Bank of Canada governor warns rapid rise in home prices is ‘not normal’ in May, 2021
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned the housing market is “not normal,” as he released new research that suggests real-estate prices in some of the country’s biggest cities are being driven by a speculative frenzy.
The central bank singled out the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Montreal as experiencing worrisome signs of “extrapolative behaviour,” which is the way Macklem and other policy-makers describe market dynamics they see as out of line with the fundamentals of supply and demand…….
Toronto housing is officially less affordable than New York or Los Angeles in May, 2021
Toronto officially beat out two of the most notoriously expensive North American cities to live in, landing second place on a new ranking of the continent’s cities with the least affordable housing.
According to a new report from Oxford Economics, Toronto has a worse affordable housing index than cities like Los Angeles and New York. Vancouver, however, edged out the top spot as the most unaffordable city in North America.
Two other Ontario cities — Hamilton and Ottawa — also landed on the least affordable list, along with Montreal, which came in ninth place……..
Jaw-dropping Toronto house flip is on the market for just $1 in May, 2021
The thought of a house in Toronto being priced at $1 seems laughable considering the state of the real estate market. As it turns out, a recently renovated Trinity Bellwoods home is listed for exactly that.
The once eery-looking, dilapidated house located at 15 Rebecca Street recently underwent a transformative renovation. The current owners originally listed the now-unrecognizable home in April for $1.4 million, but just this week, they dropped the asking price down to one singular dollar.
The renovation work was extensive, with the house appearing to have new walls, flooring, and finishings, and the addition of exposed brick. The house was also converted into a two-unit property, with each unit being a one-bedroom, meaning this property will likely be of interest to real estate investors…….
A chance for first-time buyers to be landlords in North Toronto in May, 2021
Toronto is filled with old houses that have been chopped up to create quirky rental apartments. Some have poorly divided entrances, others strangely configured living spaces, or laundry rooms that have to be accessed through another tenant’s apartment. And there’s the issue of sound transfer because of the flimsy walls. But the owner gets help with the mortgage, the renter shelter, so most of the time, it’s win-win.
But could this model be improved? The North York Planning Department thinks so. In 2019, it eased restrictions on secondary basement suites in semis and detached houses, says Lee Koutsaris, vice-president of sales and marketing for Metropia………
What worries first-time home buyers the most in May, 2021
As many as three out of four first-time home buyers are worried that they will not have sufficiently large down payments to purchase their desired properties, according to a new survey by mortgage insurance giant Sagen for Royal LePage.
The poll found that this year, 75% of first-time home buyers in Toronto (68% in 2019), 69% in Vancouver (58% two years ago), and 63% in Montreal (60% in 2019) are anxious over the size of their down payments……
People moving north driving ‘thriving’ condo market in May, 2021
Barrie is considered to be one of the fastest-growing cities in Ontario. Over the past year, Barrie has seen such a large increase in real estate prices, but is still much more affordable than other cities similar in its size in the province.
Demand from both local Simcoe County buyers and people moving north from the Greater Toronto Area has been driving the Barrie condo market and continues to thrive as we move through the spring market.
In April, there were 37 condo apartments that sold in Barrie. The average sale price was $530,156, which is up quite a bit from March, and the median price was $500,000…..
Dozens of tenants demonstrated in an east end square in Toronto on Saturday to show their opposition to above guideline rent increases that are happening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These rent hikes, or AGIs, are “massive loopholes” through which rent is increasing in residential buildings across the city despite a provincial rent freeze, according to Toronto ACORN, an anti-poverty group that organized the demonstration outside Main Square Apartments, 2575 Danforth Ave., at Main Street and Danforth Avenue.
Even though the Ontario government has frozen rent at 2020 levels, landlords can seek approval for these increases from the Landlord and Tenant Board and have them applied to 2021 rents if the increases are covering the costs of capital repairs and security services…….
