The Canadian Parvasi – Issue 06

The International News Weekly MONEY/REAL ESTATE
18
August 04, 2017 | Toronto
Toronto home prices fell by 6 per cent in July
The Canadian Parvasi
TORONTO: The average
home price in Toronto in
July fell by 6 percent from
June, though it is still 5
percent higher from the
same period last year. The
average home price in Toronto
in July was $746,216.
Year-over-year, the home
sales have dropped by 40.4
per cent.
But Toronto Real Estate
Board (TREB) CEO
John DiMichele has
sounded a note of caution.
In a press release, he
says, “We generally see an
uptick in sales following
Labour Day, as a greater
cross-section of would-be
buyers and sellers start
to consider listing and/or
purchasing a home.''
According to him,
the full impact of higher
mortgage rates and new
provincial housing policies,
including a foreign
buyers’ tax, will be felt
only by the fall.
In the detached home
market, transactions have
dropped 47.4 per cent year
over year.
In condo sales, there
has been a drop of 30
per cent year over year.
However, condo pries are
up 23 per cent year over
year. But there is an uptick
of just 4.9 per cent in
prices of detached homes.
The number of new listings
is up 5 per cent year
over year despite drop in
prices.
Toronto home sales tank 40 per cent,
prices down nearly $175,000 since April
Salmaan Farooqui/The Canadian Press
TORONTO: After 16
years, Dina Alker is going
to put her house in
Toronto up for sale Monday,
joining the throngs
of others in the city who
have decided to downsize
as a chill gripping what
was once one of the hottest
real estate markets
in North America takes
hold.
"I'm at a turning point
in my life," said Alker, 58,
who plans to buy a condo.
"It's a big responsibility
in a house. You're never
really worry-free."
Alker is unfazed by
data released Thursday
showing that sales in the
Greater Toronto Area
tanked last month by 40.4
per cent compared to July
2016 after a bout of frantic
buying at the start of the
year. Instead, she sees
a silver lining — prices
dipped for the third consecutive
month.
"It may be not as favourable
(to sell), but
when I go to buy, there's
an advantage there."
The decline in property
transactions was
driven by fewer sales of
detached homes in Toronto
and its surrounding
areas, the Toronto Real
Estate Board said.
The average selling
price of all properties
in July was $746,218,
roughly triple what it
was when Alker bought
her home and up five percent
from the same month
last year.
But that's down nearly
$175,000 since April, when
the Ontario government
introduced more than a
dozen measures — including
a 15 per cent tax on
foreign buyers — aimed
at improving home affordability.
Tim Syrianos, president
of the Toronto Real
Estate Board, said the decline
in activity has less
to do with foreign buyers
and more to do with potential
homebuyers waiting
to see how the market
plays out.
"Clearly, the yearover-year
decline we experienced
in July had
more to do with psychology,
with would-be home
buyers on the sidelines
waiting to see how market
conditions evolve," Syrianos
said in a statement.
Sal Guatieri, a senior
economist with BMO
Capital Markets, said Toronto's
housing market is
starting to come back to
normal levels after going
through a "frenzy" early
this year.
"Buyers are stepping
back, there's more sellers,
and that just seems to be
contributing to greater
downward pressure on
detached home prices in
the Toronto region," said
Guatieri.
"That was just not
sustainable and certainly
not healthy, and greatly
increased the risk of a
severe correction if economic
circumstances
changed."
A year ago, foreign
buyers in Vancouver also
had to pay a 15 per cent
tax. The effect was immediate:
the number of
transactions tumbled in
the ensuing months. However,
Vancouver did not
see the plunge in prices
Toronto is now experiencing.
Tom Storey, a sales
representative with Royal
LePage, said he believes
Toronto's market will rebound
much like Vancouver's
did.
"If you cross-reference
what happened in Vancouver
after the (foreign
buyers' tax) announcement,
they went through
four-to-six months of people
cooling down," said
Storey. "Then it ramped
up again."
Guatieri said it's
worth noting that while
detached housing was
what drove the drop in
sales, condo sales have
remained strong, helped
in part by their relative
affordability.
"But I wouldn't be surprised
if we see a little
bit of cooling in that department
in the next few
months," he said.
The average price of
condos throughout the
GTA in July was $501,750,
an increase of 23.2 per
cent from a year ago. Detached
homes on average
sold for $1 million, up 4.9
per cent.
SkillmanFlooring
Hardwood Flooring
Laminate || Tiles || Carpet
Granite Counter Top
Sale & Installation
Call Surinder
905.676.9111
Unit #155, 2960 Drew Road, Great Punjab Business Centre, Mississauga, ON - L4T 0A7