Average prices for all types of residential property softened in October as part of the seasonal trend. In October the average* price of a single family detached home dipped lower than the two previous years and the previous month. The average price of a condo also dropped below the two previous same-month levels and was $15,500 below the price at the start of 20…11. Over-all, the average residential price dropped to the lowest point since March but was $2,500 above the same figure in 2010.

SFD average price $362,897 (down 3.4% m/m), median price $346,500

Condo average price $223,892 (down 4.4% m/m), median price $210,500

Duplex/row house average price $309,474 (up 4.7% m/m) , median price $308,000

All-residential average price $319,985 (down 3.9% m/m), median price $312,500

The balanced market continues as evidenced by the same number of residential sales in October 2011 and October 2010,” said REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Chris Mooney. “Although there are initial signs of labour shortages in the service sector, we are optimistic about real estate performance. As job openings increase in Alberta, people will again start to move here and drive real estate sales up.”

Thank you to all my clients for their continued support. Please call my team and I if you have any questions. 780-406-4000. Happy Sunday!

Kind Regards, Michael Pino Real Estate Group

The Canadian Press

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — One of Canada’s largest networks of real-estate agents says demand for luxury homes is booming in several cities.

Re/Max says the Greater Vancouver Area led the way with 747 properties sold in the luxury category in the first four months of this year.

That was up 118 per cent from 343 sold from January to April of last year.

Re/Max says foreign investment has been a factor in the Vancouver market.

Other factors at play in most cities have been improved home values, a recovery of the stock market and improved economic performance that have bolstered the finances of well-off individuals.

Other cities that have seen double-digit increases in demand for luxury homes include Ottawa, Calgary, Halifax-Dartmouth, Winnipeg and Hamilton-Burlington.

Demand for luxury homes in the Toronto area also rose, but by a more sedate nine per cent.

An economic outlook from Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) says Ontario will see considerably slower economic growth in 2011, underperforming resource-rich areas of the country.

Ontario’s economic growth is expected to ease back to 2% next year — down from about 3.5% this year.

Quebec’s growth rate will be slightly lower than Ontario’s next year at an estimated 1.9%.

Alberta will lead the country with growth of 3.5% followed by Saskatchewan at 3.3%.

Canada’s easternmost province is expected to be near the top of the pack due to the strength of iron ore and nickel.

Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to see growth of 3.1% this year and next, ahead of Nova Scotia and P.E.I and 1.9% and New Brunswick at 2%.

Opportunity for many Canadians to purchase American real Estate is becoming increasingly apparent as the Canadian dollar continues to rise against the American green back.  In the near future we could see the Canadian dollar as high as $1.15 to $1.20 US.   Contact me if your looking for real estate specialists in the sun belt areas as I have many contacts that can help you and answer many of your questions in purchasing real estate abroad.

Below is an excellent article on the advantages and dis-advantages of a rising loonie.

Is the Canadian dollar headed to US$1.20?

A currency war is raging around the world as central banks attempt to keep their country’s exports competitive by letting the value of their nation’s money collapse.

The Canadian dollar (a.k.a the loonie) is one of the few exceptions and is rising in value almost daily against the falling U.S. dollar.

So where is the loonie, which just a few years ago was trading at US$0.62, headed in a world where most of its competitors seem determined to devalue their currencies?

Many leading analysts believe the dollar is actually at a crossroads that could see it shoot has high as US$1.20 over the next year.

On the one side, demand for Canadian exports like oil, copper and potash are rebounding.
And with Canada’s national finances and banking system in great shape compared to many countries, the loonie is increasingly in demand as a safe-haven currency.

And now as the value of the U.S. dollar continues to erode as the U.S. economy falters and Americans continue to borrow massively, it is putting upward pressure on the Canadian dollar as it climbs in value against it.

How far can the U.S. dollar fall?

Some analysts believe another round of stimulus spending in the U.S. with borrowed money or yet another massive deficit could trigger a precipitous fall in the greenback, and with it a corresponding rise in the value of the Canadian dollar.

