I don’t want to call it summer just yet as we are having lots of rain which is more of a spring thing. Thats good news for greening up lawns and making them look great especially if you want to list your home for sale. One of our clients just had some work done before listing their home including laying new sod in the back yard. Needless to say, it is well watered and the grass is coming on great plus the property is pending too. Not so good however if you are making chalk drawings on the sidewalk. About 5 minutes after Fionna finished these they were washed away in a big thunder storm. Fun while it lasted.
Continuing on from the market update in our last newsletter, we have seen the number of new listings sky rocket while the corresponding number of sales decreasing due most likely to increases in the interest rate. When you get more supply than demand, prices always go down. We have been seeing this over the last couple months now and it is becoming more pronounced. We have been advising our sellers the market is changing so they are aware of it and react accordingly when listing their home or receiving offers.
Every day we see dozens of price reductions on MLS so it is more important now than ever to price your home right the first time.
In a balancing act between curbing rising inflation without stalling the economy, the Bank of Canada has raised the interest rate by another 50 basis points on June 1st with more forecast for July 13th (maybe up to 75 basis points) as the U.S. feds just raised their rate by 0.75% a couple days ago. I have heard 3% target but I feel a target of 4 to 5 % by the end of the year and further increases for 2023. You have probably seen headlines like “The housing Party Is Over” with stories saying anything from modest corrections to big % drops (people like to be dramatic to attract more attention).
No need to panic however. If you have variable rate mortgage, then consider to lock it in before the increase. Depending on several factors such as your current term and what you intend to do with a property, it may make sense to fix your rate now. If you only have a year left on your term, or you are considering to sell, locking it in now may cost you more money in the long run, so ask your mortgage broker for professional advice.
Did you know Hong Kong population has grown every year for the last 60 years. From 2015 to 2019 the city grew by approx 53000 each year, then in 2020 it lost 93000. 2021 was modest but 2022 the trend continues. In the first 2 weeks of March alone, approximately 53000 people departed because of Government policy of separating children from parents if one of them contracts covid. And not just people are leaving, but many companies too. Singapore is receiving many of these due to close proximity but Canada is also a top destination now travelling is easier.
Life is finally getting back to normal. Businesses have changed some of the ways they deal with the public so its is a kind of new normal but I see lots of new restaurants opening in town which is a good sign the economy is doing well, plus there are some areas where there is a ton of new commercial premises being built. Along with all the infrastructure projects, that is creating lots of jobs and now travel restrictions are lifted we expect to see a lot of immigration and in-migration to fill them. I heard lots of people are leaving Hong Kong, so Welcome to Edmonton.
With Summer break upon us we have been looking for activities to keep Fionna busy. Daddy is enjoying teaching her archery as he used to do that back in Australia.
We plan to do lots of mini golf on our mini vacation. And we found another Taekwondo studio close to home and Master Kim is really good teacher so she is looking forward to getting back into martial arts, but her favourite may be art class as once again, we found a really good teacher with a great summer program for kids.
This article contains the opinions of Andrew Barrett and Selena Cheung. Licensed Realtors® with COLDWELL BANKER Venture Realty.
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