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Red · 09-10-2013, 08:03 PM

Ross Kay - an ex realtor is onto these "great" sales numbers.
Garth T has a write up on it too.

http://www.rosskay.com
http://www.greaterfool.ca

Interesting stuff to say the least.

"But did sales really surge 27.5% year/year last month (Calgary)?

“No way,” says Kay, who has just finished a board-by-board audit of published stats. “This is false reporting, because the very nature of what’s being counted has changed.”

At the heart of it is a federal Competition Bureau ruling that private sales can appear co-mingled with broker sales in MLS numbers, since companies like ComFree now list on the realtor system, while PropertyGuys runs mirror listings through registered brokers. The result – a growing number of sales in Canada are classified as private transactions, but appear in real estate board numbers. That’s cool. A sale is a sale. But what’s misleading is that this year’s numbers (including private sales) are being compared with last year’s deals (that don’t).

Says Kay: “If CREB removes the 317 private sales in August not similarly counted last August, total sales are really up 14.24%, not 27.5%. And removing private sales from listing means there are only 6,447 active listing snow – a 28.17% decrease."

"The house at 231 9th Ave. NW is being sold privately by Lisa Evers for $1,850,000. The listing is here. But it’s also listed by Re/Max Real Estate (Central) on MLS, for $1,795,000. That listing is here. When it sells (good luck, Lisa!) it will be added into CREB’s list of MLS transactions completed, and contrasted with the same number last year, when private sales were not counted.

By the way, removing private sales, comparing apples-to-apples, Calgary sales for the year to date are 18,589, not the 21,733 reported. That’s a year/year decrease of 5.92% – a far cry from the 10.17% increase claimed by CREB. “The only reason prices have increased in Calgary,” says Kay, “as is true in every other city where they’ve climbed, is historically-low listing inventory, even as demand for homes falls.”

09-10-2013, 08:03 PM	#2349
Red Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Oct 2001 Exp:	Ross Kay - an ex realtor is onto these "great" sales numbers. Garth T has a write up on it too. http://www.rosskay.com http://www.greaterfool.ca Interesting stuff to say the least. "But did sales really surge 27.5% year/year last month (Calgary)? “No way,” says Kay, who has just finished a board-by-board audit of published stats. “This is false reporting, because the very nature of what’s being counted has changed.” At the heart of it is a federal Competition Bureau ruling that private sales can appear co-mingled with broker sales in MLS numbers, since companies like ComFree now list on the realtor system, while PropertyGuys runs mirror listings through registered brokers. The result – a growing number of sales in Canada are classified as private transactions, but appear in real estate board numbers. That’s cool. A sale is a sale. But what’s misleading is that this year’s numbers (including private sales) are being compared with last year’s deals (that don’t). Says Kay: “If CREB removes the 317 private sales in August not similarly counted last August, total sales are really up 14.24%, not 27.5%. And removing private sales from listing means there are only 6,447 active listing snow – a 28.17% decrease." "The house at 231 9th Ave. NW is being sold privately by Lisa Evers for $1,850,000. The listing is here. But it’s also listed by Re/Max Real Estate (Central) on MLS, for $1,795,000. That listing is here. When it sells (good luck, Lisa!) it will be added into CREB’s list of MLS transactions completed, and contrasted with the same number last year, when private sales were not counted. By the way, removing private sales, comparing apples-to-apples, Calgary sales for the year to date are 18,589, not the 21,733 reported. That’s a year/year decrease of 5.92% – a far cry from the 10.17% increase claimed by CREB. “The only reason prices have increased in Calgary,” says Kay, “as is true in every other city where they’ve climbed, is historically-low listing inventory, even as demand for homes falls.”