GTA Home Sales Again At Record-Breaking Pace With No sign Of Ending!

Toronto Star

Business

GTA real estate sales hit record high in February

Excerpted from The Toronto Star

The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 7,621 sales in February, up from 6,294, an increase of 21.1 per cent.

Darren Calabrese / CP

The Toronto Real Estate Board says that 2015 was a record sales year for its members, with 101,299 sales through TREB realtors through the year.

By: The Canadian Press, Published on Thu Mar 03 2016

Real estate sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit a record high last month, even after accounting for the extra day because of the leap year.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 7,621 sales in February, up from 6,294, an increase of 21.1 per cent.

About two-thirds of the sales were outside the city of Toronto, itself, where there were 2,809 sales, an increase from 2,352 in the same month last year.

Average prices were also up, hitting $719,843 in Toronto, itself, and $665,100 in the rest of the GTA.

Toronto and other parts of the real estate market in southern Ontario were among the hottest in Canada last year, trailing only Vancouver and parts of B.C.’s Lower Mainland region.

Vancouver’s realtors announced Wednesday that sales in that city also set a record in February, with 4,172 homes sold, up 36 per cent from the same month last year.

Realtor Royal LePage says it expects Canada’s real estate market to slow this year due to eroding affordability in Toronto and Vancouver and the fallout from declining oil prices in Western Canada.

In its latest report, the realtor says the average price of a Canadian home increased 6.5 per cent to $500,688 in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the same period on 2014.

The average cost of a two-storey home nationwide climbed to $610,134 in the quarter, up nearly eight per cent compared with the previous year.

The price of a bungalow rose 5.4 per cent year-over-year to $420,082, while the average price of a condo grew 3.1 per cent to $341,448.

Royal LePage says it expects the average cost of a Canadian home to rise by a more moderate 4.1 per cent over the course of 2016.

Where is the hottest real estate in the GTA? East end or west? Find out!

Toronto Star

Business / Real Estate

Excerpted from The Toronto Star               

Toronto’s east end has the hottest real estate in the city

Homes north of Danforth Ave. and east of the Don has the shortest sale times in Toronto, according to TREB data.

Linda Ing-Gilbert

106 Woodmount Ave. sold for $681,700 after just six days on the market. The asking price for the three-bedroom semi-detached home was $599,900.

By: Robin Levinson King Staff Reporter, Published on Wed Feb 03 2016

The trendiest neighbourhoods in Toronto aren’t in the trendy west end, but the east.

Homes north of Danforth Ave. and east of the Don River are selling fast, according to data provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board. The area, which encompasses posh Playter Estates to the west and rough-around-the edges Woodbine-Lumsden further east, boasts the shortest sale times in the city, with homes averaging a mere 12 days on the market compared to a city-wide average of 21 days.

To the south, Leslieville, Riverside and Riverdale came a close second, with homes averaging 13 days on the market.

Over the past decade, sale times across the city have been declining despite soaring home prices.

The median price of a Toronto home — stand-alone houses and condos combined — was $643,145 in 2015, compared to about $341,450 in 2005.

Yet in 2015, homes typically spent 21 days on the market, down 10 days from 2005 when they took a full month to sell. It’s a trend that has touched almost every corner of the city. The only areas that did not see a decrease in sale time were neighbourhoods around the Annex, Casa Loma and Wychwood.

Toronto realtor Desmond Brown said that low interest rates and population growth mean that there are more buyers than available homes, so most properties get snapped up fast.

“I think it’s basic supply and demand,” he said. “Good inventory is at a premium.”

That’s great news for sellers, especially for those north of the Danforth who bought at a low price and can now reap the benefits of a decade’s gentrification. Over the past ten years, the median value of homes north of the Danforth has increased 132 per cent, from $288,500 in 2005 to $608,500 in 2015.

“We’ve seen higher prices there, or even bidding wars, because it’s about supply,” said real-estate agent Linda Ing-Gilbert.

A recent listing, a three-bedroom semi at 106 Woodmount Ave., sold in six days for $681,700, more than $80,000 over asking. Ing-Gilbert, who grew up around the Danforth, said the area is often the last refuge for affordable family homes for many in the city.

Most of the bidders for the home west of Woodbine Ave. were first-time home buyers, she said, or young couples looking to upgrade from a condo.

“I think every single woman was pregnant,” Ing-Gilbert said.

Many start out hoping to buy in the more trendy west end, Ing-Gilbert said, but soon come to realize you can get the same amenities — access to the subway, schools and good restaurants — for about 10 per cent less in the east.

