As a real estate agent in Toronto, i am dumb founded by the “doom and gloom” forecasts which we are barraged with by the news regarding home prices. First of all the basis for this “forecasted” ultimate decline in Toronto housing prices is based on the last decade of activity in the GTA. Most definitely we have seen record breaking activity fuelled by low interest rates making ownership versus renting a viable option, consumer confidence, really “neat” mortgage options, very little inventory and lots and lots of Buyers. Let’s not forget that we came out of a ten year recession through the 90′s. Don’t even get me started on the multiple bidding frenzy!
Secondly there is a simple question to be answered …. do you believe the real estate market in Toronto the past ten years was a “normal” market?
We are just getting back to some normality. I monitor the Toronto inventory daily and the inventory is still low. This is also a seasonal trend. There is still product coming on daily in the prime locations being marketed to multiple bidding …. and getting premium prices. I do open houses weekly and there are lots of Buyers out there searching for a new home or condo. As someone “in the trenches” …. Toronto Real Estate prices are fine …. we’re just getting back to normal.
<< This year seems to be one of constant anticipation over Real Estate sales activity reports. The anxiously awaited August numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), certainly are a great representation of that, and Wednesday they were finally reported. The good news is that for the first month since March 2010, national resale housing activity improved, showing a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent increase from the previous month.
Most of the national sales activity improvement for August was as a result of increased activity in Ontario and British Columbia – both provinces which felt great pains in July with the onset of HST. Fortunately, over half of all local markets across the country remained stable or saw increases to this month’s seasonally adjusted sales activity.
With a quick annual look in review, we find the year-to-date transactions are up 2.2 percent versus 2009’s first eight months – partially due to sharp increases in activity during the second half of 2009, and continued momentum into the early months of 2010. The expectation as a result is the year-to-date transaction statistics, as we work through the final 4 months of 2010, will continue to dwindle in comparison to the year prior – even with a steady market.
CREA’s Chief Economist, Gregory Klump, summarized it this way “The hangover from accelerated home purchases is likely to persist over the rest of the year. Although economic and job growth are expected to be tepid, they will continue to support housing markets. Source: www.propertywirecanada.com >>
I think the society should also learn to distinguish sources that are credible from sources that are not. Let us not panic too much on things we read about from sources that are not factual.
Sometimes it takes a bit of time, but eventually with real estate, things will start to look up and get better.
When the majority of the population stops asking why, and begins to blindly accept what is told to them through the unverifiable channels of the TV, then controlling purchasing and selling outlooks becomes easy. In the US all you have to do is some doom and gloom forecasts and people just stop buying. Until you come out and say it is all OK, people will just store up money letting it rot. Money is only as good as what you invest it in. So stop investing it in luxury goods and your sock drawer!
Nothing is stronger than the market! It is absolutelly inpredictable. However, certain things could suggest that ptices are likely to go up such as inflation.