With Vancouver’s housing market racing off the charts, I found this interesting article by mortgage broker Atrina Kouroshnia who explains the risks involved in presenting an offer without subjects.

In competitive housing markets like Vancouver, buyers feel the pressure to move quickly and make seller-friendly offers, often with no subjects such as financing or inspections. In fact, the Vancouver Sun reported a few months ago that some houses and condos in the area sold within a week or two (one house sold with no subjects and for $50,000 above asking price). With low housing inventory and high demand, realtors don’t expect that competitive landscape to change any time soon.

While an offer with no subjects could certainly be more attractive to the seller, I do not advise my mortgage clients to go in without subjects due to the potential risks involved.

The only time I would say to go in without any subjects would be if you’re looking at making a cash offer and you’re paying for the value of the land so you don’t care about the inspections and don’t need time to line up financing. Here, I would also emphasize the importance of having your own representation. Some buyers think that not having their own agent puts them in a more advantageous situation, but the truth is that the sellers’ agent is contracted to represent their sellers and in some situations they can even be encouraging a bidding war and discouraging subjects.

For those who need a mortgage, having at least one subject would allow the buyers to exit the deal if they need to. For instance, if your offer was subject to a home inspection, that could buy you time to get the mortgage financing in place. The vast majority of my clients review strata documents, conduct a home inspection and secure financing before removing subjects.

When you make an offer, you usually have a grace period where you can work through removing the subjects such as reading the strata minutes, booking a home inspection and arranging for your financing. By the end of the grace period, you have to either remove subjects and move forward with the deal or you don’t remove subjects and basically the accepted offer becomes void.

Remember, a pre-approval doesn’t mean you’re 100 per cent approved for whatever home you decide to buy. For instance, if you suspect there’ll be multiple bids on a property and you make a bid that’s higher than the asking price, the home’s appraised value may fall short of your offer.

Another scenario where you might run into financing problems would be if the life expectancy of the house does not support the amortization of the loan. If the value of the property is in the land, most lenders will not finance a tear-down. Instead, they might finance a lower amount (say, 50 per cent of the land) on the property.

With competitive situations, it’s easy to get caught up in bidding wars and succumb to pressure to make offers without subjects, but I think the key is to treat it like a business transaction and maintain a clear head. Have a maximum budget you’re willing to spend and do not go above that amount.

If you try to be more competitive by offering a higher price or not placing any subjects, you could be playing with fire and wind up getting burned. Only you can determine how much risk you’re willing to take on.

Fierce competition among banks and home buyers is driving mortgage rates down and home prices up, signalling the start of a spring housing market that many observers expect will be particularly heated this year.

Bank of Montreal unveiled a 2.79-per-cent promotion for its five-year, fixed-rate mortgage Tuesday, a special that comes with prepayment restrictions. Toronto-Dominion Bank quickly rushed to match the offering, saying it will drop the posted rate on its standard five-year mortgage to 2.79 per cent, from 3.09, starting Wednesday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce began offering a five-year fixed mortgage earlier this month with a rate that starts at 1.99 per cent for the first 9 months before rising to an average of 2.79 per cent. It resets to [2.92] after 9 months.

BMO’s move was largely expected: It is the fourth year the bank has come out with a low teaser rate in the spring since it raised the ire of former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty with a 2.99 per cent special in 2012.

A spokesperson for Finance Minister Joe Oliver declined comment on the mortgage rate cuts.

Meanwhile, Canada’s top financial regulator said he isn’t concerned about the potential impact of lower mortgage rates on the financial system.

“We constantly reinforce that it is the banks themselves that determine the risks they want to assume, risks they must subsequently measure, monitor and manage,” Jeremy Rudin, head of Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), said in a prepared speech to the International Finance Club of Montreal.

Several mortgage brokers, however, called the posted rate specials a gimmick. Most major banks have already been publicly offering rates to brokers as low as 2.74 per cent for standard five-year mortgages for the past several weeks.

“Every mortgage broker in Canada is offering at those rates,” said Toronto-based mortgage broker Ron Butler. Several banks are offering rates as low as 2.69 per cent on larger mortgages, with some brokers offering to sacrifice part of their commission to push rates as low as 2.44 per cent.

The renewed rate war among the major banks underscores the intense competition coming just as the spring housing market is set to bloom.

In the Toronto area home prices were up nearly 11 per cent in the first two weeks of March compared to the same time last year, the Toronto Real Estate Board said. In Vancouver, where homes sales have also been strong this year, the average detached house now sells for nearly $1.4 million.

Ratehub, an online mortgage rate comparison tool, has seen record traffic to its website since the Bank of Canada slashed interest rates in January, said chief marketing officer Kerri-Lynn McAlister.

“In Southwestern Ontario and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, it’s going to be one of the hottest years on record,” thanks to record low rates, Mr. Butler said.

Yet, despite strong home sales in some regions, banks have struggled to grow their new mortgage loans with housing markets cooling outside of Ontario and B.C. amid sliding oil prices.

