March 22, 2010
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Tony Wong
BUSINESS REPORTER
Sales of new houses and condominiums in the Greater Toronto Area were up by more than 237 per cent in February compared with last year according to figures released today.
The 3,148 new homes sold represented the highest levels since 2006, according to RealNet Canada Inc.
“The new home market continues to benefit from the tight conditions in the resale market, 50-year low interest rates and healthy levels of consumer confidence in real estate,” said the Toronto-based Building, Industry, & Land Development Association.
However, February of 2009 was a recessionary year, with the figures representing the bottom of the market. Compared with 2008, February sales were still respectable, up 24 per cent, while it was up 19 per cent compared with 2007.
February sales were virtually split between low rise and high rise, with 51 per cent of buyers opting for detached or town homes, while 49 per cent chose condominiums.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Real estate group approves MLS changes
Last Updated: Monday, March 22, 2010 | 10:27 PM ET Comments169Recommend96CBC News
The Canadian Real Estate Association approved changes to the rules governing the use of its Multiple Listing Service at its annual general meeting in Ottawa on Monday.
"CREA is pleased that the amendments have passed," CREA president Georges Pahud said in a news release. The Competition Bureau feels CREA limits consumer choice and forces people to pay for services they might not want when selling a house. (CBC)
The association issued an earlier news release stating that the amendments had been rejected by its membership — a position it later retracted.
CREA did not provide details of the nature of the changes approved Monday, and spokesperson Alyson Fair said the association would not be commenting further on the outcome of the vote.
The changes are meant to address complaints raised by the Competition Bureau, which has complained that CREA's Multiple Listing Service or MLS limits consumer choice and forces people to pay for services they might not want when selling a house through MLS.
CREA owns the Multiple Listing Service, which includes the public websites MLS.ca and Realtor.ca. People who want their homes listed on the MLS system must pay for several other services the association offers, even if they don't want them.
The bureau filed a complaint last month with the Competition Tribunal in an attempt to force CREA to change its sales rules.
The Competition Tribunal is an independent body that rules on recommendations made by the bureau after it has investigated complaints.
On Monday, the CREA said that now that the rule changes have been approved, "the concerns raised by the Competition Bureau are fully addressed."
Greg Scott, the bureau's senior communications adviser, disagrees.
"The rule changes passed by CREA amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to impose and enforce rules even more restrictive than the existing ones," he told CBC News in an email.
Consumer choice
Melanie Aitken, commissioner of competition with the bureau, said the bureau's main concern has been consumer choice.
The real estate association requires all sellers wanting to use MLS to pay for a full suite of services, she told CBC News Network's Lang & O'Leary Exchange in February.
In the bureau's view, this requirement interferes with competition, she said, especially given that some of CREA's members are willing to sell only some of the services and charge a lower commission.
The bureau filed the complaint against the association after three years of trying to negotiate changes to the rules, Scott said.
"We've been negotiating with them for three years," Scott said. "We've been negotiating with them intensively since October.
"Clearly, we've arrived at a point where CREA's leadership wasn't willing to agree to the changes that we felt were necessary to open up the real estate market. At that point, we felt we had no option but to proceed with an application to the tribunal."
The bureau will continue its case before the Competition Tribunal, Scott said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/03/22/real-estate-votecrea.html#ixzz0ixvspMT5
The Canadian Real Estate Association approved changes to the rules governing the use of its Multiple Listing Service at its annual general meeting in Ottawa on Monday.
"CREA is pleased that the amendments have passed," CREA president Georges Pahud said in a news release. The Competition Bureau feels CREA limits consumer choice and forces people to pay for services they might not want when selling a house. (CBC)
The association issued an earlier news release stating that the amendments had been rejected by its membership — a position it later retracted.
CREA did not provide details of the nature of the changes approved Monday, and spokesperson Alyson Fair said the association would not be commenting further on the outcome of the vote.
The changes are meant to address complaints raised by the Competition Bureau, which has complained that CREA's Multiple Listing Service or MLS limits consumer choice and forces people to pay for services they might not want when selling a house through MLS.
CREA owns the Multiple Listing Service, which includes the public websites MLS.ca and Realtor.ca. People who want their homes listed on the MLS system must pay for several other services the association offers, even if they don't want them.
The bureau filed a complaint last month with the Competition Tribunal in an attempt to force CREA to change its sales rules.
The Competition Tribunal is an independent body that rules on recommendations made by the bureau after it has investigated complaints.
On Monday, the CREA said that now that the rule changes have been approved, "the concerns raised by the Competition Bureau are fully addressed."
Greg Scott, the bureau's senior communications adviser, disagrees.
