By Mark
Schadenberg
Ipsos Reid
is a well-respected polling company – hired to track trends in
politics, economics and demographics.
Ipsos Reid
will have a handle on any new movements, shifts or focus before Stats
Canada or many other info-gathering companies.When the Ontario Real Estate Association wants to delve into market opinions of Realtors and consumers, Ipsos Reid gets hired.
Read the below OREA stories based on consumer mindsets and home-buying planning, including the even more recent story posted solely as a link below, but consumer confidence appears to be strong as 2015 begins and that is good news for both buyers and sellers in the real estate world.
These polls were conducted before the recent significant drop in the Canadian dollar, but interest rates continue to be at historically low percentages.
Of all the results, the most important for me were the poll totals for Ontario South West:
South
West
- Half of South Western Ontarians (51%) described the state of their city's economy as "good" (43% last year)
- Compared to one year ago, 31% of South Western Ontarians described the residential real estate market in their city or town as "stronger" (25% last year)
- Looking ahead to the next year, 34% of South Western Ontario residents said the real estate market in their city will be "stronger" (32% last year)
I'm
looking forward to a terrific 2015 . . . it's my 16th year
in real estate, so I know how to roll with all the ebbs and flows,
trends, pundits and predictions, but this year should be a great one.
I actually just completed this week all my licensing requirements to maintain my real estate license for two more years -- keeping my momentum moving forward.
Here is the other Ipsos Reid story dealing with stats, and you should not of most importance is the percentages of consumers who believe home ownership is very important as compared to renting.
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Ontarians recognize importance of budgeting before buying a home, new research shows
Ontario
Realtors offer insights and expert advice to prospective home buyers
Press
Release: July 24, 2014
TORONTO
– Ontarians planning to buy a home in the next two years say they
will create a budget to help save for a down-payment (40%), followed
by cut costs (36%) and earn more money (36%), according to new
research from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA).
Released
in July (2014), The Ontario Home Ownership Index, a semi-annual
province-wide research study commissioned by OREA and conducted by
Ipsos Reid, reflects on Ontarians’ outlook of the residential real
estate market, their real estate plans and market trends.
“The
home buying process begins with a long hard look at one’s finances
and knowing what you can afford – any real estate expert would
agree with that,” says Costa Poulopoulos, president, OREA. “The
fact that creating a budget came out on top shows that financial
preparedness is important to buyers; it’s one element that is
mandatory when buying a home.”
Interestingly,
only six per cent of respondents said they would rely on gifts or
contributions from family to buy a home. Nearly a third of Ontarians
said they would sell, or borrow against, other real estate they owned
(30%), and almost a quarter (23%) said they would invest in savings
or RRSPs to save for their down-payment. Saving strategies differed
among types of buyers:
-
Two-thirds (67%) of first-time home buyers said they would create a
budget, compared to only 29% of repeat home buyers
-
Half of first-time buyers (54%) and only a third (29%) of repeat
buyers said they would cut costs or delay spending
-
The majority of Generation Y respondents (54%) said they would create
a budget whereas only 19% of Baby Boomers said the same
-
Only a quarter (26%) of Baby Boomers and 44% of Gen Y said they would
cut costs.
“Down-payment
saving strategies depend on the buyer – one’s lifestyle,
experience with real estate and often their stage-in-life, dictates
which strategies will be most effective,” says Poulopoulos.
“However, regardless of age or experience, home ownership is one of
the biggest financial commitments most people will make in their
lives; it takes proper planning to do it right.”
Realtor
insights & expert advice
Recently,
OREA asked its members – Ontario Realtors – about their
impressions of first-time home buyers’ financial preparedness.
Three in four (75%) Ontario Realtors found that first-time home
buyers tend to do their research and are prepared when entering the
home buying process. When asked for their advice, Ontario Realtors
recommended prospective home buyers figure out their financial
situation prior to determining their housing / neighbourhood
preferences. Specifically, they recommended:
-
Calculating how much they can afford (89% of Realtors ranked this as
a first or second priority for prospective home buyers) and speaking
to a mortgage lender/arranging a mortgage (82%)
-
Determining the kind of home they want and the neighbourhood they
want to live in (ranked as third and fourth priorities among 84% and
87% of Realtors respectively)
“Buyers
who enter the home buying process financially prepared always fare
better in the end,” says Poulopoulos. “Establishing realistic
expectations at the outset is key to home ownership.”
Additional
findings from The Ontario Home Ownership Index:
Various
factors play into the home buying and selling decision which The
Ontario Home Ownership Index intends to explore over time. These were
some of the findings from the spring 2014 research wave:
- 10% of Ontarians say they are
‘very likely’ to purchase a home within the next two years
-
14% of Ontarians say they are ‘very likely’ to sell a home
within the next two years
-
A majority of Ontarians (57%) believe the provincial real
estate market is ‘favourable’; 20% say it is ‘unfavourable’
-
82% of Ontarians agree that real estate is a good investment
-
84% of Ontario residents think it makes more sense to own
a home rather than rent over the long-term
-
Ontarians ranked long-term investment value (29%),
affordability/availability of homes (26%) and desire to own a home
of my own (26%) as their top three reasons for a home purchase
Methodology
These
are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between May
20 - 23, 2014 on behalf of the Ontario Real Estate Association. For
this survey, a sample of 1,080 Ontarians from Ipsos' Canadian online
panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance
demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that
of the adult population according to Census data and to provide
results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision
of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In
this case, the poll is accurate to within +/-3.4 percentage points
had all adults in Ontario been surveyed.
Findings
are also shown from a poll conducted among Ontario REALTORS®
between April 10 - 27, 2014 on behalf of the Ontario Real Estate
Association. For this survey, a sample of 1,088 members of OREA’s
online research panel was interviewed online. The panel is designed
to be reflective of OREA’s overall member population.
About
The Ontario Home Ownership Index:
The
Ontario Home Ownership Index is designed to reflect Ontarians’
overall views of the residential real estate market in Ontario, and
incorporates measures such as Ontarians’ perceptions of whether
the market in their neighbourhood, city, and Ontario, respectively,
have improved or worsened in the last year and looking ahead into
the future, whether home ownership is important to them and whether
it is a good investment in the long-term. The first wave of the
index, conducted in the fall 2013, was set to a baseline of 100
points. A rise to 108 this spring reflects an overall improvement in
sentiment of 8% in the index since the fall.
About
the Ontario Real Estate Association:
OREA
represents over 58,000 brokers and salespeople who are members of
the 40 real estate boards throughout the province. OREA serves its
REALTOR® members through a wide variety of professional
publications, educational programs, advocacy, and other services.
www.OREA.com
For
more information, contact:
Katarina
Markovinovic, Ontario Real Estate Association
(416)
445-9910 ext. 615
LINKS:
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