From the Desk of Faisal - Real Estate News for the period of Apr 17th - Apr 23rd

Welcome to Properties Ontario’s weekly real estate update. Our team goes through numerous articles and summarize them for you! If you have any questions about buying, selling, or leasing residential or commercial space, we’re the team for you. 

CREA Price Report March 2019 

• CREA reported that the benchmark price of a home in Canada was $617,200 
• This represented a 0.83% monthly increase but a 0.47% annual decrease 
• Markets with the largest price gains were Ottawa, Guelph and Montreal 
• Markets with the largest price declines were Vancouver, Barrie and Calgary 

Loans Secured by Homes 

• Over $298 billion worth of loans were secured by residential real estate in February 
• This figure is up 0.43% from the month before and up 5.4% compared to February 2018
• Of the total loans secured by residential properties, $266 billion was used for personal loans and $32 billion was used to secure business loans 
• The personal side has grown close to 6% annually while the business side has only gained 0.74%, well below the rate of inflation 
• The growth of equity being tapped is outpacing growth of home prices so borrowers must be careful when they are creating their budgets 

ADP February Employment Report 

• There was a net increase of 13,200 jobs according to ADP Canada National Employment 
• The largest boost was in manufacturing followed by education and healthcare 

Canadians Paying More Borrowing Costs 

• According to Statistics Canada, Canadians are paying 8.1% more on their mortgage payments during March 2019 when compared to the same month last year 
• Consumer price index (inflation) was 1.9% year over year in March 2019 

GTA Commercial Leasing Activity 

• TREB reported a 9.1% year over year increase in leased space of all commercial space (retail, office and industrial) for the first quarter of 2019, totalling 6,814,418 square feet 
• According to TREB president this is due to historically low unemployment rates 
• Industrial leasing led the way with 12% year over year increase while the commercial/retail segment was 5.5% higher and office leasing decreased by 0.5% 
• Total commercial real estate sale transactions decreased significantly from Q1 2018 to Q1 2019, falling to 180 from 286 done 

Reverse Mortgage Debt Continuing to Grow 

• Reverse mortgages are when seniors receive a lump sum or regular payments equivalent to the equity that they have built up in their homes 
• It is similar to HELOC but tend to have higher interest rates and repayment is only required on sale of the property, or in default or death 
• The balance of reverse mortgages hit $3.54 billion in February, up 0.84% from the month before but a massive 28.56% higher compared to the same month last year 
• The outstanding amount is growing slower but the balance is a record high