TrueCondos.com – The Best Source for Toronto Condos

Lessons From Australia

In case you haven’t heard, the hottest real estate market in the world right now is in Australia. It’s like Calgary in 2006 down there! This recent Globe and Mail article outlines the situation with our Commonwealth cousins down under and is worth a read. Some interesting tidbits from the article if you don’t have time to read it:

• The Australian method of selling houses by live auction makes our Toronto practice of ‘bidding wars’ seem pretty tame and civilized.
• Australia has a population of 22 Million with the largest city being Sydney with 4.5 million in the metro area. Sounds very similar to Toronto’s relationship to Canada. The average home price in Sydney is $580K. The average home price in Toronto is about $450K.
• 5-year mortgage rates are at around 8% in Australia while this boom has been happening. Gives pause to those who say that the only thing driving our market here are the ultra low interest rates.
• Property values have increased by 18% in Melbourne over the past year. Prices in Toronto are up around 5% over the past year.

What is driving this real estate boom in Australia? Sounds like the same things as here: cheap pricing by global standards, immigration booming to the urban centres, shortage of new housing supply, strong overall economy with good jobs, and relatively low interest rates. The key difference is that a crash is a stronger possibility in Australia because values have increased so much, so fast, whereas in Toronto we are slowly and steadily rising as we have been for the better part of the last 15 years.

Questions or comments about the Downtown Toronto real estate market? Please contact me.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Rates Heading Back Down?

Mortgage rates have risen sharply over the past 2 months. Getting a 5-year fixed rate in the mid to low 3s was possible just a few weeks ago, but now 5-year rates are hovering around the low 4s with most lenders. Still, rates are very close to all-time lows and money is cheap.

I got an interesting email from a mortgage broker this week that seems to suggest rates could actually be heading back down in the months to come. Read on for a copy of the email newsletter I received from Marcus Tzaferis of MortgageMarcus.com.

(more…)

Continue reading...

Mortgage Rates Going Up Tomorrow

I’ve been telling my active buyer clients this for the past couple of weeks, but for those of you who are just readers and subscribers to this blog, get your application for pre-approval in ASAP because mortgage rates are definitely going up this week. Remember that most pre-approvals last for 90-120 days so if you get in your application in the next 24 hours then maybe, just maybe you will get locked in to today’s rates.

One of the mortgage brokers I work with informs me that rates on 5-year fixed mortgages will be bumping up by 40 basis points. So that juicy 3.79% rate that many lenders are throwing around will now be a slightly less juicy 4.19%.

Of course, this should come as no surprise as when it comes to mortgage rates, what goes down, must come up! Rates have been at all time lows for a few months now, and bond rates have been on the rise (fixed rate mortgages are usually tied to the bond market).

For a good blog on Canadian mortgages, check out Canadian Mortgage Trend. Check out this great chart they have right now on the 5-year posted rate trend over the past couple of years. Pretty revealing and it looks like we have already hit the bottom and are coming back up.

Looking for a mortgage broker or wondering about the pre-approval process? Contact me.

Continue reading...