October 31st, 2010
Rob Ford, the Conservative candidate, will be the next Toronto Mayor after all! According to the official results of the Monday elections, he received approximately 47 percent of the votes cast. Fords biggest rival, George Smitherman was surprisingly quite far behind, with about 36 percent of the votes.
(Ford Won the Toronto Elections continued...)October 30th, 2010
Excellent photo, made by talented and skillful photographer Adityo Sastromuljono. This photo shows beautiful sunset atmosphere behind the Bloor Street inside The Annex neighbourhood.
(Darkness Falls continued...)October 28th, 2010
To all Canadians, here is some good but not surprising news for many of you! You are not going to pay more for your loans and credit anytime soon! The Bank of Canada has not only left the interest rates at 1 percent, but has also officially declared it is not going to raise them in the near future.
(No Rise of Interest Rates continued...)October 28th, 2010
Mall shopping, nice activity to fill up some Saturday afternoon. For residents living inside Teddington Park there is the right place to go – St. Lawrence Market. Great photo made by Sam Xiao, shows the rush atmosphere inside the mall.
(Mall Shopping continued...)October 27th, 2010
TD Economics has recently released a special report revealing some positive and some not so positive aspects of Toronto’s economy and its recovery! Very optimistically, it states that the economy of our city “skirted the recession that devastated many other urban economies in North America.”
(Toronto’s Recovery continued...)October 26th, 2010
Here is yet another surprising piece of economic information! Housing and manufacturing belong to the seemingly least successful sector of the Canadian economy! These two were the main reason the index of leading economic indicators fell last month, for the first time since April last year, Statistics Canada reported on Thursday.
(Economic Index Fell continued...)October 26th, 2010
Eglinton Grand, formerly known as The Eglinton Theatre, is an historic landmark definitely worth to see. This renovated theatre with hundreds of travelling lights serves now for banquets and special events, it is situated close to Chaplin Estates and offers beautiful views as can be seen in this extraordinary photo taken by talented Irina Souiki.
October 25th, 2010
The confidence of Canadians in the economy has fallen again, for the third quarter in a row! Actually, it is currently at its lowest level since Canada climbed out of recession, the Nanos Economic Mood Index shows. From the 121.2 points recorded in the fourth quarter of 2009, the index derived from data conducted between October 1 and October 6 has fallen to 111.4 points.
(Consumer Confidence Fell Again continued...)October 24th, 2010
As the days are getting colder and shorter, the more we want to spend time just sitting by a warm, nice fireplace and relaxing. In this case, a fire is just awesome and we can do nothing but love it. But there are cases when fire is not exactly a friend, isn’t there? Therefore I have decided to write an article, offering you some tips, which could possibly help your home stay safe from fire. Here it is!
(Home Fire Safety Tips continued...)October 23rd, 2010
The first half of October is over and as usual, Greater Toronto Area housing reports from the first two weeks of the month have been released. During this period, Greater Toronto Realtors reported exactly 3,012 sales through the Multiple Listing Service. If compared to 3,631 sales recorded during the same time in 2009, it is approximately a 17 percent fall.
(GTA mid-October Housing continued...)October 21st, 2010
Here I am with Toronto Mayoral election news again! Or rather, I’m here with the last predictions before the elections themselves. According to the new Nanos poll conducted between last Thursday and Saturday involving 1,000 people, nothing is definite yet, there are two very strong candidates and any of them could win.
(Who Will Win the Toronto Elections? continued...)October 21st, 2010
Beautiful capture, which was taken by Gavan Watson in Nordheimer Ravine, invites us to admire nature or just go for an walk in this popular South Hill relax destination point.
(Red Ozier Berries continued...)October 20th, 2010
Existing home sales in Canada increased slightly from August, for the second month in a row! However, just as expected, the number of homes sold decreased quite noticeably if compared to record high sales in September 2009, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported on Friday.
(Canadian Home Sales Rose in September continued...)October 19th, 2010
Three months can make a big difference! This is one of the conclusions seen in the new Reuters poll. It was conducted after a number of negative economy-related news stories were seen over the last couple of days and if compared to the last similar survey conducted in July, the results seem to be quite different indeed.
(Canadian Economy: Poll and Predictions continued...)October 18th, 2010
The trade deficit for Canada had a noticeable and quite surprising fall from July to August, Statistics Canada reported. To demonstrate the difference, from $2.55 billion in July the deficit fell by almost 50 percent, to “only” $1.34 billion in August.
(Trade Deficit Fell continued...)October 17th, 2010
More real estate related news from Canada! The new home price index in the country unexpectedly increased by 0.1 percent from July to August 2010, Statistics Canada reported this week. If compared to August 2009, prices rose even more significantly, by 2.9 percent.