The growth rate of residential loans has steadily slowed over the past two years to roughly 4 per cent, from 9 per cent in 2013, according to data from OSFI. BMO in particular has seen its total personal and commercial loan growth rate slow from 10.1 per cent in the first quarter of last year to 3.7 per cent this year.

That means rates could fall further. With government bond yields falling to record lows, the spread between where banks borrow and where they lend is now 1.95 percentage points compared with 1.3 per cent a year ago, when mortgages rates were higher, leaving room for more rate cuts.

Banks have also been engaged in a tug-of-war between fixed and variable rate mortgages, often getting more aggressive on fixed mortgage rates when too many borrowers flock to variable mortgages because of falling interest rates. “It skews the balance sheet for the lenders and they have no choice,” but to offer more attractive fixed rates, said Jason Henneberry, a partner at B.C.-based MortgagePal. “They need to try to fill the pipeline with more fixed-rate mortgages so they can hit the targets that they’re mandated to hit.”

Falling rates have been a gift for Ben Rodgers and his wife, first-time buyers who have spent the past two years shopping for a house in Toronto’s heated market. Earlier this month, they were the winning bidder on a $725,000 two-bedroom semi-detached home in their current neighbourhood and are now shopping around for the best mortgage rate.

“Banks were bending over backward to preapprove us for even more than we could afford. But we knew the maximum mortgage we could carry and we’re not going to be wooed by lower rates.”

Mr. Rodgers said the couple, who are in their 40s with two young children, said they long planned to use the low rates as an opportunity to pay down their mortgage faster, rather than splurge on a bigger home. “We’re going to live a pretty spartan existence for the next little while no matter how low the rates go,” he said. “We’re planning for the long-term.”

Source: Tamsin McMahon, The Globe and Mail with files from David Berman

Vancouver renewed its title of fifth most liveable city in the world and first in North America, beaten only by Vienna, Zurich, Auckland and Munich. 2014’s survey, conducted by Mercer, returned the same results.

The survey looks at several factors such as personal freedom, crime, political stability and air quality, and Vancouver’s milder climate is one of the main reasons for it having a higher ranking in North America.

The survey also looks at housing but not for the cost. If that were to be taken into account, Vancouver would most certainly dip a few spots in the ranking as would many cities. Almost every city on this list also ranks as one of the most expensive to live in.

While cities in Western Europe held a majority of the rankings, there were more Canadian cities in the top 35 than those in the U.S. Behind Vancouver was Toronto (15), Ottawa (18), Montreal (24) and Calgary (33).

Top 35 cities for quality of living:

Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Dusseldorf, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Sydney, Australia
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wellington, New Zealand
Bern, Switzerland
Berlin, Germany
Toronto, Canada
Hamburg, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
Ottawa, Canada
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Stockholm, Sweden
Stuttgart, Germany
Brussels, Belgium
Perth, Australia
Montreal, Canada
Nurnberg, Germany
Singapore, Singapore
Adelaide, Australia
Paris, France
San Francisco, U.S.A.
Canberra, Australia
Helsinki, Finland
Oslo, Norway
Calgary, Canada
Boston, U.S.A
Dublin, Ireland

Source: Jill Slattery, VanCityBuzz

In cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, the average cost of a detached home will set you back more than seven figures. Meanwhile, the market in Alberta has seen sales and prices drop since the collapse of oil.

In January, Deutsche Bank AG warned that homes in Canada are overvalued by 63 per cent, and that homeowners are “in serious trouble” due to rising debt levels. But the Bank of Canada’s surprise decision to cut interest rates that same month, has given some Canadians incentive to keep buying property.

Toronto

In Toronto, skyrocketing real estate prices hit a new high on Wednesday with the average price of a detached house in the city surpassing $1 million.

The average cost of a detached home hit the seven-figure mark for the first time last month, according to numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board. That price was up 8.9 per cent over last year and helped drive the overall average selling price of a Toronto home up to $596,163.

The Toronto real estate scene was a seller’s market in February, with more people buying homes and fewer people putting them up on the market. The number of homes sold went up by 11.3 per cent, despite there being 8.7 per cent fewer on the market when compared to February 2014.

“The detached (house) market has been especially tight, we are not seeing a lot of new supply come online, and certainly not a lot of listings,” said Jason Mercer, the director of market analysis at the TREB.

The average cost of a detached home in the city came in at $1,040,018 last month, while semi-detached homes went for an average of $702,305, up 4.9 per cent over last year.

The strong gains for Toronto’s detached and semi-detached markets were offset by a fall in sale prices for townhouses and condo apartments in the city. The average selling price of a townhouse fell by seven per cent, while condos sale prices dipped by 0.9 per cent.

Rising prices have pushed some prospective home buyers to eye property in the city’s suburbs, but they too have been affected by the housing boom.

Residential sale prices were up across the board in the Greater Toronto Area’s 905 area code regions. The average price of a semi-detached home surged by 11.6 per cent in the GTA, while fully detached went up 8.5 per cent, condos spiked 10.9 per cent and townhouses were up by eight per cent.

