Real estate prices rose again in August and were approaching their levels of a year ago, numbers released Wednesday by the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley real estate boards showed.

Market watchers, surprised by the strength of the rebound, said it appeared buyers were cashing in on record-low mortgage rates while they last.

Sales set records in July and stayed hot in August. The question now is whether the market can keep up the pace.

“Before I would call this a complete recovery I would want to see a couple of months of data,” Robyn Adamache, a market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in an interview.

Adamache added that there now are five months worth of data showing an upward trend, but “it remains to be seen whether this was just a one-shot deal where everybody was pre-approved for their [low-rate] mortgages and they basically jumped into the market, and whether or not [the market] can be sustained for the rest of the year.”

However, Adamache said on balance, Metro Vancouver’s average property prices, since their trough last March, have climbed back to within three percentage points of their peak.

She estimated that from peak to trough, average prices fell some 15 per cent.

Record-low mortgage rates, which fell as low as 3.65 per cent on five-year fixed-rate mortgages before rising again after June 1, played a big role in the market.

“If I had to put [market performance] on one thing, I would have to say interest rates,” Carolyn Heaney, Vancouver area manager of mortgage development for the Bank of Montreal, said in an interview.

Heaney said her mortgage lenders had a lot of clients who had been approved for mortgages with the low rates, and had 90 days to buy homes and close their purchases before their pre-approvals expired.

“There were certainly a lot of people who jumped off the fence in order to keep their rates,” she said.

Kevin Lutz, B.C. mortgage manager for RBC Financial Group, said that despite the recession, a bit of consumer confidence has been returning to the market. Lutz said the past few months have seen buyers cram almost a year’s worth of buying activity into a short period.

In the area of Metro Vancouver covered by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), that translated into 3,441 sales through the Multiple Listing service, a 120-per-cent increase from last August, when the region saw 1,568 sales.

Prices in Metro continued to edge up with the benchmark price (the average price of the typical property sold) for detached homes hitting $732,656 in August. That was just 0.7 per cent below last year’s benchmark price for detached homes.

Some communities saw detached-home prices rise above their levels of a year ago. On Vancouver’s west side, for example, the benchmark of $1.4 million in August was three per cent higher than in the same month a year ago.

The $685,746 benchmark for detached homes on Vancouver’s east side was 3.2 per cent higher than a year ago.

New Westminster, Pitt Meadows and the Sunshine Coast also saw detached home prices higher than a year ago.

“It has been surprising,” REBGV president-elect Jake Moldown said. “I don’t think if you had talked to any of us in January that we would be expecting sales levels to be where they are today.”

However, he said with price adjustments and low interest rates combining to reduce mortgage payments, a lot of first-time buyers have jumped into the market, helping set off a chain reaction of upward movement.

In the Fraser Valley, realtors recorded their second busiest August on record, with agents racking up 1,786 sales through the MLS in August, up 96 per cent from 910 sales in the same month a year ago, when the market was sliding rapidly.

For the period of June through August, the board said valley realtors saw 5,857 MLS sales, which outpaced the same period of 2007, but is still far from matching 2005’s 6,866 sales for June, July and August.

Fraser Valley realtors saw the benchmark price (the average price of a typical property sold) for single-family homes creep up 3.8 per cent over the past three months to $483,839 in August, not quite erasing the losses of the past year. That price was still 3.5 per cent below last August’s $501,317 benchmark.

0 comments:

