Renovations and Home Purchases

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a report on June 9, 2010 providing the results of a nationwide survey regarding home renovations and home purchases in 2009 and 2010. The results showed that $25.8 billion was spent on home renovations in 2009, $4.5 million more than in 2008. On average, the renovations for a household cost $12,000 and 76% of those who did renovations in 2009 paid for the work from savings. However, with the high availability of credit at low interest rates, it is not surprising that 35% of respondents said they went over their planned budget.

Although interest rates are expected to increase over the next year, which could affect people’s willingness to borrow money for renovations, it seems that 43% of people are still intending to spend $1000 or more on renovations in 2010. If you are considering renovations for the coming year and would like to refinance in order to use the equity from your house, contact us and a Licensed Associate will get in touch with you to discuss your potential options.

In regards to home purchasing, six per cent of all households indicated they had already bought a home in 2009, unchanged from 2008. It has also been determined that five per cent of households across the surveyed areas plan to purchase a home for a primary residence in 2010. These buying intentions seem to be strongest in Edmonton where seven per cent of households reported that they are considering buying a home this year, up from six per cent in 2009. In Calgary, buying intentions come up close to Edmonton with six percent of households are considering buying a home in 2010. If you are one of these people in the Alberta region looking to buy a home this year, contact us at First Foundation or use our mortgage pre-qualifier calculator to determine what purchase price you can afford on a new home.

Click here to check out a more detailed report of the Renovation and Home Purchase survey and a further analysis within larger Canadian cities.