News Release: February 2, 2011 INCREASE IN LISTINGS ADVANTAGEOUS FOR FRASER VALLEY BUYERS        (Surrey, BC) – The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board reports an increase in listing activity and steady sales for the first month of 2011.   Deanna Horn, president of the Board says, “In addition to an influx of new inventory in January, our […]

Migration at 20-year high Nicolas Van Praet, Financial Post · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 MONTREAL — The number of Canadians moving to another province has punched to a high not seen in 20 years as people pack up in search of better jobs and salaries elsewhere. Roughly 337,000 Canadians were on the move in 2010, […]

Canadian, U.S. consumers more hopeful about jobs, finances, purchases By Julilan Beltrame, The Canadian Press OTTAWA – North American consumers are starting to feel better about their personal finances and the economy, a hopeful sign for the still fragile recovery. Two fresh surveys, one by the Conference Board in Canada and another from the International […]

What’s affecting your credit score? Garry Marr, Financial Post · Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 I still have an Eaton’s department store credit card even though there is no where to shop with it. That hasn’t stopped the long-forgotten card from making its way on to my credit report and ultimately affecting my credit score. When […]

The Finance Minister announced some new mortgage rules that will affect the mortgage and real estate industry. I would suggest you contact any clients and Realtors that you are dealing with that may be sitting on the fence about purchasing or re-financing to make their decision now.   Here’s a summary of the decisions made: […]

Flaherty: loonie will stay at par with U.S. thanks to “sound” fiscal situation By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press WASHINGTON – The Canadian loonie will hover at parity with the U.S. dollar for some time to come, and deservedly so thanks to Canada’s economic strength, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday. “This is a new […]

Home-equity loans surge twice as fast as mortgage growth: BoC Paul Vieira, Financial Post · Monday, Jan. 10, 2011 OTTAWA — Home-equity lines of credit surged 170% over the past decade, or twice the rate of mortgage growth, a Bank of Canada deputy governor said Monday as she acknowledged keeping interest rates low “create their […]

Housing market should be resilient in 2011 thanks to low interest rates: LePage Sunny Freeman, The Canadian Press TORONTO – The Canadian real estate market will follow a similar pattern this year as that seen in 2010 as buyers pull sales forward into the early months in anticipation of higher interest rates, according to a […]

News Release: January 5, 2011   STABILITY REIGNS IN LATTER HALF OF 2010 REAL ESTATE MARKET            (Surrey, BC) – Stable property sales and a steady erosion of inventory for the last seven months of 2010 have brought equilibrium to Fraser Valley’s real estate market.   “Our market was a bit of a rollercoaster […]

Christmas is a homebuyer’s market Garry Marr, Financial Post · Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 Don’t over do it this Christmas, if you want to sell your house, that is. Royal LePage Real Estate Services says it’s time to start thinking about a smaller tree this year if you plan to list your home for sale […]