Toronto Real Estate Posts 1

Regardless of your age, chances are, you’ve heard of ‘hot or not’ lists. (We see you, boomers.) And while these lists often cover celebrities and prominent figures, sometimes they can apply to real estate, particularly here in Toronto.

Such is the case for a new ranking of Toronto neighbourhoods from local realtor and chartered accountant, Scott Ingram. This list looks at ‘Who’s Hot and Who’s Not’ in regards to which of the city’s neighbourhoods saw increases in average sale prices of detached homes sold in 2020 compared to 2019.

Across Toronto, many pockets are recording impressive price growth in the single-detached housing sector, and this momentum is expected to continue.

For this year’s list — which highlights 15 neighbourhoods — the change in average prices varies from 18.6% to 28.9%, showing just how much values shifted from neighbourhood to neighbourhood……

After dropping into the red last year, Toronto’s condo market has now come bouncing back thanks in large part to none other than baby boomers.

According to a new report from Strata.ca, Ontario’s baby boomers are selling their larger homes in this hot market not just to cash in on the high sale prices, but to be able to help their kids enter the housing market.

“When seniors would sell in the past, it was strictly to downsize,” said Galina Sheveleva, a real estate agent at Strata.ca. “But there’s this trend where older homeowners are cashing out so they can help their children with a downpayment.”……..

The Bank of Canada opted to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at a record-low 0.25 per cent Wednesday, saying the pandemic recovery “continues to require extraordinary monetary policy support.”

At the same time, it significantly increased its growth estimates, forecasting a 6.5 per cent increase this year, up from an earlier prediction of four per cent.

The bank said in a statement that it intends to hold the policy interest rate until the economy is recovered, possibly in the second half of 2022, moved up from an earlier prediction of 2023.

The improved outlook means the likelihood that borrowing costs will rise late next year has increased……..

While the federal budget won’t make homes more affordable in Canada, average buyers and sellers won’t be impacted by policy-induced market shocks either.

Over the past month there have been countless calls for the federal government to introduce policies aimed at cooling Canada’s red hot housing market which saw average house prices rise by 32%/y in March.

In fact, the only measure aimed at targeting the market for resale houses in Canada is the introduction of a 1% tax on vacant homes owned by non-residents…….

Initially designed to measure your likelihood of repaying a loan, credit scores are now used by all kinds of companies to quickly judge how responsible you are as a person.

Even so, a recent poll found that nearly seven out of 10 Canadians don’t know their current credit score and more than half have never even attempted to find it.

These days, checking and monitoring your score is free. And if your score falls below an “excellent” 760, it’s time to start improving it. Keeping your score high will open doors and help you save money in more areas of your life than you might recognize……..

The ongoing surge in home prices across the country is discouraging a large number of young non-homeowners, many of whom say they’re giving up on the dream of homeownership altogether.

More than a third (36%) of non-homeowners under 40 believe they will never own a home, while 62% of Canadians believe a majority of people are being priced out of owning a home for the next decade, according to a recent poll from RBC.

“The road to homeownership isn’t always easy, and the last year has created both challenges and opportunities for homebuyers,” said Amit Sahasrabudhe, Vice-President of Home Equity Financing, Products and Acquisitions at RBC………

An agent with Sage-Verity — you’ve seen her host Hot Market on HGTV — Khaled wants more women to experience the sense of power and financial independence that come with owning real estate.

Part of it is socialization — not that long ago, women couldn’t get a mortgage without a male to co-sign; owning a house was perceived as part of the love/marriage/parenting package.

Part of it is practical. Two incomes are better than one for paying a mortgage……….

As Toronto’s real estate market heats up, bidding wars to buy property are becoming more common and fierce.

A bidding war is when multiple offers are made for a property, which is often listed below market value prices to encourage bidding. After a few rounds, the seller decides which bid to go for — some of which can be tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price.

“[Bidding wars] perpetuate and further inflate the pricing each time,” real estate agent André Kutyan said. “Each time a buyer misses out, they look at the next one and say, ‘What if I spent a few more thousands to secure it?’ Then they figure, let’s secure it and stop looking.”………

The aggressive roller coaster ride that is Toronto’s housing market won’t be slowing down or levelling out any time soon according to real estate experts, unless something drastic changes in the near future to boost inventory levels.

In fact, housing affordability is expected to continue deteriorating across the entire country for the remainder of 2021 — but not all types of homes will increase in value equally, nor will all regions see the same type of price growth…….

