What homes are selling for, and other housing stories you might have missed

During the month of May, the Personal Finance team ran a special Home Buying website. Here are some of the highlights from among the articles, columns, and galleries that appeared last month.

What's on the market these days?

Our editors sifted through MLS to see what is currently listed for half a million bucks, $800,000, $200,000 and $2-million. The galleries offered pictures of homes from across the country, with details and views of both the outsides and the insides.

Home buyer diaries

We wanted to hear from some real people trying to navigate this red-hot real estate market, so for the first time we added community bloggers to our Home Buying site. Kristin was looking for a large property for under $500,000 in the Vancouver area. Corey and Angela had just moved from Halifax to Winnipeg and were trying to find a home with a $350,000 budget. And Carl was trying to see what he could get with his $750,000 budget in the Toronto market. To find out how they fared, click here.

Decoding the mortgage market

On the home mortgage front, Canadian Mortgage Trends editor Robert McLister helped readers makes sense of the range of term lengths out there, the value of flexibility in a mortgage, housing affordability, and the perils of taking on a massive mortgage.

The economics of housing

Housing bear Ben Rabidoux looked at the virtues of renting over buying, the housing markets at the greatest risk, the outlook for markets over the next decade, and what's happening in major centres outside Toronto and Vancouver, which have been the focus of so much attention.

Videos

To complement our picture galleries of home for sale across Canada, the Home Buying site featured of range of videos that looked into everything from the true value of homes and the appeal of a longer-term mortgage, to the lure of renting and the kinds of renos that offer the best payback.

Online discussions

Guest contributors joined us online for live charts with readers, including our mortgage man Robert McLister, and Ben Rabidoux, who took questions on the housing market across the country.