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.. You bet you are! Just calll Sharon Burton or Sandy Dailton for your complimentary copy of our recently published information packed newsletter. Read about current buying activity trends (locally and across Canada), the federal Government‘s permanent extension of the Home Buyer‘s Plan, criteria to consider if you are planning on trading up to Interested In Getting | _ First quarter The Best Price For starts fall 6.5% Your Home? Sharon Burton Sandy Dalton The Results Sisters *Sales Representative SHARON BURTON® higher priced home, and most important of all. .. what you can do to ensure you get the best possible price for your home once you have decided to sell. «1 5 1 6SF$ Mondayâ€" Thursday â€" 12:00 pm â€" 8:00 pm Friday â€" Closed Weekends Holidays â€" 11:00am â€" 6:00 pm TOWNKHOMES BY THE PARK Royal LePage Real Estate Services Lid., Broker #J o DUNDAS STREET WEST SALES OFFICE HOURS Asks for 1 FT. FROM ONLY $145,900 ABBEY PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. E40.E 239 LARESHORE RD. E.. OAKVILLE SANDY DALTON* Urban centre activity fell while CMHC will issue its forecast rural areas recorded an increase. _ update for 1994 and 1995 in mid Lower activity was recorded in May . "‘The first quarter activity repâ€" resents almost half of the total units purchased under the FHLI program in its first year of operaâ€" tion," said Dingwall. Purchases of newly constructâ€" ed units showed a marked increase. The first quarter‘s 6,660 Since its inception in February 1992, more than 174,000 Canadian households have bought their first home with a minimum five per cent down payâ€" ment, on a federallyâ€"insured mortgage, under CMHC‘s First Home Loan Insurance program n a surge of activity, over Ig3,000 houses were purchased y firstâ€"time buyers in the first quarter of 1994, the Honourable David C. Dingwall, Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced recently. "‘The program‘s success lies in the fact that it has increased access to home ownership withâ€" out added cost to the government and enabled more Canadian to invest in a home to build equity." Of the 33,086 houses purâ€" chased, representing $3.3 billion of loans insured by CMHC, 26,426 were resale units ($2.5 bilâ€" lion), and 6,600 were newly conâ€" structed units (over $700 million). Starts fell at a similar rate for both singleâ€"detached and multiâ€" ple units. New construction fell in urban centres, while an increase was recorded in other areas. Regionally, new construcâ€" tion was up in Quebec and the Prairie region. It inched down in British Columbia, while Ontario and the Atlantic region saw largâ€" er declines. "We can expect some catchâ€" up activity over the next three months. Stronger activity in the quarter is expected because the precursor to starts activity, the resale market, posted stronger sales in March. This increase in the resale market was largely prompted by the higher mortgage interest rates which speeded up home buying decisions," explained Proulx. Starts levels in British Columbia slipped 3 per cent to a still strong construction rate of 42,700 units SAAR (44,000). Urban centre activity fell while rural areas recorded an increase. Lower activity was recorded in rst quarter housing starts Fell 6.5 per cent to 151,900 _ units seasonally adjusted at an annual rate from a level of 162,400 units SAAR (a quarterly figure adjusted to remove seasonâ€" al variation and multiplied by four to reflect annual levels) in the fourth quarter of 1993, reportâ€" ed Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. "New construction fell during the first quarter mainly as a result of the extreme cold of January and February in eastern and cenâ€" tral provinces. In March there were signs of improvement in some of the hardest hit areas," said Gilles Proulx, chief econoâ€" mist at CMHC‘s market analysis centre. Another possible factor may have been the uncertainty regardâ€" ing the continuation of Revenue Canada‘s popular Home Buyers Plan, where home buyers could use up to $20,000 each of their RRSP funds as equity for the purâ€" chase of a primary residence. As was announced in the fedâ€" eral government‘s budget speech on Feb. 22, the Home Buyers Plan was continued, but particiâ€" pant eligibility was changed to first time home buyers only. The change in the Plan, in concert with FHLI and relatively low mortgage interest rates will most likely continue to provide great opportunities for firstâ€"time buyâ€" ers. In the Prairie region, starts moved ahead 7.1 per cent to a rate of 24,100 units SAAR (22,500), the best result since the end of 1992. The advance took place in Alberta where starts jumped nearly 14 per cent to 20,900 units SAAR. Starts fell in the other two provinces: down a third to :1,100 units in Saskatchewan, and 13 per cent to 2,100 units in Manitoba. According to CMHC, conâ€" sumers may have sped up their decision to buy, based on a comâ€" bination of ideal home buying conditions. On a national basis, house prices are stable across the country. Mortgage interest rates were at the lowest they have been in almost 30 years. The five year mortgage interest rate dipped to 7.25 per cent during the first quarâ€" ter. This rate has not been this low since 1965. Home construction fell 41.3 per cent in the Atlantic to 7,400 units SAAR (12,600). All four provinces shared in the excepâ€" tional decline. On a SAAR basis, the results are as follows: P.E.L. starts fell a quarter to 600 units, New Brunswick down a third to 1,800 units, and Newfoundland down more than 60 per cent to 1,000 units. units represents 54 per cent of the number of new units insured in all of 1993 and 86 per cent of those insured in 1992. Ontario home starts fell 21.9 per cent to 42,000 units SAAR (53,800) from a strong base in the fourth quarter. Both urban areas and other areas showed lower starts. Most of the decline can be attributed to lower conâ€" struction of governmentâ€"assisted units. Singleâ€"detached construcâ€" tion mainly held steady in urban markets. Quebec showed the best improvement as starts rose 21 per cent to 35,700 units SAAR (29,500). The gain, however, stems from a low level in the closing quarter of 1993. Most of it took place in small centres and rural areas while urban areas only inched up. Multiple unit conâ€" struction rose in urban areas from the preceding quarter.