Third of investors unprepared for buying process

It is a cardinal sin for investors not to be prepared or knowledgeable about the home buying process, but new figures point out that a third (32 per cent) of first-time investors admit to just that.

The survey, published by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), also found that 26 per cent of investors wished they had a better grasp of the buying process, 21 per cent wished they had looked at more properties and 14 per cent wished they had a better understanding of the contracts involved.

Other findings include:

• 43 per cent said there were sections of the real estate contract when they bought or sold a home that they did not fully understand.
• 36 per cent mistakenly think that after

Foreign investor stats revealed

Foreign owners made up a bigger share of the condominium markets in Toronto and Vancouver over the last year, according to the nation’s housing agency.

Foreign owners of condos comprised 3.5 percent of the market in Vancouver and 3.3 percent in Toronto, according to a report from Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. which surveyed property managers. That’s up from 2.3 percent in Vancouver last year and 2.4 percent in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. When narrowing to the downtown core, foreign buyers made up 5.4 percent of Vancouver condo buyers this year versus 3.4 last year and 5.8 percent of Toronto condo buyers versus 4.3 percent.

Politicians have been under pressure from many quarters including Vancouver Mayor Gregor

Canada’s most expensive housing market will continue to see price gains well ahead of the rate of inflation for the next two years, according to a report from a group which represents credit unions in British Columbia.

Central1, which acts as an association for credit unions in B.C. and Ontario, now says the median sale price of a home in Greater Vancouver will climb another 6.1 per cent in 2016 after a 4.5 jump this year. In 2017, the organization is predicting a 3.8 per cent increase.

“Metro Vancouver home prices have remained in the spotlight, keeping the housing affordability debate percolating in the news and social media,” wrote economist Bryan Yu, the author of the report.

His forecast comes as the Real Estate Board of Greater

During a recent visit to New York, Simon Henry chatted with a real estate broker who was trying to negotiate the sale of a Manhattan apartment to a wealthy buyer from China. The seller refused to drop below $5.2-million (U.S.) and the buyer was equally adamant that he wouldn’t go above $5-million.

The frustrated broker couldn’t understand why the buyer was being so intractable. The Chinese businessman explained that he was buying the apartment for his daughter to live in while she attended school and he insisted on strictly adhering to the budget he had set.

“Anything over $5-million, I’m afraid it will go to her head,” he said.

As the co-founder of the Shanghai-based real estate portal Juwai.com, it’s the type of anecdote that Mr. Henry hears