Buyers in markets across Canada`s most-talked about markets saw sales climb dramatically in August as they struggled to purchase before mortgage rates edged upward.
In the GTA alone, sales climbed 21 per cent in August compared to the same month a year earlier as investors and homebuyers raced to beat rising interest rates.
The Toronto Real Estate Board confirmed what mortgage brokers and Realtors have been saying since the first signs fixed rates were on the move upward, That trend has reversed the two year phenomenon of falling or flatlined rates.
The media attention of that collective about-face for fixed rates was enough to encourage buyers not only in
Ontario but in Vancouver, for example.
While compared August 2012, the GTA experienced a surge in sales, for Vancouver, it was a 52.5 per cent climb and for Calgary, 27.5 per cent. Edmonton shot up 9.9 per cent.
The Canadian Real Estate Association is expected to colour in the national picture later this week, but homebuyers are already concerned that a more competitive bidding environment took hold last month and is here to stay until the traditionally slow winter months.
For sellers, the increased demand -- especially for small multifamily properties --means higher prices, higer ROI.
The Toronto-area average, in fact, shot up 5.5 per cent in August over the year-ago period.
