thomasng Posted April 9, 2006 Report Share Posted April 9, 2006 I was wondering, have any of you in the US and Europe experienced insane price rises in real estate? It's happening in Toronto, I have a downtown Toronto apartment and a house in the suburbs. My apartment is in the Bay-Bloor section (Yorkville), and the price has gone up more than 30% in the last 2 years I bought it (from $300,000 to $390,000)! But my house has experienced an even bigger increase, it's a tiny townhouse in Mississauga, which I bought in 1998 for $159,000. Yesterday, a identical townhouse on my street sold for $295,000, and this is for a lot which is facing someone else's backyard! Mine faces a creek and forest, which apparently makes it even more valuable, and recently, I've been getting at least a call every night from a real estate agent asking me if I wanted to sell. And it appears that the market isn't slowing down yet. Plenty of houses for sale, and many are going for upwards of $500,000 in Toronto, even some very ordinary houses are going for $600,000. It used to be quite uncommon for anything to be over $350,000, as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 9, 2006 Report Share Posted April 9, 2006 It's true in many areas. In Toronto my brother-in-law is a developer and he says the same thing. They have a single family house similar to yours in terms of being on one of the big ravines in the city and I think it has had similar appreciation. He says even houses well outside Toronto (he builds large suburban and exurban housing developments) have increased dramatically. And it certainly makes sense in Canada where a large portion of the GDP is resource based. We all should own an oil well or copper mine in the current commodity environment. New York has had similar appreciation. Although the lead times on sales have increased. The bidding wars here are now the exception rather than the norm. Of course it is all irrelevant if you are not a seller. We will see what increases in real long term rates bring. In the U.S. if I had a property for sale I would be a seller right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustybrand Posted April 9, 2006 Report Share Posted April 9, 2006 It is a bit nuts, admin, but I suspect there is a significant fraction of buyers these days in the $250,000 range who are overextended, and an interest rate rise will force them back into the rental market. When that happens, Mrs. Krusty (that's her in my avatar) and I will be in like vultures either in the east end or up in North York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenMc Posted April 9, 2006 Report Share Posted April 9, 2006 In Waterloo region, our homes are the best performing asset in our portfolios. We don't have the GTA level prices, nor the GTA problems! but we were rated #5 in a test of the best places in Canada to live !! Lots of people overextended in GTA, one person loses a job in the family and up goes the For Sale sign. In USA, a huge percentage of mortgages are interest payments only !!! talk about living for the moment !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2006 Yeah, I agree, with the rising prices, everyone is buying more than they can afford, since everything is so damn expensive now. Everyone is going to be carrying a huge mortgage on their backs at this rate, fortunately, I bought all my property with bank account balances. And there are bidding wars too. I even opened my Yorkville apartment to offers last Thursday, and I have received 2 offers, of $395,000 and $430,000, I'm close to selling it, but waiting for a few more offers to come. I stay there every now and then, I don't rent it out to people, because I don't want them trashing the place. Remember, this is just a one bedroom apartment. I bought it for investment purposes really, even though my office is in downtown Toronto, I still prefer to live in Mississauga. At least this is making up for huge losses on a apartment I had in Hong Kong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seank1 Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Same thing goes for us in the Chicagoland area. A 1200 square foot Chicago bungelow sells for $500,000.00 in good condition. Its absolutely nuts. My home in a far south suburb hase gone $120,000.00 in four years. The average home in my suburb being built is between $450,000.00 and $500,000.00 and it is by no means a ritzy area very middle to slightly upper middle class. I don't know who is buying these houses. Happy house hunting. Sean K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkerouac Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 An article in the Seattle paper recently put the median home price of houses sold in King County (city of Seattle and immediate suburbs) during March at $405,000. Perhaps that is a one-month blip...I don't know. Properties in good neighborhoods near downtown (such as ours) are doing even better. But as amazing as that number is to me, I'm even more amazed when I read California papers advising people priced out of their housing markets to look in Seattle (among other places) because there are still bargains (by their standards) to be found. Fortunately no one is talking about a bubble yet. Prices increased even when our economy was not doing very well, and right now the economic outlook is very strong. But as I remind my wife, you have to sell in order to realize the gain, and you still have to live somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 jkerouac is right. I think the average price for an apartment of any size in Manhattan is about $1.2 million. My home has theoretically almost doubled in 2 1/2 years. But since I have no place to go it is completely irrelevant. The one downside to this appreciation is that to the extent you live in an area with property taxes it gives the authorities an excuse to increase property taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubFrog Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 (edited) This is an understatement, for me. Rentals have trippled and homes, WITHOUT FLOODING, have also trippled in value....all within ONE day. Ha Ha Otherwise, you can get a partially flooded home for next to nothing. < --- see my location. Edited April 10, 2006 by SubFrog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgv Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 As a Professional Real Estate agent, I have seen the prices sky rocket. Being less than an hour outside of NYC, there's always a huge demand from the people who are looking to commute. For a few