“WE THE NORTH”- GO RAPTORS. Fingers crossed we make it to the finals! So, the long weekend is over, the weather is improving, and as we have seen year-in and year-out the final push is on for the spring market before we start thinking about heading to the cottage or our summer vacations. So far so good! As for the overall GTA housing market, news in the media is all rosy, and looking ahead a balance between demand and supply is setting the stage for further modest price increases in the near term.

New freehold listings backed off a substantial 38% last week which is predictable before a holiday weekend. No need to worry that is always the case as most agents choose to wait until the long weekend is over to list. Sales followed suit registering almost 8% fewer transactions and the percentage of homes selling at or above the list price is at 61%, a slight decrease from previous weeks.

The condominium market seems to have adopted a ‘slow and steady wins the race’ stance. Listings were down by 13% from the previous week while the number of sold condos saw no change week-over-week, 50% sold over the asking price. News in the media this week about several condo projects being cancelled has us concerned. Since 2017, there have been 6,350 condominium units cancelled in the GTA. Historically, projects were cancelled for lack of sales. What’s different recently is fully sold-out, large scale projects being cancelled. The builders have claimed a difficulty in getting construction financing and rapidly rising construction and regulatory costs. Some of these projects date back to 2016. They don’t believe 2019 will have as many cancellations as previous years.