Corinne McCabe , Broker

As we approach the middle of August, the traffic around the city gets a little lighter and it seems like it’s your last chance to take a bit of a breather before we start to think about getting ready for the fall real estate market. There is much talk around the office about all the new listings that will be hitting MLS after Labour Day. Will it be a repeat of May when we saw an excess of listings come to market? Are buyers waiting patiently for the impending influx of new listings to satisfy their desire for a place to call home?

The freehold sector remained relatively unchanged from the previous week. Sales were steady but the amount of new listings has tapered off by 33 per cent. The $700k to $1.5m price range was the busiest sector and 43 per cent of the sales, sold over the asking price. The west end was the hot spot this week for buyers with more than half of the homes selling over asking.

The condo sector has eased off as well with slightly less new listings and 12 per cent less sales. The hot spot is the $400K to $700K price range in the central core and 18 percent of the sales, sold over asking. The big talk in the office this week was the rental market with condo rentals receiving as many as 16 offers! Trying to find a rental in Toronto is a lot like online dating. With students going back to school renting in Toronto is the hardest it’s ever been. With rents increasing on average 11% in the last year, the average one bedroom in Toronto is $2,089 a month.

The dog days of August are upon us.  The weather is finally hot, hot, hot and sipping drinks on a patio is where we all want to be.  Listings are slowing down but last week sales were slightly up by 8%.   There was a significant increase in open house traffic last weekend and agents are seeing more appointments being booked on their listings.  Stories around the office of properties that had 9, 16 and 18 offers this week got everyone all talking.   Is pricing low to generate offers the way to go?

Some agents believe to list with an asking price close to market value and accept offers anytime and some believe to list low and set a date for offers.  The latter seems to be happening again.  It’s too soon to tell if a flurry of sales signals a trend that some buyers simply need to move on with their lives.

The July resale housing market figures were just released for the GTA, and results show we were down 40.4% in sales on a year-over-year basis and listings were up slightly (5%) above last year.  The average selling price for all home types combined was up by 5% from 2016 to $746,218.  Sumer market statistics are often not the best indicators of housing market conditions.  “Clearly, the year-over-year decline we experienced in July had more to do with psychology, with would-be home buyers on the sidelines waiting to see how market conditions evolve.”, said Mr. Syrianos, TREB president.