Overseas investors are snapping up properties in Canada's largest cities, driving up prices and pushing ordinary Canadians out of the housing market, observers say.

Real estate experts call it the "new reality," and the high price paid for a north Toronto bungalow is the latest evidence.

This month, the three-bedroom bungalow, circa the 1960s and without much updating, sold for $421,800 over the asking price, creating a buzz among agents and other buyers.

To read the full article follow this link:         http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/14/real-estate-overseas-investors.html

 

 

Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver releases Sales Statistics for February 2012

http://www.realtorlink.ca/portal/server.pt/document/3371017/rebgv_stats_package%2C_february_2012_pdf

For February 2012 there were a total of 209 sales in North Vancouver. This number is down 9.9% from February 2011 which had 232 sales at it's month end. Although this may apprear to be a downwards trend in market activity, sales are still quite high when comparing February of 2010 which had 172 sales.

A similar trend has followed with new listings. There were 411 new listings activated in February of 2012 for North Vancouver. This number is down 8.5% from February 2011 which had 449 new listings. Again, these numbers are still quite high comparing them to February of 2010 which had 277 new listings.

The average sale price for a detached home in North Vancouver for February 2012 is $1,086,760 (up 9.1% from February 2011)

The average sale price for an attached homes in North Vancouver for February 2012 is $730,523 (up 13.2% from February 2011)

The average sale price for an apartment home in North Vancouver for February 2012 is $394,334 (up 3% from February 2011)