But there’s a price to pay for affordability, and that’s popularity, said Brown. Everybody loves a bargain, which means it can take buyers a few tries to land an east-end starter home.

Conversely, homes in neighbourhoods like the Annex can take a bit longer to unload.

“It’s a simple explanation — there aren’t as many buyers for the high-end properties,” he said.

New Mortgage Rules Now In Effect! - 5 Things To Know!

New mortgage rules kick in

Alexandra Posadzki, THE CANADIAN PRESS

First posted: Monday, February 15, 2016 12:13 PM EST | Updated: Monday, February 15, 2016 02:49 PM EST 

Excerpted from The Toronto Sun

(Fotolia)

TORONTO -- Canadians looking to buy homes between $500,000 and $1 million will have to put down larger down payments as new federal rules took effect Monday.
Under the changes, homebuyers must now put at least 10% down on the portion of a home that costs more than $500,000.
Buyers can still put down 5% on the first $500,000 of a home purchase. Homes that cost more than $1 million still require a 20% down payment.
Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, says the new rules aim to slow the breakneck pace of price growth in the red-hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver without affecting markets that are lagging, such as those in oil-dependent provinces.
"The problem with monetary policy is that it impacts the struggling Calgary market or the just fine Winnipeg market and the overheated Vancouver market in equal amounts," Soper said.
"If you lower interest rates, you lower interest rates for all. And that's not what the country needed. This change ... is the first attempt to recognize the fact that some parts of the country are in need of a mild tap on the break, while other parts of the country really need to continue to receive stimulus."
When the new rules were announced in December, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he estimated they would affect about 1% of the overall real estate market. Some industry observers predicted a surge in sales activity as homebuyers would look to pre-empt bigger down payment requirements.
Soper says real estate markets in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec have been "boisterous" in the first five weeks of the year -- but he says it's unlikely that the new mortgage rules are responsible.
"I think it has much more to do with clean sidewalks from a mild winter and low mortgage rates than it does with impending changes that tweak mortgage insurance regulations," Soper said.
"It's just not a big enough change to have materially impacted home sales volumes in the country."
Ottawa tightened rules for new insurable loans four times between 2008 and 2012, including upping the minimum down payment to 5% and reducing the maximum amortization period in stages to 25 years from 40 years.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW MORTGAGE RULES
Cough up the cash: Homebuyers now have to put at least a down payment of 10% on the portion of the price of a home over $500,000. For anyone buying a home for $700,000 -- a common list price in Vancouver and Toronto -- that means the minimum down payment will rise to $45,000 from $35,000. Any home under $500,000 still requires only a down payment of 5%.
Who's affected: Primarily those shopping for a home in Toronto and Vancouver. First-time buyers in those cities will feel the pinch since they'll be required to put down bigger down payments to get into the market. Those selling their homes in order to size up, especially in cities with hot housing markets, likely won't feel the pain since they've built up equity in those properties.
Impact: The influence the new rules will have over house prices is expected to be small, experts say, given their narrow reach. When he announced the changes in December, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said they are expected to affect 1% or less of the real estate market.
Sales activity: Some analysts expected a surge in sales leading up to Monday's changes, saying they would lure homebuyers who wanted to avoid making the bigger down payments. Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper says sales activity has been "boisterous" in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec in the first five weeks of this year, but he credits a relatively mild winter and low mortgage rates.
Past measures: Four rounds of changes were made to tighten eligibility rules for new insurable loans between 2008 and 2012. Among them: the minimum down payment was increased to 5%, the maximum amortization period was reduced in stages to 25 years from 40 years and the maximum insurable house price was limited to below $1 million.

Is It The Right Time To Invest In Condos?

January 29, 2016
Excerpted from The Globe and Mail

Price gap between Toronto houses and condos expected to shrink

By TAMSIN McMAHON

Divide between condos and houses could narrow with more low-rise housing projects and cooling market