Almost as soon as it was announced, the Canadian government’s first attempt to rein in the country’s pandemic housing boom was dismissed as not enough.

Canada’s banking regulator signalled its intent Thursday to take a small step by tightening qualification rules for uninsured mortgages, worried that low interest rates will put new home buyers too far into debt. The move will effectively reduce by about 4 per cent the size of mortgages households will be eligible to take……….

The chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada on Thursday said that a proposed tweak to a mortgage stress test could have a swift effect on the housing market, which he also noted is currently beset by limited supply and a surge in demand.

RBC president and CEO Dave McKay said during a conference call with reporters that he did think some action will be necessary to cool demand in the market in the short term, but that it should be “modest” and that it could be a change to existing policy……..

A quarter of millennials have purchased homes in the past year, as the pandemic has created a near-perfect window of opportunity for them to buy, according to a new poll.

Eye-wateringly low interest rates, bulked up savings and the availability of remote work has made homeownership more attractive, even if affordability is decreasing, said John Webster, Scotiabank’s head of real estate secured lending…………

Toronto could see about 2,500 COVID-19 cases per day by the end of April if the current rate of transmission remains the same, the city’s top doctor said Monday.

“All together this says that right now, what we can anticipate of this third wave, is likely going to be worse than we have seen thus far over the course of the pandemic,” the medical officer of health said.

“As I’ve mentioned already now a couple of times, this is due to increased transmission, and increased severity associated with that B.1.1.7. variant of concern, which is now the dominant strain.”……

Policymakers attempting to stabilize the Toronto housing segment’s outsized growth might find some lessons from the 2017 spring market, according to a new analysis by Zoocasa.

Citing data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, Zoocasa said that the average home sales price in the GTA has surged by 21.6% annually, reaching roughly $1.098 million in March.

Aside from significantly surpassing the previous peaks in February ($1.045 million) and January ($967,885), the March reading also raised the Q1 average to its highest-ever level at around $1.037 million. The quarterly increase was driven by the 13% surge in the single-detached segment, as well as the 11% price gain of condos and the 10% increase in the semi-detached market……..

According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released today, the aggregate1 price of a home in Canada increased 14.1 per cent year-over-year to $749,165 in the first quarter of 2021, as strong demand continues to outpace supply in virtually every market across the country. More than two thirds of the regions surveyed (67%) saw year-over-year double-digit aggregate price gains, driven largely by the single-family property segment. Seventy-seven per cent of regions surveyed reported median price appreciation of standard two-storey homes of ten per cent or more.

The Royal LePage National House Price Composite is compiled from proprietary property data, nationally and in 64 of the nation’s largest real estate markets. When broken out by housing type, the median price of a standard two-storey home rose 15.9 per cent year-over-year to $894,140, while the median price of a bungalow increased 14.1 per cent to $628,341, and the median price of a condominium increased 2.0 per cent year-over-year to $509,364. Price data, which includes both resale and new build, is provided by Royal LePage’s sister company RPS Real Property Solutions, a leading Canadian real estate valuation company…………

A Canadian official in charge of housing policy confirmed the current market is not an accident. Instead, it’s a conscious decision where the government picked the winners and losers. TVO aired an interview with MP Adam Vaughan yesterday, discussing housing policy. In the interview, Vaughan, who helps oversee the CMHC, said price drops are not an option. The minister also said the market doesn’t work for locals, but is great for foreign investors. He also implied the strategy they might use to fix the market is one they were warned against. It was some interview. Here are the key market takeaways………..

The average price of a home in the Toronto region now tops the million-dollar mark. It’s also a whopping 22 per cent higher than a year ago, according to the latest data.

People’s salaries sure didn’t go up by 22 per cent. Housing price increases have long outstripped income increases in Canada and that trend shows no sign of letting up. It’s no wonder so many people are using rock-bottom interest rates to borrow as much as they possibly can, desperately trying to get a foothold in the market before it moves further out of reach.

A now-or-never, fear-of-missing-out mentality has driven prices up even in the midst of a global pandemic. And thanks in part to more people working from home it has expanded that overheated market into more communities………

Far from the 18% decline predicted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in 2020, the Canadian housing market is booming and hitting new all-time-high figures. Many experts and analysts expected the pandemic to clip the wings of the high-flying housing market. Instead of stumbling, Canadian housing is flying even higher.

Many parts of Canada are seeing strong sellers’ markets develop, despite the economic fallout from COVID-19. Buying homes for substantial long-term returns as investments have been a common practice. It might not be the best thing to do right now. The massive home price growth is causing concerns, and economists all over Canada are raising red flags……..

