Area Maps – September 2012
Statistics Update – Fewer Listings and Fewer Sales Equals Higher Average Sale Price
The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported the residential market saw a 13 per cent increase in average sale price in September compared to the same month last year. The median sale price also saw gains over September of last year.
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MLS® In Brief
Openhouses.ca – Broker Loading
Members can now use Listing Maintenance in MLXchange to book public open houses on OpenHouses.ca.
Simply enter your MLS® number and go to the “Links” drop down box: click on the “Add/Edit OpenHouses.ca” link.
This feature is also available in Fusion under the Add/Edit tab.
MLS® In Brief – WEBForms® will soon be Mac friendly!
To date, members using iPads and Macs with Safari, and PCs using browsers other than Internet Explorer have encountered difficulties accessing and using WEBForms®. Members have also encountered difficulties across certain versions of Adobe Acrobat.
CREA has announced that WEBForms® 4.9 will soon be available, and members will be able to create transaction kits, edit forms, templates and clauses using most of the popular browsers without the reliance on Adobe Acrobat.
Stay tuned for more information on how WEBForms® version 4.9 will also assist REALTORS® with mobile technology and e‐signatures!
CREA is currently working on the release of WEBForms® 4.9 on a province-by-province basis; RAHB will advise all members when the new release is available. No date has been given by CREA.
CMA is now available on Fusion!
Complete CMA functionality is now available in FUSION and most of the standard reports and styles are now available. A unique new feature In the FUSION CMA is the ability to insert custom PDF content into your CMA packages. Additional features and functionality will be available in future releases as CoreLogic continues to develop and enhance the FUSION platform.
Members should be aware that this is not an extension of quick CMA; this a complete CMA tool. As this is an initial release, some of the advanced functionality found in MLXchange is not yet available in FUSION but is planned for a future release.
MLS® Updates
Two New MLS® Policies
A joint RAHB/NAR MLS® committee reviewed the Access Agreement which existed prior to the shared MLS® database. The Access Agreement was no longer necessary with the shared database, but there was a provision in the Agreement which was not covered by either association’s MLS® Rules and Regulations or Policies, namely which association’s rules and regulations or policies were to be followed when a member takes a listing in the other association’s market area.
To address the situation, the following policy has been adopted by both RAHB and NAR and is now in effect:
1. When a member from either RAHB or the Niagara Association places a listing located in the other association’s jurisdictional boundary, the member must adhere to that association’s MLS® Rules & Regulations and MLS® policies including, but not limited to, completion of all mandatory areas on the property information form (PIF), the reporting of conditional and firm sales, etc.
[MLS® Rules and Regulations and Policies for each association can be found on MLXchange and Fusion under “Resources”.]
A new situation also arose with the shared database that needed to be addressed: whether members who have been suspended from one Association’s MLS® system through Scout remediation would be able to access the MLS® system through the other association.
The following policy was also adopted by both associations and is now in effect:
2. If a RAHB or Niagara member/user is disabled through remediation, the said member/user will not be permitted to join either Association for the purpose of obtaining access to the MLS® system.
MLS® Fines – Increases and New Fines
The RAHB Board of Directors recently approved the following amended fines to take effect November 1, 2012. The fines are assessed to either the Brokerage or Member.
MLS® Marketing Options
11. Multiple Contracts and PIF’s Single Property: When a Pending Sale is being reported on a listing, all additional listings must be cancelled by way of a Cancellation of Listing Agreement signed by the Seller and Broker. The cancellation must be received by RAHB the same day as the report of sale or a $100 fine will be levied to the member for each listing.
Photos
3. A fine of $100 for all members, in addition to the standard $50 no photo fee, if the member does not submit a photo for listings outside of our photographers’ area after the initial fine has been levied.