"The rule changes passed by CREA amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to impose and enforce rules even more restrictive than the existing ones," he told CBC News in an email.
Consumer choice
Melanie Aitken, commissioner of competition with the bureau, said the bureau's main concern has been consumer choice.
The real estate association requires all sellers wanting to use MLS to pay for a full suite of services, she told CBC News Network's Lang & O'Leary Exchange in February.
In the bureau's view, this requirement interferes with competition, she said, especially given that some of CREA's members are willing to sell only some of the services and charge a lower commission.
The bureau filed the complaint against the association after three years of trying to negotiate changes to the rules, Scott said.
"We've been negotiating with them for three years," Scott said. "We've been negotiating with them intensively since October.
"Clearly, we've arrived at a point where CREA's leadership wasn't willing to agree to the changes that we felt were necessary to open up the real estate market. At that point, we felt we had no option but to proceed with an application to the tribunal."
The bureau will continue its case before the Competition Tribunal, Scott said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/03/22/real-estate-votecrea.html#ixzz0ixvspMT5
Watchdog rejects proposed real-estate rule change
Date: Mon. Mar. 22 2010 10:31 PM ET
The Competition Bureau has panned a move by the Canadian Real Estate Association to give private home-sellers access to the MLS database, calling it a "step in the wrong direction" that will not reduce costs.
About 300 real estate agents from across Canada who attended the association's annual general meeting voted on the amendments, which will allow home sellers to pay a flat fee to have their homes listed on the Multiple Listing Service and then handle the negotiations themselves.
Currently, agents are paid a commission on the transaction in exchange for handling the listing and price negotiations.
Private sellers must also have an agent in order to list their property in the MLS database, and that agent must be involved throughout the sales process.
The association's rule changes came about after the Competition Bureau voiced concerns that the current system drives up the cost of real estate for individuals.
But the cost to sellers of listing a home and then going it alone is unclear and the Competition Bureau argues the amendments don't allow realtors to offer clients "a la carte" services.
"They are a step in the wrong direction," Competition Bureau commissioner Melanie Aitken said in a statement. "These amendments amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to create rules that could have even greater anti-competitive consequences."
More than 98,000 real estate agents, brokers and salespeople are members of the association, and only they are permitted to list homes on the MLS database.
The CREA said it was willing to review the process after the bureau filed charges with the Competition Tribunal alleging that real estate agents can't offer their clients "a la carte," fee-based services. The bureau also complained that the MLS rules prevented sellers from negotiating their own deals.
The new guidelines will come into effect as soon as each of the country's real state boards approve them.
Dale Ripplinger, the CREA's outgoing president, would not explain to reporters Monday how the amendments will help agents or home sellers.
Ripplinger said the changes are "too technical in nature and wouldn't make sense to anybody except realtors."
Georges Pahud, the CREA's president-elect, said he was pleased that the amendments had been passed. The association has now addressed the Competition Bureau's concerns, he said.
But Aitken said there is nothing new in the CREA's proposed changes. The Bureau plans to continue to challenge what it calls anti-competitive rules imposed by CREA.
"We have repeatedly advised CREA's leadership that these amendments do not solve our ongoing competition concerns and I reiterated this directly to CREA as recently as last week in a letter to the president," Aitken said.
The real estate association said it will dispute the Competition Bureau's accusations.
The association must submit a formal response by Thursday.
With a report by CTV's Richard Madan in Ottawa and files from The Canadian Press
To see the CTV news report go to the following link:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100322/crea_rules_100322/20100322?hub=TopStoriesV2
The Competition Bureau has panned a move by the Canadian Real Estate Association to give private home-sellers access to the MLS database, calling it a "step in the wrong direction" that will not reduce costs.
About 300 real estate agents from across Canada who attended the association's annual general meeting voted on the amendments, which will allow home sellers to pay a flat fee to have their homes listed on the Multiple Listing Service and then handle the negotiations themselves.
Currently, agents are paid a commission on the transaction in exchange for handling the listing and price negotiations.
Private sellers must also have an agent in order to list their property in the MLS database, and that agent must be involved throughout the sales process.
The association's rule changes came about after the Competition Bureau voiced concerns that the current system drives up the cost of real estate for individuals.
But the cost to sellers of listing a home and then going it alone is unclear and the Competition Bureau argues the amendments don't allow realtors to offer clients "a la carte" services.
"They are a step in the wrong direction," Competition Bureau commissioner Melanie Aitken said in a statement. "These amendments amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to create rules that could have even greater anti-competitive consequences."
More than 98,000 real estate agents, brokers and salespeople are members of the association, and only they are permitted to list homes on the MLS database.
