Three and a half years ago, in the midst of the spring 2017 correction, I wrote a blog post called Terminated listings: behind the scenes story indicates house slowdown which was the third most popular blog post all-time on my old Century 21 website. It told the story of how terminations (and subsequent re-listings) were messing with new listings stats, and also showing weaknesses behind the scenes. I posted the blog in May 2017 when the April Freehold number was the 40%, but... [read more]

I've been noticing more terminated listings recently, and they indicate a shift in the Toronto market for houses. Here's an actual example, with a bungalow in W02 Runnymede-Bloor West Village (the listing agent saw my blog post and kindly requested I take down the picture, so that's why it's all blacked out): This house was originally listed on April 25 with a price of $899,000 with an offer night of May 1. It obviously didn't sell on offer... [read more]

The split in how freehold and condo markets are acting that I pointed out last month carried on into September. The normally sleepier months of July and August were making up for a lost spring, posting higher than normal sales due to "pent-up demand." Well September did the same with 416 sales transactions up 19% over the same month last year. If that sounds high, 905 sales were up 57% YoY, as lowrise housing is de riguer.  You'll find the full set of market... [read more]

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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]