Canadian real estate prices are soaring, but the fastest growth is not coming from big cities. BMO chief economist Douglas Porter tells clients to really think hard about this growth. Home prices are now rising even faster than at the peak of the 1980’s real estate bubble. Most of that growth isn’t coming from emerging global hubs, but small towns. He asks investors to consider: Do all small towns have supply shortages? Or is the madness of the crowd taking over?
A similar trend can be seen across Ontario’s “cottage country,” where prices rose the fastest. Places like Barrie, Welland, Tillsonburg, Woodstock, Chatham, and Guelph are further examples. These are all charming places that might be future global hubs at some point. However, they’re closing the gap between prices in Toronto so fast, they might be killing growth pre-maturely.
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 18th, 2022
Almost A Quarter of Canadians Now Permanently Work from Home, Up Over 300%
As public health restrictions linger, more companies realize they don’t need office space. Statistics Canada data shows new public health restrictions had more people work from home in January. Nearly a quarter of labor now permanently works from home, with that share rising sharply in big cities. This shift can change cities from places for work, to places that compete for quality of life.
Canada’s national statistics agency has found cities adopting the trend much faster. Urban areas have seen 25.6% of the labor force adopt a permanent work from home arrangement in January. In rural regions, the share working from home is 17.2%, much lower than in the cities.
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 13th, 2022
Read moreCanada’s real estate market forecasts a strong spring – supercharged by the bank of mom and dad.
Economist Benjamin Tal is forecasting a strong spring market in Canadian real estate and, with it, an even larger presence for the “bank of mom and dad”.
“You basically see people trying to get into the market before it’s too late,” Mr. Tal says. Parents have become increasingly generous in recent months as they pull out the stops so their adult children can buy a first home or move up to a better one. FOMO – fear of missing out – has infused the market with interest rate hikes on the horizon. Mr. Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets, says the share of first-time buyers receiving help from parents has been climbing steadily to about 30 per cent at the end of the third quarter last year from about 19 per cent in 2015. His most recent data show the share of young buyers receiving gifts had edged up an additional one per cent by the end of 2021.
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 4th, 2022
The average price of a Toronto condo is now $740,000 - Condo prices continue to rise in Toronto, like pretty much everything else lately, as more and more potential homebuyers look up to the sky for cheaper alternatives to detached homes.
Those who entered the condo market last year after prices dipped hard due to the pandemic, are likely sitting pretty now, but many others are finding it increasingly hard to afford what used to be the affordable option for home ownership in Canada's most populous city.
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 28TH, 2022
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 28TH, 2022
How Baby Boomers are breaking Canada’s real estate market - In one of the tightest real estate markets ever recorded in Canada, Boomers are not letting go of their homes. It appears the real-estate wealthy Boomers are to blame for yet again disrupting markets. Traditionally, seniors sell their family homes and downsize or move into retirement communities. Born between 1946 and 1964, Boomers, who own a substantial share of Canadian real estate, are breaking that trend. They are aging in place.
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 21ST, 2022
Doug Ford dropped rent control on new units in 2018. Since then, thousands have come online and tenants facing double-digit increases ask: was it worth it?
In 2018, the Ontario government introduced legislation that scrapped rent control on new builds. So, if you move into an apartment, a condo unit, or a basement unit that was first occupied as a residential space after November 15, 2018, there will be no legal limit set on how much your landlord will be able to raise your rent. In other words, the rent for the brand-new basement apartment unit that you’ll be moving into next month (the one you chose to rent because it is more affordable than apartments or condos) could become unaffordable for you in a year if your landlord wishes to raise your rent to make more profit. People in Toronto and other unaffordable cities in Ontario will once again face economic eviction in an unregulated rental market.
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 14TH, 2021
A new report is urging Canada to consider a luxury tax on homes valued at over $1 million as a means to rein in surging real estate prices.
Home prices across Canada have skyrocketed over the past year, with month after month of record-breaking sales. On Wednesday, non-profit advocate group Generation Squeeze released a report, funded by the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, and in it they recommended an annual surtax on all homes valued over $1 million. According to the report, homes at this price point make up just 9% of all homes, or 1,362,789 households in Canada.
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 7TH, 2022
December capped off a record year for real estate in the Greater Toronto Area — both in sales and price. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, 121,712 sales were reported through its MLS® System in 2021 — up an astounding 28% from 2020 which was a hot market, and 7.7% over the previous record high set in 2016. But as demand remained strong, the number of new listings on the market couldn’t keep up, with just a 6.2% increase in new listings compared to 2020…..
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 3RD, 2021
Auto lovers can soon park their toy in its own condo. This is going to be a luxury item people don’t need, but people are going to want to have this. Metropolitan Commercial Realty is planning to convert a multistorey 1970’s-era industrial warehouse in Etobicoke into a palace for storing cars, appropriately named ToyBx…
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