The CREA said it was willing to review the process after the bureau filed charges with the Competition Tribunal alleging that real estate agents can't offer their clients "a la carte," fee-based services. The bureau also complained that the MLS rules prevented sellers from negotiating their own deals.
The new guidelines will come into effect as soon as each of the country's real state boards approve them.
Dale Ripplinger, the CREA's outgoing president, would not explain to reporters Monday how the amendments will help agents or home sellers.
Ripplinger said the changes are "too technical in nature and wouldn't make sense to anybody except realtors."
Georges Pahud, the CREA's president-elect, said he was pleased that the amendments had been passed. The association has now addressed the Competition Bureau's concerns, he said.
But Aitken said there is nothing new in the CREA's proposed changes. The Bureau plans to continue to challenge what it calls anti-competitive rules imposed by CREA.
"We have repeatedly advised CREA's leadership that these amendments do not solve our ongoing competition concerns and I reiterated this directly to CREA as recently as last week in a letter to the president," Aitken said.
The real estate association said it will dispute the Competition Bureau's accusations.
The association must submit a formal response by Thursday.
With a report by CTV's Richard Madan in Ottawa and files from The Canadian Press
To see the CTV news report go to the following link:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100322/crea_rules_100322/20100322?hub=TopStoriesV2
New Web Site for RE/MAX Professionals www.remaxprofessionals.ca
Today's launch of the new RE/MAX Professionals web site lifts the web presence of the sales staff to a new level of web prominence. Designed as a tool for customers and clients to find the Brokerage listings and agents faster than ever, the new site involves the latest of social media with links to this blog "Re/Max Professional Talk", Twitter posts, Facebook and Linked in profiles and more. Video marketing of listings will be made easier and more efficient of this amazingly easily utilized site.
"Web Sites can no longer be just state of the art," stated Darryl Mitchell, Etobicoke Managing Broker. "This site must be state of the media, designed to broadcast information, to make RE/MAX Professionals the Brokerage of choice for real estate information."
The jammed room saw Gabriel Jeans of Web Tech Design demonstrate the effectiveness of this mult-functional site. With links to all of the agent sites, this site is Do Not Call list functional allowing agents to concentrate on what they do best, sell and buy homes with their many clients.
Clients have the ability to search not just RE/MAX Professionals listings, but also those of other Brokerages cooperating on the Internet Data Exchange IDX for Toronto and area.
To learn more about this impactive new site contact Darryl Mitchell, Managing Broker, Etobicoke 416-236-1241 or Christine Mitchell, Managing Broker, Mississauga 905-270-0575.
To view state of the art web presence go to www.remaxprofessionals.ca
"Web Sites can no longer be just state of the art," stated Darryl Mitchell, Etobicoke Managing Broker. "This site must be state of the media, designed to broadcast information, to make RE/MAX Professionals the Brokerage of choice for real estate information."
The jammed room saw Gabriel Jeans of Web Tech Design demonstrate the effectiveness of this mult-functional site. With links to all of the agent sites, this site is Do Not Call list functional allowing agents to concentrate on what they do best, sell and buy homes with their many clients.
Clients have the ability to search not just RE/MAX Professionals listings, but also those of other Brokerages cooperating on the Internet Data Exchange IDX for Toronto and area.
To learn more about this impactive new site contact Darryl Mitchell, Managing Broker, Etobicoke 416-236-1241 or Christine Mitchell, Managing Broker, Mississauga 905-270-0575.
To view state of the art web presence go to www.remaxprofessionals.ca
Monday, March 15, 2010
Demand and supply coming into balance in resale market
OTTAWA – March 15, 2010 – With rising activity in Toronto offset by lower activity in Vancouver, the number of homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards edged lower in February. In recent months, national sales activity has slowed while new listings continue to rise, resulting in a more balanced national resale housing market.
According to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association, seasonally adjusted national home sales totalled 42,799 units in February 2010, edging down 1.5 per cent from January. Activity declined mostly in Vancouver, but this was offset by an equally large gain in Toronto. Sales were also down in a number of other British Columbia housing markets. Since there were no significant gains in sales activity elsewhere in Canada, the national figure for sales activity was pulled slightly lower.
For the entire article you can go to the CREA Blog at http://creanews.ca/
According to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association, seasonally adjusted national home sales totalled 42,799 units in February 2010, edging down 1.5 per cent from January. Activity declined mostly in Vancouver, but this was offset by an equally large gain in Toronto. Sales were also down in a number of other British Columbia housing markets. Since there were no significant gains in sales activity elsewhere in Canada, the national figure for sales activity was pulled slightly lower.
For the entire article you can go to the CREA Blog at http://creanews.ca/
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