The following MLS® policies have been amended to include a fine:
Miscellaneous
12. If any audited listing is found to be in contravention of the basic MLS® standards such that if said Listing would have initially been submitted to RAHB for processing, and RAHB would not have processed it, will be immediately removed from the active and historical MLS® database. ($200 fine added)
Taxes
1. If taxes have not been set for the current year, the listing may only display the previous year’s taxes. Thirty (30) days after the tax rate has been set, taxes on all new MLS® listings must be for the current year. ($100 fine added)
Reminder: “Pending Sale” status changed to “Sold” status
With the introduction of Fusion and the joint MLS® database for RAHB and Niagara, and in an effort to offer consistent reporting methods for both association, “pending sale” status was removed effective August 1, 2012. All sales are now to be reported as “SO”.
Area Maps – RAHB Average Price by District
MLS® In Brief – Make sure you are on the map
When you broker load your listing on MLXchange or Fusion, it is important to remember to properly map your listing.
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Residential Average Sale Price Up in August
The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported the residential market saw a 13.5 per cent increase in average sale price in August compared to the same month last year. Median sale prices also saw gains over August of last year.
Area Maps – RAHB Average Price by District for July
MLS® Update – How to share your MLS® identity with your administrative assistant
You are reminded not to share your login credentials – your access codes and passwords – with anyone, not even your administrative employee. (more…)
MLS® In Brief
Broker Name included on Client Reports
Members should be aware that, in compliance with REBBA 2002 and the CREA Code and Standards of Business Practice, the name of the Listing Brokerage name must be included on all client reports. This is now in effect.
Tech Helpline
It’s Saturday morning and you have a problem with your computer. Who do you call?
Call Tech Helpline. This is a RAHB member service available to all members at no charge. Tech Helpline offers support for hardware, software, networking and digital devices. Tech Helpline’s analysts are technology experts who can assist you via phone, fax, email or online chat.
Contact Tech Helpline at 1.877.573.8104 or www.technologyhelpline.com anytime Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Residential Condo Average Sale Price Up in July
The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported the residential condominium market saw a 4.3 per cent increase in average sale price in July compared to the same month last year. Median sale prices also saw gains over July of last year.
“With the residential condominium segment of the market continuing to increase in average sale price, we anticipate a continued overall stable market in most segments,” said RAHB President Cameron Nolan.
Seasonally adjusted* sales of residential properties were 2.9 per cent lower than the same month last year, with the average sale price down 2.6 per cent for the month. Seasonally adjusted numbers of new listings were 9.4% per cent lower than the same month last year.
Seasonally adjusted data for residential properties for the month of July:
The slight drop in average sale price in seasonally adjusted data was mirrored by a one per cent reduction in actual sales for the month when compared to the same period last year.
“Does this dip in average sale price signal anything significant? I don’t think so,” said Nolan. “The average sale price is dependent on a number of factors which may change from year to year – the number of high end properties sold versus the number of lower end properties, for instance. We need to see what happens over the next few months before we can say there’s anything significant happening to the market value of properties in our areas.”
Noting that residential sales and listings are also down to the same month last year, Nolan pointed out that “it is common to see fewer listings and sales through the summer months. We have to remember that we are making comparisons to a month last year which had double digit increases over the year before that.”
Year to date, the average sale price for residential units is 6.3 per cent higher for the first seven months of this year compared to the same seven-month period last year. Numbers of residential property sales are down 3.1 per cent. New listings are down 7.5 per cent and there were 22.6 per cent fewer listings active at the end of the month.
“Listing inventory is still the biggest story for this year and we are seeing that reflected in the fewer number of days properties are on the market,” said Nolan.
Every community in RAHB’s marketing area has their own localized residential market. Please refer to the accompanying chart for residential market activities in select areas of RAHB’s jurisdiction.
*Seasonal adjustment removes normal seasonal variations, enabling analysis of monthly changes and fundamental trends in the data.
Average sale price up; listings, sales down
The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1338 property sales through the RAHB Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) for the month of June. RAHB also reported a six per cent increase in average sale price for the month compared to June of last year. (more…)