years, the prices were consistantly increasing 20-25% and sometimes more depending upon the area. The prices are still increasing in the area. They're not increasing as fast as they were, though. Pricing has always been an important factor when getting a home sold. There are still bidding wars on homes that are priced well, and in desireable areas. I had eight offers on one of my listings. The buyer fell through, and we put it back on the market. Within two days, I had three more offers. Motivation to sell a home and the price you set are the two most important factors. I know some great agents in all the areas that you guys live in...If you ever need to buy or sell, or just have questions...PM me. I would love to help. sv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 My real estate agent called me this afternoon. The bidding on my apartment is going crazy, 4 offers came in, and the highest right now is $470,000. She told me, that I should wait another week or two, and the bidding could balloon to well over $500,000. Remember, this is just a 700 sq. ft. apartment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 A offer for $500,000 just came in at 6pm. Definitely gone insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polynomial Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 A offer for $500,000 just came in at 6pm. Definitely gone insane. Eddie, Josh, chaps, PM this guy, he will do some serious rep purchasing anytime soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Eddie, Josh, chaps, PM this guy, he will do some serious rep purchasing anytime soon Actually, I think my Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet dealer will be very happy to read this. My real estate agent has told me to wait for $550,000 now, since the $500,000 mark has already been hit. It appears where I'm living is in incredible demand because of it's location. Times are good. I would have sold it the instant I was offered $500,000, but I want to see if I can push for anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtofa Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Sounds like a year or two ago in the SF Bay area. It's slowing down now, 14-18% a year instead of 20-25%. But in a nice area one bedroom condos are 600-700K, 3 bedroom houses are a million or more. It's going to be a mess when the 3 and 5 year ARMs are up and people can't cut the current rates. You might be getting some cash-out-and-run refugees, Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 New cash offer for $510,000 came in at 5pm today. I'm about ready to unload this hot tamale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronk_83 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 (edited) crazinessss! If you thought Toronto was bad, you should take a look @ Vancouver right now.. I wish I had the money to invest... ! Shangri La - in the upscale Robson area I guess you could say. Asking price for 1100 sq ft. of living space was 1.1 million CAD and that's on the bottom floor ( I think it's 16? something, since the first 15 floors are for hotel). The building hasn't even been built but was unloaded for 1.8 million CAD just a few days ago.. if that isn't insane I don't know what is. Rumour has it a lot of new money coming in from China are purchasing entire floors If only money grew on trees like that here in Canada. Edited April 11, 2006 by aaronk_83 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest avitt Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Rumour has it a lot of new money coming in from China are purchasing entire floors ...Rep business must be very healthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 crazinessss! If you thought Toronto was bad, you should take a look @ Vancouver right now.. I wish I had the money to invest... ! Shangri La - in the upscale Robson area I guess you could say. Asking price for 800 sq ft. of living space was 1.1 million CAD and that's on the bottom floor ( I think it's 16? something, since the first 15 floors are for hotel). The building hasn't even been built but was unloaded for 1.8 million CAD just a few days ago.. if that isn't insane I don't know what is. Rumour has it a lot of new money coming in from China are purchasing entire floors If only money grew on trees like that here in Canada. Yorkville has gone insane too recently, especially with the bidding on my apartment, which isn't really special. Some Avenue Road apartments are going for the millions now, and Hazelton Lanes nearby is going for $1 million to $10 million for a residence. Toronto is seeing so many luxury residence projects, from the Trump Tower project to the Ritz Carlton project, which I hear will start from $1 million! I was told a reason my apartment is going for so much is because it's quite new, it's about 5 years old, and it's in the most desirable part of Yorkville, and people are bidding high on it because there hasn't been a single space for sale for 2 years. It feels like living in Toronto's Fifth Avenue, but the problem that always bugs me is that there are homeless people perched right beside the entry to the lobby. The current buyer is a buyer from China too, interestingly enough. Vancouver is insane though, I hear that million dollar homes are now common place there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jraines87 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 One million will get ya 6,500 sq ft. in my area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jraines87 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 (edited) Approximately 3 million in my area and 9,200 sq ft Edited April 11, 2006 by jraines87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Approximately 3 million in my area and 9,200 sq ft Great! Fantastic! I'll take 3 of those!! The name's Mid. Jet-Mid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jraines87 Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Great! Fantastic! I'll take 3 of those!! The name's Mid. Jet-Mid. aye aye captian.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysql Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 i bought a house in tampa about 14 months ago. It's value has gone up from $230,000 to $330,000 in that time period. Paid cash, so there's no mortgage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted April 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Closing deal on Tuesday for $570,000. I'm a very happy man, along with my fiance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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