet, and when it does it will be a prolonged recovery.

Interesting to see the future new housing starts are predicted to be mainly multiple unit dwellings and high rise condos. Lets hope that's true.

[adam]

I agree Mark, the article seems to be just more propaganda for the real estate industry. Meanwhile the unemployment rate in Ontario is currently the highest it has been in 15 years... I wasn't aware that unemployed people bought houses! And if they do buy houses, the interest rate has nowhere to go but up, so the end result would be an increased average consumer debt load.

[Berklon]

We're definitely in a housing bubble and it's going to pop sooner than later. We're still in a recession, no matter how hard they try to convince everyone. The interest rates are too low and it's unnatural for housing prices to continue to rise during a bad economy with increasing unemployment.

When the rates rise (and they will) people will find it hard to keep up their payments on their overpriced homes. People have learned nothing from the debacle in the US.

[Zaz]

^^ Agreed. Canada's bubble has not burst. If anything, the low interest rates have made it worse. That being said I do see an increase in demand for lower-priced housing, and especially in Hamilton, as GTA folks downsize and move out to retire. I believe the high-end new homes industry will be in a spectacular decline in the next few years.

[highwater]

Originally Posted by adam

I wasn't aware that unemployed people bought houses!

No, but they do downsize to multi-unit dwellings and high rise condos. What Zaz says.