One of Canada’s largest banks made an unusual move — they called out the role the Bank of Canada (BoC) played in the property bubble. Well, they subbed them. BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic sent clients a housing analysis this morning. He attributes the transition from a hot market to one that’s going to burn down the economy, to a promise of low for long interest rates. The promise has been made directly by the BoC, in multiple attempts to calm households. Instead, it accidentally caused a surge of FOMO-driven panic buying………

There’s a simple yardstick in personal finance about purchasing a home: buyers should aim for a property priced at four times their income or less. But average Canadians’ ability to stick to that simple rule is rapidly fading across much of the country as property values continue to soar.

In the pandemic-linked housing boom, average residential property values have become decoupled from average incomes over vast swathes of the country.

Here’s a look at average incomes relative to average home prices across markets over the last 40 years………

Regulators plan to rachet up the country’s dreaded “stress test” qualifying rate for mortgage borrowers. As of June 1, loan applicants — regardless of the mortgage rate they’ve been offered by their lender — will need to prove they can afford an interest rate of 5.25 per cent before getting approved for funding.

But leading economists and mortgage brokers say the increase won’t be enough to dash too many homebuying dreams. Canada’s skyrocketing housing prices are doing a good enough job of that on their own………..

While the sale prices of freehold homes have not changed, there has been a drastic decline in condo prices in the Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood, says a well-known Toronto real estate agent who works in the Midtown area.

Patrick Rocca told me last week the prices of condos in the dense apartment and condo corridor from Yonge-Eglinton northeast have dropped about 15% in value over the past three months compared to the same time a year ago.

Sales statistics provided by Rocca show that while there were fewer condo listings from January to March of 2020, the average condo (one and two-bedroom) sold for $743,000.

Fast forward to the last three months, which shows 324 listings and an average selling price of $629,000 — a drastic drop of 16%……..

Canada’s largest city accounts for a disproportionate slice of its economy, primarily because of its housing sector. Toronto real estate has had over 20 years of uninterrupted price gains. The market remained steady throughout last year’s crisis and has now gone parabolic.

However, regulators and the government seem to be stepping in to cool the market. If this lowers prices or triggers a correction, several major banks and real estate investment trusts (REITs) could be caught in the downfall. If you’re wary of this risk, here are the trends you need to watch………

Since COVID-19 dragged interest rates to historic lows last year, Canadians have been diving into the real estate market with unprecedented verve.

During a time of extraordinary financial disruption, more than 551,000 properties sold last year — a new annual record, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. Those sales provided a desperately needed dose of oxygen for the country’s gasping economy.

Given the slew of new mortgages taken out in 2020, there were bound to be slip-ups. So, MoneyWise asked four of the country’s sharpest mortgage minds to share what they feel are the mistakes Canadians most frequently make when securing a home loan…………….

With prices in Toronto on a steady upward march, the city’s households each need to make an estimated $84,000 annually before tax to make ends meet in 2021, according to the latest cost of living report by LowestRates.ca.

This analysis came in the wake of the latest data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, which showed that the average selling price for all residential asset classes in the GTA in 2020 was $929,699.

Homeowners in the city will need to shell out $3,792.33 per month on average for housing expenses alone. LowestRates.ca estimated that on the benchmark home price, and assuming a down payment of 15% with a 25-year amortization period and a five-year fixed rate term at 1.68%, a monthly mortgage payment in Toronto would cost around $3,191…….

Canada’s financial regulator, which has been planning changes in its four-year-old mortgage stress test, on Thursday proposed making it tighter, following concerns that the initial measures could further stimulate the red-hot housing market.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is proposing that the new benchmark to determine the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured borrowers would be either the greater of a range of rates submitted by lenders plus 200 basis points or 5.25%, according to a letter to lenders.

It is broadly an increase from the initial plan announced in February 2020, which was shelved a month later as the coronavirus pandemic took front seat. That proposed the weekly median five-year fixed insured rate, calculated from mortgage insurance applications, as the benchmark, which stakeholders said would be “highly volatile.”……

The average price of homes seems to be going up everywhere, and Mississauga is no exception, with the average home price hitting a new high last month.

For the first time, the average price of a home in Mississauga surpassed $1 million. According to a new report from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, the city saw 1,411 home sales last month that went for an average price of $1,061,988.

And it’s not just March sales that have surpassed the $1 million mark. The year-to-date average now sits as $1,001,362 — a $48,871 increase from the year-to-date average of $952,491 reported for February.

