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Stories Tagged - Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation
Oct. 02, 2019 | Tyler Difley
The new First-Time Home Buyer Incentive by the numbers
The federal government's First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) came into effect on Sept. 2, but many prospective homebuyers still have questions about how the new program could help them enter the market. The most important details of the program are as follows:
Nov. 14, 2018 | Mario Toneguzzi
High multi-family inventories mean plenty of choices for homebuyers
If you're looking to enter the condo market in Calgary these days, there's certainly a lot of choice available among new apartment-style condos and those on the resale market
Oct. 04, 2018 | CREBNow
The neighbourhood gems where Calgarians love to eat
Calgary is home to a thriving and diverse culinary scene, but a handful of high-profile restaurants tend to hog the limelight. This is unfortunate, as the city is brimming with fantastic food and hard-working restaurateurs, sometimes in unexpected places. Here are some the neighbourhood gems where Calgarians love to eat. They might not be flashy, but each is uniquely delicious.
1. Afghan Kabob Cuisine
Community: Castleridge
Come Here For: Excellent Afghan cuisine, including mantu (beef or lamb dumplings), nahkot (roasted chickpeas) and a variety of delicious kabobs.
2. Atlas Specialty Market & Persian Cuisine
Community: Downtown West End
Come Here For: Delectable Persian favourites, including ghormeh sabzi (a fragrant herb and beef stew) and badenjan (fried eggplant and beef in a tomato broth).
Nov. 08, 2017 | Mario Toneguzzi
Market on the mend
The arrow is pointing upwards for Calgary housing market as recovery continuesIt's been a tough couple of years for Calgary's housing market, as it slowly recovers from the collapse of oil prices that started in 2014.
That pain created some deep wounds for the city's economy, which shed thousands of jobs and plunged into a recession for both 2015 and 2016. The light at the end of the tunnel began to materialize this year, and the recovery is expected to fully take hold in 2018.
That's good news for the real estate market, as job growth will fuel demand going forward.
Sept. 13, 2017 | Tyler Difley
Buying a home: step by step
Buying a home is a momentous occasion in anyone's life. Thankfully, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has some suggestions that can help you navigate the ins and outs of the home-buying process.
Sept. 06, 2017 | Mario Toneguzzi
To buy, or not to buy?
It's an age-old question that still gets hotly debated, particularly by young adults who are determining where they are going to live: should I rent or should I buy?
It's not an easy question to answer, and there are no clear right or wrong answers.
"One of the big things to contemplate is your time focus, because when you do buy a home, it is a long-term commitment. It does involve a five-year mortgage that's amortized over 25 years," said Tim Gensey, a market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) in Calgary. "On the other hand, renting allows you to be a lot more flexible. You have to really consider where you are in your life and what your needs are.
Aug. 02, 2017 | Tyler Difley
Compare and contrast
When it comes to the housing market and the availability of affordable options, people often lose sight of the big picture. Instead of obsessing over the minute details of the market in any one particular city, it can be helpful to take a step back and examine things in a broader context to provide points of comparison. This dose of perspective helps one to remember that while $400,000 might seem like a lot to ask for a detached home in one city, in another major metropolitan area, people might be hard pressed to find a home for less than twice that amount.
June 15, 2017 | CREBNow
Alberta sees increase in home renovation spending during first quarter of 2017
According to Statistics Canada, investment in home renovations in the first quarter of 2017 hit a record high of $1.78 billion. A release from ATB Financial's Economics and Research Team says this is close to double the spending a decade ago.
Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, says he was surprised by the data for the first three months of this year.
"The increase that we saw in late 2016 and the first quarter of this year can be attributed to the rebuild in Fort McMurray (from last year's wildfires) because not every house was destroyed, which we tend to focus on." he said. "There were also many, many homes that needed to be renovated."
May 25, 2017 | Gerald Vander Pyl
Diamond in the rough
Do your homework to ensure your fixer-upper home purchase is a success
Turn on your TV and there are shows aplenty with always-eager renovation crews turning a run-down house into something out of a show-home showcase.
Browse the Internet and you can find real estate websites devoted to fixer-upper properties that just need a little "TLC" to become your dream home.
There's even an offering from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) and Genworth Canada called Purchase Plus Improvements, allowing you to finance some future renovations into the cost of purchasing a home.
But buying a fixer upper is not for everyone, and requires due diligence just like any other real estate purchase, starting with a home inspection.
May 25, 2017 | Kathleen Renne
Building home equity
A long-time renter transitions into home ownership and begins building tax-free capital gains
Nathan Magee knows a thing or two about renting. Since moving to Calgary in 1999, he has rented apartments, duplexes, houses and rooms in neighbourhoods as disparate as Bridlewood, Marda Loop, Forest Lawn and downtown.
Magee rented for 14 years in Calgary before deciding it was time to buy in 2013.
"What really pushed my wife and I over the edge was a combination of things. We were renting a house in Marda Loop at the time and the place got broken into four times. Plus, the rent was going up to $2,000 a month. That's when we thought, 'Let's get out of here and look at buying,'" recalled Magee.
