Jason Walker Real Estate in Toronto

July 9, 2010 --Bill Johnston, President, Toronto Real Estate Board -- As of July 1st, the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will be in effect and Ontario consumers will be hard-pressed to avoid this so called “tax on everything”. While that less than flattering nick name for the HST may be pretty close to the truth, it’s not completely accurate, especially when it comes to real estate, where the HST applies differently depending on the type of real estate, whether it is re-sale housing, newly constructed housing, or business properties. Anyone who has ever purchased a home or has considered purchasing a home knows that budgeting for taxes is an important part of determining what they can afford. Whether it is the on-going cost of property taxes, or the upfront cost of land transfer taxes, the cost of taxes on housing can add up. With that in mind, one of the most important things to know about the HST is that, fortunately, it will not increase the tax burden on the purchase price for home

Market Watch June 2010 Greater Toronto Realtors reported 8,442 sales through the MLS in June. This represented a 23 per cent decrease compared to the record 10,955 sales reported in June 2009. Sales for the second quarter of 2010 amounted to 28,810 - up one per cent annually. Year-To-Date sales through June were up 23 percent to 50,455 compared to the first six months of 2009. "We experienced a record number of existing home sales during the first half of 2010, but these sales were weighted more towards the beginning of the year," said TREB President Bill Johnson. "The pace of home sales has moderated from record levels over the past two months with the prospect of higher mortgage rates." The average price for June transactions was $435,034 - up eight per cent compared to to the average of $403,972 recorded for June 2009. "With more homes to choose from in the second quarter, many home buyers have been making less-agressive offers. This has resulted in les upwa