Living in Laval - La vie à Laval

Vacation time at Mar-vo

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:24:03 +0000

With the construction holidays coming up, and a successful selling season, we’ll be taking a breather from blogging for the next month.

See you in September!

Moving Day in Montreal: a tradition

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:20:24 +0000

Wikipedia always surprises us with the kind of information you can find. Would you believe we found one on the “tradition” of moving in Montreal falls on Canada Day?

Check it out by clicking here.

Happy Birthday, Canada!

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:29:14 +0000

Teranet – National Bank National Composite House Price Index™

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:11:23 +0000

Accuracy in pricing homes is one of the bigger challenges in a real estate market in flux- it’s best to compare apples to apples than skew the results by comparing them to grapes.

This is the latest report on the price of homes that we get via newsletter, courtesy of the Teranet-National Bank. If you would like to subscribe to this news service as well, drop them a line by visiting www.housepriceindex.ca. Enjoy!

Downtrend slower in three cities

Canadian home prices in April were down 6.7% from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index™. It was the fifth consecutive 12-month decline. April was also the eighth straight month in which the composite index fell from the month before - the longest run of monthly declines since the beginning of index coverage in February 2000. The composite index is now 8.9% below the peak of last August.

Teranet – National Bank National Composite House Price Index™

Of the six constituent city indices, three were down from a year earlier: Vancouver (−10.9%), Calgary (−9.8%) and Toronto (−7.6%). Three cities held out against 12-month deflation, though with marked deceleration of their 12-month rises: Montreal (2.4%), Ottawa (0.6%) and Halifax (0.2%). The 12-month price increase in Halifax was the first since January. Calgary prices have been correcting for well over a year now, since August 2007, and are now down 13.3% from the peak of that month. Calgary has shown monthly declines in 17 of the 20 months posted since then, including the 10 consecutive months from last July through April.Vancouver prices have also shown 10 straight monthly declines and are down 11.9% from peak. Toronto prices have declined eight months in a row and are 11.3% below peak. In Ottawa the downtrend is less pronounced: prices have declined in each of the six months since the October peak and are now down a cumulative 4.8%. Halifax and Montreal prices were up from the previous month in both March and April and are now only 1.7% and 1.4% below their respective peaks.

Teranet – National Bank House Price Index™

The historical data of the Teranet – National Bank House Price Index™ is available at www.housepriceindex.ca.

Metropolitan area	Index level April 2009	% change m/m	% change y/y	From peak	Peak Date
Calgary	152.01	-0.6 %	-9.8 %	-13.3%	August 2007
Halifax	119.81	1.4 %	0.2 %	-1.7%	November 2008
Montreal	120.79	0.2 %	2.4 %	-1.4%	September 2008
Ottawa	112.53	-0.5 %	0.6 %	-4.8%	October 2008
Toronto	104.01	-0.6 %	-7.6 %	-11.3%	August 2008
Vancouver	132.67	-0.3 %	-10.9 %	-11.9%	June 2008
National Composite	119.19	-0.4 %	-6.7 %	-8.9%	August 2008

The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index™ is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation of the index. This is known as the repeat sales method; a complete description of the method is given at www.housepriceindex.ca

The Teranet–National Bank House Price Index™ is an independently developed representation of average home price changes in six metropolitan areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. The national composite index is the weighted average of the six metropolitan areas. The weights are based on aggregate value of dwellings as retrieved from the 2006 Statistics Canada Census. According to that census¹, the aggregate value of occupied dwellings in the metropolitan areas covered by the indices was $1.168 trillion, or 53% of the Canadian aggregate value of $2.207 trillion.

All indices have a base value of 100 in June 2005. For example, an index value of 130 means that home prices have increased 30% since June 2005.

By:

Marc Pinsonneault
Senior Economist
Economy & Strategy Team
National Bank Financial Group

Bonne St-Jean-Baptiste!

