A report from CBC News in Canada. "Toronto's real estate market 'defies all odds,' but government officials should proceed cautiously when deciding how to cool it down, says a real estate agent. 'To be honest, I just hope they really think about it and go slow, with a very relaxed approach,' said Dan Cooper, an agent with Royal LePage and CEO of Dan Cooper Group in Oakville, Ont. Cooper said there is a need to 'relax' the Toronto market but not to 'wreck' it. He said media coverage in the last few weeks has created what he called negative spin and has prompted new listings. 'Today, my group, we're putting on 13 listings. I have a lot of people who aren't even thinking of selling but they're selling because they want to take advantage of the market. They're scared. The tables are turning already.'"

"Danyelle Boily, a real estate agent with Bosley Real Estate in Toronto, said she is telling clients simply to offer as much they can, given their budgets. 'We don't know how to advise anymore. We just know that you have to go as high as you can, and if you're out, you're out,' she said. 'That's just the way it is. There's no rule of thumb anymore.'"

"Cooper, who has worked in the business for 26 years, said it's a 'different game' than years ago. 'If you have a buyer who wants a property, they have go in at list or above, no conditions, certified cheque, probably double what the vendor is looking for,' he said. 'It's all about the seller. It's a true seller's market.'"

"The Toronto market has been startling, with the average sale in the Greater Toronto Area skyrocketing last month to $916,567. That's up 33.2 per cent from a year ago."

The London Free Press. "London’s red-hot housing market meant realtor Angela Wilson couldn’t take a holiday on Good Friday. She and her business partner, her mother, Linda, were at a Riverside Drive model home before noon, ready to meet potential buyers. And in London, there are more buyers than ever, so many there aren’t enough homes to meet demand. 'It’s crazy,' Angela Wilson said. 'It’s something we’ve never experienced before.'"

"Bidding wars, lineups to see new housing subdivisions and record prices in most city neighbourhoods are becoming routine in the once-stagnant, reasonable London market that seems finally to be catching up to the rest of Canada. Weary would-be Toronto-area homebuyers unable to afford the astronomical prices are only part of the story in what Jim Smith, president of the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors, said is more than just a bubble. For too long, he said, London prices have lagged, but with huge price hikes in Toronto, property values are inching up here."

"There are reports of houses going for $20,000 to $30,000 above asking prices. But bidding wars drive prices to $60,000 or $70,000 above the asking price also are taking place. One high-end home sold for more than $200,000 more than the asking price to top $1-million."

"More out-of-town realtors are starting to come to London, mostly from the Toronto area, applying for access to lockboxes to show London properties. Forty-one have contacted the association office in the last two weeks, and 'that’s just the tip of the iceberg,' Smith said. Hot markets also are reported in London’s bedroom communities. 'I’ve heard stories in St. Thomas where people are lining up to go through the open houses and then they’re just taking bids at 6 o’clock,' Smith said. 'You talk to a lot of veteran agents and they will tell you they’ve never seen anything like this before,' said Smith, who’s been a realtor for 25 years."

"Realtor Diane Lajoie with Sutton Select Realty said she’s heard of young buyers making offers on six or seven properties — as many as 13 offers — without making a deal. She’s heard of properties getting as many as 21 offers. 'We’ve never seen anything like this,' Lajoie said. 'We’ve been in busy markets before but this is really unprecedented. It’s happening at every level, in every part of town.'"

"The sales boom can be partially linked to a more connected world in which buyers can move to London and work online. But there are others who are retiring in Toronto and cashing out on their real estate to come here 'with a mittful of money in their pocket,' Smith said. Bank appraisers aren’t balking at the price increases and are 'seeing the value' to approve mortgages, he said."

From CTV News. "Many buyers and sellers are waiting to see what will come of Tuesday's scheduled meeting between Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Toronto Mayor John Tory, who are expected to discuss ways to rein in Toronto's hot housing market. Real estate agent Josie Stern says the market appears to be cooling. 'A little bit of air has been let out of the bubble,' she says."

"Sellers who've bought new homes are rushing to list their old property, she adds, but many are not getting the high bids seen a month ago. 'We're finding that a lot of people are leaving the city,' says Stern, who estimates that about a third of her 35 sales this year involved sellers either downsizing to condos or moving to more affordable markets. 'It's empty-nesters, it's (couples with) babies, it's all kinds of people that are doing this.'"

"It's a story Vancouver real estate agent Melissa Wu knows well. Years of record-setting sales saw Vancouver homeowners cash out for smaller markets with more space. But that changed after the B.C. government introduced a 15 per cent foreign buyers' tax last summer, which Wu says especially soured interest in west Vancouver luxury homes priced at more than $4 million."

"Her recent sales included a $2-million get for a century-old home owned by a retired couple. Their plan is to downsize to an older condo costing less than $500,000. The rest of the proceeds will go to their kids and retirement fund. She says the sale was a record high for the neighbourhood, but it took an agonizing three weeks to secure -- longer than it would have last year, she says. She advises Toronto homeowners thinking of selling to take advantage while they can. 'There's always a shift coming in,' she says of this hot market. 'Sell before it corrects.'"

"Stern would like to see a crackdown on real estate speculators in Toronto, citing one buyer who bought 15 properties in the last two years. And she cautions those tempted to cash out that there's always a risk the market won't co-operate. 'People have been asking themselves that question since the year 2000: Should I sell? Should I cash out? And there have been people who have cashed out and have regretted it because they've seen what the market has (done) -- they've never been able to rebuy the houses that they've sold.'"