Come Fly with me!!!

Ben Sage, Sales Representative for RE/MAX a-b Realty Ltd. Brokerage invites you to take a ride in the RE/MAX balloon on Friday, July 3^rd & Saturday, July 4^th from 5pm to 8pm. Weather permitting.

The balloon will be tethered and riders will be elevated up over the Woods of Sally Creek.

We are expecting to see amazing views of the Sally Creek Golf Course, other area features and the Claysam Homes development.

Background music provided by the Sally Creek Folk Festival (scheduled the same weekend).

The balloon will launch at the community park on Lakeview Drive (west from Highway #59 north of the City) and rides will be provided on a first come-first serve basis.

Come by and say hi!!

Canada's housing market shows more recovery signs: CREA

Reprinted courtesy of CBCNEWS.ca

Canada's housing market showed more signs of a rebound in May, with the national average residential price reaching its highest monthly level on record, the Canada Real Estate Association said Monday.

Driven by price gains in some of the most expensive markets in the country, the national average resale price rose to $319,757, up 0.4 per cent from the previous record set in May 2008.

CREA said that over the past four months, the national residential average price has recovered 16.4 per cent from the low in January.

New record high prices were also seen in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

“Fueled by a string of monthly increases in activity, the number of transactions in May reached the highest point since July 2008,” said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump.

“Inventory levels are still high in many markets, but fewer new listings and rising sales activity suggests that the selection of homes available for sale may shrink as the year progresses," Klump said.

The supply of homes up for sale needs to be drawn down further before average price increases become more widespread among local markets.”

On a seasonally adjusted basis, home sales rose eight per cent to 37,649 units in May from April.

"This marks the fourth consecutive monthly increase in seasonally adjusted activity," CREA said. "Seasonally adjusted activity in May was 43 per cent above where it stood in January 2009."

BMO Capital Markets economist Douglas Porter said low borrowing costs, more affordable prices in many markets and some pent-up demand after the slow fall and winter period have given support to the market.

"However, even with these positives, further gains will be much tougher to come by, especially with employment continuing to sag," Porter said. "The housing market is not about to go off to the races, even if it has been pulled back from the brink."

Web Commercial - 95 Elmwood, Woodstock On

Homebuyer Information Session

Hello all,

This is an invitation to Re/Max's homebuyer information session!

This absolutely free session will provide information about the process of buying a home, mortgage advice, and lots of helpful tips!

It begins at 6:30 pm on Monday, June 8th, and is being hosted at the Woodstock Public Library, located at the corner of Hunter and Graham st.

Your hosts are Audrey Mudge, Sales Representative, and Holly Breckenridge of Dominion Lending.

Take advantage!

Scotiabank Ups Economic forecast

Courtesy of www.cbcnews.ca

The Bank of Nova Scotia has revised its economic forecast upward, arguing in a report Thursday that "the global economy is transitioning from recession to recovery."

The new forecast said Canada's economy will shrink by 2.2 per cent this year and grow 2.5 per cent in 2010.

That's an increase of 0.8 percentage points in the 2010 number, said Aron Gampel, the bank's deputy chief economist.

But he also emphasized that the change in the bank's sentiment was important. "We believe that the glass is half full, not half empty."

After a year of cutting predictions — along with other forecasters — the bank now believes "the foundations for a recovery have been laid."

The forecast puts the bank on the bullish side of some other published estimates. "We have gone from being a below-consensus forecast to an above-consensus forecast," Gampel said.

The Bank of Canada in April predicted a drop of three per cent this year, to be followed by growth of 2.5 per cent in 2010.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank estimated June 2 that the decline would be 2.4 per cent this year, with growth of 1.3 per cent in 2010.

U.S. forecast raised 1%

Scotiabank said the better outlook for Canada follows "strengthening demand in the United States and internationally for manufactured and commodity-related products," although the surging loonie and other issues will constrain the recovery.

But the U.S. economy will grow by 2.8 per cent in 2010, up a full percentage point from the bank's previous estimate.

Canada and other countries "are expected to piggyback on the renewed momentum being generated by the globe’s primary economic engines, the United States and China," the report said.

Scotiabank cited six reasons for its optimism:

• Policymakers around the world have contained the financial crisis.
• Price discounting and lower energy costs are encouraging spending.
• An "unprecedented period" of cutting inventories is ending, and even a modest rebuilding will boost production.
• Central banks have provided stimulus through low interest rates and monetary injections.
• Governments are spending freely.
• Investors are showing confidence by boosting stock markets.

And while some observers are worried the government and central bank stimulus will raise inflation, the bank said that unemployed workers and excess industrial capacity will provide a cushion, so "inflationary pressures will be slow to build."

Original Article here

Housing sales boosted in April thanks to 'Spring fever'

The president of the Woodstock-Ingersoll and District Real Estate Board credits last month's sharp increase in area housing sales to a combination of "spring fever" and rock bottom interest rates.

While the spring months are traditionally strong for the local real estate market, Bill Taplay suggested that plunging mortgage rates were providing that extra enticement for potential buyers. With the Bank of Canada dropping its benchmark lending rate last month to a record low of 0.5 per cent -- a step intended to encourage the economic recovery -- more local residents are considering a home purchase, Taplay said.

"People are getting more confident," the board president said. "I think the interest rates and prices are helping that.

"In the last month, it's been incredibly busy."

From March to April, the resale housing activity in the Woodstock and Ingersoll regions -- bolstered by some "great inventory" -- jumped by 31 per cent. The board also reported a 2.2 per cent increase in price over the April 2008 sales prices, which Taplay attributed to additional high-end sales.

"That's also good news because that hadn't been moving," he said.

The total April sales volume for the board's area was roughly $20.2 million while the average two-storey house price was $162,000 in Ingersoll and $254,000 in Woodstock. The average price for ranch homes in both Ingersoll and Woodstock was hovering around $235,000.

"For us it's good news," Taplay said. "It's been a long winter. We have (slumps) periodically but we always rebound.

"We're lucky to be where we are. It could be a lot worse."

Taplay also suggested that recent federal government incentives announced in the budget spurred some of the housing activity, especially among first-time buyers. By increasing the maximum registered retirement savings plan withdrawal permitted by its Home Buyers' Plan program from $20,000 to $25,000, as well as introducing a $5,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, the federal government has helped reverse a downward trend, Taplay said.

"(The recovery) couldn't come at a better time," he said.

The local reversal seems to be in lockstep with the national trend, which showed strengthening home sales in recent months. While housing sales still weren't at 2008 levels, economists were cautiously optimistic because the decline wasn't as pronounced as expected.

"On an annualized basis, average home prices in early 2009 are running about six per cent below last year's levels, while sales volumes are down 16 per cent, " Adrienne Warren, a senior economist at Scotia Economics, said in a May press release. "This is tracking a slightly better performance than our forecast for a 10 per cent decline in average prices this year, and at the low end of our forecast for a 15 per cent to 20 per cent drop in sales."

Working Hard, or Hardly Working?

Sometimes it's tough to tell. Here I am taking a breather during a Virtual Tour shoot!