Monday market update

MLS numbers courtesy of the VREB via Marko Juras.

Month to date November 2010
Net Unconditional Sales: 131
New Listings: 192
Active Listings: 3,749 

November 2009 totals
Net Unconditional Sales: 604
New Listings: 796
Active Listings: 2,973

Looks like sales activity has kept up thus far with October 2010. While it's definitely up from August and September ultra-lows, a little perspective is necessary: we're still talking about volume that doesn't even come close to matching most of the last 10 years. Listings are high, sales are low, average reported prices are flat, although the homes that are selling are selling for prices not seen since 2007, that is, they're down.

Meanwhile CAAMP released a rather rosy glimpse at a massive debt problem in Canada, as total outstanding mortgage debt leaped over $1 trillion, yes, that's right.

Its sixth annual report on residential mortages found the vast majority of mortgage-holding Canadians (84%) could afford an extra $300 or more a monthly in payments.

This certainly bodes well for Canadian solvency levels, as the total level of outstanding residential mortgages in Canada crossed the $1-trillion mark in August, a 7.6% increase from last year.

Over the past 15 years, the volume of residential mortgages has expanded 194%, or about 7.5% a year. Growth was especially rampant between 2004 to 2008, exceeding 10% each year, the report said.

Eighty-nine per cent of Canadian homeowners have at least 10% equity in their homes, while 80% have more than 20% equity, the report found.

Of the 18% of Canadian homeowners who removed some equity from their homes at an average of $46,000 over the past year, the most common use for the extra cash was to pay down debt.

Although variable-rate mortgages are becoming less costly than fixed-rate mortgages, 66% of Canadians taking out new mortgages chose a fixed rate, the five-year term remaining the most popular in Canada.