What first-time Toronto homebuyers need to know when getting a mortgage in May, 2021
Buying a home in the often scary real estate landscape of Toronto can be challenging enough, especially with today’s stiff competition, so knowing exactly what mortgage you can afford (and how to even get one) is more important than ever.
To take things back to the basics, a mortgage is a loan from a bank or other lender that a buyer uses to purchase or maintain a piece of real estate that is paid back in agreed upon regular instalments. The purchased property serves as collateral for the loan…….
Toronto Real Estate Flippers Aren’t Making The Price Gains Being Talked About in May, 2021
We’ve all heard it. Everyone’s friend has a friend, that’s making a buttload flipping Toronto real estate. Considering the benchmark home price jumped $155,100 over the past year, flippers must be rolling in cash. Diving through April sales data, flippers definitely make up a big chunk of listings. While they’re making decent money, they aren’t capturing nearly as much as the headline numbers would leave you to believe.
Over 3% Of April Listings Were Bought Less Than 3 Years Ago
The number of homes listed for sale last month that were bought not so long ago, was substantial. There were 661 homes newly listed in April that were bought less than 3 years ago. Recent purchases made up 3.17% of new listings for the month. Surely these can’t be speculators, since I’ve been told those don’t exist in Toronto. Maybe a family just didn’t like the carpets and thought it was easier to just move……..
There’s no ‘silver bullet’ for fixing Toronto’s housing affordability crisis in May, 2021
Across the country, first-time homebuyers are getting more anxious about the market they’re facing.
A new survey from Royal LePage and mortgage insurer Sagen conducted in February and March found nearly two-thirds of Canadians who bought their first home within the last two years had feared missing out on a property they were eyeing, simply because the down payment it needed was too high. In Toronto, that anxiety ran higher still at 75 per cent, and it had only increased since the last survey in 2019.
Market data gives a glimpse at why: Last month, aggregate home prices, including condos, in the Toronto area were 33 per cent higher than in April 2020. They rose even faster in the 905 where detached house prices climbed 44 per cent year over year to an average of $1.31 million. Like other city regions around the world, the GTA is facing a tricky question: can housing become affordable again?…….
GTA buyers waiving home inspections en masse in May, 2021
Toronto’s wildly competitive real estate market has given way to a new trend: buy now, inspect later.
It’s become common for homebuyers in the GTA to make offers on properties without completing their own home inspection. Fewer conditions are attractive to sellers, and scratching out the home inspection clause — a standard condition in an offer intended to protect the buyer — helps buyers outshine their competition.——
Canadians open to rate hikes to cool housing market in May, 2021
Canadians are so alarmed by the red-hot housing market that many say they’d like to see the central bank raise the cost of borrowing to dampen demand for real estate and stabilize prices.
About 70% of Canadians responding to a new Nanos Research poll conducted for Bloomberg News said the sharp increase in home prices was a major problem for the economy. Almost half were at least somewhat in favor of the Bank of Canada raising its overnight rate to slow the rise, even though such a move would also increase the cost of credit lines, credit cards and other debt……..
Buyer beware – Ontario courts punish home purchasers who default on their offers in May, 2021
In the current chaotic residential real estate market, buyers are frequently submitting offers well in excess of either the listing price or the realistic market value.
But transactions like this sometimes go off the rails when the buyers are unable to obtain financing or sell their existing houses. The courts, in an increasing number of recently reported decisions, have shown little empathy for defaulting buyers………
TORONTO, May 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For the second year, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) and its Members are supporting COVID-19 relief efforts. The immediate contribution of over $300,000 in concert with the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation (ORCF) will help 40 charities and support the most vulnerable during the third wave of the pandemic. This is in addition to the $744,116 donated at the end of 2020, as part of the $1 per Member per Month Every REALTOR® campaign in support of the ORCF.
Women and children faced with domestic abuse have been greatly affected during the pandemic. With the stay-at-home order and province-wide lockdowns amplifying these situations, the increased number of calls to helplines and the use of shelters has been staggering. TRREB recognizes the urgent need for more counsellors and more shelter spaces……….
