There is a segment of the population that's rooting for a crash in Toronto housing prices. There are Facebook groups with bubble in their group name, and I often see comments with this angle on real estate Twitter. I get it. Prices are high, and some people that want to buy feel their only hope is if we are actually in a bubble and that bubble bursts. Meanwhile prices keep climbing and climbing and climbing. Now, do I think they're always going to go up? No. Do I think they... [read more]

The MLS® Home Price Index ("HPI") has been emphasized a bit more by the Toronto Real Estate Board ("TREB") recently, and I've been seeing it mentioned in the media a bit more of late. This index is supposed to work like the Consumer Price Index ("CPI") that most are familiar with. The CPI tracks changes in price of a "basket of goods and services," while the HPI tracks a "basket of home attributes." In both cases what's in the basket... [read more]

In the blog last month, it was a continuation of the narrative for several months whereby freeholds were going strong and condos were kind of hurting, especially in the downtown core. And then December happened. As always, you'll find the full set of market charts (only excerpts are highlighted below) here on my website. Let's get at December... About-face for condo sales For the first 6 months of the year, whether starting the year the year off hot in... [read more]

Carrying on the narrative from last month, and the last several really, condos are still having a rough go of things, and freeholds are not. You'll find the full set of market charts (only excerpts are highlighted below) here on my website. Let's get at November... Freeholds are all caught up - and then some After the big 416 freehold sales hole from April (-65% YoY) and May (-62%) and even June (-12%), I would never have thought we'd be able to... [read more]

A real split is developing in the freehold versus condo markets. We've seen them act differently before (which is why I run separate charts), but it's getting pretty extreme now. This year has been such a wild ride. In February things were hot. March was a tale of two halves, with the onset of COVID-19 mesures. Then April was one long month of riding the brakes, followed by the start of recovering in May and June as listings rose (as did sales). And then the... [read more]