Canada mortgage montreal mortgage broker Montreal mortgage adjustable rate mortgage Montreal Bank of Canada interes rate Canadian Real Estate Association Canadian housing market Canadian mortgage best mortgage rate in Montreal cut interest rates low mortgage rates American housing market Best Mortgage Rates CMHC Montreal Mortgage Rates average prices bank loan canada housing market canadian home prices fixed rate home mortgage loan montreal mortgage brokers mortgage rates Canadian economy Mortgage Montreal TD Canada Trust credit report credit score fixed mortgage rates housing market royal bank of canada taux hypothecaire td bank CREA Canadian home buyers Canadian housing Canadian lenders HRTC credit amortization period business loans canada best mortgage broker canada real estate market down payments eligible expenses fast mortgage payment home owners hupotheque montreal hypotheque montreal investment purposes lenders lower interest rates montreal hypotheque montreal real estate mortgage crisis mortgage landers mortgage loan mortgage rates montreal mortgage specialist montreal pret hypothecaire property loan real estate real estate montreal refinancing mortgage subprime mortgages tax credit tax deductions variable interes 'risky' mortgages BMO Bank of Montreal Buy Buy A Home Buy A House CMHC. new home construction Canada Housing Trust Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Canada mortgage loan Canada's economy Canada's housing industry Canada's housing market Canada’s housing Canadian Home Builders Canadian economic recession Canadian home sales Canadian homeowners Canadian housing situation Canadian mortgage bonds Canadian mortgage holders Canadian mortgage lenders Credit conditions Fannie Mae Finance Fixed and Variable Rates Foreign bond funds Genworth Financial Home INTEREST RATE CALCULATION IRD Lower sales activity Merrill Lynch Money Montreal Courtier Hypothécaire Mortgage brokers Multi Prêt Hypothèque Real estate prices Recession Sales activity Securing a rate guarantee Sell TD's financial Taux Hypothécaire US Home prices Vancouver housing Vancouver mortgage Wells Fargo Wells Fargo’s Canadian unit adjusted annual rate apply for loans appraisal appraised value appraiser attractive investment opportunity average property prices bad credit Mortgage bank lenders bank's posted rates banks margins biggest U.S. bank borrower buying a condo buying a new home buying home buying up assets canada banks canada mortgage crisis canada mortgage shop canada trust canadian households canadian market canadian mortgage rates canadian real market cashback mortgage chopping mortgage rates closed mortgage rate compare property condominiums credit card accounts credit card interestCanadian Lenders credit crunch credit history credit markets credit preparations credit ranking credit standing creditdestitute debt deposit of 20% dollar’s weakness drop in construction ease interest rates economic data weakened economic decline economic outlook falling market fast cash federal tax credit finance companies financial advantage financial crisis financial storm financial systems find mortgage broker in montreal first home buyers first time buyer five-year closed mortgage five-year closed mortgages fixed home loan fixed interes rates fixed montreal rate fixed mortgage fixed-term mortgage flexible mortgages floating rate foreclosed homes gas prices against housing market gasoline prices get a mortgage get mortgage in montreal getting a mortgage government finance team hedge funds high interest rates high unemployment high-interest credit home buyer home buyers home construction declined home loans home loans rates home mortgage home prices dropped home renovation home-equity loans home-resale activity homebuyers homes in canada house crisis house prices house value houses demand housing and mortgage meltdown housing boom housing construction housing crisis housing in Canada housing market meltdown housing statistics housing supply improvement loan increasing prices ineligible expenses inflation inflation in canada inflation rate insurance coverage interes rates interest rate cuts interest rate cuts resale markets interest rate differential interest rates interest rates exist landing money lending practices in Canada listing load montreal loan loan rates loan specialist loan to value long-term loans long-term mortgage rates low interest rate low mortgage rate lowest rate market market influence rates market rate markets crack in Canada mid-to long-term mortgages monthly payments montreal flexible mortgage montreal housing market montreal rates montreal real estate broker mortgage mortgage borrowers mortgage brokers canada mortgage business mortgage canada mortgage company mortgage contracts mortgage economists mortgage finance lenders mortgage industry associations mortgage insurance mortgage interest mortgage interest payments mortgage landing mortgage lending firm mortgage loans mortgage payments mortgage professionals mortgage quote mortgage ratem ING Direct mortgage rules mortgage sector mortgage strategy mortgage tips mortgages and loans mortgages montreal multi pret national bank new dwellings in Montreal new houses montreal new housing new-home construction one-year close mortgage online mortgage application pay our mortgages polluting bank balance prime rates purchasing a house raise rates rate rise real estate lawyer real estate listings real estate market real estate performance real estate strength real estate tips Montreal real-estate loans recession may be behind us recover from recession reduce taxes refinance renting or buying residential mortgage rates residential mortgages residential properties rising prices row housing semi-detached house shop for a Mortgage short-term interest rate single family house stimulating the economy stimulus funding submit information subprime tax rates tax return three months' interest tracker rate ultralow mortgage rates value of a property your montreal mortgage broker zero growth