Sales down, Prices Still Up

Toronto home sales decline continues into June

The number of house sales is still dropping as new listings hit the market.

Last week was the eighth consecutive week that real estate sales declined in the GTA, according to Realosophy.  (Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star File Photo)  

Excerpted from The Toronto Star

By Tess KalinowskiReal Estate Reporter

Mon., June 12, 2017

Toronto-area lawns are still sprouting “For Sale” signs even as the number of home purchases continued to decline into June, says online brokerage Realosophy.

It found that sales of houses (detached, semi-detached and towns) across the region were down 44 per cent last week compared to the previous week.

York Region is still showing some of the largest declines of about 60 per cent in some areas, said company president John Pasalis.

"The sales numbers keep getting worse,” he said. “It's like they've fallen off a cliff. It's this downward momentum week after week."

Although the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) issues monthly statistics, Pasalis said he started tracking weekly sales because the market is so volatile, although he acknowledged that it represents a small sample.

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His numbers show that June, so far, is continuing some of the downward trends TREB identified in May. It reported that prices had slipped about 7 per cent from April, although homes still cost about 15 per cent more than they did in May 2016.

In fact, last week was the eighth consecutive week that sales declined, according to Realosophy.

Meanwhile, the number of re-sale homes on the market rose 43 per cent last month compared with May 2016.

Has The House Buying Frenzy in Toronto Normalized?

Cooling Toronto housing market a return to normal, say realtors

Buyers now have more choice, more time and even a little more negotiating power.

The boost in supply of re-sale homes in May is down to strong prices in the first quarter and the provincial housing policy announced in April that have prompted some owners to cash out their equity, according to TREB.  (Bernard Weil / Toronto Star File Photo)  

Excerpted from The Toronto Star

By Tess KalinowskiReal Estate Reporter

Mon., June 5, 2017

That faint hissing sound — music to the ears of Toronto home buyers — could be the air escaping the region’s housing market.

It could also be the barely concealed frustration of sellers, who listed their homes this spring expecting to attract cut-throat bids from desperate, over-extended buyers. Instead they are seeing fewer showings and fewer offers.

Toronto area home prices dipped about 7 per cent in May compared to April but remained about 15 per cent higher year over year averaging $863,910.

Even as the market has soared, there were some month-to-month price declines, said Jason Mercer, director of market analysis for the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), which released its month-end May statistics on Monday.

December’s average home price was $46,212 lower than November’s $776,684 but it is “somewhat unusual” in the peak spring season, he said.

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The last year-over-year price decline was 2012, said Mercer.

May’s cool down came with a 43 per cent increase in active listings.

But there’s no indication that a bubble has burst, he said. That would require some dramatic change in the economic environment — a real rise in lending rates or a shift in regional employment.

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Is Taxing the Non-resident speculator the answer?

Excerpted from The Toronto Sun
Ontario eyes non-resident speculation tax to help housing market

The Canadian Press

First posted: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 11:05 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 11:22 AM EDT

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa, right, and Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young files)

       

TORONTO - The Ontario government is considering a tax on non-resident speculators as it looks for ways to cool the hot housing market in the Greater Toronto Area.
A spokesman for Premier Kathleen Wynne says the tax is one of the measures being examined as the province readies to unveil a much-anticipated package of housing affordability measures.
The possibility of the tax has been raised as Ontario’s finance minister is set to meet today with his federal counterpart and the Toronto mayor to discuss housing affordability in the GTA.
Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has said he’s concerned about speculators “playing the market” and therefore limiting supply.
Sousa has also mused about a tax on foreign buyers or vacant homes, as well as looking at ways to speed up more supply becoming available.
The average price of detached houses in the region was $1.21 million last month, up 33.4 per cent from a year ago.
A spokesman for federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Ottawa is concerned about diminishing affordability in the housing market, calling the matter a complex issue with lots to talk about.
Toronto Mayor John Tory has said he plans to discuss the city’s lagging rental supply, a vacant property tax and the lack of real estate data at today’s meeting.
Last week, the head of the Bank of Canada warned of growing speculation in the Toronto housing market and said a correction there could reverberate in other parts of the country.

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