More than two-thirds of Toronto condo investors are planning to sell their properties rather than pay the new vacant home tax, according to a new Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) report. Toronto City Council voted to create an implementation plan for a vacant homes tax in the city which would take effect sometime in 2022. The tax would encourage owners to sell or rent out their vacant properties, which would increase housing supply, the City of Toronto said in a news release. Those who do not would need to pay the tax, and proceeds would go toward building new housing supply…

This week the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) released its annual Market Year in Review & Outlook Report for 2021, projecting optimism for a booming Greater Toronto Area (GTA) real estate market in 2021. The report forecasts near-record sales numbers of 100,000 units, with average selling prices expected to break records and exceed the $1 million mark…

The Toronto condo market had cooled during the pandemic, but in this new year so far condo sales are booming. The month of January 2021 is holding December’s gains with sales activity in the 416 nearly doubling that of 2020 on a year-to-date basis. Although the Toronto rental vacancy rate increased, December of 2020 ended the year strong with an amazing turn of events that boosted market conditions with Toronto home sales up 64.5%. Last December’s data showed a big increase in demand for condos by investors who understood this was the beginning of a great time to get back into the market…

Have you heard? The Toronto spring real estate market is underway and its picking up steam at an uncomfortable pace. Several significant home sales with multiple offers and plenty of “bully offers” are flaring up in some hot pockets of the city and the surrounding 905 regions. Buyers have secured very attractive interest rates and the demand for space rather than speculation seem to be driving the market. It’s a concern among central bankers that this could be become a bubble with such low interest rates. On Wednesday, Canadian policy makers kept interest rates at 0.25%, and committed to keep borrowing costs low until the damage from the pandemic is fully repaired, something they don’t see happening until 2023…

Toronto’s vacancy rate on apartments hit 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2020, the highest level the city has recorded in 50 years, after nearly a decade of being under 2%. As the pandemic pushed tenants outside the core of the city, the vacancy rate in the 905 areas surrounding Toronto remained at a much tighter 2%. These results are just an example to just how drastically the pandemic altered the rental market…

Despite the pandemic, Canadians continue to remain optimistic when it comes to the future and their finances. Many Canadians remain confident in their ability to save and continue to aspire to make their dream of owning a home a reality. This from a poll this week that RBC released titled Home Buying Sentiment Poll. Despite the negative implications COVID-19 has had on nearly every business sector, it appears the pandemic hasn’t had a lasting effect on the real estate industry as Canadians still believe in the strength of the housing market — despite growing concerns of the overall economy…

Toronto’s real estate market ended 2020 with a bang, as a December home-buying spree helped to push the average selling price to a record high of $929,699. After a steep drop in the spring due to the pandemic, the market took off in the second half of the year. The 13.5% increase over 2019’s average was led by single family homes where limited supply pushed prices up. The 905 areas outside Toronto saw the most pronounced price and sales gains. The number of homes sold in 2020 in the Greater Toronto Area totaled 95,151, up from 87,751 in 2019, and the third-best year on record…

The Holiday Season is upon us, and we have almost made it to the end of one of the most challenging years any of us can remember. When we felt we could control so little, we at least needed to control our space. Our homes have become our refuges, as we spend more time there. We’ve adapted our homes to be our offices and our schools, our restaurants and retreats. We’ve started to think more deeply about what home means and how to create it…

November brought a sense of urgency to the Toronto real estate market, where Covid has people buying and selling homes for completely different reasons than before the pandemic. Data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board showed that November home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were up 24.3% compared with last year, as demand for single-family homes continued to surge ahead of condos…