Happy New Year and welcome to the first market insight of 2015. Every week our researchers pour through the listing and sold data posted on the Toronto Real Estate Board and separate out all the downtown statistics. Don’t bother waiting for those pesky and stale monthly reports, after two years of doing this you would be surprised at some of the trends we see and since we are analyzing the numbers fairly regularly, the information we provide is as near real time as it gets.
If you are a fan of auto racing then you would be familiar with the term “Gentlemen, start your engines”. That’s about where we are right now. New listings are at a two year low having dropped another 27% from last month. In addition, Downtown Toronto only registered 38 sales last week (by comparison, we had over 200 sales in a week during the top of the Fall Market). Clearly there is no rush to buy as only 5 of those homes sold at or over the asking price. Here’s the good news; Realtors are revving up for a busy early Spring Market. Our offices are busy shooting video, getting home inspection reports ready, and talking up hot new listings.
We are finding the resale condominium sector a little more interesting. Over the last month, new condo listing shot up nearly 30% with the bulk of the increase coming from the entry level suites in the central core. While sales are also down, there have been a number (16.3%) of suites selling at or above the list price. If history is any indication, we will see a lot more product coming on stream over the next few weeks.
HERE ARE THE TOP FIVE TRENDING STORIES OF THE WEEK:
LISTINGS SHORTAGE DRIVES TORONTO HOME PRICES SHARPLY HIGHER
We’ll find out in the spring budget whether the Harper government will double the Tax Free Savings Account limit. The odds are good.
AS WINTER CHILL SETS IN, TORONTO’S LUXURY HOUSING MARKET BURNS HOT
For everyone bracing against Toronto’s deep freeze this week, spring seems a distant chimera. In Toronto’s real estate market, however, spring begins about the third week of January. Patrick Rocca, a broker with Bosley Real Estate Ltd., is beginning to get calls from homeowners planning to sell. But for now, he says, the market remains very slow in midtown Toronto.
ONTARIO, B.C. ECONOMIES TO GROW FASTER THAN ALBERTA’S IN 2015
Falling oil prices and spending by U.S. consumers will be the driving forces behind the Canadian economy this year, according to Canada’s leading economists.
HOW MUCH YOU NEED TO EARN TO BUY A HOUSE IN EVERY MAJOR CANADIAN CITY
Many say property is the best investment you can make. Bursting housing bubbles and mortgage scandals aside, they’re usually right. The price of making that investment varies widely in Canada, depending on where you live. We looked at how much you need to earn to buy a house in every major Canadian city.
LISTINGS SHORTAGE DRIVES TORONTO HOME PRICES SHARPLY HIGHER
A shortage of listings is driving Toronto home prices sharply higher, the local real estate board says. The average price of a home in the area climbed 8.4 per cent last year, from a year earlier, to $566,726, the Toronto Real Estate Board said today.