The U.S. already owes $13 trillion, and the $1.3 trillion deficit it’s running this year is the largest in 65 years.

Ross Healy, CEO of Strategic Analysis Corp., appears to have made the right call when he predicted during an earlier up-leg in the value of the Canadian dollar that if the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to pump money into the economy, “I could make the case for the Canadian dollar going to US$1.20. It’s in the numbers.”

While not quite as bullish on the dollar as Healy, by this time next year, Patricia Croft, chief economist of RBC Global Asset Management, sees the Canadian dollar rising to US$1.15 due to tighter monetary policy in Canada, a fundamentally better fiscal position and stronger commodity prices.

Croft also says other forces are at work. The U.S. dollar, she believes, is headed into a long secular bear market that she says will occur as countries abandon the U.S. dollar for safer investments.

While the U.S. believes that China is triggering the currency war by deliberately undervaluing its currency to boost exports, Yu Yongding, the respected former advisor to the Bank of China got a lot of people’s attention last week when he said China should stop buying U.S. debt issues and diversify its massive foreign currency holdings.

The U.S., he said, is close to a full blown currency crisis, as debt levels in the world’s largest economy continue to climb to record levels.

“The situation is worsening day by day,” Yu said in a speech in Singapore. “We’re one step nearer to a U.S. dollar crisis.”

A surging loonie would be disastrous for Canada’s manufacturing sector, which according to the Canadian Auto Workers Union, has already lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.

And short of an outbreak of inflation a surging dollar would almost certainly keep Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney from raising interest rates. While he did not comment on interest rates directly, he told CNBC recently that “what goes on in the United States does have significant impact on Canada and we’re watching it very closely.”

Here is a list of advantages and disadvantages that will accompany a soaring loonie:

Travel

Canadians travelling abroad particularly to the U.S. will have their purchasing power dramatically increased, with an extra $15 to $20 to spend for every $100 they take with them.

Consumer goods

Just when you thought flat-panel TVs couldn’t get any cheaper electronics will continue to come down in price.

Cars and trucks

Canadian auto retailers will have to cut their prices to reflect the stronger dollar or risk losing customers to the U.S.

Gasoline

Any product made from oil and sourced in U.S. dollars will come down in price.

NHL hockey teams

When it comes buying players they’re suddenly more competitive.

Some things that won’t get cheaper with a high-flying loonie include:

U.S. equities

Canadian investors holding U.S. equities could see their profits wiped out by a higher Canadian dollar.

Companies selling to U.S. customers

Canadian manufacturers may not be able to pass along the cost of a higher dollar to their U.S. customers.

Forest products

The forestry sector, already hard hit by the multi-year decline in U.S. home construction, could be hurt again as the Canadian dollar prices them out of the American market.

Oil and gas

Energy is priced in U.S. dollars and all that crude flowing south won’t earn Canadian producers as much.

While both sales and listings fell during August in the Edmonton real estate market, the decline was in keeping with seasonal expectations.

Single-family property sales were 10.8% fewer than during July, and 20.4% lower than last August, when sales were surprisingly high. 536 s i n g l e – f a m i l y u n i t s changed hands during August, at a median sale p r i c e o f $ 3 5 5 , 0 0 0 compared to $350,000 last August. Listings coming to market (1108) fell by 5.4% from July numbers, but were 64.4% higher than new listings last August.  Average days to sell recorded as 51.  In the condo market, 187 apartments sold, a 6.97% decline from July sales, and 25.5% fewer than last August. New listings in this market segment (421), fell by 10 units compared to new listings during July this year but almost doubled the 219 apartments that came to market last year at this same time.
The median sale price of $210,000 was 3.9% below July’s median and 2.33% lower than last August. Average days to sell numbered 63.  108 Townhouses found new owners in August this year, compared to 116 the month before and 162 during last August. New listings grew by 5.2% over July’s new listings and were 51.7% higher than new listings at this same time last
year. The median sale price of $218,000 was 2.68% lower than July’s median and 2.57% below the median sale price during August
2009. Days on market averaged at 60. ED-10/10

“People of character do the right thing, not because they
think it will change the world but because they refuse to
be changed by the world.”
Actor and Author of Michael Josephson
Radio Commentator
Notable Quote

Below is an excellent article from Derek Sankey, Canwest News Service regarding the federal stimuls spending has created demand for trades in the construction sector.

