The Real Estate and Mortgage Show - March 19
Steve, Frank and Paul take all of your real estate and mortgage questions. If you are transforming a primary residence into a rental property, where do you start? What are some of the different mortgages available out there? These questions and more answered on another Open House.
With the weather beginning to get a little warmer, Frank and Paul expect the real estate market to boom. Frank comments that we are about a month ahead of where the market was last year, due to the longer than usual winter we had experienced.
Frank Napolitano discusses how Ottawa has been shielded by a lot of the housing issues experienced in Canada (price drops, slower market, etc..). Paul Rushforth agreed, confirming that Ottawa has had a very flat market over the last two years, experiencing 1.5-2% housing value growth, which can be looked at in a positive way considering some provinces and cities have experienced a negative drop in values. The high government employment sector and steady jobs in the city have contributed to these small increases, preventing Ottawa to fall into a freefall like cities in Alberta have, due to the struggling oil industry.
One of the issues that Frank and Paul also discuss, is despite the values increasing, the market is still a buyer's one. Some homeowners were disappointed that the value of their home did not increase as high as they had expected, resulting on homes selling for the same price that they may have purchased it for a couple of years ago, due to the massive inventory. This is especially true but central, high rise condos in the city.
On the mortgage side of things, rates were expected to climb a little higher but have stayed and even lowered a bit, with record breaking low rates still available. This has helped convince potential homebuyers to enter the market and allowed existing homeowner to consolidate debt and lock in these low rates for another 5 years.