Rising Scarborough home prices have outpaced the rest of Toronto in May, 2021
Home prices have skyrocketed all over Toronto since the start of the pandemic, but according to a new report, it’s Scarborough that’s leading the pack in increased home values.
The report, from real estate technology company Properly, found that the value of homes in Scarborough has increased a whopping 25% since the onset of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, the average sold price in the area was $710,000, and according to Properly, the average home now has an estimated value of $915,008……..
Toronto Real Estate Just Made A Move That Typically Leads To Falling Prices in May, 2021
Greater Toronto real estate’s inventory squeeze appears to be rapidly coming to an end. The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) made a very sharp decline in April, marking the third month in a row. Such sharp corrections in the SNLR are historically associated with falling price growth. Over just the past 3 months, the decline now ranks as one of the fastest seen in decades.
Sales To New Listings Ratio (SNLR)
The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) is one tool used to figure out how quickly inventory is being absorbed. Higher ratios mean the market is accepting the inventory at the prices very quickly. Lower ratios mean buyers aren’t quite as keen on the inventory being offered at the prices. High ratios mean a tighter market with fewer choices. Low ratios mean a more loose market, with more options. But what’s high and low?
There are some generally accepted industry standards that are thrown around. Markets with an SNLR above 60% are called sellers’ markets, where prices tend to rise. When the SNLR falls below 40%, prices are expected to fall. Between 40% and 60%, and the market is considered balanced, and priced right for demand. Of course, the reality isn’t quite that neat, now is it? ……
These are the areas where Toronto home values have jumped the most in May, 2021
TORONTO — If you bought a home in Scarborough just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic you could be looking at a 25 per cent increase in value, a new report claims.
Toronto-based real estate brokerage company Properly laid out their findings Tuesday by way of an AI-powered home value calculator called “Instant Estimate.”
The results showed that the value of properties purchased in Scarborough, Etobicoke, and York in the six months before the onset of the pandemic appreciated the most, while homes in the downtown core appreciated the least…….
Federal government to spend $12B on Toronto, Hamilton transit in May, 2021
The federal government will spend more than $12 billion on transit projects in Toronto and Hamilton.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna said Tuesday that $10.4 billion in funding will go toward four “shovel ready” transit projects in Toronto — the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Rapid Transit replacement, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and the Yonge-North subway extension. This funding will cover about 40 per cent of each project.
However, none of these transit lines will be completed until at least 2029, said Ontario’s Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney………
Where Have Toronto Home Values Jumped The Most in May, 2021
Real estate is hot everywhere in Toronto, but with downtown dwellers looking for more space and more affordability, home values in areas on the outskirts of the city have seen the greatest appreciation. Comparing the purchase price of homes bought in the lead up to the pandemic to their current Properly Instant Estimate, properties purchased in Scarborough have jumped in value by a whopping 25 per cent, followed by York (21%) and Etobicoke (19%). On the other hand, home values in Toronto’s Uptown have seen the lowest appreciation at just five per cent, followed by Midtown (7%) and Downtown (8%).
“There has been increased conversation around the skyrocketing homes prices in Toronto,” said Anshul Ruparell, Co-founder and CEO of Properly. “But what’s happening is actually the reverse of what we usually assume: that people want to be close to downtown. Old Toronto is seeing the overall lowest appreciation within the City of Toronto. It remains to be seen whether this shift away from the core will continue, but the Instant Estimate allows all homeowners in the GTA to easily track the value of their home in real time.”……
Canadian Home Prices Have Grown Much More Than In The U.S., But Incomes Haven’t in May, 2021
Canadian home prices grew much faster than American home prices, but did incomes? In Canada, home prices have grown at a rate more than double that seen in the United States. However, disposable incomes over the same period grew at basically the same rate. Let’s take a dive into how shelter costs evolved in the two countries over the past few decades.
Canadian Home Prices Grew 2x Faster Than In The U.S.
