Thursday, November 8, 2007

Peter Meets Lady Luck (hopefully)

Not really news but just to let you all know that Peter Will Be in Las Vegas for the week of November 11 till November 17, 2007.

Not for Pfunn but for work, (and I am sure you believe it) but it is true, we will be going to the worlds largest real estate convention (NAR) and attending the conference and a large number of special sessions.

It will also be a great opportunity to meet and network with thousands of North American Realtors
Discussing anything and everything interesting real estate.

2 meeting I am looking forward to are presented by Bill Cosby and Della Reese, both of great Television acclaim but also great givers and will be sharing insights in to how and why to do things for the greater good.

Housing Start update from Cmhc for the Island


Just released the Vancouver Island Housing start information from CMHC,

Indicating a slight slow down in starts, not unusual for this time of the year, and predicted in earlier releases, check out the full coverage.

Talk To Peter, if you have questions or comments about this information. peter@talktopeter.com


http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/press/2007/2007_11_08_0815_EBI.pdf

Monday, November 5, 2007

CMHC Housing Outlook for Victoria for 2008

Be the first to study the CMHC Victoria Housing Outlook for Victoria for 2008.

In short, Steady, Robust, bus likely to slow a little in Volume but prices will continue to increase but at a lower pace.

Check out the entire report, at the link below, and decide what your best action is for the next year.


http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/esub/64367/64367_2007_B02.pdf


Logic to me says, if you are going to buy, buy sooner than later.
If you are going to sell, determine what you are going to buy first, Up size, sideways move or downsize.

To be honest if you don't need to sell, then don't sell, just build your real estate portfolio, as the report clearly indicates that rental accommodation will continue to be at a premium.

But this is just my read on the situation, and I would love to hear yours.

peter@talktopeter.com

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Victoria Real Estate Octorber Sales Continue Strong Showing

Sales of homes and other properties in the Greater Victoria area soared 20 percent
in October compared to the same month a year ago.
There were 708 sales through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October, up from the 590 sales in the same month a year ago. There were 632 sales in September of this year.
Meantime, prices for single family homes moderated somewhat while prices for condominiums and townhomes showed little change.

Victoria Real Estate Board 20+ year Realtor, Peter Pfann, says the strong sales and stable prices show continued consumer confidence in the market. “

Sales last month were the highest for October since 2003 and so far this year sales are running nearly 13 per cent higher than the first 10 months of 2006.”

Peter Pfann added that it’s normal for overall prices to fluctuate on a month-to-month basis depending on the properties that sell in a given month. “While the average price of single family homes moderated slightly last month, the overall average price so far this year is over seven percent higher than at the end of last year.”

The average price of single family homes sold in October was $556,222; the six month average was $570,454, The median price was considerably lower at $495,000.

The average price of all condominiums sold in October was $343,334; the average for the last six months was $321,993. The median was again lower at $291,000.

The average price of all townhomes sold last month was $407,031; the six month average was $404,163. The median price was $369,950.

MLS® sales last month included 375 single family homes, 196 condominiums, 79
townhomes and 22 manufactured homes.

There were 3,311 properties listed for sale on the MLS® system at the end of last
month, down slightly from the 3,426 properties in the same month a year ago.
If you are interested in Area Specific information on sales, listings and values, we have these available upon request.

If you are wondering how your property compares or fit with the current market conditions, please talk to Peter Pfann, www.talktopeter.com
or peter@talktopeter.com or (250) 213-9490

upcoming seminar

November 20, 2007
We will offer our Cash-Flow your dreams Workshop.

Based on Robert Kyiosaki's Book "Rich Dad Poor Dad, we will explore ideas, tips and life altering mind set to make little changes in our approach to using money to work for us, instead of working for money.

email peter to register : peter@talktopeter.com

Friday, November 2, 2007

Realtor population

When I moved to Victoria in 1991,
Real Estate was very busy, and at the time with over 1,300 agents active in the local industry.

After the last Market decline in 1995, we dropped from an all time high of 1642 Realtors to a low of about 880 Realtors by 1999.

Since then we have seen some significant changes in the industry, most importantly the change to the Real Estate Act to allow Realtors to be active in multiple careers.

Even with the change to allow part time Realtors, the number of Realtors now active in our area is approximately 1,150 and growing by about 10 to 15 new agents per month.

The ratio between general population growth and the Realtor population growth is indicating that Real Estate as a Career option is a very secure and smart business decision

What is the point here, Real Estate as a career is one of the last industries where your pay raises are very much in your own hand, and should be considered if you are looking for a 1st, 2nd or retirement career.

Talk To Peter Pfann to find out how, peter@talktopeter.com

Thursday, November 1, 2007

GST reduction

Ok GST and Real Estate is big news, and the Federal government, just indicating that we are to see a further reduction to the GST, will have a big impact on construction cost, and off course to all those planning to buy a NEW (gst added or included) home, that could save thousands of dollars, this would be Pfanntastic news

source CREA, contact me if you want a link to the actual press release from crea.

Where is the Victoria Market Going

With every media outlet indicating different directions about the future of the market, we wanted to see how you feel about the future of the local market and how changes elsewhere impact upon us.

Our read of the future market is simple, as long as there is more demand than supply prices will continue to go up and as such, we predict a slow down in the price increases over the coming years.

Everybody that leaves their house and drives the streets of the Greater Victoria Area, will have noticed all the building going on, the concern we have that most of the current constructions seem to be focused on one type of building. Most of the condo's build are the mid to high price luxury buildings. With prices starting in the mid to high $ 300,000 for Condo's and as far as town-homes the starting prices is in the mid to high $ 400,000.

that takes most if not all first time buyers out of the new construction marketplace and off course with the influx of this large number of similar type properties entering the market more or less all at the same time, and many more in the works, we feel that we have seen the end of the fast spiking price increases, at least in the condo market.

The Single family home market is a little different, as they are not building single family homes as fast as they are being sold, yet, so we think that there is still a fair bit of price increases on the horizon. But again with the starting prices, well into the $ 500,000's the new home construction market has not seen a first time buyer for years by now.

The commercial section of the local real estate market is much more complex, and I will write a separate post for it later this week.

So what do we conclude from all this;

New construction condo market is and or will soon enter a period of time with more supply than demand and prices will soften. Re-sale homes are a much better value at this time, and are often in better locations anyways (except for the really special ones, read expensive ones).

New construction Single family homes are getting easier to find and buy over the next year or two, but prices will hold and increase at single digit increases.
Again the resale homes are a much better buy in most cases, dependent on where you want to be and what type of home you are considering.

Example, one just can not buy a 3,000 sqft 1990's home with an in-law suite in Oak Bay, and if you can it is so rare that the whole world will jump all over it. where that type of home is the norm in the western communities.

but this is just our small take on the future of our market, we are cautiously optimistic.