(New Home Price Index Rose continued...)October 17th, 2010
University of Toronto Campus, which is located near South Hill, became an interesting inspiration to the enthusiastic photographer Andriy Korotushak. Thanks for this amazing photo!
(University of Toronto Campus continued...)October 16th, 2010
Fresh and quite positive real estate information, from Canada, is here! September housing starts, in Canada, did not fall as significantly as they were predicted too. They only fell by 1.5 percent, from 189,300 units in August to 186,400 last month, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said. This is mainly due to a decrease in single family homes housing starts.
(September Housing Starts continued...)October 15th, 2010
In one of my previous articles I touched on the subject of timeshares and promised to elaborate on the topic a little in the near future. Well that time has now come now and I have decided to dedicate this week’s article completely to timeshares. Timeshares are sometimes called by different names, for example vacation ownership.
(Timeshare continued...)October 14th, 2010
Summerhill Railway Station consists of a 140-foot clock tower and a three-storey main terminal. Thanks to Marina we can behold the tower from a totally different perspective.
(Summerhill Station Clock Tower continued...)October 13th, 2010
Canada’s employment situation has worsened a little in September. The predictions that 10,000 jobs will be created did not come true and in reality, about 6,600 jobs have been shed. Nonetheless, the unemployment rate declined to exactly 8 percent from the 8.1 recorded in August, as 24, 400 people stopped searching for a job, Statistics Canada reported.
(Employment in September continued...)October 12th, 2010
In spite of a quite noticeable slow down caused partly by the housing sector, Canada is going to lead the G7 countries’ economic recovery for the rest of this year as well as 2011. That is what the International Monetary Fund predicted in its freshly released October World Economic Survey.
(Canada Expected to Lead continued...)October 11th, 2010
Here is some unpleasant and quite shocking housing news for you! Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa, this week, that August building permits in the country fell a lot more than originally predicted! Their value fell by almost ten percent (9.2 to be exact) to $5.75 billion, which is the biggest decrease recorded since February 2009.
(Building Permits Fell continued...)October 10th, 2010
Finalized September housing news from the GTA has just been released! As reported by the Greater Toronto Realtors, exactly 6,310 homes were sold through the Multiple Listing Service last month. From September 2009, when 8,196 sales were reported from the area, it is about a 23 percent decline.
(GTA September Housing continued...)October 8th, 2010
After not very successful summer, the Canadian housing market is expected to return to a more normal state during the fall, a new report by Re/Max released this Tuesday claims. In spite of the improvement, the company however, does not predict home sales to go back to the pace seen last year.
(Housing to Return to Normal continued...)October 7th, 2010
One of the most annoying things that can happen in a new home is when appliances or machines simply stop working, just after you moved in. Fortunately enough, there are some things which can protect new homeowners. A home warranty plan is one of those things. If you have absolutely no experience with new houses you should, perhaps, think about one. Even if you have experience these plans are still a good idea.
(Home Warranty Plan continued...)October 7th, 2010
Colorful photo of rainy Yonge Street, that is running through Summerhill neighbourhood, was taken by talented photographer Miguel Máiquez. Thanks for the wonderful view!
(Yonge Street continued...)October 6th, 2010
Homes in Canada, particularly in some regions, are extremely overvalued, a report released earlier this week by CIBC World Markets Inc. found out. The prices are a lot higher than they ideally should be, by about 11.8 percent, it states.
(Overvalued Canadian Homes continued...)October 5th, 2010
Nice memory of sommer time captured by Sallie Alaily in Rosedale Park inside Rosedale neighbourhood.
(Rosedale Park continued...)October 3rd, 2010
People living in Ontario seem to be becoming quite pessimistic about the economy! According to the Canadian Consumer Outlook released by RBC, the economic confidence of Ontarians decreased the most significantly of all the provinces. From the first quarter, their economic confidence fell from 97 to 79 points, which is 18 points.
(Economy: Pessimistic Ontarians continued...)October 2nd, 2010
Here we have another sign of a decelerating Canadian economy! In July, for the first time in almost a year, the gross domestic product of the country decreased, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa this Thursday. The GDP decreased by 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.23 trillion. The main factors influencing the general fall are a decline in retailing, manufacturing and construction.
(Canadian GDP Declined continued...)October 1st, 2010
Does your neighborhood seem to be dirty and dull? Do something about it! One of the activities, almost anyone in your area can help with, is a common neighborhood cleanup. This is effective as well as pleasant, since it makes relationships among neighbors closer and at the same time, it creates a nicer and cleaner neighborhood.
(Neighborhood Cleanup continued...)October 1st, 2010
Cycling at sunset – gorgeous emotional shot, which was taken on Bloor Street West near The Annex neighbourhood, reminds us warm sunny evenings of sommer days. Brilliant photo captured by talented photographer Bouke Salverda.
(Cycling At Sunset continued...)
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