Canadian home prices have been on a tear over the past few years, and it doesn’t matter where it’s compared to. From 1975 to 2020, home prices across Canada increased 1,467.3%. More recently, prices have increased 278.0% over the past 20 years. Remember, this isn’t a high-growth real estate market like Toronto or Vancouver. It’s all of Canada.
U.S. home prices also made a decent climb. From 1975 to 2020, home prices increased 692.9%. Over the past 20 years, they increased a more modest 106.0%. If you read this paragraph without knowing how Canada did, it would sound pretty good. In contrast, the gains sound a little tame. They aren’t……
Dividing a house into rooms that can be rented cheaply is a familiar practice in Scarborough, North York, East York and most of Etobicoke — all places where it’s illegal.
Since amalgamation, there has been no legal way for people in those parts of Toronto to live in inspected, multi-tenant housing, as they can in other parts of Toronto.
And yet advocates for tenants call this kind of housing “crucial” in a city where rents are unaffordable for many.
For over a decade, city politicians have failed to create one city-wide regime for legal multi-tenant housing. Twice, the city drafted plans which were consulted on and shelved…….
In the pandemic housing craze, some sellers are left with nowhere to go in May, 2021
n early April, Garry Chalmers, 71, sold his home in Kelowna, B.C. for $875,000 — roughly $370,000 more than what he paid for the property six years ago.
But that’s the happy ending of a much longer saga. Chalmers, a local business owner, says he and his wife started looking for properties in the early days of the pandemic, but as housing prices started soaring, Chalmers felt he was always one step behind.
“Every time we got serious about something, we missed it,” he says recalling countless lost bidding wars…….
Here’s how much an extra $100,000 worth of house is really going to cost you in May, 2021
The average home price in Canada rose from $544,284 in March 2020 to $716,828 in March 2021 according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), a $172,544 increase. Prices in places like Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto rose $96,100 and $143,000, respectively. Many Canadians are spending an extra $100,000 to buy than they were a year ago, raising an important question: just what is the impact of dropping an extra hundred grand on a home?
In the short run, there are the obvious transaction and financing costs. Land transfer tax and mortgage insurance costs are higher. Mortgage payments are higher as well, mind you, with interest rates at such low levels, most of your payment goes to principal……….
CMHC predicts COVID-19 immunity will moderate pace of home sales, prices by 2023 in May, 2021
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the average home price could rise by as much as 14 per cent this year, but the pace of sales could moderate by the end of 2023 if broad immunity to COVID-19 is soon achieved.
Prices across the country could soar to as much as $649,400 by the end of the year and reach as high as $704,900 in 2023, the federal housing agency predicted Thursday as it unveiled its annual outlook.
However, the report showed CMHC’s lower-end estimates place the average price at $628,400 by the end of the year and $669,500 by the end of 2023……..
New First-Time Home Buyer Incentive Might Fuel the Housing Bubble in May, 2021
Canada’s housing market is on fire right now. More accurately, it has been on fire for a relatively long time, and unfortunately, no serious measures have been taken to tone down the heat. The average housing price in Toronto and Vancouver reached new heights, and no signs are indicating that the prices will come down any time soon.
Several experts drew parallels from Canada’s housing market to New Zealand’s. They speculated that the Canadian government might put its foot down and finally control the rampaging housing market as New Zealand did.
Things are going the other way, it seems………
City of Toronto calls for action against the surging price of construction material in May, 2021
The City of Toronto is taking a stand against the skyrocketing price of construction materials, which a local councillor describes as a growing threat to the city’s economy.
The concerns are included in a member’s motion that received preliminary approval from city council during its Thursday meeting.
The motion calls for Toronto’s city manager to ask the provincial and federal governments “to address the increasing costs of building materials, particularly lumber, to determine if action is required to ease the costs locally.”……..
Toronto housing market – Detached homes cool while condos continue to sizzle in May, 2021
Parts of the Greater Toronto Area’s housing market are finally starting to cool after a torrid pace over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, while others are playing catch-up and then some.
