OCTOBER 2011. Greater Toronto REALTORS reported 7,658 transactions through the TorontoMLS system in September – a 25 per cent increase over September 2010. Sales during the first three quarters of 2011 amounted to 70,588, representing a 2.6 per cent increase compared to the first nine months of 2010.

“We have experienced strong growth in sales so far this year, with a much more active summer compared to 2010. However, while sales have been strong, we have continued to experience a shortage of listings, resulting in more competition between home buyers,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver. “Over the past few months, the listing situation has started to improve, so we expect home buyers will have more homes to choose from in the months ahead.”

With annual growth in sales (+25 per cent) outstripping annual growth in new listings (+15 per cent) in September, market conditions became tighter and the average selling price continued to grow by close to 10 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

“Strong price growth through the first nine months of the year was mitigated to a great degree by low interest rates and rising incomes,” said the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis Jason Mercer. “As buyers continue to take advantage of the affordable home ownership options in the GTA, we remain on pace for the second best year for sales under the current TREB market area.” (Source: Toronto Real Estate Board)

Toronto’s condo boom is not slowing down anytime soon as the latest statistics show the city is building more high rises than anywhere else in North America.

The September 2011 data from German research company Emporis -- the world’s largest source of information on multi-storey buildings -- found that there are currently 132 highrise buildings under construction in Toronto. Mexico City ranks a distant second with 88 and New York City is in third with 86. The field drops off dramatically after that: fourth-ranking Chicago is building 17 highrises, while Miami rounds out the top five with 16. (Emporis defines a highrise building as between 35 and 100 metres high, or 12 to 40 floors. Buildings taller than that are considered skyscrapers.)

Toronto already has the second-highest number of completed highrises and skyscrapers in North America, with 1,875 -- just ahead of Mexico City and Chicago -- according to Emporis. They all trail runaway leader New York City by more than 4,000, however.

Provincial and municipal land intensification policies, such as Ontario’s Greenbelt, have led to a shift away from low-rise development in the city, said Matthew Slutsky, founder and president of BuzzBuzzHome, which catalogues new residential projects in Canada. “If you combine the construction with low-rises, the overall building is about average for Toronto,” he said, calling the growth of high-density development along transit lines a “fantastic” alternative to suburban sprawl.

“What we’re seeing is actually a tale of two housing markets, with low-rise in a substantial decline and highrise in steady increase,” George Carras, president of RealNet Canada Inc., wrote in the Star earlier this year. Highrise units now make up 60 per cent of new home sales in the GTA, compared with only 25 per cent in 2000, according to Carras.

Emporis’s statistics do not distinguish between residential and office development, so the numbers include more than just condos. But “you could probably count on your hand” the number of rental highrises and office buildings going up in the city, said Ben Myers, executive vice-president of market research firm Urbanation, which tracks condo development in the city.

There is little fear among industry experts that Toronto construction is outstripping demand, despite Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney’s warning about a national condo price bubble back in June. In fact, some are worried about the opposite.

There are more than 39,000 condo units under construction in the region, according to Myers, “and 88 per cent of those are already sold.” A further 118 buildings are in pre-construction, he said, and three-quarters of those are sold. “We’re just continually getting larger and larger and larger.” (Source: The Toronto Star)

Whether you want a simple update or an all-out decor transformation, design experts share their thoughts on the best ways to cosy up your space for fall, indoors and out. Here’s how:

1. Lay out the welcome mat. More than just a place for visitors to wipe their shoes, welcome mats say a lot about your decor savvy, says Marissa Graham, owner of Endless Ideas Interiors in Brooklin, Ont. Look for designs with rich autumn shades — she likes oranges, deep reds and rustic browns — and bold patterns to make the most of this telling area.

2. Decorate your door. The perfect display case for nature’s bounty, doors serve as a spotlight for outdoor decor. Go chic and minimalistic with black planters filled with birch logs and twigs, or homespun with a wreath embellished with branches, berries and clusters of colourful leaves, says Alykhan Velji, a Calgary-based interior decorator.

3. Embrace texture and colour. A departure from the basic beiges and off-whites hues popular of late, soft shades of blue, purple, orange and grey are big this fall, as are suede, corduroy and natural textures. Try to incorporate these elements throughout your home with candles, rugs, blankets or art for a dose of subtle elegance.

4. Accent your kitchen. To truly fall-ify the most used room in the house, you’ll need to unearth a few organic goods. Fill and display wooden bowls and rustic pottery with gourds, apples or mini pumpkins, place baby pine cones in votive-sized coloured glass and load vases with fall foliage for a playful effect, says Velji.

5. Cosy up your bedroom. Simply trading light and airy sheets or duvets for thicker, more richly-shaded versions can make a big stylistic impact. So can upholstering your bed’s headboard to be more reflective of the season. “Obviously that’s a bigger undertaking,” says Graham, “but it can be gorgeous when done right.”

6. Style your dining room table. According to Velji, the perfectly-set autumn table should have a centrepiece, a plethora of candles and a unique personal touch. “I like the minimalistic combination of birch logs, leaves and fresh-cut flowers for my own home, but adding a beautiful table runner, placemats, gourds, small pumpkins, dried flowers and berries can be very impactful, as well,” he says.

7. Lavish your living room. This is the room most often seen by visitors, so any time and energy invested in redecorating the space are well spent, says Graham. Update it for fall with a richly-shaded throw, a few textured pillows, heavier drapes and wooden accessories throughout.

8. Organize your artifacts. Fall decor is about layering patterns, fabrics and colours — sometimes all at once. To create a perfectly undone look, place collections of similarly-shaded accessories on a mantel, coffee table, windowsill or dresser. Whether grouped together or lined up haphazardly, they deliver a chic yet nonchalant effect.

9. Let there be light. Even when not lit, candles do much to infuse a space with warmth. Look for variations in sizes for dramatic impact, and place them in or on holders — votives, pillars or hurricanes — to enhance their shimmering visual appeal.

10. Invest in style. When seasonal redecorating calls for something new, investments needn’t be hefty. For affordable additions to your abode, Graham loves Memory Blocks by Sid Dickens, which can be hung on walls in large or small groupings much like paintings, while Velji recommends the Lyle Side Chair from Crate & Barrel as his vintage-inspired must have. (Source: Your Home via The Toronto Star)

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Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the country's housing market has cooled somewhat but there's no "clear evidence of a bubble" at this point. So he's not planning any further moves to cool the real estate market down, he told reporters at a news conference in New York. He did cite heightened demand in some regions, including Vancouver, whose high prices have skewed national numbers.

Asked what it would take for Canada to act again to cool the market, he said: "It will take clear evidence of a bubble in the housing market in Canada, which we have not seen."

Given low interest rates, the level of housing demand in Canada is not surprising, Flaherty said. But he added: "We have seen in the past year some softening in the Canadian housing market, in part due to the tightening of the insured mortgage market rules that we did earlier this year. That's an appropriate result from that tightening." (Source: The Globe and Mail)