Tag Archives: yahoo
Property sales in Canada up slightly month on month, latest data shows
Residential sales in Canada increased slightly by 0.3% month on month in August and transactions were up 4% compared to a year ago, the latest index shows. The data from the Canadian Real Estate Association also shows that the number of newly listed homes for sale increased by 0.5% while prices are up 8.7% year on year but this drops to 4.2% when Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto are taken out of the calculation. ‘August marked the fourth month in a row for strong and stable national sales activity, While home prices increased in British Columbia and in the Greater Toronto area, they have been holding fairly steady in many other parts of the country for some time now,’ said CREA President Pauline Aunger. The figures also shows that prices continue to rise in Ontario and British Columbia, where listings are either in short supply or heading in that direction. August also provided early evidence that modest price growth is re-emerging in some markets in Quebec and New Brunswick. ‘The continuation of low interest rates is supporting home sales and price trends, and is likely to keep doing so for some time,’ said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist. Actual activity in August was up 4% from the same month last year and it was the third highest August sales figure on record after 2005 and 2007, and 6.6% above the 10 year average for August. Actual sales were up from year ago levels in a little over 60% of all local markets, led by the lower mainland region of British Columbia and the Greater Toronto Area. Sales in Calgary continued to post the largest year on year declines after having run near record levels there last year. The number of months of inventory, regarded as an important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand, was 5.6 on a national basis at the end of August, unchanged from the previous three months and holding at a three year low. Year on year price growth picked up in August for all home types tracked by the index with the exception of townhouse/row units. Two storey single family homes continue to post the biggest year on year price rise at 8.85% followed by single storey single family homes at 6.09%, townhouse/row units at 4.29% and apartment units up 3.08%. Year on year price growth varied among housing markets tracked by the index. Greater Vancouver with growth of 11.96% and Greater Toronto up 9.99%, continue to post by far the biggest year on year price increases. By comparison, year on year price growth in the Fraser Valley was 7% while Victoria and Vancouver Island recorded 5% growth. Prices in Calgary were flat on a year on year basis, the first month since September 2011 of no annual price growth while prices in Saskatoon also ran roughly even with year ago levels. Elsewhere, home prices were up from August 2014 levels by 1.5% in Ottawa but fell by… Continue reading
Lending for new home investors in Australia reached all-time high
Lending to investors buying new homes reached an all-time high in Australia July but lending to owner occupiers remained below the peak that occurred nearly a year ago. The total number of loans to owner occupiers purchasing or constructing new homes remained largely unchanged in July 2015 compared with the level in June, but was 9.4% lower than the peak level of lending that occurred in September of last year, the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows. In contrast, lending to investors constructing new homes increased strongly in July. The value of lending in this category jumped by 11.7% in the month alone to reach a new all-time high. Investors have played a major role in the current new home building cycle, contributing a larger share of new housing supply than has historically been the case, according to the Housing Industry Association, the voice of the residential building industry. ‘New home building has been a key element to the broader domestic economy’s continual growth in recent years, but critically, it has also made meaningful headway in satisfying the housing needs of Australia’s growing population,’ said HIA economist, Diwa Hopkins. A breakdown of the figures show that compared with 12 months ago, the number of owner occupier loans for the construction or purchase of new dwellings declined across most states. New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory were the only areas to record increases at 0.7% and 4.8% respectively. The number of loans declined in the Northern Territory by 29.7%, in Tasmania by 29.4%, in Western Australia by 17.4%, in Queensland by 8.9%, in Victoria by 7.8% and in South Australia by 6.6%. Continue reading
UK annual property price growth dips slightly, latest official data shows
UK house prices increased by 5.2% in the year to July 2015, taking the mix adjusted price of a home to £282,000, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This mean annual growth was down slightly from 5.7% in the year to June 2015 and excluding London and the South East, which tend to have higher prices, the average annual growth was 4.4%. A breakdown of the figures show that the average mix-adjusted house prices in July 2015 stood at £295,000 in England, £173,000 in Wales, £154,000 in Northern Ireland and £196,000 in Scotland. London continued to be the English region with the highest average house price at £525,000 and the North East had the lowest average house price at £156,000. London, the South East and the East all had prices higher than the UK average price of £282,000. House price annual inflation was 5.6% in England, 0.3% in Wales, 7.4% in Northern Ireland and down 1.3% in Scotland. Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East of 8.3% and the South East at 6.7%. The data also shows that in July 2015, prices paid by first time buyers were 4.4% higher on average than in July 2014. For owner occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 5.5% for the same period. Overall average house prices in seven of the nine 9 English regions are at record levels, with prices in the North West surpassing the pre-economic downturn peak of January 2008 for the first time. The only English regions not now at record levels are the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber. It is weak supply that is driving up prices, according to Rob Weaver, director of property at residential investment platform Property Partner. ‘The supply issue is nothing less than an enigma. Given that properties overall are commanding decent prices, you would expect to see more people selling. Something in the market is broken. Even though employment levels are strong, consumer confidence may not be as robust as surveys suggest,’ he said. ‘Many households are almost certainly wary of not being able to secure a mortgage under the new lending rules, and that could be impacting their intent to move. Households have almost certainly become more conservative in the wake of the global financial crisis. Paying debt down has become more appealing than racking it up,’ he pointed out. ‘Many are doubtless sitting on their hands until the economic picture gets clearer because the recovery has become less definitive during the first half of the year. This latest data shows that the property market has become a lot more balanced, with sustainable levels of price growth across a number of regions. It is almost a relief to see prices in the capital growing at 5.5%, compared to the high double digit growth rates of a two years ago,’ he added. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, comments pointed… Continue reading
