In a press release out today, Royal LePage Canada has issued their forecast for Canada’s real estate market activity in the first half of 2010.
Given the market strength that was shown if the last quarter of 2009, all indications are for the momentum to continue during the first six months of 2010. What is unknown at this point here in Ontario, is the impact that the forthcoming harmonization of PST/GST will have as it will create added costs to both home sellers and buyers. Estimates are the average real estate transaction in Ontario will incur $1,400 to $1,500 in added taxes resulting in new taxes being applied to legal, appraisal and home inspection fees, real estate commissions etc.
As part of their 2010 market forecast, Royal LePage also issued their quarterly house price survey for the last quarter of 2009. Nationally, statistics show that house prices for bungalows and 2 storey homes rose at an annual rate of 6.04% and 5.2% respectively while standard condominium prices increased by an annual rate of 6.35%. Clicking on the above hyperlinks above will give you access to the two Royal LePage publications.
In my next posting I will recap the year-end results pertaining to local market activity here in the Georgian Triangle.