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221 Miskow Close
Feature Listing
PRESTIGIOUS LOCATION, QUIET LUXURY!
A quality mountain home with ample space, three level layout and great design! The vaulted upper level has open concept kitchen/living room, dining area, master with ensuite and a powder room. There are 2 decks, one front to enjoy the views and one back for barbequing and peaceful enjoyment. The main entry level has a front room office with stunning 3 sisters views, family area with a 3rd deck, garage access/mudroom/laundry area, 2nd bedroom and bathroom. The lower level has additional living or media room space with walkout to a private treed reserve, 2 additional bedrooms and bathroom. This home has been recently landscaped front and back. Upgrades include alder hardwood matched main and upper levels, central vac, shutters in master and lounge, Levelor blinds.
$1,060,000 NEW PRICE!
| CONTACT LOUISE FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Why Housing Prices Aren't Coming Back
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George Athanassakos
Numbers don't lie - especially about Canada's overheated housing sector. Increases in home prices in recent years have not been matched by underlying increases in fundamentals. The market is due for a severe correction.
One particularly telling statistic is housing investment as a share of GDP. This ratio has steadily climbed toward a record high over the past two years. It is now more than 7 per cent of GDP versus a 50-year average of 5.8 per cent and previous peaks of about 7.26 per cent in the late 1970s and 7.18 per cent in the late 1980s. After residential housing investment as a percentage of GDP peaked in the previous two cycles, the housing market crashed within a few years.
But while cyclical ups and downs in the housing market are to be expected, my forecast is not simply for a cyclical downturn. Rather, I see a long-term fall in home prices that will not be reversed when the economy picks up.
The key factor is demographics. House buying tends to follow the life cycle. Individuals accumulate assets when they are young and sell them as they get older and approach retirement. A country with a large chunk of its population in its working years will experience higher demand for housing - and therefore higher house prices - than countries with particularly young or especially old populations.
The evidence suggests that an increase in the proportion of people in their prime working years, between 20 and 64, has a positive effect on housing and real estate returns. The opposite is the case when the share of population that is younger than 20 or older than 64 increases.
One way to put a number on the demographic effect is to calculate the portion of the population that is not in their working years (people younger than 20 or older than 64) and divide this by the share of the population in their working years (between 20 and 64). A decrease in this ratio suggests that more people, relatively speaking, are in their home-buying years. An increase indicates the opposite, namely, that a smaller portion of the population, relatively speaking, is in their home-buying years.
The accompanying chart plots this ratio against house prices in Canada and in Toronto. There is a perfectly negative relationship - as the ratio has fallen, home prices have shot up. That is just what you would expect.
The demographic effect makes itself felt beyond the housing market. Households treat real estate like a savings instrument, so changes in population patterns have a similar effect on the bond market as they do on housing.
If we plotted the population ratio against bond prices, we would see a similar pattern as plotting the population ratio against house prices. As the population ratio has decreased over the last 20 years (indicating a growing portion of the population in their prime asset-gathering years), bond prices have risen. Since bond prices and bond yields move in opposite directions, yields have plummeted as bond prices have shot up.
Those low yields are reflected in low interest rates. And as we all know, low interest rates have helped to drive the housing market in Canada.
How much could home prices fall over the next few years? Every region is different, but I have developed a model of condo prices, based on Toronto condo rents, which uses investment-grade bond yields as discount rates.
My model estimates the condo prices that are, in theory, implied by current rents. The underlying assumption is that people should want the same cash flow from an investment in a condo as they would derive from putting the identical amount of money into a bond portfolio.
Assuming the rental market is properly priced, I calculate that the price of condos in Toronto should be, on average, about $100,000 less than they are now. As a result, one can expect about a 25 per cent decline in condo prices over the next few years. In the long run, the decline could be even more significant.
Of course, different regions may have different results, but I believe a perfect storm is coming in the housing market. Canada will experience significant "secular," or long-term, decline in house prices starting around 2015, when the population ratio is about to turn upward based on Statistics Canada projections.
