MFR Newsletter May 2019

Toronto Real Estate Board President Garry Bhaura announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported a substantial year-over-year increase in home sales in April 2019.

The number of residential transactions jumped by 16.8 per cent to 9,042 compared to 7,744 in April 2018. On a preliminary seasonally adjusted basis, sales were up 11.3 per cent compared to March 2019.

New listings were also up year-over-year by eight per cent. However, the annual growth rate for new listings was much lower than that reported for sales. This suggests that market conditions continued to tighten which points toward an acceleration in price growth.

“The strong year-over-year growth in sales is obviously a good news story and likely represents some catchup from a slow start to the year. TREB’s sales outlook for 2019 anticipates an increase relative to 2018. It should be noted, however, that growth in new listings is not keeping pace with sales.”

“This points to the ongoing housing supply issue in the GTA. In this regard TREB welcomes the provincial government’s Housing Supply Action Plan announced last week to reduce red tape and improve the mix of housing types. TREB provided input on the Plan through submissions and participation on working groups,” said Mr. Bhaura.

The year-over-year rate of price growth generally edged up in April relative to the first three months of the year. The MLS® HPI Composite benchmark was up by 3.2 per cent – the highest rate of growth in more than a year. The average selling price was up by 1.9 per cent to $820,148, representing the strongest annual rate of growth so far in 2019. On a preliminary seasonally adjusted basis, the average selling price was also up by 1.1 per cent compared to March 2019.

Home sales usually surge come springtime as the fresh, sunny weather encourages people to fix up their homes and check out what else is on the market. Here are a few ways to take advantage of spring fever:

1. Flower Power – Place a few vases of fresh cut flowers throughout your home.
2. Clutter Control – Decide what needs to be tossed out and what can be donated.
3. Spring Fling – Once you’ve decluttered, freshen up your home with a thorough spring clean.
4. Wide Open – Clean and then open your windows so the sun shines in and fresh spring air flows throughout your home.
5. Refresh Your Nest – Inject vitality into your space by swapping out couch cushions, throws and towels with shades and fabrics that reflect the spring season.
6. Outdoor Living – Families are entertaining more at home than ever before so extend your inside space outdoors with comfortable seating and ambient lighting.
7. Curb Appeal – The spring naturally highlights your yard’s best features so prune trees, trim shrubs, rake the grass and add flower pots around the front door.

If you plan on putting your home on the market, use the spring season to highlight its best features so it stands out from the competition. You only have one chance to make a great first impression, so clear out the cobwebs and make your home spring fresh!

One of the most effective ways to determine whether or not someone’s lying is to examine their body language and speech patterns. Here are a few tips that’ll help turn you into a human lie detector:

1. Um, Err – Liars often mispronounce words, stutter or sniff due to nervous tension.
2. Tick Tock – Deceptive answers usually take longer to formulate than truthful ones.
3. Cover Up – Covering the mouth and rubbing the nose and eyes can indicate untruthfulness.
4. Pivoting – Liars welcome a change in conversation resulting in their body language becoming more relaxed.
5. Fade Away – Their body will start to scrunch up as if they’re trying to fade away and any movement will be stiff and limited.
6. Pick Pocket – Showing palms is a sign of honesty so people who are fibbing will often put their hands in their pockets and fidget.
7. Look at Me – Liars usually avoid eye contact while seasoned pros will overcompensate and maintain deliberate eye contact.

Detecting deceit isn’t always easy as some people are better liars than others. Asking questions can help determine whether or not someone’s lying as it’s difficult to fabricate specific details on the spot. A single tell may mean nothing but when combined together, chances are they’re hiding something.

Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, it’s good to get in the habit of performing regular maintenance on your accounts. The following tips will help you clean out the digital cobwebs:

1. Safe & Secure – Change your passwords and beef up security settings.
2. Perfect Privacy – Review your privacy settings and adjust if necessary.
3. Hack Attack – Back up your Facebook page in case your account gets hacked.
4. Clear the Clutter – Unfollow or unfriend those you no longer keep in touch with.
5. Lock Down – Update the recovery details that are associated with each account.

While you’re in clean-up mode, go through your phone and delete any apps you no longer use. Most apps require access to your personal details so the fewer you have, the more privacy you’ll gain.