Thanks to a better-than-expected recovery in the construction sector, federal stimulus spending and a recent surge in the housing market, forecasters say demand for workers in the skilled trades is strengthening in step with the post-recession economy.

“I characterize it as a soft landing,” says George Gritziotis, executive director of the Construction Sector Council of Canada (CSC), who also cites the government’s Home Renovation Tax Credit as a “potent measure” that provided a boost through the recession.

The unemployment rate in the construction sector hovered around 11 per cent last year and into 2010. But to put that in perspective, it hit close to 20 per cent in the early 1980s and ’90s, and the average unemployment in construction since 1976 is 12 per cent.

“The one thing the recession didn’t take away … is that people age, people retire and move on,” says Gritziotis. “We can’t take our eye off the prize, which is ensuring we keep encouraging people to come into the industry and look at careers.”

The CSC’s labour market research shows many trades in Canada — out of nearly 50 that are tracked — in which workers are considered “generally not available” or “not available and projects must stop or be delayed.”

Electricians, construction managers, gas fitters, residential home builders, bricklayers, concrete finishers and carpenters are among those in greatest demand in its forecast for 2010 to 2018.

The intensity of demand for various trades varies by province. Industrial and resource-based trades dominate in Alberta and Saskatchewan. British Columbia is mixed but has been strong in the institutional and infrastructure fields.

Ontario has a mixed economy, but has strong demand for residential trades and on the infrastructure side. Newfoundland has also been strong with its major offshore oil and natural resource projects, utilities and mining, while Manitoba’s strength is in its floodway and utility projects.

“The big challenge for Western Canada as projects come on stream is that they were relying on workers from Eastern Canada, particularly from Newfoundland, but those workers are busy,” says Gritziotis.

Vancouver’s recent tear of construction projects linked to the Olympics was an obvious boon, but demand across different trades has generally remained strong provincewide, fuelled by demand that’s considered healthier than normal levels.

“In B.C., we’ve been lucky,” says Rod Goy, acting dean of construction at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). “We’ve had six or seven years where things have been hot — real hot.”

Even a more recent lull in that province is still considered healthy demand compared to ten years ago, he adds.

“We’re cycling up and down on top of the mountain instead of down in the valley,” says Goy.

With more people retiring, he’s noticed a distinct lowering in the average age of today’s apprentices. The starting age used to be around 28 years old, but that has fallen closer to 23 recently, he says.

“Because of our rapid growth, we led the way, but this trend was the same across Canada,” Goy says.

A strong housing market nationwide has also boosted investment in tradespeople in that sector. The CSC estimates between 190,000 and 200,000 new housing starts in Canada for 2010, up from its initial forecast for the year.

In 2008, there were 1.2 million Canadians employed in the skilled trades, a number that took a slight hit during the recession in 2009 and fell to about 1.1 million workers, but has started to recover. Some workers left the industry to pursue other careers, while mortality and retirements also took a toll on the workforce.

Demographics across Canada will be hitting worker supply harder in the years to come. For example, in Alberta alone the CSC projects 25,600 retirements from 2010 to 2018, and there will be 23,700 new jobs created. However, only 25,700 new entrants will come into supply through training, leaving a deficit of about 24,000 workers.

“Those workers are going to have to come from other industries, other parts of the province … or foreign workers or the under-represented groups, which are women and Aboriginal groups,” says Larry Rosia, dean of the School of Construction at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary.

Training institutions have been ramping up capacity in advance of what’s expected to be sustained, strong demand for skilled tradespeople for at least the next decade. But when times are hot, it’s also difficult to get instructors to train students.