In the nearby Durham Region, the average price for a detached home is more than $467,000.

David Batori is a real estate agent who has been selling homes in the north end of the city for 25 years.

He says he has seen prices in area change drastically.

“When I started you couldn’t give a house away from $250,000 in some of these north Toronto neighbourhoods … so yes, I’m completely surprised,” he told CTV Toronto.

“Building lots are selling for north of a million dollars,” he added.

Vancouver

On the west coast, the housing market has seen record-breaking sales. The average price of a detached home in Vancouver reached almost $1.4 million last month. And last month, the city saw 3,000 properties change hands — a 60 per cent jump from January.

“There is a shortage of inventory, and also money is cheap right now – interest rates are fantastic,” said Charlie Real, a local real estate agent.

That can mean waiting as long as six months to get a winning bid on a home, as was the case for Vancouver native Neil McIver.

“We made bids on three different places, every one of them went above what the asking price was,” he said.

“I think it is a little bit irresponsible and a little bit crazy but that is the marketplace in Vancouver (that) you are dealing with,” he added.

Alberta

Meanwhile, sliding oil prices are responsible for a slowdown of the housing market in Western Canada.

Home sales have dropped by a third in Calgary, and the average price of a detached home has fallen four per cent to $462,000.

But some real estate analysts aren’t concerned by the recent dip in the province.

“The market has cooled down, (and) we are seeing fewer sales and listings come up,” said Felicia Mutheardy, a senior market analyst at the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation.

“The market is taking a step back and returning now to a more balanced terriroty,” she added.

Source: Josh Elliott and Michael Shulman, CTVNews.ca

Strong demand in Metro Vancouver – Canada’s hottest real estate region – has pushed typical detached home prices past the $1-million mark, with February sales well above average.

Who is purchasing the homes, and how can they afford them? Offshore buyers are stepping up, as are people capitalizing on low interest rates and renting out suites, according to Ray Harris, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The benchmark price for a single family home in Metro Vancouver is now $1,026,300, up 9.7 per cent over February 2014, according to the real estate board.

Benchmark properties represent a typical residential home in a given market, and in Richmond, Burnaby, Vancouver and North Vancouver, single-family benchmark homes now exceed $1 million.

Several other Lower Mainland municipalities are creeping up to the million-dollar mark, including Port Moody at more than $900,000, and Coquitlam at more than $800,000.

Despite the hefty increases, the real estate board says buyer and seller activity was strong in February, with home sale and listing totals beating the region’s 10-year average for the month by 20 per cent.

“It’s an active and competitive marketplace today. Buyers are motivated and homes that are priced competitively are selling at a brisk pace,” Harris said.

He attributed the growth in sales to offshore buyers, Vancouver residents moving out of the core and record low interest rates. Buyers are now taking out larger mortgages and covering them by renting out suites in their houses, he said.

“How can people afford a million-dollar home? Well if they have an income of $3,200 from two suites, all of a sudden it’s more affordable,” he said. “You are going to see a lot more suites and sharing of the costs.”

Andrey Pavlov, a professor of finance at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, sounded a cautionary note, describing the boom as “of great concern.”

“People are clearly using the (tiny) drop in interest rates to over-extend themselves even more,” he wrote in an email, adding that he saw the drop in interest rates and sharp decline of the dollar as “symptoms of a very weak Canadian economy.”

Residential property sales in the region reached 3,061 on the Multiple Listing Service — a 21 per cent increase over the same month last year and a 60 per cent increase over January 2014. The benchmark price for all Metro Vancouver residential properties rose to $649,700, 6.4 per cent above February 2014.

Even the recently stale condominium market is gaining traction, with recent price increases above the rate of inflation — something that hasn’t been seen for several years, said Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association.

Muir said home sales should continue to increase, though record sales levels are unlikely this year or next. The sales figures, while strong, were beating averages that had been depressed for a few years, he said.

“Sales will be above your longer-term averages. We’re kind of ratcheted up to another level that we haven’t seen in a number of years, and that’s being backed by some pretty solid economic fundamentals,” he said, including low interest rates, a strong economy and low gas prices that help to raise confidence.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in the region totalled 5,425 in February, a 15.4 per cent increase compared to the 4,700 new listings reported in February 2014.

The sales-to-listings ratio was 25.7 per cent, the highest since March 2011, according to the board.

“Total homes for sale on the marketplace has really steadily declined … and as a result we’ve seen marketplace conditions go from buyer’s market conditions in 2012 to now cusping on that seller’s market territory in 2015,” Muir said.

Meanwhile, sales of all property types were up by 21 per cent in the Fraser Valley, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.

Board president Jorda Maisey said it was the busiest February since 2007, with 1,337 homes sold in the Fraser Valley — compared to 1,102 the year before. The number of new listings declined by four per cent.

The benchmark price of a single-family detached home in Abbotsford in February was $450,200, 3.9 per cent higher than in February 2014. The price of a townhouse was $228,600. The benchmark detached home price in Langley was $585,900 and it was $945,300 in White Rock-South Surrey.

Source: Tiffany Crawford and Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun