Good News! Real Estate News

MLS® home sales were much stronger than expected in the second quarter of 2009, with activity having climbed throughout the quarter and into July. The remarkable recovery of resale housing has prompted a change to the MLS® home sales forecast issued by The Canadian Real Estate Association for 2009 and 2010.

“Sales activity started off the third quarter on a strong footing,” said CREA President Dale Ripplinger. “The difference in the resale housing market now, compared to the beginning of the year, is night and day, and nowhere is this more evident than in the West.

National MLS® home sales activity is forecast to rise 5.3 per cent to 455,400 units in 2010. This is a smaller rise in activity than previously forecast. “Low interest rates are boosting sales by returning homebuyers to the market who moved to the sidelines late last year, and shifting ” said Chief Economist Gregory Klump. “Buyers are also shifting purchase decisions forward as they take advantage of attractive interest rates now before financing costs increase.”

“The speed with which the Canadian resale housing market has rebounded is unprecedented,” said Klump. “The economic recovery is expected to be slow and protracted, so the dramatic swings in activity seen in late 2008 and this year are unlikely to be repeated in 2010.”