Corinne McCabe , Broker

"Home prices dip 12% as sales fall " Toronto Star - Wednesday March 7th, 2018

"Toronto housing prices edge up smartly in February" The Globe and Mail – Wednesday March 7th, 2018

Anyone reading the news will surely be confused by what the media has to say about the real estate market these days. So, what is really going on? The average price for a home in the City of Toronto is $806,494, climbing more than 5% from last month, as well as condo prices rising 5% to an average of $570,275. What the media doesn't tell you is the frenzy with bidding wars on both homes and condos. A property in midtown had 25 offers last week selling for $500,000 over the asking price. A condo downtown had 14 offers and sold for $105,000 over the asking. We cannot compare the market to last year's frenzy. Agents are busy, open houses are jammed and buyers are looking to buy. The supply is not there. As we move further into the spring and summer months, growth in sales and selling prices is expected to pick up.

As the days are getting longer we begin to see more freehold listings come to market, up 30% from the prior week. The east end listings doubled from the week before and the frenzy of sold properties saw 77% of them sell over the asking. E0l was the hot spot. The west end was also busy with listings up 35% and of all the properties that sold 66% sold over asking.

The condo market is not showing any signs of slowing. Many condos are drawing multiple offers and it seems the new normal for condos is almost $1000 PSF. Overall listings were up 37% and the central core saw 235 new listings come to market. The sold numbers are steady week to week and of those condos sold 57% sold over asking.

Should you list low and generate multiple offers, or should you list the property at what you think its worth? That seems to be a popular question in the office this week. There are many factors to take into consideration. The location, the condition of the property, and the price point. When you look at new listings coming out at least eight out of 10 properties have an offer date. What we are not seeing as much these days are bully offers. Buyers seem to be a bit cautious and would rather wait. After much discussion it comes down to the agent and the Seller making the decision.

There was a big sigh of relief as more listings came to market across the 416. The downtown core saw freehold listings jump by 60 percent compared to the week before and the $1.5M to $3M price range saw the biggest increase with 43 new listings. The east end continues to be a hot area with listings up 40 percent. Overall sold properties were slightly down by 10 percent from the prior week. The market for homes in central Toronto, especially for properties up to $1 million is still quite competitive. Of the homes sold, 55 percent sold over the asking price.

Condominiums have followed suit with a rise in listings by 17 percent from the previous week. Even though listings were up the number of sold condos was down by 10 percent across the city. Of those recorded sales, 44 percent sold at or over the list price. It seems buyers may have a different mindset this year, because sales are slower but values still remain lofty.a different mindset this year, because sales are slower but values still remain lofty.

At this point in the year we should be gearing up for the spring market, but we just aren't feeling it yet. The consensus is we are a month behind other years. Like most of this year we are struggling with low inventories, a situation that has many puzzled. The pent up demand is evident. Walk into any open house on the weekend and see if you can find empty space on the floor to leave your shoes. The overall number of sales is beginning to perk up, but the action is still far below where it was at this time last year.

The number of new listings continued to contract last week but that could be because of the family day holiday. 25 percent fewer listings week over week created increased competition with 35 percent more sold properties and of those, 60 percent sold over the asking price. The price range between $700K and $1.5K was the most active last week with 68 percent more properties sold and of those 63 percent sold over asking.

A similar market exists in the resale condo sector. Listings were off last week by 15 percent while sales were up 21 percent week over week. And of those sales 47 percent sold at or above the asking price. The condo market has been traditionally reserved for first time buyers, but as freehold home ownership becomes less affordable we expect even more activity in the condo market. 

The media likes to sell sob-stories to survive. The TREB market report was released this week and the news release in the media was all doom and gloom. Well not so in the City of Toronto. The average selling price at the end of January was $766,616, up 5.5 percent from a year ago which was $727, 928. The number of new listings came in at 2,776 for the end of January slightly lower than a year ago at 2,886. But when you factor in the surrounding GTA it skews the City of Toronto stats. The annual rate of growth in the City of Toronto was driven by the condominium market sector, which has had double-digit annual growth.

The freehold market is starting to build up some steam. We have seen a 20 percent increase in listings with the central core leading the way and the number of sold properties was up 15 percent and of those 30 percent sold over the asking price. Buyers are circling and they are willing to move quickly when they see a property that ticks all the right boxes. There seems to be an exuberance in the office this week and no doubt that the market is starting to take off.

The resale condo market is exhibiting some "freehold like" qualities. This week there were 30 percent more new listings to hit the market from the previous week but the number of sold condos was down 10 percent. Urbanation, a company that tracks the condo market released their annual report this week and the average price per square foot for a new condo is $1,031 and $823 for a resale condo.  As many as 20,000 new units are expected to be delivered in 2018.