Guelph Get’s a B!
 Calgary, Waterloo, Ottawa, Vancouver, St. John's, and Richmond Hill, Ont., top the Conference Board of Canada ranking of the country's most attractive cities to migrants, the Globe and mail reported in January.These cities have “what migrants are looking for when choosing where to locate,” according to the Conference Board's second report on the topic. It analyzed 50 Canadian cities based on 41 indicators including health, economy, environment, society, education, innovation and housing to rank the places most attractive to skilled workers and mobile populations. “Cities that fail to attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous and vibrant,” said Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies, in the report” The six top cities all got an “A” grade in the report. Fourteen cities landed in the second-tier, or “B” class, with Edmonton, Victoria, Markham, Vaughan, Kingston, Oakville, and Guelph in the top half of this group. Toronto, Canada's largest city, also earns a “B” grade. Twenty-one cities ranked in the “C” grade category, including Kitchener ON. The “D” class includes smaller or mid-sized cities: in Ontario, Oshawa, Brantford, Windsor, and Cambridge.

One never knows what to expect from a January real estate market. Some years the phone starts ringing on January 2^ndand doesn’t slow down until July. Other years like this one, it takes a little time to get things rolling. Although we did get off to a slow start this year the second half of January rebounded with a vengeance. A week ago I made an offer on a home in the south-end for a buyer and we found ourselves competing with seven other offers. That well-priced home sold for $11,000 over asking price. The competing offer scenario turned out to be a common occurrence in the latter half of the month when 30% of homes sold on MLS went for full price or more and the average days on market decreased to a scorching 26 days.  One other bit of good news is that our inventory of homes for sale grew 30% from the previous month. This means that even though homes are selling at a torrid pace, buyers do have a few more to choose from. Expect this hot “sellers” market to last well into spring but remember that new homes over $400,000, real estate commissions, lawyers fees & home inspections are HST applicable. Your transaction must close before July 1^st to avoid the HST.