🚀 go-pugleaf

Here is the fiction part:

> Today's Citizen is at it again 
> (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/010220/5088694.html):
> 
>   This couple bought a home in 96 for $154,000 and sold it last
>   October  for $319,000.
> 
>    Six buyers were bidding for the house.
> 
>    According to the Citizen this scenario is the norm in Ottawa.
> 
>    Droves of buyers are tearing their hair out, it says.
> 
>    Buyers are pitted against buyers in a battle where finding 
>    the ideal home takes a backseat to finding any home.
> 
>    The realty business has become an auction-like environment, 
>    driving offers well beyond asking prices 
> 
>    People are losing out on buying homes because they're 
>    offering the asking price.
> 
>    "Most of the realtors I've talked to have never seen a market 
>    like this," says the Real Estate Board's Mr. Robertson. 
> 
> Deep in all this two little paragraphs are burried:
> 
> Just two years ago, the average price for a home in Ottawa was
> $143,914. In 2000, that figure jumped to $159,623
> (Elat's note: That works out to an increase of 10.9% over 2 years).
> 
> Prices, according to Lance Jakubec of CMHC, are expected to 
> rise by 6.5 per cent this year, followed by 6.2 per cent in 
> 2002.

and here are the facts:

> Well I finally got some facts and figures in a glossy
> brochure that I helped myself to from someone's desk :-)
> 
> It's called the Annual report and it's published by Real
> Estate Board of Ottawa-Carleton.
> 
> The average house price for 2000 was $159,511, compared to
> 1999 at 149,650 - a 6.6% increase.
> 
> Number of units sold 2000=12,692 1999=11,329.
> 
> Average prices in 
> Kanata were $173,656 up from $153,600
> Nepean      $163,751 up from $150,191
> Ottawa      $169,053 up from $157,425
> Gloucester  $142,705 up from $137,708
> 
> This works out to the following percentage increase from 1999 to 2000:
> 
> Kanata      13%
> Nepean       9%
> Ottawa       7%
> Gloucester   4%
> 
> The number of condo units sold increased from 2274 (20% of total) in 
> 1999 to 2821 (22% of total) in 2000. About 43% of the condos are 
> apartments. 
> 
> Average price in 2000 compared to 1999:
> 
> condo apt       $116,180 $105,885 +9.7%
> condo townhouse $107,603 $102,302 +5.2%
> 2-storey        $202,452 $186,006 +8.8%
> bungalow        $157,589 $143,974 +9.5%
> row-unit        $144,531 $134,249 +7.7%
> SD 2-stry       $145,751 $129,815 +12.3%
> 
> (haven't figured out why the average overall increase 
> is less than most of the above 
> and why condo townhouses have the lowest increase)
> 
> Of the total pie a little less than a quarter of the units sold 
> were under $100,000, a little over a half were under $150,000, 
> and a little over three quarters were under $200,000. 
> 
> BTW note from the above that the median price of a house in
> metro Ottawa is still less than $150,000.
> 
> The real estate board had 1354 members which I believe is the 
> lowest it has been in many, many years. Question is, if times 
> are so good why are there fewer real estate agents? 
>