According to the report, Mississauga’s average is only slightly below the year-to-date average of the entire GTA, which currently sits at $1,053,585……….

HUNTSVILLE, ONT. — Real estate is often the financial foundation for many families.

You can’t put a price on the dream of home ownership, but you can hope prices head lower.

In fact, more than one in five Canadians are hoping for a home-price crash according to a new report from the Angus Reid Institute. Twenty-two per cent of respondents said they are hoping prices will fall at least 30 per cent, while 14 per cent of respondents said they want to see prices rise by at least the same amount.

We’ve yet to see how hot the Toronto real estate market can get before it crashes, and though prices and purchasing activity have been on the up for months, experts are now predicting a sudden adjustment that will bring prices down to something a bit less ridiculous than they currrently are.

Chief Executives at Scotiabank and TD believe that current prices — including the recent jump to $1.75 million for the average detached home in Toronto — are in part a result of increased demand and dwindling supply, which is an imbalance that will likely soon right itself without any intervention………..

The cost of real estate is rising in the GTA — so much so that it’s outpacing the average prices of Toronto’s homes for sale, according to a recent report.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said that in March 2021, average real estate prices were more expensive in the 905 than in Toronto.

According to TRREB, the average GTA home cost $1,104,509 last month, up from $856,981 from the same time in March 2020.

But in the City of Toronto, the average home only cost $1,083,322, up from $989,175 in March of last year.

The TRREB’s full report says that March’s most expensive regions on average were Aurora (with an average home price of $1,297,003) and Markham ($1,287,951), quite a bit more expensive than Toronto’s average home price………

The competition for Toronto homes remained intense in March as prices continued their steady rise and sales almost doubled from last year, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported Tuesday.

The average home price in the market climbed by 16.5 per cent year-over-year to hit almost $1.1 million, while home sales soared by 97 per cent to reach 15,652, the board said.

TRREB president Lisa Patel interpreted the numbers as a sign that consumer confidence has returned to the market and low mortgage rates are encouraging sales, but warned that they also spell trouble.

“While the robust market activity is indicative of widespread consumer optimism, it is also shedding light on the sustained lack of inventory in the GTA housing market, with implications for affordability,” she said, in a release………

Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third largest lender, waded into the burgeoning debate over whether Justin Trudeau’s government should take immediate steps to cool the nation’s hot housing market, issuing a report that cautioned against rushing to implement new constraints.

In a report released Sunday, Scotiabank’s chief economist Jean-Francois Perrault said the recent run-up in home prices nationally over the past year was in large part driven by sluggish supply that failed to keep up with higher demand — a trend that could reverse itself as new sellers enter the market in coming weeks. If the government does decide to take action, it should target housing speculators, he said……….

Toronto home values continued to swell in March, bringing annual average price gains to more than 20% and adding fuel to a raging debate about whether policy makers should try to cool the market.

New listings were up 57% from March 2020, when the onset of the pandemic temporarily caused a freeze in real estate activity. But the new supply was not able to keep up with demand spurred by low borrowing costs and demand for bigger homes, especially in the suburbs, a report from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Tuesday……..

Home prices are running up so fast in some parts of Canada that valuations set by appraisers are not keeping pace, putting some buyers and mortgage lenders in a bind.An appraisal is a key factor when a bank or credit union decides how much it can lend against a particular home. It is a snapshot of what that home is worth at a moment in time – and a check on exuberance, based on data of recent sales that have closed.But with one record sale price after another in many communities, especially in smaller cities outside the largest urban centres, valuations are increasingly falling short of the prices paid. That can leave a financing gap for buyers who are relying on mortgages to fund a large share of the purchase, forcing them to come up with extra cash quickly to close a deal.“We are, on a very regular basis, not able to meet the expectations of some of these successful buyers,” said Rick Sieb, owner of Intercity Appraisals Ltd. in Port Coquitlam, B.C. “Before COVID, I would say we would have one in 50 [not match up]. I would say right now we’re not hitting numbers maybe one in 10.”……….

TORONTO — The competition for Toronto homes remained intense in March as prices continued their steady rise and sales almost doubled from last year, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported Tuesday.

The average home price in the market climbed by 16.5 per cent year-over-year to hit almost $1.1 million, while home sales soared by 97 per cent to reach 15,652, the board said.

TRREB president Lisa Patel interpreted the numbers as a sign that consumer confidence has returned to the market and low mortgage rates are encouraging sales, but warned that they also spell trouble…………..