A recent survey by BMO says 57 per cent of homeowners are planning to opt for a fixed-rate mortgage. Of those who are still trying to decide what type of mortgage to arrange, more than 30 per cent say COVID-19 has made them more likely to gravitate towards a fixed-rate mortgage. Only eight per cent are more likely to go with a variable rate mortgage as a result of the pandemic. For...
2020
Bank is assuming no widespread lockdowns are coming back, and that there will be a vaccine by 2022 The Bank of Canada says it has no plans to change its benchmark interest rate until inflation gets back to two per cent and stays there, something it says isn't likely to happen until 2023. The central bank said Wednesday it has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.25 per cent. The news...
The Coronavirus pandemic is giving people an extra reason to pack up and move away from big cities, but one expert says it could be costly in the long-run. Finance expert Kelley Keehn recently joined The Morning Show to break down what you need to consider before moving out of the city. The obvious costs when it comes to moving include your mortgage, down payment and potential moving truck charges,...
In this continuing series of articles, which are abridged excerpts from my book, The Happy Agent, I offer a few specific tips that might make the difference between a quick sale and a better sale. Or in the case of a slower market, any sale at all. Now, some of this advice may not be timely during our current pandemic of fear. But it soon will be as this social madness reaches its...
"Essentially, what we’re forecasting is that prices are going to stay where they are for the rest of the year.” After a torrid summer that saw Montreal outperform Toronto and Vancouver on the residential real estate front, look for cooler temperatures this fall. Aggregate home prices in Greater Montreal will probably climb 9.5 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to reach...
L’Île-des-Sœurs, October 7, 2020 – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has just released its most recent residential real estate market statistics for the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), based on the real estate brokers’ Centris provincial database. In total, 5,147 residential sales transactions were concluded in September 2020. This...
While the pandemic has affected many areas of Canada's real estate market, the price of luxury homes is certainly not one of them. On Tuesday, Royal LePage released its Luxury Property Report which shows that the price of a luxury house and condominium has risen in many regions across the country since the spread of COVID-19. Nationally, a entry-level luxury house as $2 million and recent...
Already hot before the pandemic, the local real estate market is still on fire, but buyers have different priorities now. If Montreal’s real estate market was on fire at the beginning of this year, the pandemic has only fanned the flames. Yet in a reversal of the sales trends we saw last year, the hottest activity is now at the perimeter of the city. Priorities have changed. The hustle and...
When the time comes to sell your home, you may ask yourself whether it’s really worth hiring a real estate agent to help in the process. With house prices increasing, that extra commission can begin to pile up and maybe you’d prefer to have that money in your pocket. Some sellers are tempted to go down the For Sale by Owner (FSBO) route, but it’s not always the best choice for everyone. What...
Canada’s late Spring real estate market continues, but some of the pent-up demand has caught up. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data show a new all-time record for August sales. The rise is largely due to the lockdown delaying the busy Spring season into the Summer. The result is an odd comparison period, that is likely to continue until the pent-up demand has caught up. Canadian Real Estate...