February 2012 
There are 4 blog entries for February 2012.
Calgary Population Growth Expected to Fuel Housing Demand
Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 10:59am. 58 Views, 0 Comments.
The 5 Fastest Growing Metropolitan areas in Canada:
| Calgary | 12.6% |
| Edmonton | 12.1% |
| Saskatoon | 11.4% |
| Kelowna | 10.8% |
| Moncton | 9.7% |
Yesterday, Statistics Canada reported that the Calgary metropolitan area had the highest rate of population growth in the country at 12.6 per cent between 2006 and 2011. The city now boasts a population of more than 1.2 million.
While industry experts dont expect the cycle to mimic the frenzy of 2006, there is little doubt that the population growth will lead to increased MLS sales and new home construction.
Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board, said the growing population will help support increased demand for housing in the…
Inspecting the Home Inspector
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 11:23am. 100 Views, 0 Comments.
I am sitting at a home inspection in South Calgary and wanted to remind our readers of the recent rule changes regarding home inspectors in Alberta. Provincial legislation enacted in September of 2011 now requires that everyone performing a home inspection must now be licensed.
The Home Inspection Business Regulation,requires all home inspection businesses and individual inspectors be licensed by the provincial government. To qualify for a licence, inspectors must have successfully completed training from an educational institution approved by the provincial government and pass a test inspection, or hold a Certified Master Inspector or Registered Home Inspector designation.
According to Service Alberta, Alberta consumers, home inspectors, and…
CMHC Backing Fewer Loans
Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 6:02pm. 106 Views, 0 Comments.
According to an article in the Financial Post, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is cutting back on mortgages it insures as the Crown corporation edges closer to a $600-billion cap imposed on it by the federal government.
Following the third-quarter, a CMHC spokesman confirmed that the agency had committed to back $541 billion in mortgages. The CMHC guarantees high loan to value ratio mortgages held by financial institutions and is backed by the federal government. “CMHC has recently received an unexpected level of requests for large amounts of CMHC portfolio insurance.” said Charles Sauriol, a spokesman for the Crown corporation.
Financial institutions are required to have mortgage-default insurance when a consumer has less than 20%…
Typical January for Calgary Real Estate
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 12:44pm. 43 Views, 0 Comments.
Home sales in the City of Calgary are off to a slow start as buyers show continuing caution, according to figures released today by CREB®. “Overall, the market is behaving as expected for the winter season,” says Bob Jablonski, president of CREB®. The year-over-year volume of residential sales in the City of Calgary dropped, but the inventory of available homes declined even faster in January 2012. The City of Calgary residential market recorded 1,078 sales in January, nearly one per cent below the same month in 2011. This is in part related to the drop in new listings, which declined by 8 per cent over January 2011, causing inventory levels to continue to contract over 2011. “A lower number of sales is not uncommon…