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Home prices in Canada see biggest year on year gain since 2010
National home sales in Canada increased by 3.1% from March to April and prices were up 13.1% year on year, the biggest gain since May 2010, the latest index shows. The data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also shows that actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 10.3% compared to April 2015 while the number of newly listed homes was little changed with a decline of 0.2% from March to April. Sales were up in April compared to the previous month in about 70% of all local markets, led by the National Capital Region and Edmonton. Following small declines the previous month, activity held steady in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and edged lower in Greater Vancouver. ‘National home sales set new monthly records over the past two months, even as activity in Greater Vancouver and the GTA appears to have topped out,’ said CREA president Cliff Iverson. ‘With almost three quarters of all local markets posting sales gains in April, there are plenty of other places where sales are climbing as we head into the busiest time of the year for home buyers,’ he added. CREA chief economist Gregory Klump pointed out that supply shortages and tight housing market conditions have become self-reinforcing in the GTA and the Greater Vancouver Area appears to be heading in that direction too. ‘While significant home price gains may entice some homeowners in these markets to list their home for sale, the issue for many is that the decision to move means they would also be looking to buy while competition for scarce listings is fierce,’ he explained. ‘As a result, many home owners are deciding to stay put and continue accumulating capital gains. That’s keeping listings off the markets at a time when they are already in short supply,’ he added. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity rose 10.3% year on year ago to shatter all previous records for the month of April. It also marked the second highest level for transactions for any single month and stood 16.5% above the 10 year average for the month of April. Activity was up from year-ago levels in about 70% of all local markets, led by a number of markets in British Columbia as well as the GTA and the number of markets where new supply rose and where it fell was fairly evenly split. New listings were up most in Edmonton and on Vancouver Island but fell in the GTA, London and St. Thomas as well as Newfoundland and Labrador. The national sales to new listings ratio rose to 64.5% in April 2016, the ratio’s tightest reading since October 2009. A sales to new listings ratio between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets respectively. The ratio was above 60% in about half of all local housing markets in April, virtually all of which are located in British Columbia, the… Continue reading
Latest index figures show Spanish property prices are stable, but rents down
Average residential property prices in Spain have remained stable, rising 0.1% in April compared to a year ago, according to the latest index data to be published. But the April increase is more moderate than the year on year growth recorded in March and February at 0.8% and 2.1% respectively, the data from real estate appraisal firm Tinsa shows. However the figures also show that between January and April, house prices have accumulated an average increase of 1.9% and compared to the peak of the market in 2007 they are down 41.1%, a level similar to the summer of 2003. A breakdown of the figures show that the biggest year on year price increase was on the Mediterranean Coast with growth of 4.4%. Prices in metropolitan regions were unchanged year on year and in large cities they were down 0.2%. The Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, where prices have been rising, saw a fall of 0.4% and the other municipalities group recorded a fall of 0.9% but this group had the biggest increase in prices between January and April at 3.8%. Another set of figures show that compared with the end of 2015 prices are up more substantially, with growth of 3.8% in other municipalities in the first quarter of 2016, up 2.9% in the Balearic and Canary Islands, up 2.7% on the Mediterranean coast, up 1.1% in metropolitan areas and up 0.7% in large cities. While prices are down overall by 41.1% comparted to the peak of the market, this decline varies according to location. It is down 30.6% in the Balearic and Canary Islands, down 35.8% in other municipalities, down 46.7% on the Mediterranean coast, down 45% in large cities and down 44.4% in metropolitan areas. Separate figures from the National Statistics Institute show that average rents in Spain were down 0.1% in April year on year. It means that rents have now fallen for 37 months in a row. But the latest decline is more moderate than the 0.2% recorded in March while for the first four months of the year rents are up 0.1% and there is regional variations. Rents in Galicia increased by 0.4%, were up 0.3% in the Balearic Islands, up 0.2% in Navarre, Murcia, Andalucia, Catalonia and Melilla, but were unchanged in Cantabria. But a number of regions saw declines, including a fall of 1.9% in La Rioja, down 0.6% in Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura and the Basque Country. Madrid record rental fall of 0.5%, while rents were down 0.3% in Asturias, by 0.2% in Aragón and Ceuta and by 0.1% in Valencia and the Canary Islands. Continue reading
Property slowdown a myth for majority of London, new research shows
Price growth at the top end of the London residential property market has slowed but the majority of the city is seeing real estate values grow. Across most of the city property prices are up 8.2% year on year but for the top quarter prices are down by 2.4% year on year and 0.6% quarter on quarter, according to the latest report from Stirling Ackroyd. A breakdown of the figures shows that the traditional top quarter accounts for two thirds of Greater London’s postcode districts experiencing price falls with Kensington High Street seeing prices fall by 11.8%. This is followed by Notting Hill with a decline of 10% and Hampstead but areas such as Soho’s W1, Sutton and Tottenham are now driving London property price growth instead. By contrast, if London’s old luxury postcodes are excluded, the remaining three quarters of the capital saw a 2% rise over the same period, or annualised house price growth of 8.2% for the overwhelming majority of London’s neighbourhoods. Across the board, house prices in the capital rose by 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2015, with the average London property now worth £533,000. As a broad average this translates to a 6.6% annualised growth rate for the whole of Greater London. Out of a total 272 postcode districts in the capital, 47 saw local drops in average property values. However 32 of these districts fall within London’s traditional prime top quarter of the property market. Within the top quarter of London’s property market, a given postcode has a roughly 50:50 chance of hosting falling house prices whereas for the rest of the capital a given postal district has a 93% probability of price rises. ‘London’s hugely diverse property market is undergoing a serious readjustment, with the traditional old heart of prime London under pressure from many fronts; from a low global oil price and China’s economic slowdown, to stamp duty reform and international fears of Brexit,’ said Andrew Bridges, managing director of Stirling Ackroyd. ‘Yet for most of London’s communities, these factors affecting luxury buyers are less important. There are still too few new homes coming onto the majority of the market compared to demand from a growing population and the majority of the London market is still in tune with, and restrained, by those fundamentals. Anyone who thinks that London property is synonymous with international jet setters is only looking at a very small part of what London has to offer,’ he explained. He also pointed out that there is also an outwards wave of interest, away from the old peaks of property prices. ‘Within the wider spread of London home buyers, a growing band of increasingly affluent people can no longer afford the most overcrowded traditional areas of London,’ he said. ‘This demographic of professionals are redefining the map of the capital’s up and coming locations. New, dynamic parts of London are emerging further east, driven by a… Continue reading