The extent of this correction will surprise many people. Once the cyclical decline in housing is thought to be over and everyone prepares for an upturn in the housing market, the long-term impact of demographics will make itself felt and it will not be pretty.
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Alberta Housing Starts To Remain Steady in 2013
Strong migration and improving economy to keep levels up.
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By Mario Toneguzzi
CALGARY - Much stronger migration and an improving economy should keep housing starts pretty steady in Alberta in 2013, says a report by the Altus Group.
The consulting group's forecast predicted starts in the province would increase to 34,622 this year, up from 25,704 in 2011 and 27,088 in 2010.
But they will drop slightly to 33,650 in 2013.
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Number Of Million-dollar Homes Hits Record High In Calgary
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By Trevor Howell
Call it a seven-figure vote of confidence in Calgary.
The city's 2013 property assessments reveals a record number of single-family homes valued at $1 million or more, besting the previous high set in 2008.
There are now 9,001 single-family homes assessed at $1 million or more, compared to 7,997 in 2012 - a 13-per-cent increase.
The previous record of 8,262 homes was set during the previous boom, prior to the economic collapse in 2008.
"There's a lot of optimism still in the economy," said Mike Wood, a luxury home realtor for ReMax Central. "People are often putting down pretty significant down payments on these properties."
The number of $1-million condominiums also jumped to 455 in 2013, up from 392 last year, but still trails the record of 682 set in 2008.
Seven-figure homes can now be found in every corner of the city.
Calgary's highest assessed single-family home is the Pump Hill mansion belonging to entrepreneur Alfred Balm - a distinction it's held for the past six years.
The city assesses the 15,747-square-foot mansion at a staggering $19,790,000. But before the end of the boom in 2008, the home was assessed even higher: $22 million.
Though the Pump Hill home hasn't regained its eye-popping high, it's still well ahead of the seven-figure pack.
The second-highest assessed single-family home is in Aspen Woods, and is valued at $9,030,000.
The third and fourth highest-valued spots went to two homes in Elbow Park at $8,690,000 and $8,060,000.
The fifth-highest assessment was for a house in Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill at $7,870,000.
Demand for these million-dollar-plus properties is particularly brisk in Calgary's inner city, Wood said.
Mind you, a million dollars won't stretch as far as it used to. These days, Wood explained, it will likely get you a 2,800-square-foot, contemporary, attached home with high-quality finishings.
"To get into a nice single-family detached home on a reasonable-sized lot you're looking at $1.3 million and above," he said.
Breaching the $2-million mark is when one sees "unique" properties, with indoor hockey rinks and swimming pools, extravagant wine cellars and imported wares from around the globe.
"At that price point, you can put in whatever you want," said Wood.
Richard Cho, senior market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said Calgary's real estate market in 2012 transitioned from a buyer's market to a balanced market. And with that comes a stronger growth in prices.
"There would have been some homes priced below $1 million before," he said. "But with the growth in 2012, some of those homes may have increased in value above the million-dollar mark."
Cho said residential home sales in Calgary increased overall, much of that buoyed by the strength of the city's economy, growth in income and employment, as well as "impressive" immigration figures.
Combined, those factors have "been contributing to the higher demand for new homes as well as resale homes," said Cho.
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Ten Resolutions To Get You In A New Home For The New Year
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By: Deidre Woollard
Is one of your New Year's Resolutions to move into your own home in 2013? One of the keys to making the home-buying process easier and more understandable is planning. In doing so, you'll be able to anticipate requests from lenders, lawyers and a host of other professionals. Furthermore, planning will help you discover valuable shortcuts in the home-buying process. Follow these steps to achieve your goal of home ownership in 2013.
Read the whole article
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Thanks for reading and I will send you more info next month.
For all your real estate needs I am ready and willing to help you take that next, very important step.
Sincerely,
Louise Fuller
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