BCIT has increased the number of classes in electrical from 45 to 115 in the last six years to try to meet current and future demand. Similar actions are being taken at technical schools across the country.

“One of our fears is that we may hit the same scenario we had prior to … 2008, where we had peak construction activity and facing shortages all over the country,” says Gritziotis. “As the contractors go off into the sunset and retire, it will be an issue.”

Many canadian investors are heading to Arizona!!! There are obviously many bargains with the dollar near parity but most importantly with foreclosures still high, many past owners are looking for the same style of housing to rent similar to the homes they lost to foreclosure. Many 3-4 bedroom homes are in demand for rent!
A significant number of Canadians are looking at this as an opportunity to invest due to the strong canadian dollar but also the demand by tenants looking for rental properties. I currently have a team of real estate and property manager professionals in the Phoenix and Las Vegas areas to service your needs. Contact me and I can start you in the right direction to invest in Phoenix or Las Vegas!! Below is an article written by Marty Hope of “The Calgary Herald” about this specific topic.

PHOENIX FORECLOSURES ATTRACT CANADIANS
It was the end of the month — and as in every city anywhere in North America, people were on the move.

From Scottsdale to Queen Creek, streets throughout greater Phoenix, Ariz., were dotted with half-ton trucks and rented vans moving families from one home to another.

In this desert state, relocation is always a big deal come month-end.

Some people are taking advantage of foreclosures to move around in the marketplace while others, unfortunately, are packing up because they’ve lost their homes.

Still others are getting into rental digs — a proposition that is becoming challenging, says the Cromford Report, which tracks the current status of the Phoenix area resale market on a daily basis. Earlier this month, the analyst who publishes the report says demand for single-family home rentals is outrunning supply and causing an unprecedented fall in the inventory of available rentals.

I know there are several Calgarians who have become landlords in the Phoenix area, having scooped up firesale-priced homes as income-producing properties.

And as the Canadian dollar fights for parity with the U.S. greenback, there will, doubtless, be another wave of investors from here heading there.

An article in the Arizona Republic says that since last September, the number of available rental homes in metro Phoenix has dropped by 40 per cent.

If you’re looking for family-sized homes in some of the more desirable neighbourhoods, the decline is even more severe, says the article.

The sharp drop, the newspaper article suggests, is another ripple effect of the foreclosure crisis that is playing havoc with real estate across Arizona, but particularly in the Sonoran Valley metropolitan area.

My, how the rental market has turned.

In the early days of the foreclosure fiasco, foreclosures increased the number of houses in the rental market.

People who lost homes, or who just walked away from mortgages that were higher than the value of their home, found they could rent similar-sized houses, often in the same neighbourhood, for less than their mortgage payments.

This was occurring all over, including many of the newer neighbourhoods on the west side where the foreclosure total was huge. Even tenants with bad credit could negotiate lower rents and how long they wanted to stay.

I recall talking with realtor Mike Orr down there and asking why the west side was hit so badly with foreclosures.

“We had a circumstance down here among first-time buyers who would drive until they qualified — and that happened mostly on the west side,” he said.

But back to the rental situation. In the past few months, as more of those former owners became renters, demand for those three-to four-bedroom rental homes climbed.

As lenders foreclosed on more homes, but were slow to resell them, the number of available houses dropped.

When houses do come onto the rental market, rents are rising and landlords of family-size homes are receiving multiple offers and filling houses in days, said the Arizona Republic article. Orr said that while the detached home rental situation is worsening and rental agencies managing properties have waiting lists, many Phoenixarea apartment complexes still are having a tough time attracting tenants.

If you’re the least bit

handy or have the money to hire someone to do some improvements, there are some great foreclosure opportunities at, or just under, $100,000 US in the Phoenix area.

Many of the homes, with posted notices of foreclosure taped to the front doors, are in desperate need of a good cleaning, new paint, flooring and wall repairs — and in some of the more extreme cases, new walls to fix those damaged by frustrated or angry owners prior to leaving the property