Calgary’s housing market did indeed take a hit during the recession and the recovery has been on the slow side. But this April things seem to have turned around for the city, where residential sales climbed 26 percent over April of 2011. In the MLS Index, the benchmark price came in at $449,500, a 5.5 percent increase from last year.
There are changes afoot at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. First, a new logo and website will be unveiled at its open house on April 30th. Then there will be discussion on whether to move out of the vintage building it now owns and into new digs. The chamber wants to go back to its roots and original purpose, to help their members create more successful businesses.
Highland Golf Course in Calgary is up for sale. It can be yours for a cool $11.5 million. The most likely purchaser will be a developer, which will no doubt cause mixed feelings for neighbors of this lightly used green space. But it is close to downtown Calgary, and some of those neighbors are resigned to that fact.
Mayor Stephen Mandel of Edmonton was looking for Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose party, to repudiate comments made by some of those in her party while on the campaign trail. The comments had to do with race and homosexuality, and clearly were not something either politically or ethically acceptable.
Those interested in investing in real estate are about to see a bit more competition. Sales across Canada increased by 2.5 percent this past March, but the number of new properties coming on the market decreased by 0.3 percent. Both figures are compared to February of 2012. That is an open invitation for the bidding wars to start.
It seems there is a bit of a tiff going on between the Bank of Canada and some of the leading privately owned banks. Jim Flaherty, Finance Minister noted that he is tired of banks wanting the federal government to take the lead in how to price and sell mortgages. In a recent interview he noted that the government has already tightened mortgage rules three times in as many years and that it isn’t the right time to do so again.
The Canadian Competition Bureau is seeking to make information on home listings and the owners of those listings easily available to the general public. This is intended to promote increased competition between traditional real estate sales and consumer initiated sales. The Toronto Real Estate board is not in favor of this move, noting safety concerns and negotiation problems.
Some Canadians are taking positive steps in paying down their mortgages at a faster pace. Roughly 36 percent of mortgage holders choose to accelerate their mortgage payment schedule, which could take years off the total mortgage. Of those 16 percent upped their monthly payment rates, 17 percent made lump sum payments and an additional five percent that increased their payment frequency. Roughly six percent used more than one of these methods.
