Durham Region

DURHAM REGION – February 23, 2010 – Over recent years, Members of the Durham Region Association of REALTORS® have held Christmas Charity Auctions with proceeds being presented to the various Lakeridge Health facilities within Durham Region.

Read the original:
REALTORS® Raise Funds for Bowmanville Hospital

DURHAM REGION ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® 50 Richmond St. E. #14, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 7C7 For Immediate Release Contact:     Dierdre Mullen, President (905) 723-8184               Durham’s Spring Market Heating Up Early DURHAM REGION – February 4, 2010 – Sales of single family homes in Durham Region increased by 5% to 532 from 507 in December but also records a big jump from 350 in January of 2009 when sales were much lower due to the recession reported Dierdre Mullen, President of the Durham Region Association of REALTORS®.  President Mullen commented, “The average number of sales in January for the 5 years previous to 2009’s low was 530 so the January resale housing market in Durham Region is definitely healthy.” Average prices of homes inched up slightly to $289,195 from December’s $286,724 but more importantly reflects a 12% hike from $257,095 in January of last year.  “Home values increased on average 5% between 2004 and 2008 so the 12% rise shows substantial month-over-month growth in just one year” added President Mullen.

View original post here:
Market Heating Up Early!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 21, 2009   DURHAM REGION ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® ANNOUNCE NEW PRESIDENT FOR 2010 DURHAM REGION DECEMBER 21, 2009 – The Durham Region Association of REALTORS® (DRAR) is pleased to announce that Dierdre Mullen will be the President for 2010. Dierdre, who is with Coldwell Banker RMR Real Estate in Whitby, has been an active member of DRAR since March 2004.  She is also an active volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross Disaster Management Team and was previously a Director of Administration for the Canadian Red Cross.  Dierdre was Chair of both the Office Representatives Program and the Charity Auction Task Force in 2009.  Her objective as DRAR’s President is to work on behalf of the Members by participating in planning, establishing direction, making policy decisions and other related functions of the Board of Directors.  Specifically, she is planning on continuing with Focus Groups with brokers and salespeople that were such a success in the previous year, and also hopes to start a Young Professional Group where the focus will be on mentoring new salespeople.  She also intends to continue the open door policy that 2009 DRAR President Debbie Dawson, Century 21 Infinity Realty Inc., encouraged to all Members.  “I look forward to working on [DRAR Members’] behalf over the next 12 months”. On behalf of DRAR’s Board of Directors and Members, the Association would like to congratulate Dierdre on her new position, and wish her tremendous success in the coming year.

Read the original here:
2010 DRAR President

  DURHAM REGION OCTOBER 20, 2009 – The Durham Region Association of REALTORS® (DRAR) reported 378 sales in the first half of October ‘09, an increase of 27% from the 298 sales reported mid-month in October ‘08.  ”The average selling price climbed 4% ($276,894) from the $265,631 recorded at the same time last year,” said Debbie Dawson, 2009 DRAR President

Read more here:
SALES STILL RED HOT

The Durham Region Association of realtors reported 825 sales in September 2009, up 9% from the 752 recorded in September 2008. September 2009 is the best September on record.

Average selling prices in Durham Region were up 1.4% ($282,308) in September, from August’s $278,400, and up 5.5% from the $267,478 reported in September ‘08.

Originally posted here:
BEST SELLING SEPTEMBER ON RECORD

DRAR in co-operation with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) launch Fall Advertising radio commercials. Durham REALTORS®, We Work Where You Live . To contact a local Durham REALTOR® or find an Open House in the Durham Region and surrounding area visit: http://www.DurhamRealEstate.org .

Read the rest here:
Contact a Durham REALTOR® or Search Open Houses at www.DurhamRealEstate.org

“Sales of single family dwellings are up 8.6% (1115) in June 2009 from May’s reported 1026 sales, and up 15% from the reported 967 sales this time last year,” commented Debbie Dawson, 2009 Durham Region Association of REALTORS® (DRAR) President.

Average selling prices are up 1.2% ($281,765) in June from May’s $278,592, and down only .5% from the reported $283,012 in June ‘08.

“Although many records were set in last year’s housing market, they can be contributed to far better economic conditions,” said Dawson. “To see records being set in what was forecasted to be a slow market; shows that despite the current economic conditions, buyers are confident that better times are to come.”