The price gap between condos and houses soared 50 per cent last year in the Greater Toronto Area as values of single-family homes skyrocketed, while the condo market flatlined.
But industry analysts expect that divide to start shrinking over the next several years as local municipalities green-light several long-awaited low-rise housing projects and the condo market cools off from years of record-breaking construction.
Sales of new single-family homes in the GTA jumped 8 per cent last year to more than 19,600, while sales of new condos fell 2 per cent to about 21,600, according to an analysis by commercial real estate firm Altus Group.
The red-hot market for new single-family home construction pushed up prices by 18 per cent last year to an average of $829,766.
By the end of December, there were fewer than 5,000 homes for sale on the low-rise market in the GTA, a historic low. Meanwhile, condo prices were flat from a year earlier, averaging $453,083. The diverging trends helped to drive a $376,000 wedge between prices for new condos and houses.
However, that could begin to change over the next few years, as condominium construction slows down, the high-rise market in downtown Toronto shifts in favour of rental apartments and developers turn their eyes back to the lucrative market for detached houses and townhomes.
"Certainly over the last three or four years we've swung the ship too far away from single-family," said Peter Norman, vice-president and chief economist at Altus.
Sales of residential development land in the GTA surged nearly 50 per cent to more than $4-billion last year, driven in part by a jump in sales of land in the 905 region intended for low-density subdivisions, which reached their highest level in more than a decade.
There were 71 high-rise residential land sales in the region in the first three quarters of last year, down from 80 in the same period a year earlier, Colliers International reported. In contrast, sales of single-family and townhouse developments rose from 29 to 35.
Some of the biggest land deals in the GTA were in the suburbs. A consortium of developers paid more than $400-million for the York Downs Golf and Country Club in Markham, while another buyer paid more than $100-million for a low-rise development site in Richmond Hill. York Region alone saw roughly $1-billion worth of residential land deals last year, according to Colliers International.
Municipalities have taken time to adjust to changes in provincial legislation aimed at increasing density and protecting environmentally sensitive lands in Southern Ontario, leaving many proposed low-rise housing projects sitting in limbo. Others have been waiting for major infrastructure upgrades and some have endured public opposition and lengthy battles before the Ontario Municipal Board.
"It has been a rocky road getting there right now," Mr. Norman said. "I think there are many developers who have wanted to bring forward single-family homes many years ago, but it just simply hasn't happened."
Several projects are starting to wind their way through the red tape. Earlier this month, the provincial government agreed to sell hundreds of acres of land in Pickering, known as the Seaton lands, helping to green-light low-rise subdivisions that have been decades in the making.
"We'll be building homes there for 20 years," said Jason Attard vice-president of sales and marketing at GTA home builder Aspen Ridge Homes. "So that is definitely going to help solve some of the supply issues."
While construction of single-family homes is readying for a comeback, the GTA condo market is shifting away from investors and toward buyers who are interested in living in their units, said Jim Ritchie, head of sales and marketing at condo developer Tridel Group of Companies. That will likely mean larger units sold at higher prices, which should also help close the price gap in the region.
Mr. Norman predicts the number of new detached homes for sale in the Toronto metropolitan area to jump 30 per cent next year to 13,000.
Over time, he thinks the number of condo starts, which have averaged 19,500 over the past five years, will to fall closer to 17,000 to 18,000 units, a level more consistent with demand. Meanwhile, levels of low-rise home construction should rise from about 16,500 to closer to 22,000.
"It's tipping the balance back," he said.

This Listing Has A very Good Location

THIS LISTING SOLD IN 5 DAYS ON MARKET

• Best priced detached home in its class in the Briar-Hill Belgravia community of mid-town Toronto
• Steps to the shops of Eglinton Avenue and minutes to the Allen West Station by foot
• Unbeatable location
• A well cared for home ready for you to move-in

To see more pictures click here

What Are Your Plans For 2016 As A Homeowner or Homebuyer?

Use the above chart to guide you with whatever plans you have for 2016 in pursuing your dreams.
The chart above shows a rising trend from January to May. Then it dips during the summer months when children are off school and families goes on vacation.

The above chart shows the monthly average resale home prices for the last 4 years. Needless to say, it gives you an idea as to when to buy or sell. You may use these information in conjunction with consultations with your real estate agent.


There are other factors that may affect the timing of when to go into action with your plans such as:

• Curb appeal- if you feel properties will show better when the snow is gone then spring may be a good time for you
• Government policy- starting next month the minimum down payment (5%) to buy will be raised to 10% for the amount in excess of $500K.
• Interest rates- how important is it to you? If yes, then NOW is the word as rates are at an all time low
• Schooling- the school year end in June. Is it okay with you to move children between schools when you move.

Help is only a phone call away and it is FREE. Speak with you real estate professional. Note the month when the rising trend in prices starts which is the beginning of the new year.

Excellent opportunities for Home Ownership

This property will be back in the market soon.

Ideal for those who want to live in a house with excellent income opportunity located in the Eglinton & Allen expressway area.

THIS PROPERTY SOLD FOR 99% OF THE ASKING PRICE IN 14 DAYS!

This home is perfect to The Starter. Located in Markham- an ideal place to start a family!