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:27:10 +0000

GMREB: Sales Increase for the First Time in Seven Months

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:05:58 +0000

Île-des-Sœurs, June 16, 2009 MLS^® sales in the Montréal Metropolitan Area increased by 8 per cent in May 2009 compared to May 2008, with single-family homes leading the way at 13 per cent, reported the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board. Property prices also continued their upward trend, as the median price of a single-family home grew by 3 per cent.

“Consumer confidence, which is at its highest level since July 2008, largely explains this increase in sales,” said Michel Beauséjour, FCA, Chief Executive Officer of the GMREB. “In May, 55 per cent of Québecers said that now is a good time to make a major purchase, such as a property, compared to 38 per cent in April. There are three factors that affect the real estate market – consumer confidence, interest rates, which are at historically low levels, and job creation,” he added.

All property categories registered an increase in sales in May 2009 compared to May 2008. Single-family homes delivered the strongest performance with 2,959 transactions, an increase of 13 per ent. Plex sales grew by 3 per cent and condominium sales by 2 per cent.

In terms of prices, the median price of single-family homes and condominiums increased by 3 per cent in May 2009 compared to the same month last year, while that of plexes grew by 2 per cent.

“This is good news; not only is the market more active, but prices are also continuing to increase,” said Mr. Beauséjour. “This confirms that Montréal real estate remains a solid investment and has certainly contributed to the increase in consumer confidence.”

All geographic areas experienced an increase in sales in May 2009 compared to the same month last year. The South Shore had the largest increase, at 13 per cent. Sales on the North Shore increased by 8 per cent, while the Island of Montréal, Vaudreuil-Soulanges and Laval registered increases of 7, 5 and 4 per cent, respectively.

As at May 31, 2009, the number of active listings on the MLS^® system increased by 6 per cent in comparison with the same date last year.

About the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board

The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board is a non-profit organization that brings together most of the real estate brokers and agents who work in the Greater Montréal area. With close to 10,000 members, it is the second largest board in Canada. Its mission is to actively promote and protect its members’ professional and business interests in order for them to successfully meet their business objectives and maintain their predominance in the real estate industry.

For June 2009 statistics charts, click here .
For year-to-date statistics charts, click here .

Open House- Visite Libre! Fabreville maison à étages

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:34:42 +0000

Venez nous visiter au 4308 rue Séguin, Fabreville, Laval, ce dimanche à 14h:

View Larger Map

Demystifying the MLS

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:45:10 +0000

It’s something every home buyer and seller comes across: MLS- short for Multiple Listing Service.

En français, c’est la SIA, ou Service Inter-Agences. You’re bound to see it less because it’s now morphed into a consumer service online, since renamed Realtor.ca. But did you know it first started out as a tool for real estate agents to keep track of and price homes according to market statistics?

What is it, and what makes it so special? Click here to read a great summary of the MLS and its usefulness when buying and selling real estate. Enjoy!

Looking to buy or sell a home? Contact one of our agents today at info@mar-vo.com for a chat!

Source: The Financial Post

Non-news: Real estate agents think now is a great time to buy for first timers.

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:19:04 +0000

Oh, the non-irony of this headline. It made us LOL.

Time is right for first-time homebuyers, experts say

You can access the article here.

Who are the experts? The heads of major real estate agencies, and bank economists. Not to say they aren’t right. It is definitely a great time to get your feet wet. Now that consumer confidence is going up (read: once the dust settled, people are less afraid of being laid off) we’ve been noticing a marked difference in buyers’ attitudes towards home ownership. They aren’t as hesitant to put an offer in! Of course, the world is their oyster, what with more homes competing against one another on the market.

If you’d like to try to get in, email us at info@mar-vo.com, and we’ll refer you to a competent buyer’s agent ready to take you by the hand throughout the process.

Before & After: L’Aquila, Italy

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:38:33 +0000

before:

and after:

All this during Catholic Easter week.

There is something you can do to help out, whether you’re Italian or not. A group of Italian Montrealers are meeting to come up with plans to send aid to the earthquake victims. You may want to join them!

7:30 p.m. tonight at the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre, 8350 Lacordaire Blvd. in St.Léonard. For more information, call 514-279-6357.

Donations can also be made to The Red Cross.
Source: Gazette