Air quality advisories issued in 5 provinces, 1 territory
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
A wave of buyer's remorse is taking shape in several heated real estate markets, after housing prices started dropping and the number of sales slowed over the last two months.
Realtors and lawyers in Toronto and Vancouver say they have noticed buyers looking at what options they have to get out of a purchase and sellers hoping to ensure one goes through because conditions have shifted dramatically from the previous highs and frenzied pace.
The country experienced a 25.7 per cent drop in the number of homes sold over the last year and a 3.8 per cent slide in housing prices between March and April, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday. The average home price last month totalled $741,517.
Such numbers have prompted some sellers to explore lawsuits to ensure transactions move forward and other purchasers to worry about the value of pre-sale properties they bought years ago but have yet to take possession of.
“With today's real estate prices, there's really no option but to go all in and if you're going all in, and then suddenly you're realizing that perhaps you made a bad bet and there's a way out of that bet, you're going to do whatever you can to get out,” said Mark Morris, a Toronto real estate lawyer.
In recent weeks, he has seen nine cases where buyers want to back out of deals but on Monday alone was approached by three sellers keen to use legal channels to keep purchasers from walking away.
Morris doesn't call the encounters a trend because it's unclear how many other lawyers are seeing the same spate, but three queries in a day is his new record. He used to see one case of that nature every few months.
“Purchasers are looking at the existing crisis, and in the best of times, they feel they overpaid, but now they have objective proof that they've done so because markets have started to pummel and fall and really shows no signs of slowing down,” said Morris.
“Many of those buyers are faced with the option of moving forward or upping and walking.”
People get "spooked" every time the market turns and explore what they can do about deals they signed, but few end up walking away because it's hard to get out of such transactions, said Phil Sopher, CEO of Royal LePage.
He thinks the exception to this pattern came in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and people wanting out of transactions had so many unknowns on their side.
Most buyers trying to end a deal this year won’t be successful because there is no legal way out, but such cases are also impractical for sellers, Morris said.
“Is a seller really willing to pursue a buyer that has no assets? Is the seller really going to go through three years of courts only to find that they have a judgment that can't be pursued?” he pondered. “Are they really ready to put up the amount of money that it will take to pursue this to the ends of the earth if they're able to resell? Perhaps not.”
In cases where the buyer has put money into a seller's trust account, that money can only be released with a court action, the closing of the deal or a mutual agreement not to pursue the sale, said Morris. He's seen buyers agree to give the seller the money, if the seller mutually agrees to end the deal.
If a deal ends, brokers can sue for their lost commission but not many explore this avenue because it's "not a good look" to take legal action against a client, who might still turn to you when they try to sell the home from the failed transaction again, said Morris.
While Tirajeh Mazaheri hasn't seen legal action in Vancouver, the Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty agent has seen buyer's remorse and worry crop up among investors who purchased pre-construction homes a few years ago but have yet to take possession of them.
"A lot of those people are thinking, 'Is the market going to be able to justify this price or keep up with the price I paid and can I get this money back if I want to sell in a year?" she said.
The people who purchased in early rounds of pre-construction sales for a building are already ahead of the curve, but those who bought later will have to wait longer to break even or make a profit, she said.
Even though worry is at a high, Mazaheri and Soper agree the markets do rebound and homes are still a valuable investment.
"Anyone who bought a home in 2021 in this country, if they bought anywhere near market price, their home is going to be worth more in 2021," said Soper.
"Will it be worth more one year from now? That's harder to predict … but even a year from now the likelihood of that home being worth less than it is today is smaller."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022.
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
Many foods fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, depending on their exact ingredients. This type of food has been studied a lot lately, and the results aren’t great.
Hollywood actor Steve Buscemi has been treated for injuries after being punched in the face while walking in New York City.
Four years on, the controversy over whether airlines owed refunds to passengers after cancelling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, aggravated by a sluggish, opaque complaints process.
For her latest column on CTVNews.ca, royal commentator Afua Hagan writes about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's recent visit to Nigeria, calling it a 'deeply meaningful campaign' that was about aligning their ongoing efforts to foster mental-health awareness and promoting the Invictus Games.
As a pair of wildfires burn near Flin Flon and The Pas, a number of Manitobans are being told to evacuate their homes.
Ontario will need 33,200 more nurses and 50,853 more personal support workers by 2032, the government projects — figures it tried to keep secret but were obtained by The Canadian Press.
A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement in North Carolina Sunday, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting "free Palestine" amid a mix of boos and cheers.
Whether you were lucky to nab tickets to one of Taylor Swift's six sold-out Toronto concerts in November or not, a new 'fan experience' hopes to get you into the party spirit.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'