Broadly speaking, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) says sales fell 12.7 per cent in April compared to March. April saw more than quadruple the number of sales versus April 2020, but that’s coming off an incredibly low level when the market was frozen with fear over COVID-19…….
New life returning to Toronto’s downtown condo market in May, 2021
Momentum in the Greater Toronto Area real estate market has swung back to the city core as buyers feel more optimistic that urban life is undergoing a renaissance.
“It was so surprising and so fast,” Manu Singh of Right at Home Realty Inc., says of the change in sentiment.
The roll-out of vaccines has drawn buyers off the sidelines, he says, while low interest rates are encouraging people to act quickly.
GTA condo resales surged 104 per cent in the city of Toronto in the first quarter from the same quarter in 2020, says Shaun Hildebrand, president of research firm Urbanation Inc……..
Toronto’s real estate market remains hot but shows first signs of cooling in May, 2021
Home sales for the Greater Toronto Area remained strong in April, but the market is starting to slow from the intense pace seen earlier this year, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Wednesday.
The board revealed 13,663 homes were sold in the region last month, a 362 per cent increase from the 2,957 properties sold in April 2020, which was the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, home sales this April were down 12.7 per cent, from 15,652 a month earlier.
While the first three months of the year were full of bidding wars, soaring prices and a mad scramble to snatch up any available homes, Toronto real estate broker Wins Lai said she is seeing conditions cool…………
How long it would take the average person in Toronto to save up for a house in May, 2021
According to The National Bank of Canada (NBC)’s latest housing affordability monitor, released Tuesday, the average annual household income needed to afford a representative house in Toronto is currently around $183,594.
That’s the income it would take to buy a house that costs $1,069,111, which was the price of a “representative home in the metropolitan market” over the first quarter of 2021, according to the bank.
And even with that income of more than $183,000, someone would have to save up for a staggering 297 months just to afford a down payment on their seven figure Toronto home……..
Is your credit score strong enough to buy a home?
Whether you can land a mortgage with a low-interest rate or even get any home loan at all often comes down to three little digits: your credit score.
A ho-hum credit score might bring you a higher mortgage rate.
Canada has two main credit bureaus — Equifax and TransUnion — that collect and share data about how you’ve used credit in the country. These private companies draw up credit reports that summarize your activity and use it to assign you a credit score. Lenders like banks rely on your credit score to tell if you’re a good investment……..
3 Most Expensive Condos Sold in Toronto since 2020
There’s no shortage of expensive condos for sale in Toronto, but this year the city’s been setting recent records for the amount people are willing to pay per square foot.
The Toronto condo realty company Strata has just released info on three of the most valuable condos sold in Toronto in the last year.
Condos were measured by price-per-square foot, a more accurate way to measure property value than the final sale price, since size definitely matters in the real estate game………..
Toronto-area new construction sales near pre-pandemic levels in Q1 in May, 2021
The 5,593 new condominiums sold in the Toronto area in the first quarter put sales only four per cent below pre-pandemic levels and surpassed the 10-year average, a sign the market has shaken off last spring’s malaise, according to a condo report released Monday.
Seventy-six per cent of the new condos launched in the first three months of 2021 were sold by the end of the quarter, the highest level since 2017, according to Urbanation, a market research firm that tracks GTA development.
The average selling price in the first three months of this year in the Toronto region was $1,261 per sq. ft. — an 8.8 per cent or approximately $100 per sq. ft. year-over-year increase.
In the City of Toronto first quarter sale prices averaged $1,419 per sq. ft., 5.7 per cent higher than the $1,343 per sq. ft. average in the same period last year……..
How to build a real estate empire in Toronto in May, 2021
It’s hard to overlook the opportunity that the real estate market is presenting across Canada. If you’re in the position to create wealth by investing in real estate, Nicola Wealth, who has been managing investments for affluent families, takes a strategic approach to real estate investments and shares many lessons that have resulted in a steadfast investing strategy.