Total active listings are down 11.7% (2276) from May’s 2579, and down 27% from June ‘08’s 3118.

“The summer market tends to slow as buyers head off to their vacation destinations but June’s numbers have shown no signs of a weak summer market,” commented Dawson. “In fact what was once a buyers market in 2009 has now turned into a seller’s market with listings down and sales up.”

Tony Wong
Business Reporter

New immigrants are an increasingly important driver of the housing industry, particularly in large cities such as Toronto, helping to steer the currently rocky market onto steadier ground, a study by Scotiabank says.

“As recent immigrants to Canada make the transition from renter to owner, they will increasingly drive housing demand,” Adrienne Warren, Scotia Economics senior economist, said yesterday.

Scotiabank forecasts that Canada’s aging population and low fertility rates mean that a decade from now, 75 per cent of the country’s population growth will come from immigration. That compares with 60 to 65 per cent now.

The most recent census data from 2006 show that 72 per cent of immigrants lived in dwellings owned by household members, up from 68 per cent in 2001. The biggest increase was among those living in Canada for less than 10 years, suggesting that immigrants are buying homes more quickly than before.

Accountant Seela Gupta, 35, lived with an uncle for four years in Brampton before buying her first home last year.

“I think it’s important to have some roots, and property is important when you first arrive,” Gupta said. “It is part of the dream.”

Her semi-detached unit is home to a recently arrived cousin. But he, too, will likely buy a home in the not too distant future, she said.

Unlike earlier decades, when newer immigrants struggled to gain a foothold, more immigrants now are involved in high-growth industries such as engineering, construction and skilled trades, the Scotiabank report said. That may have helped the transition to home ownership. Also, “greater geographic mobility” to meet shifting regional labour needs may have been an asset.

While the new housing market has stalled since January due to the economic crunch, there have been signs of life lately, largely thanks to low interest rates.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose 10 per cent in the Toronto area in June from May, to 24,000 units, according to data yesterday from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Multi-unit development such as condominiums rose 15 per cent.

“The June numbers provide evidence that residential construction activity is gradually improving,” said Shaun Hildebrand, CMHC’s senior market analyst for the GTA. “Reduced supply in the resale market and increased incentives from developers will attract more buyers to the new home market.”

Despite the positive uptick, starts are down by 44 per cent to date this year in unadjusted data for the Toronto area, so analysts are cautioning that starts will remain “below levels” reached in prior years, until job numbers improve significantly.

“A bottom may perhaps have been formed in the Canadian housing market as homebuyers take advantage of the lower mortgage rates and the various incentives,” said TD Securities economics strategist Millan Mulraine.

“Even so, we expect residential building activity to remain fairly subdued for some time with a full-fledged recovery not likely until some time next year.”

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association said the numbers showed the industry “on the road to recovery” after a tough winter. President Frank Giannone said, “We are now cautiously optimistic that the housing sector is starting to emerge from the downturn.”

The association recently won a battle with the province over a proposed harmonized tax that could have added thousands to the cost of new homes over $400,000, starting next year. The tax was scaled back.

Nationally, starts were up 8 per cent to 140,700 units, driven largely by a rebound in Western Canada.

In contrast to Canadian housing markets, the U.S. development market is still extremely weak, despite unprecedented government attempts to buoy the market with financial incentives, including an $8,000 (U.S.) tax credit. Existing home sales rose just 6 per cent from the January low, as “construction remains deep in the tunnel,” BMO Capital Markets noted yesterday.

DURHAM REGION JUNE 3, 2009 - “The resale housing market in the Durham Region has remained remarkably steady throughout 2009’s unanticipated busy market,” commented Debbie Dawson, 2009 President of the Durham Region Association of REALTORS® (DRAR).  Although May’s 1026 sales are down 2.3% from the reported 1051 sales in May ’08, they are up a considerable 21.7% from the 843 sales reported in April ’09. “Usually we see these types of numbers early in the spring market but this year it seems buyers took more time with their house search, utilizing home purchasing incentives and current economic factors to their advantage,” said Dawson.   “The average selling price of a home is also up 3.3% ($278,592) from April’s reported $269,596, this is only a 1.5% drop from May ‘08’s reported $282,717,” said Dawson.

Visit link:
SALES IN THE REGION UP 21.7%