There has been a lot of news lately about opening up the Canadian Real Estate market and allowing easier access to list properties on MLS, in addition to accessing more of the detailed information on MLS. Historically, this data has only been available to licensed, registered real estate agents, but today, their stranglehold on this information may have loosened.

The Competition Bureau announced today that it will challenge rules imposed by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) that “limit consumer choice and prevent innovation in the market for residential real estate services”. The Commissioner of Competition has determined [...] Continue Reading…

The Toronto housing market started 2010 off with a bang as house sales increased 87% in January 2010 over last year.

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported reported 4,986 transactions last month, and this was only slightly higher over previous January’s, so 2009 was an unusually slow month.

The average house selling price in the GTA also increased in January 2010 19% from $343,632 to $409,058 over last year.

TREB also believes that annual growth rates for existing home sales and average prices will continue to be strong through Q1 2010 as the comparisons are being made to a weak market [...] Continue Reading…

Great article on the weekend in the Globe and Mail, entitled The battle to unlock the housing market about the real estate industry and how some companies are fighting back against the MLS and some people believe its unfair that more people aren’t able to list their properties on MLS, and have to use a real estate agent.

Last year 465,251 homes were sold through MLS at an average price of $320,333. Owned by CREA, MLS aggregates listings from Canada’s 101 local real estate boards. Only registered real estate brokers can get key information such as past selling prices, [...] Continue Reading…

When buying a home it’s easy to forget about all the additional expenses that go into a house purchase, over and above your mortgage costs, so be sure to take into account the following costs as outlined in the book, Investing for Canadians for Dummies:

Inspection fees

It’s a good idea to get a professional to check out your prospective purchase before buying. Inspectors c an tell if you if there’s any issues with the plumbing, heating electrical systems, foundation, roof and if there’s any infestation problems. An inspection will typically cost around $200 – $300.

Appraisal fee

When you get [...] Continue Reading…

RBC released its Canadian Consumer Outlook Index today which reported that despite continuing reports stating the economy is recovering quickly, Canadians are worried about their debt levels and are anxious about their jobs.

The Bank of Canada reported last week that consumer credit held by the big banks rose in December 2009 to $336B amount of consumer credit held by the country’s chartered banks rose to $335.6-billion in December, up $2B from the previous month and 15% over the previous year. It really has been an odd few years with the global economic crisis bringing down Lehman Brothers, bank [...] Continue Reading…

The Globe and Mail had a great article about the most popular mortgage rate topic of the moment which is whether to go with a fixed rate or variable rate mortgage.

It looks at the biggest question people are facing right now if they’re in the market for a mortgage: with fixed rates so low, does it makes sense to lock in your mortgage now for 7-10 years, or is the premium over variable mortgage rates too high to make sense?

The lowest 7 year fixed rate listed on RateSupermarket.ca is currently ING @ 5.25% and [...] Continue Reading…

TD Canada Trust announced their lowering their fixed mortgages rates effective tomorrow January 29, 2010. The biggest changes is the -0.20% change on the 3 year fixed rate to 4.30%. They are the most recent of the big banks dropping their posted rates this week.

TD’s recently lower mortgage rates include the following:

3-year closed: 4.30% (-0.20% change
4-year closed: [...] Continue Reading…

Mortgages are a complex product and once you start looking at all the available options including fixed vs variable rates, cash back, no frills, quick close specials, full-featured products, and the list goes on, it can be difficult to know which product is the best for you. That’s where a good mortgage broker can help. They can offer the following services:

They work for you, not the lender
They have access to many lenders including many major banks, specialty and mortgage-specific lenders, enabling them to find the best product for you, versus a single lender
Can help with strategic financial [...] Continue Reading…

RateSupermarket.ca was founded to provide transparency to a very complex mortgage industry. We are constantly working hard with our lender and broker partners to provide as much detailed information as possible in our Canadian mortgage rate comparison searches over and above the latest, update rate information. This includes further details such as prepayment privileges, portability, assumability and other options that are also important in determining which mortgage product is right for your own situation.

We are pleased to announce the latest update we’ve developed and released on the site is the “Details & offers” section in the mortgage [...] Continue Reading…

A new 1 year variable rate product has recently come onto the market which is being offered by one of our broker partners, True North Mortgage. This is interesting as the most popular closed variable mortgage term has historically been the 5 year, with a 3 year increasing in popularity over the last year as well.

The 1 year product is being offered to take advantage of mortgage shoppers who believe that variable mortgage rates with larger discounts to prime will come back into the market. This is the view of True North Mortgage’s President, Dan [...] Continue Reading…