What does it take to build a personal real estate empire?
Building wealth through private hard asset real estate requires financial expectations, investing acumen, and risk tolerance. Let’s assess your position and preparedness to participate in direct ownership real estate by asking a few key questions………
At the end of 12-hour shifts at St. Michael’s Hospital, working through the early months of COVID-19 on a surgery floor with some patients who’d just recovered from the virus, Toronto nurse Kim Le would board the subway exhausted and spend another 45 minutes commuting to North York.
Two years ago, Le and her husband packed up their apartment in midtown and moved northward to get a bit more space while still saving money in hopes of buying a house. The move tripled her commute time.
But as fierce competition for Toronto houses during the pandemic continues to drive prices ever-skyward, Le — one of the city’s essential, front-line workers — has resolved to leave Toronto altogether.
Le and her husband, who works at a bank job and has PhD income, have a combined salary of around $150,000, and yet she said a house is still out of their reach.
“I find it pretty ridiculous,” Le said. “We both have decent jobs. I feel like we live a minimal lifestyle and it’s not extravagant, but it’s hard to save … we thought it would get easier.”……….
Toronto residential tower boom shows no signs of slowing in April, 2021
Toronto had 125 cranes actively working on multiresidential towers in March, according to the RLB Crane Index, dwarfing the total of any other North American city.
“The urban density story for our city has clearly not stalled during the pandemic,” Terry Olynyk, president and managing director of Multiplex in Canada, said in introducing a recent webinar presented by Urban Land Institute Toronto chapter……..
Toronto Real Estate Is Getting So Intense There Are Now ‘Bidding Wars’ For Rentals in April, 2021
Despite rent prices plummeting in the city during the pandemic, new competition for value in Toronto’s rental market is driving prices up for certain listings.
“Tenants are taking advantage of the lower prices,” and are even submitting offers over the asking price, said Hiebert, particularly for spacious units with balconies and nature nearby.
“I would never ask a client to do that, but many are volunteering,” Hiebert said. “Seeing multiple offers on rentals is becoming more common, thanks to increased demand and a decline in inventory.”…….
When will the real estate bubble burst? It won’t, says veteran real estate appraiser in April, 2021
Les Otto believes it’s hard to get a straight answer from a real estate agent when it comes to the current state of the London region’s supercharged housing market.
After all, for the most part, he said, they’re feeding the frenzy.
“In many respects, they are. All they care about and, I have a lot of friends in real estate and many of them I respect, but they get paid on a commission they make on a house sale, so the more it sells, the more they put in their pocket.”
Otto knows this because he’s been working in the real estate business in southwestern Ontario for the last 40 years as an appraiser. In order to get a loan from a bank to buy a house or refinance a mortgage, the bank needs an objective assessment of how much that house is worth since that same house becomes the bank’s collateral for the loan. That’s where Otto comes in………
Real estate bubble ready to burst in April, 2021
Many experts are astounded at the prices of recent sales in some of Canada’s major markets. Media stories about bidding wars and homes selling as soon as they hit the market for hundreds of thousands over asking are everywhere. Such a frothy market has experts wondering if the bubble will burst and put Canada’s economic recovery at risk.
When we asked our panel of experts, just under one-third (29%) believed Canada’s sky-high real estate prices could send Canada into a recession, while just over a third (38%) did not believe a recession would result, with another one-third (33%) unsure……..
Toronto real estate experts call for an end to blind bidding and deception in April, 2021
A Toronto broker is putting out a call-to-action to cool obnoxiously high home prices, encouraging the real estate industry to mandate offer transparency and end blind bidding.
“It’s time for realtors to be bold and look at ways we can help ensure that as many people as possible realize their home ownership dreams, and that they are protected in the process of doing so,” says Philip Kocev, broker and managing partner at iPro Realty in a statement to media.
“Offer transparency can be simple: Mandate (or at least allow the option) for the disclosure of the best offer on the table to all competing offers.”…….