There have been a lot of articles in the news lately about blind bidding wars and bidding wars in general. Heck, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board even felt obliged to issue a statement to its members about it: It's topical because through the first 4 months of this year, 69% of freehold (lowrise houses) sales were "sold over asking." So bidding wars are the standard this year (and these rates are even higher in the 905 currently). One of the things that these... [read more]

[Note: the analysis from this blog post was referenced in a Globe & Mail article in March of 2018.] The calendar just turned from February to March. That means February real estate statistics will be released next week. And that means we're going to be seeing harsh year-over-year (YoY) price comparisons for the next few months. If you want a fun drinking game, have a shot every time you hear or read the media use any variation on the word "plunge" related to... [read more]

Earlier this year, Statistics Canada released some housing info for the Toronto (and Vancouver) area that had housing stock info. I previously used the information for a blog post, "How many people got burned by the 2017 correction" which ended up being used in a Globe & Mail article. But I've been curious for a while as to just how much of Toronto's housing stock is on the market at one time, and how quickly things turn over. I did the calculations a long time ago but... [read more]

Here we are with Part 3 of this three part series with me complaining about stuff I don't like about real estate currently. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. On the last two points, one is a provincial matter, and the other one is a much broader issue but I'll focus on some possible Ontario and Toronto solutions. 7) Home Inspection certification As Bob Aaron, long time real estate law columnist in the Toronto Star put it, In Ontario, anyone with a business card... [read more]

The Globe & Mail ran an article by Rob Carrick yesterday entitled "Why do Canada's renters get such a bad rap?" In short, it says as house prices keep climbing, we've got to get over this narrow-minded thinking. photo via Architectural Conservancy of Ontario I certainly agree with his overall point, but I found one of his statements curious. When quoting Canada's home ownership rate at 69%, he stated "That’s one of the highest rates of... [read more]