The price of Toronto real estate is being driven up by dirty money! True or false? This story – and more – in the week’s breakdown below, courtesy of our parent brokerage, Bosley Real Estate!
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 22ND, 2019
Is buying a home a dream for first time buyers? In the new budget out this week the centrepiece of Ottawa’s housing plan is to help first time buyers with their new zero-interest loans on the following terms:
• CMHC will offer mortgage loans up to 10% of the purchase price of newly built homes and 5% of the value for existing homes. This incentive is in addition to the buyer’s own down payment. Your household income must be $120,000 or less. The overall value of the mortgage and CMHC loan won’t be allowed to exceed four times the household income. With that cap of $480,000 ($120,000 X 4) the highest-value home that could be purchased under the plan would be about $500,000. (Not much help for buyers in Toronto with average prices for homes and condos exceeding that amount.)
• Your household income must be $120,000 or less.
• The deadline to repay the loan wasn’t specified but it was designed to be a long-term measure. The loans will be available starting in September.
• Also, first time buyers will now be permitted to borrow up to $35,000 from their RRSP’s, up from $25,000, the limit set 10 years ago.
This program might be good for small cities across Canada, but from a market perspective it will not be a game changer for the housing market in the GTA. The freehold market continues to tighten with a further drop of 34% in available listings since the previous week because of the spring break. Given fewer listings, we weren’t surprised that the number of sales slipped by 24%. There is no surprise that of those properties sold, 45% sold at or above the asking price. The number of new condo listings saw no change from the previous week, but sales were up slightly by 3% and of those sold, 51% sold at or above the asking price. We are gearing up for what we believe to be an active spring market with plenty of qualified buyers waiting to find their dream home..
*Bosley Real Estate Ltd. is a full service boutique brokerage operating in Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Port Hope, Ontario since 1928. We have four centrally located offices and over 250 sales representatives selling and leasing homes and condominiums in all the vibrant communities we work in. Our brand is well recognized internationally thanks to our unique affiliation with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. Our sales teams meet weekly to discuss market conditions, trending topics, and anecdotes that more accurately reflect the true temperature of the real estate market.
HERE ARE THE TOP FIVE TRENDING STORIES OF THE PAST WEEK:
Dirty money is driving up Toronto real estate prices, report says
“Toronto’s real-estate market welcomes criminals, giving them an easy way to invest dirty money and driving up housing prices for regular people, according to a report published today by Transparency International Canada.”
Federal budget includes new loans to help first-time homebuyers
“In their 2019 budget, the Liberals have unveiled a “shared equity” mortgage plan, including interest-free loans that would go towards increasing a buyer’s down payment.”
Laneway housing begins to take shape under Toronto’s new rules
“When Leslie Doyle and her husband, Jackson Stone, set out to design what will be one of the first newly permitted laneway houses in Toronto, they knew they wanted it to be green and somewhat absorbent, particularly the roof.”
Once-hot housing markets Toronto and Vancouver’s luxury home sales are falling. But they’re up in Montreal
“Luxury home sales fell in the two formerly hot housing markets of Vancouver and Toronto, as well as Calgary, in the first couple months of the new year, according to data released Wednesday by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.”
Canadians’ Net Worth Slides Amid Falling Stocks, Historic Drop In Real Estate
“Canadian households got a little poorer in the fourth quarter of 2018, thanks to falling stock prices and the first annual drop in the value of real estate in records going back to 1990, Statistics Canada said Thursday.”
In case you missed them, here’s last month’s round ups:
Bosley Real Estate Market Insight For The First Week Of February 2019
Bosley Real Estate Market Insight For The Second Week Of February 2019
Bosley Real Estate Market Insight For The Third Week Of February 2019
Steven Fudge, Sales Representative
& The Innovative Urbaneer Team
Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage – (416) 322-8000
– we’re here to earn your trust, then your business –
Celebrating Twenty-Five Years As A Top-Producing Toronto Realtor
*Like what you’ve read? Did you know we were recently listed as one of The Top 25 Toronto Real Estate Agents To Follow On Twitter, The Top 50 Blogs On Toronto and the Top 100 Real Estate Blogs In Canada!!? Consider signing up in the box below to receive our FREE monthly e-newsletter on housing, culture and design including our love for unique urban homes and other Toronto real estate!
*Love Canadian Housing? Check out Steve’s Student Mentorship site called Houseporn.ca which focuses on architecture, landscape, design, product and real estate in Canada!