Low mortgage rates will continue to fuel the demand for Durham Region Real Estate

The sizzling summer real estate market appears set to remain hot right through the fall.

John Andrew, a professor at Queen’s University, is watching with interest for the August numbers that the Canadian Real Estate Association will report in the coming days.

Low mortgage rates fuelled property sales in cities across Canada, with Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary seeing the most action, he says.

Prof. Andrew, who is the director of the executive seminars on corporate and investment real estate at Queen’s, predicts September and October will bring more of the same.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a significant downturn in sales until we see an uptick in mortgage rates.”

And when he says an uptick, he’s not referring to a month or two of gently rising rates – he’s talking about a sustained upward trend.

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported that sales rose 2.8 per cent in the Greater Toronto Area in August from a year earlier, while the average selling price rose 8.9 per cent. Prof. Andrew says the increase in sales in August came on a drop in listings. Sales in Durham Region, including Whitby and Brooklin have produced similar rising sales figures.

The market is still fairly balanced, he says, but it could tip over to a sellers’ market. He wonders if that, in turn, will encourage more homeowners to list their properties for sale. “As soon as people realize it’s a sellers’ market, they say ‘maybe it’s a good time to sell our house.”

Prof. Andrew notes the contrast between this year and last, when a sudden shift in the market came right after Labour Day. Last summer, mortgage rates edged up between June and September. Many people hadn’t been paying attention and that led to a sudden burst of buying in September when people were spurred on by the fear that rates would climb even higher.

Fluctuating bond yields have brought about the movement in mortgage rates over the past year.

The professor also points out that he used to make a note in his calendar of the days when the Bank of Canada’s interest rate committee was set to meet. He could expect a lot of calls from media on those days. More recently, those meetings have become a non-event, he says, because no one expects the central bank to make a change.

The low mortgage rates expected for the remainder of 2014 create an opportunity for all participants including first time buyers, move up buyers, investors, or by simply allowing people with existing mortgages to pay them off sooner.

For opportunities in Whitby and Brooklin and throughout Durham Region, contact me.

Randy Miller
Broker 
Re/Max Rouge River Realty Ltd., Brokerage
905-668-1800 or 905-427-1400
randy@randymiller.ca
http://whitbybrooklinhomes.com